Mozilla offered up Firefox 2.0 Release Candidate 3 tonight, bringing the official launch of version 2.0 all the closer. Most TechCrunch readers have probably tried previous release candidates but there are a number of things readers may be interested in considering as full scale roll-out of the new version approaches.
2.0 is several months late and doesn’t offer a whole lot of new features compared to version 1.5 - but performance enhancements and a built in spell checker alone make it a good improvement.
There aren’t any new features added since the previous Release Candidate, in fact features have been frozen since the release of Beta version 1 in July. We reviewed those new features at the Beta’s launch, but the highlights include an automatic spell checker for text typed into almost any field, automatic restoration of tabs that were open in the event of a crash, anti-phishing protection and a snazzy new default look. See also our previous posts on the development of Firefox 2.0 since the Alpha release in March.
Extensions
Many extensions won’t work with Firefox 2.0 but Windows users can use the unofficial Nightly Tester Tools to force Firefox to believe most extensions are compatible and use them. The Mac side of my computer doesn’t want to use this, but it works great in Windows. I stopped using previous Firefox Beta versions specifically because I couldn’t run the AttentionTrust Recorder with them, but that organization says they will offer a version compatible with Firefox 2.0 when the browser ships. I hope they and other services do so as soon as possible.
Memory Leak
One of the most common complaints about Firefox is that it leaks memory and slows down computers over time. Some people say this is a function of the browser’s caching, others blame it on faulty extentions. There doesn’t appear to be any substantial changes made in regards to memory in the new version of Firefox.
When is the Final Version Due?
There was some discussion today about tonight’s release being the final version of Firefox 2.0 - barring significant bugs being found. In reality, all Release Candidates are intended as final releases and though RC 1 was made available on Sept. 26th and RC 2 on Oct. 6th - Mozilla intended the one and only Release Candidate to come online in August. At this point only small bugs are left to fix and the pace of RC releases indicates that a version will be made final soon. Probably before IE 7 rolls out automatically to Windows users.
The Future
Wishing that 2.0 had more interesting new features or responded to concerns that it has not? Check out Mozilla’s brainstorming page for Firefox 3.0, code named Gran Paradiso. 3.0 is scheduled for release in Q1 of 2007, at which time Firefox 1.5 will reach end-of-life.
Opera lovers are outspoken about their favorite browser, users seeking lots of social features often prefer Flock, and there is a lot to talk about in regards to the new Internet Explorer 7 that will install automatically very soon (unless you block it) but Firefox has long been the browser of choice for between 60% and 70% of TechCrunch readers. Presuming extension compatibility can be taken care of, Firefox 2.0 should be a subtle but definite change for the better.
Create a new entry in about:config
extensions.checkCompatibility
and set its value to false
Now you should be able to use all your extensions with the latest release.
I feel they could have done away (or atleast made them much smaller) with the buttons next to the address toolbar and saved some real estate space. Also, it would have been nice to have the bookmarks toolbar in the same line as the address and search bars. It would save space. Anyway, I like the new look and the handling of tabs. Since all open tabs don’t show on the browser window at the same time it would be nice if they have something like viamatic foxpose integrated into the browser.
I’ve got Nightly Tester Tools running fine in Firefox 2.0 RC2 on Mac OS/X.
All it does is override the compatibility checking. If your plugin truly isn’t compatible it could cause your browser to crash. In that case you’ll have to remove the plugin manually.
FYI, for all the webdevs reading this, the ubiquitous ‘Web Developer Toolbar’ plugin works perfectly, in RC2 using Nightly Tester Tools.
I’m off to try RC3…
While 2.0 is nowhere near the kind of step up I was expecting, some of the new features are definitely invaluable. Namely:
1. The spell checking feature is very useful, and has saved me from making a few silly mistakes where I’d hate to more than a few times
2. Being able to click the small arrow to the right of the tab bar to get a drop-down list of all my tabs, which is useful when I’ve gone on an RSS rampage and opened about 50
3. Better handling of RSS feeds — enough said
I just hope they keep the momentum going and get some killer features into 3.0. There’s certainly nothing in 2.0 that is going to make people put down their cups in awe, which is a stark contrast to the impending Internet Explorer 7 release which is going to shock/wow a lot of people, even if it has borrowed a lot of what it features from other browsers.
While all the new features are roll out, they still have not solve the memory leak issue.
I believe they are just eager to roll it out before IE7 so that most of the internet folks would have it install on their computer and will not bother trying IE7.
Well even my blog gets 30-40% firefox users. I guess any technology blog would show a higer number of firefox users but if your see the general internet market i guess 80-85% is held by IE but firefox is gaining ground.
