Mozilla 1.7, Firefox 0.9 Release Candidates Out

An anonymous reader writes "mozilla.org have released what are expected to be the final release candidates for their next versions: Mozilla 1.7RC3 (MozillaZine article; download) should iron out any final bugs in what will replace 1.4 as the new stable branch and Firefox 0.9RC (MozillaZine article; download) features the new default theme ported from Mac OS on Windows (though please bear in mind that the theme is nowhere near finished yet). The final releases of these versions are due very soon."

Comments

A Firefox mirror...

[tcopeland]

...is here.

FWIW, CVS 1.11.17 - the security release that happened this morning - is up there too.

Very clean!

[erick99]

I downloaded and installed Firefox .9 and I am quite impressed. All of my settings, bookmarks, popup exceptions, etc. ported over perfectly and automatically. The "look and feel" of .9 is very clean. I don't know how these folks manage to make each iteration better than the previous but they sure do. It loads fast as did .8 and it loads web pages quite fast. All-in-all, this is well worth the download. And, as always, Firefox is, for me, far superior to Internet Explorer or any other browser on the market.

Happy Trails!

Erick

Re:Very clean!

[chromaphobic]

Yeah, Firefox did a great job of importing my bookmarks, from frickin' Internet Explorer, which I don't even use, but not the bookmarks from the previous Firefox (0.8) install. Real helpful.

Ah well, at least it's not IE.

Re:Very clean!

[Teach]

Can Firefox disable animated images now? Or stop them when you hit the ESC key?

Yes, but like many things there's still no way to modify the preference from the menu. You'll have to type about:config in the URL bar, and then change the value of image.animation_mode. I've got mine set to once, which plays each animation once and then stops, but I think you can also set it to none.

Re:Very clean!

[chromaphobic]

They're probably not gone. Just go into Documents and Settings\Your User Name\Application Data\Phoenix\Profiles\default\ and then into the gibbersh folder and they're in there as bookmarks.html. Just import that file using the bookmarks manager.

At least they were for me.

Re:Very clean!

[funklord9]

This could provide a refreshing break from your porn links as you peruse his.

Re:Very clean!

[Moofie]

You mean, thanks for doing all the things the release notes said it was going to do? Uh, yeah. You're welcome, I guess.

Re:Very clean!

[linicks]

How can we let Mozilla know that we aren't happy with the new default theme? I realize that it is not complete, but I really don't like where it's going. I can't even make out what the "new tab" button is supposed to be.

Anyone else like or dislike the new theme?

exit all WIndows programs?

[Anonymous Coward]

THe linux gtk installer version of this RC tells me to exit all Windows programs before running Setup.

DONE!

Re:exit all WIndows programs?

[Plutor]

That's bug 240527, filed 14 April 2004. It's marked as "blocking 1.0", but not "blocking 0.9".

I hope they fix the slow loading issue !

[Zanek]

My main gripe with Mozilla is that when you leave it alone for about 30 minutes or so and come back, it takes like 15-50 seconds to be active again, which is extremely annoying (loading it from virtual mem ?). They really need to fix that
Also, some pages like WashingtonPost.com have a problem where it is constantly reloading itself (perhaps a JS error).

Re:I hope they fix the slow loading issue !

[IvyMike]

My main gripe with Mozilla is that when you leave it alone for about 30 minutes or so and come back, it takes like 15-50 seconds to be active again, which is extremely annoying (loading it from virtual mem ?)

Saw this on mozillazine a few weeks ago:

Users experiencing bug 76831, a very long delay restoring Mozilla after it has been minimized for several hours (Windows machines only), may find relief by setting the config.trim_on_minimize preference to false. See comment 0 and comment 303 in the bug for details.

(Back to Mike: I think you need to go to about:config and create a new boolean pref for this; I have not tried it myself.)

Re:I hope they fix the slow loading issue !

[Pionar]

Also, some pages like WashingtonPost.com have a problem where it is constantly reloading itself (perhaps a JS error).

