Mozilla 1.4RC2 Released

levell writes "Mozilla 1.4RC2 has been released. It looks like the final version of 1.4 may be out soon. It looks good although there are some problems with java on old linux systems (discussed here). 1.4 will be a long lived branch that some distributors will base versions of their own software on (e.g. Netscape planned release, codenamed "buffy"). 1.4 will be the last version of Mozilla released as a suite, after that the switch to separate browser, e-mail etc. applications will take place."

Comments

Camino?

[Montreal]

Hopefully the Camino developer(s) will now switch to this branch - from what I can see, the nightlies have been pretty variable quality ever since 0.7, which is when they switched to the trunk from a 1.0-ish branch.

They still haven't fixed the a huge issue

[PhysicsGenius]

MathML. It's supported, but only in pure XML pages. This means that on legacy HTML sites, like Slashdot and K5, I can't fully get across the brilliance of my scientific and mathematical ideas, which is a lose-lose situation.

As open source projects, you'd think that Slashcode and Mozilla could meet halfway on this. But, as anyone who's tried to submit a patch to either project knows, they are open in name only. Development of both systems is really closed to outsiders and only insiders (the creators, their friends and people who think exactly the same way that they do) are allowed to submit patches. Witness the recent Taco IRC interview where his response to "when will Slashdot validate at the W3c" was "Whatever. Next."

/me starts an open-minded source revolution

Browser Spoofing.

[Delta-9]

I think browser spoofing is a very bad thing. Yes it lets you load your page correctly, but it will never let the "powers that be" know that people use something other than IE.

I have stopped telling safari to use the IE "user agent" because of this. I want people to know that I use something that isn't Microsoft and sooner or later this is going to make a difference. Especially with the fact that M$ has officially dropped their IE for OS X.

Re:Browser Spoofing.

[El Cubano]

I have stopped telling safari to use the IE "user agent" because of this. I want people to know that I use something that isn't Microsoft and sooner or later this is going to make a difference. Especially with the fact that M$ has officially dropped their IE for OS X.

Boy would I love to join you there. Unfortunately there are still some websites that flat out refuse to load into anything other than IE, most notably the website where I access my payroll information to verify I was paid correctly). I emailed tech support and their reply was, "we only support IE in Windows, get partition magic and install windows on your computer." It's a tough fight righ now.

Re: Browser spoofing problem

[Cochonou]

I think developpers have said numerous times on Bugzilla that they didn't want to implement an "user friendly" browser spoofing feature because they believe it would hurt Mozilla in the long run.

The problem is that, if many people were using Mozilla spoofing (let's say) IE6, Mozilla "market share" would appear even lower in statistics than it already is, thus making even harder for Mozilla evangelists to do their job.
Who would want to support a browser that would seem to be used by 0.003% of web surfers ?

Decent SVG support on Linux

[Monkey-Man2000]

I'm sure this Mozilla doesn't have SVG support. However, I was wondering if anyone knew the status of the Adobe SVG Plugin's compatibility with the browser (whether Adobe is developing a new compatible plug-in or Mozilla compensating for Adobe's compatibility problems). My understanding is that Adobe developed the 3.0 plugin before the Mozilla API was frozen, and now it crashes the browser. This is common to Windows and Linux and for Mozilla derivatives as well (Netscape). Neither the Mozilla developers or Adobe seem to be budging. I just want to have some decent SVG support in Linux. Is SVG development something I should avoid?

Blockers once again seem non-corporeal

[gringer]

I have been trying to keep up with Mozilla developments, and have noticed here that there are still bugs to be resolved that are apparently blockers (or go straight to the bug list). The strange thing is, there was mentioned a possibility of rebranding RC2 as final, according to the recent staff meeting minutes (*1.4*, Point 3).

I find it strange that the Mozilla team is prepared to release 1.4 (which will replace the 1.0.x branch) with previously-declared blocker bugs still floating around.

Don't cave in.

[haeger]

I emailed tech support and their reply was, "we only support IE in Windows, get partition magic and install windows on your computer."

Then do what I do. Refuse to use their service. My bank didn't allow me to use Mozilla on Linux, bye bye bank. I can find someone else to give my money to. My company recently installed a time-reportin tool that requires Windows and IE, I still send my report card to a secretary since I don't have a computer with IE on it, it's either that or they can PAY me to come in in the evening to fill out those damn web-reports in IE, and I guarantee You that I will do this on high pay time.

Don't cave in. All over the world there is one thing people understand. Money. If not supporting Mozilla starts costing them money then they'll have to rethink.

I'm sure I could install windows if they like, provided that they pay for the licese, the computer, my time to install and administer the box. If they want me to run it, they'd better pay me. I don't do boring stuff on my spare time.

.haeger