I recently downloaded RC2 and wasn’t too impressed with the default scheme.
Saying that I’m genuinely pleased with the update but there’s one thing that’s bugging me, and that is the fact that I can’t get the inbuilt spell checker to work.
Any ideas why this isn’t working? It’s enabled in the advanced tab.
Thanks.
Use the Maxthon browser people.. much better than Firefox, Opera, and even that rubbish Flock browser.
Maxthon 2.0 is gonna own.
They aren’t fixing the memory leak problems in 2.0?!?! I’m seriously about to kick Firefox to the curb then. I was holding on assuming they would fix these problems. Right now I have Firefox 1.5 going with 5 tabs open and it’s taking 401,544k of memory! That is with no extensions!
If your numbers are right, Firefox 2.0 has gone a long long way solving memory issues.
Right now I have Firefox 2.0 rc3 going with 27 tabs, with lots of extensions. 219,486 kb of memory…
Anyways, I don’t remember such a huge consommation when I used Firefox 1.x. Maybe you have a bad build/corrupt version ?
http://element14.wordpress.com.....mem-usage/
i don’t know why people considers the spell-checker a big feature , doesnt Google toolbar for FireFox provides this ? and many other extensions?
This link about the reviewing of Firefox 2.0’s new features at the Beta’s launch, is not working: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006.....ighlights/
It’s Firefox not FireFox.
I can’t believe Mozilla is releasing 2.0 in the state its in. They should’ve swallowed their ego, realize MS is back in the game, and made this a 1.6 release. Or Firefox 1.5 PLUS edition. Its basically the same as 1.5, only a slightly different default theme, and some built-in features that were always available via extensions. You know what, leave Firefox lean and clean, and let us worry about which extensions we want.
I have 1.5 right now. Spell check? yes, i have it. Session Saver? yes. anti-phishing? yes. Re-arrange and edit search plugins? yes, i can do that now. Why the heck wasnt it included in Firefox 1.0?
This is the 2nd most boring ‘new product’ release this year, after the AMD AM2 flop. what? same performance as 939, but you’re making me buy new RAM? i’ll pass.
I notice firefox crashes when I have 3-4 tabs open at once. I hope this is resolved in the new version.
Just for accuracy’s sake. IE7 will not auto install itself on your computer. It will auto dowload if you have automatic updates selected and will upon completioin present you with a dialog box asking if you would like to update to IE7. If you say no.. the install files are deleted, and of course if you say yes then the install is carried out.
Contrary to the opinion of this article, there has actually been a substantial amount of work done in the area of ridding the application memory leaks.
This strikes me as a ho-hum release as well. I guess it will be hard to impress us with any future Firefox release as just about any feature you would want can be added with extensions.
I am amazed at all the hype that spelling gets for this version with several good extensions already in existence, especially the Google Toolbar.
I won’t be upgrading until my extensions are officially supported. That’s a major reason in my mind that Flock has not caught on more as well.
Tony
I have just switched to Flock for the second time, and I really like the way I can share and collaborate with it. Why don’t some of you like it more? To me, it’s Firefox on steroids.
2.0 is a missing any new killer feature. It’s incremental change. I’ll still upgrade but it’s not going to convince any IE stalwart to switch. IE7 will keep the IE community happy. FF 2 will keep the FF community happy.
FF 3 (or 2.5) needs to be a big step.
For balance I find IE 7 better than IE 6 but only because of the tabbed windows. However it offers nothing new, it’s just catchup.
Looks like the race is on for who is going to be released first.. ie or firefox..
Yeah so I downloaded (froze the first time) then I finally got it installed - and Now it won’t open - I click its processes, then it freezes - RC3 is weak sauce!
- For the most part Release a Beta, call it a Beta - - so , so , weak…
I might try IE7 just becuase this was so dissapointing. - I have since rolled back to 1.5 and its working fine .. -
I agree this should be more of a 1.6 type release, but they’re not adding tons of new features because they want to keep it lean. With hundreds of extensions, you can add any functionality you need. Although I do appreciate the spellcheck, because I hate google toolbar - takes up way too much real estate.
I tested RC1 a while back and thought it was really nice, much faster than 1.5, especially after having it open for a few hours. Despite the comment on the memory leak not being fixed, it seemed to have been fixed on my computer. Normally FF is using 300-400MB of RAM after being open all day, whereas RC1 never went above 150. But since half my extensions didnt work with it, I decided I’d wait for the offical release before taking the plunge.
That aside, what the hell is AttentionTrust? Their web site is not only horrificly ugly, it has absolutely no information about what it is.