Um, that's not a bug. It's standard HTML. go to washingtonpost.com and view it's source. see in the first line the meta tag with the http-equiv="refresh" and the content="900;url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/?LO AD_PAGE&reload=true"? that's what's refreshing the page. It's the page, not firefox.

You're welcome

[b00m3rang]

Had I known that installing both these packages would cause a new version release the next day, I would have done it much sooner.

Time to go wash my car.

Torrents

[FortKnox]

Anyone wanna seed the firefox d/l?

Anyone notice that there are editor holy wars (vi emacs), distro holy wars, but no 'browser' holy wars (yeah, ie vs mozilla, but that windows vs linux... I'm talking all in linux). Stuff like 'theme isn't finished' would be jumped on by the 'other browser' elitists. So linux needs a second open source free browser project so we can have a browser holywar.

No Name Change?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm very disappointed. I was under the impression that open source and the ingenuity of a team of dedicated, enthusiastic developers could finally push Rapid NameChange(TM) technology into the mainstream.

Re:No Name Change?

[jared_hanson]

I'm very disappointed. I was under the impression that open source and the ingenuity of a team of dedicated, enthusiastic developers could finally push Rapid NameChange(TM) technology into the mainstream.

Well, that was the plan for this release, but unfortunately the initials RNC were already being used by an altogether much more slow moving organization. They took issue with our tendencies towards rapid progress.

As such, we are working out naming issues right now and you can expect to see this in a future release.

Just do it

[stecoop]

It was just discussed earlier today that some users cant install Mozilla on restricted systems but you can download the zip files on run from any directory. So there is no need to patch IE. Just start with mozilla.
Some option you will want to use are under edit -> preferences -> Navigator:
+ Tabbed browsing - turn on Load Links in background, Add, Tabs, Middle click and ctrl-enter
+ Smart browsing - Enable Internet Keywords, Auto complete, Domain Guessing

The key for someone new is to try it. Don't listen to everyone one trying to shove Mozilla at you, but simply check it out for say 3 days. If you don't like it then that is ok but I bet you will start saying that it's a great browser.

Re:Just do it

[Issue9mm]

And the easiest way to try it is to assign mozilla the big blue "E" icon for Internet Explorer.

The hardest part (in my experience) for people to make the switch is that they're so used to loading IE, and don't think to look for the little dragon-head icon. Point the "E" to Mozilla and you'll be up to speed in no time.

-9mm-

Mozilla/Firefox Whitelist

[ChowyChow]

Since spyware has gone cross-platform thanks to the XPI extensions, they've now implemented a whitelist (see What's New) in retaliation.

This really is open source at its best. Microsoft has not responded to the same problems involving ActiveX.

Re:Mozilla/Firefox Whitelist

[FuzzyBad-Mofo]

A new option to prevent sites from using JavaScript to block the browser's context menu.

Sweet. Few things piss me off more when surfing, than those 2-bit scripts that try to control my alternate mouse buttons. Note to webmasters: if you're worried about people stealing your images, don't put them on the web. Lame Javascript tricks like capturing mousedown events just make me never want to visit your site again (and maybe I'll just disable Javascript and steal your images out of spite).

Nowhere near finished, but due out soon?

[OblongPlatypus]

Why do they put a default theme that is "nowhere near finished" in a product that's "due very soon"?

Yes, I know Firefox is "for those on the cutting edge", and I guess we shouldn't expect cutting-edge products to be completely finished in every respect, but Firefox is the only open source product most of my Windows-using friends are willing to even try. It would be a shame to hamper its continued spread by making the default theme an unfinished one.

Re:Nowhere near finished, but due out soon?

[Slack3r78]

Because rather than communicate clearly with the theme author or the community, the core devs made a decision and kept it secret from everyone until release was imminent, to the detriment of the project IMO. The crappy part is that, at this point, the chances of this poor decision being reversed are slim to none as it'd mean the core devs losing face.

