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Mozilla pushes Firefox fuddy-duddies toward the future

People using a nearly 2-year-old version of the browser now are being nudged to upgrade to Firefox 8. Welcome, all you slowpokes, to Mozilla's fast-release plan.

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Stephen Shankland principal writer
Stephen Shankland has been a reporter at CNET since 1998 and writes about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science Credentials
  • I've been covering the technology industry for 24 years and was a science writer for five years before that. I've got deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and other dee
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Stephen Shankland
2 min read
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Mozilla has begun notifying Firefox 3.6 users that now is a good time to upgrade to Firefox 8.0.1--and to the browser's new fast-moving ethos.

The change had been planned for at least two other occasions in recent weeks, but Mozilla postponed it. And then yesterday, Mozilla flipped the switch so that when Firefox 3.6 checks with a server to find out if there's an update, it'll find the newest version of the browser.

"It's live, and users should see an update in the next 24 hours," said spokeswoman Erica Jostedt. Mozilla has a Web page for users to check whether they have the latest Firefox version.

Mozilla released Firefox 3.6 in January 2010. After Firefox 4 a year later, Mozilla moved to a rapid-release philosophy in which new versions of the browser come every six weeks with smaller changes.

Firefox 8 is the most widely used version of Mozilla's browser, accounting for 7.3 percent of personal-computer browser usage in November, according to statistics from Net Applications. Firefox 3.6 is next, with 5.3 percent, so a lot more people likely will get on the rapid-release train now.

Firefox is in a competitive race, primarily right now with Chrome. Google's browser is in third place but closing the gap with Firefox.

The rapid-release plan, modeled on the same practice Google adopted with Chrome, lets Firefox deliver new features without browser users having to wait a year or more for a new major version. It's irked some people, particularly business customers, who don't want a fast-moving product, so Mozilla is working on a slower-release plan, too.

The rapid-release update process also produces a lot of intrusive notifications for Windows users. Mozilla is working to ease that annoyance with silent updates.