mozilla

Firefox market share climbs 20 percent in Europe

And the beat goes on. As XiTi Monitor's data shows, Firefox has been on a European tear, gaining ground at a 20 percent clip to take 28 percent market share in Europe. The loser in the battle? Internet Explorer.

The data also shows that Firefox users upgrade more often than Internet Explorer (with the majority of IE users sticking with pre-IE7 versions). There's a clear reason: People use Firefox by choice (they must download it, after all) and IE by Microsoft/PC manufacturer fiat. Most users take what is given to them and never think twice about it...… Read more

Firefox 3 getting integrated add-ons directory

After making noise with the reintroduction of its Firefox add-ons directory last year, Mozilla is taking a step closer to integrating it with the upcoming beta of Firefox 3, which is set to go out to beta testers next week. Ryan Wagner over at Cybernet News writes that one of the biggest additions to the public betas of Firefox 3 has been the newly integrated add-on directory, which made its way into the prebeta nightly builds earlier this week. Users can search through add-ons within the settings dialog without visiting Mozilla's site. The feeds are still linked up to … Read more

Mozilla fixes Firefox's flat add-on vulnerability

The security team at Mozilla has fixed the flat add-on vulnerability acknowledged last week. However, no decision has been made when Firefox 2.0.0.12 will be pushed out to users' desktops.

The vulnerability, known formally as the "chrome protocol directory transversal," occurs when a "flat" add-on is present. In this case, an extension to the browser stores its information within JavaScript files as opposed to JAR files. Window Snyder, Mozilla's chief of security, says the vulnerability is not within the browser, but in how the extensions are written.

An attacker exploiting this flaw … Read more

Mozilla outlines two mobile-browser prototypes

Amid rookie mobile browser Skyfire's bold attempt to take on the market and Opera Software's defensive rebuttal (sent via press release) emerges news from Mozilla developer and project lead, Doug Turner.

A few months ago, Turner told us that the Minimo browser was on its way out (you can still download it here) and that newer projects would take its place.

According to Doug's blog, the replacement efforts have arrived. Well, not quite, but two prototypes have.

The first, called simply "Nontouch screen UI," is dedicated to the broad range of devices. While Turner describes … Read more

The need for a more activist, integrated Mozilla

Mozilla writes and helps foster communities that assist in writing some of the best open-source code on the planet. Where Mozilla fails is as an activist voice, trumpeting to the world just how exceptional the products it builds can be. I'm not sure if this is a fault with the Mozilla Corporation or the Mozilla Foundation, but we need a more vocal Mozilla.

We also need a Mozilla that integrates much better with the existing software world. Read: the proprietary software world.

BusinessWeek notes that Mozilla is making efforts to improve upon its 2% market share in China. It's starting campus programs, among other things, to boost awareness of Firefox. But according to the article, most Chinese simply want their browser pre-bundled and pre-configured with a wide range of options. Microsoft and those companies building browsers based on the IE kernel are doing that. Mozilla? Not so much.

Back in the West, Linux Insider notes that Mozilla's biggest problem is its lack of corporate outreach:… Read more

Four productivity-boosting Firefox extensions

I've been using Firefox as my primary browser for so long that Internet Explorer looks strange to me on those odd occasions when Windows Update or some other automatic Windows setting opens it. There are lots of reasons Firefox is my browser of choice, not the least of which are the great free add-ons for the program that neither IE nor any other browser can match.

Topping my list of Firefox extensions is NoScript from InformAction and Giorgio Maone. The fact is, I'm so accustomed to NoScript that Firefox wouldn't be Firefox without the little blue "… Read more

Mozilla confirms low-risk Firefox flaw

There's a directory traversal vulnerability in the chrome protocol scheme within Firefox 2. Proof of concept code for this was first posted to the Internet on January 19, 2008. On Tuesday, Mozilla security chief Window Snyder confirmed that the flaw affects fully patched versions of the Firefox browser.

When a "flat" add-on is present, an extension which stores its information within Javascript files as opposed to .jar files, an attacker exploiting this flaw may be able to retrieve data or profile a compromised system. Extensions such as Greasemonkey and Download Statusbar may be affected.

On the Mozilla … Read more

Mozilla yanks its gauche anti-Internet Explorer campaign

It's often said that open-source companies spend a lot less money on sales and marketing. Apparently this translates into not knowing how to spend it well when we do spend money, as Mozilla's recent bout with marketing demonstrates.

Mozilla's "Firefox Users against Boredom" campaign was meant to be funny. Kind of like Apple's Mac vs. PC ads. But it wasn't.

I, personally, wasn't offended by its tongue-in-cheek implications that Internet Explorer causes cancer and such. I just found them dumb and ineffective. It's also surprising to me that with so much … Read more

Underexposed blog: Links of the day

Helicon Focus software -- Combines multiple photos at different focus points into a single image with everything in focus. Somehow. More computational photography. A detailed review of Nikon D3 -- Very long review of the Nikon D3, favorable overall. Details include praise for GPS compatibility (UTC timestamps!), demerits for live view during macro shooting, and grumblings about long night exposures and weak infrared and ultraviolet performance. Creativepro.com -- Review: Canon PowerShot G9 -- A favorable review, but it says: "What I find frustrating is that there could be a G9-like camera with lower noise, if it didn't … Read more

Mozilla promotes Lilly from COO to CEO

Mozilla Corp., the for-profit subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation, has promoted Chief Operating Officer John Lilly to chief executive, the organization behind the Firefox Web browser and Thunderbird e-mail software said Monday.

Former CEO Mitchell Baker will remain chairman, the organization said, where she'll focus on high-level issues such as standards, interoperability, and issues around people's data.

"John Lilly is the right person to guide the product and organizational maturity of MoCo. John has been doing more and more of this since he took on the COO role in August of 2006. John understands Mozilla, is astonishingly … Read more