I'm all for change and improvement, but this is a step back for Firefox as far as acceptance by the average user goes. The old theme was excellent in that it was close enough to IE to be familiar, yet different enough to be unique in its own right. In the end, it doesn't matter how good your software is, if the average user is turned off by the default interface, they're not going to use it.

Re:Nowhere near finished, but due out soon?

[colinramsay]

Yes. All extensions and themes which have not been updated for 0.9 WILL NOT work. You must wait for the theme you want to be updated before it will correctly work in this new version.

This was necessary because the theme and extension system in Firefox has been pretty badly broken since the project started. For example, you couldn't uninstall extensions.

0.9 will see automatic updates of extensions and a Mozilla.org extension repository.

Re:Nowhere near finished, but due out soon?

[gunfinger]

Yes, he may eventually be "vindicated", but what I see here is a worrisome attitude towards the user and developer communities. "We (I) know what's best, no matter how many people in the community present reasoned arguments to the contrary. If you complain about our decisions you're just a whiner, and we're going to censor you to the extent we can. Oh, and we have hidden secret information we're not telling you, so you can't possibly know what we're talking about." It's walking on thin ice at best, juvenile and egotistical at worst.

this strikes me as an inexperienced attitude. have you never run a large website before? can you imagine trying to poll the community on every decision? or ANY decision, for that matter, it doesn't work. people's opinions change with the breeze and rarely have anything to do with logic nor necessarily infer that they'll be best for the project.

i've donated a chunk of change to mozilla for their great browser long ago and i trust that they have our best interests at mind then and now, and thus am looking forward to seeing 0.9.

i've always found the qute theme to be ugly from the get go and have been using this theme for many months, it's easy on the eyes and functions well.

Re:IE

[sloanster]

There's been an ie skin for mozilla in the usual places, I was playing with it at least a year ago...

It's a hilarious hack, and makes it look a _lot_ like ie, but it's not a perfect emulation since there are no viruses, and popups are blocked, but otherwise, a pretty fair approximation.

Release Candidate?

[thedillybar]

Am I the only one confused by a "release candidate" for version 0.9?
It's not even 1.0 yet, you can't rely on it to be stable (although I have found 0.8 to work better than IE, which is supposedly stable).
Why not call it 0.85 if it's not 0.9?

Konqueror

[amightywind]

What about Konqueror, you jackass.

Re:Konqueror

[FortKnox]

See... now THIS is what I'm talking about.... now where'd I leave that asbestos suit....

Re:Firefox 0.9 RC1 on Windows theme problem

[fiiz]

Hey,

you can get the qute theme from its designer's website here.

Reduce spacing in default theme

[Rayban]

Change the following items in classic.jar/skin/classic/browser/browser.css and the default theme looks WAY better:

.toolbarbutton-1, .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button { padding: 3px; }

.toolbarbutton-1[checked="true"], .toolbarbutton-1[open="true"], .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[checked="true"], .toolbarbutton-menubutton-button[open="true"] { padding: 4px 2px 2px 4px !important; }

The spacing is less annoying and the icons look a lot better.

Re:mozilla vs. firefox/thunderbird?

[FlashBac]

Mozilla is more than just a Web browser. It has a mailer, chatzilla, some class of editor and a browser... firefox is essentially nothing more than the browser refactored and cleaned up. If you only use Mozilla as a browser, you would be as well moving to Firefox. If you want all the stuff that comes bundled with Mozilla, go about your business same as ever :)
Hope that's useful.

Re:The actual question

[CdBee]

Got to love Firesomething
If they outsource it to India it could be FireSomeone !

Qute theme still available

[egarland]

If you liked the theme from 0.8 (qute) better you can download it for 0.9. The author completely revamped qute for 0.9 and it's better than ever.

I don't know about the rest of you but this new theme doesn't look as nice to me. The icon's aren't as detailed or polished and it feels a little clunky compared to the old one.

Also, shame on the Mozilla folks for not letting the Qute author know all his hard work to support their project wouldn't be included.

Re:Anybody got a screen shot?