Personally I’m glad that they didn’t put anymore features into this release of Firefox. I’d be happy if Firefox 3.0 did nothing more than speed improvements, fix memory leaks, and make plugins less crash prone (if possible). If Firefox is going to be The cross OS platform for the web then it better be rock solid. That’s the most important thing over all these other features, that’s why people started using Firefox in the first place.
When I run pandora in Firefox it slowly eats memory over time, even when I am not playing music (and doesn’t in IE, so it doesn’t seem like a Flash problem). People that call that a feature are just plain retarded. Here’s a good feature: how about not slowing down my computer eating unnecessarily large amounts of RAM. If they don’t fix this, and IE7 is good, they will probably lose me, and sounds like many others. I consider this a case of developers wanting to do what is “right” rather than doing what the consumer wants. This type of stubborness could cost them big time.
I’m one of the silent many who’ve were lost many months ago when Firefox was getting too noticably selfish with my RAM. I will still try 2.0, but if they haven’t fixed the “leak,” I will continue to use Maxthon and/or Opera (the free version is no longer displays ads).
I’m a bit curious if it would be possible to add the following two features (as well as additional ones) to a browser such as FireFox - namely “documents” and “spreadsheets?”
In other words, when I am online and downloading a Word file, instead of having to open Microsoft Word - or compatible program - to view / edit / save it, I could simply open it up in a new tab to view / edit / save. (Granted, the respective browser would not have all the functionality of Microsoft Word / Excel, but I don’t need 90% of that functionality 90% of the time, and when I do, I can just open Microsoft Word / Excel.)
I realize there are options such as Zoho and Google Docs / Spreadsheets, but after having used them a bit, I don’t find their offerings sufficiently “compelling” to captivate me at this time - mainly due to technological limitations beyond thier control.
Moreover, if I were able to work on documents / sheets in my browser, it would have the following effects.
(1) I could work on them while offline.
(2) I would be free to host the file almost anywhere, not just at Zoho or Google, etc.
(3) I would become less dependent on Microsoft as the Browser’s offerings incrementally became more robust.
I admit that my knowledge of “browser dynamics” is very elementary, so please be kind in responding. I guess I’m not asking if this would be possible “next week,” but rather if it would be possible to bundle docs and sheets with a browser sometime in the future, as it seems that such an offering would be extremely desireable.
One thing I’ve noticed is that it upgrades extensions on application start.. so you don’t need to start, find out there are new upgrades and then restart.
You will find that a lot of add-ons made updates on the developer’s pages (not addons.mozila.org) to include up to 3.0a
also running RC3 with nightly tester tools and all the extensions work just fine on my powerbook g4.
freenigma, greasemonkey and webdev toolbar, no problems at all.
it even seems a bit less sluggish and looks nice too.
I love firefox. Some of the plugins developed for this are really
cool and very useful.
Wow I’m a little shocked by all these memory leak reports. I run Firefox on
mac, windows, and linux and haven’t had any such issues with it. None, zip, zero.
Runs fast, runs everywhere. The only extension I use is webdeveloper. I’ve had all kinds of grief with IE though. I think maybe I live in an alternate universe from most of the posters here.
No memory leak fix? That is shit.
flock rocks…I’m sticking with it.
One problem with Firefox 2.0 is that only about 25% of the extensions on the Mozilla site are compatible with Firefox 2.0. This can make browsing for extensions tedious.
If you are looking for extensions/add-ons for Firefox 2.0, I recommend a site called “Bill’s Big List of Firefox® 2.0 Compatible Extensions” at http://www.extensionhunter.com
This site shows only 2.0 compatible extensions without the noise of all the out-dated extensions.
How to delete all cookies in Firefox on closing, EXCEPT for those from selected domains!
Maybe if FF is not so memory-hungry, that would be a great improvement.
Make sure to get the facts first:
http://www.FirefoxMyths.com
Oh well, they decided to put the close icons on each tab. I dont agree with that decision but it’s still my favorite program. Open up msnbc.com, news.com, and techcrunch.com as 3 tabs and you can see how the close icon becomes distracting. Too many red icons.
I am kind of surprised by the visual look of the application. The default scheme is kind of a letdown. The colors are a bit muted and feels a bit old. Also feel like the tabs are more confusing than before. I think again has to do with color. The colors of tabs matches too closely with the background color and gets lost. Also they seem too tight next to each other. Probably need some more padding underneath the selected tab instead of that thin strip. Maybe it’s just me.
Also dont like that gradient where tabs sit. Distracting again by introducing too much depth to that area. Probably the first thing you notice when you have tabs open.