mozilla

Mozilla wants to diversify its search revenue base from Google. Microsoft's Bing wants more market share. Enter some integration that may move the needle for both parties.

In a short blog post, Microsoft said it worked with Mozilla to launch Firefox with Bing. In a nutshell, this version of Firefox has the default settings for Bing and the user won't have to change anything to use Microsoft's search engine.

Will this effort move the needle for Mozilla and Microsoft goals? It's unclear, but Firefox with Bing certainly can't hurt.

Keep in mind this Firefox with … Read more

Mozilla has postponed its plan to prompt Firefox 3.6 users to upgrade to the latest version of the open-source Web browser to make sure its servers are up to snuff.

The organization had planned to flip a switch so that users of Firefox 3.6 would be prompted to get the latest version, Firefox 7.0.1. That change that would get a large fraction of people onto Mozilla's rapid-release process--Firefox 3.6 was the second most widely used version of the browser in September, and Mozilla expects the upgrade prompt to encourage a lot of people to … Read more

In a move expected to bring a large number of Firefox users onto Mozilla's rapid-release process, people using Firefox 3.6 will be encouraged to update to the current version 7.0.1 today.

Mozilla has moved to the rapid-release process to try to make Firefox more competitive by getting improvements into users' hands sooner. Google's Chrome, which has been increasing in browser usage at Firefox's expense, pioneered the six-week rapid-release cycle that Firefox now uses, too.

When Mozilla releases new major versions of Firefox, the older browsers don't immediately notify users they can upgrade. But … Read more

While some solid changes to JavaScript rendering and other under-the-hood code have landed in the latest Firefox developer's build, the bulk of what's new focuses on the second version of the recently introduced Android version of Aurora. Aurora 9 for Android includes some big interface changes designed to improve its usability on tablets, support for native camera apps, faster start-up times, and broader language support.

Firefox 9 Aurora can be downloaded for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and Android.

Firefox 9 Aurora for Android debuts some sweeping interface improvements. The Back button is now attached to the location bar, … Read more

The bottom line: Firefox 7 is a worthy expression of Mozilla's ideals. The browser is competitively fast, sports a new minimalist look, and includes some excellently executed features. Unfortunately, that describes most of Firefox's competition, too.

Review: The third version of Firefox to come under the new rapid-release aegis, Firefox 7 follows in the footsteps of Google Chrome, which adopted the rapid-release cycle a while ago and is now up to version 14 (at the time this review was written) despite having its first release only in 2008.

Firefox 4 had a massive impact on Firefox 5 and … Read more

Performance and improved memory use were the goals of Firefox 7, which arrived on schedule today from Mozilla. Firefox 7 is available to download for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android.

The wide-release version of Firefox 7 brings changes to the majority of Firefox users that the beta and Aurora channels have been playing with for some time. These include claims of significant gains in reducing memory use, "often 20 percent to 30 percent less, and sometimes as much as 50 percent less," a company representative wrote in a blog post based on work by Firefox developer Nicholas Nethercote. … Read more

Mozilla is planning to address Firefox add-on compatibility issues as new versions of the browser hit the Web more often.

Mozilla kicked off this summer its controversial plan to release new versions of its Firefox browser every six weeks. The idea, the company has said, is to bring more functionality to its users more often.

In some cases, that change has been beneficial for users who want the updates the browser brings to the market. In other cases, it has proven to be a bit of a problem. One of the most notable issues related to the rapid-release cycle is … Read more

The other day someone asked me how to save a copy of a Web page. The person wanted to preserve the content of the page--text and images--in a local file rather than simply bookmark the page's link to the hosting server.

There are many reasons why you would want to save the text and other content of a Web page. For example, you may want to access the information without a network connection. You may also want to record the page's content lest the information become unavailable for whatever reason. Pages go offline all the time, some never … Read more

Mozilla, faced with business users' stiff resistance to its new rapid update schedule for Firefox, has proposed a slower-moving version of the browser.

Under the proposal, Mozilla would issue a new Extended Support Release (ESR) version of Firefox every 30 weeks. That's five times slower than the new rapid-release cycle for regular Firefox, which updates the browser every six weeks. And each version would be supported for 42 weeks under the proposal.

After Mozilla got an earful in June about how the rapid-release program outpaces some users' needs to test the browser and in-house Web sites that use it, … Read more