[TheSurfer]

Screenie of the new "Winstripe" theme

Not true

[Sycraft-fu]

Many users will whine on and on about the most trivial differences. Case in point:

We used to use Eudora around here. I don't know why, it was before I got hired. Well we have lots of people that STILL USE IT! Version 3 even. We try to push them towards Thundirbird. I mean there is nothing I can think of that Eudora does that Thundirbird doesn't (other than suck) and lots of things it can't do. Also an e-mail client is an e-mail client. I mean they all get your mail, list it, and let you reply.

Nope. There is man who bitch and whine and refuse to change. It's too hard to learn, they say. A Eudora skin would make my life much easier, though I'd reeally rather they learn the new interface (it takes what, 10 seconds to learn?)

So never say "people won't care because it's a little different. They can, and will, for some damn reason.

Re:Not true

[DA-MAN]

We try to push them towards Thundirbird. I mean there is nothing I can think of that Eudora does that Thundirbird doesn't (other than suck) and lots of things it can't do.

I know of one thing that Thunderbird can't do, and it's a very important feature in Windows. That is, integrate with a Virus Scanner, obviously not Thunderbirds fault. However if you get an e-mail with a virus, the virus scanner tends to delete the infected file which in Thunderbird also stores all your previous e-mails. So if you use pop, instead of imap, and are running a Virus Scanner, be afraid... be very afraid.

Re:Debian

[steveha]

I know it's a joke, but sheesh.

Debian has all the free browsers, including Firefox, and keeps them up to date.

The Debian "nonfree" packages still include Netscape 4.7, although in the future the Debian project may distance itself from both contrib and nonfree.

And while Debian's "stable" branch is legendary for being a bit behind the times, most people run "unstable" on their desktops, or at least "testing", and those are very up to date.

I'm running Debian unstable on my desktop and I expect to have Firefox 0.9 within a few days.

steveha

Re:Windows 95

[Andrew_T366]

Mozilla 1.4 and later require version 2.30.4265 or later of the system file oleaut32.dll to run properly beyond the splash screen. If you have problems running this software under Windows 95, it is probably due to this or another missing or obsolete system file. I have flawlessly run Mozilla 1.6, 1.7 RC3, and Firefox 0.8 myself under Windows 95C (although I'll still need to check to see if Mozilla Firefox 0.9 RC works under this OS).

You may also be interested in QuickPrefs

[Anonymous Coward]

QuickPrefs (for Mozilla and Firefox) adds a toolbar icon with a dropdown menu of options you'd usually have to dig around

about:config

for, such as cookie/image blocking, referrer and useragent spoofing, and animated image settings (never, once, or normal).

Be warned HCI is crap

[oliverthered]

Firefox has great standards compatability, but has piss poor HCI.

URL fails to load -> url blanked

Switch from one tab to another while url loading -> old url displayed.

Page fails to load because of DNS lookup -> stored in the menu bar cache!.

Download -> gets sent somewhere whithout asking, doesn't tell the user that anythings happended.

Download again -> creates a new file blar+1 no continue/overwrite prompt or anything.

Close browser while downloading -> canceles all your downloads.

Download more than one extension -> get anoying prompts that are incorrect!

etc... etc.... etc.... etc.....

Firefox has to be one of the most anoying pieces of software I have ever used.

I only use it because it's more standards complient and faster than the alternitives.

Yes it can stop animated gifs

[WD]

Go to:
about:config

Find "image.animation_mode"
Change it to "once" or "none"

err...

[RAMMS EIN]

Man, I don't want to know how many people think that Debian _reall_ still ships Netscape 4.7... Here's the truth:

1. Debian has never, nor ever will include Netscape 4.7 in the default branch, because it doesn't meet the Debian Free Software Guidelines.

2. Debian is actually one of the more up to date distros I've used. Just run unstable and you get almost everything just a few days after release, virtually always working.

I am sick of tired about people bashing Debian because they make every conceivable effort to guarantee that their stable distribution Just Works, even avoiding incompatibilities between versions of the same package.

At the same time, their unstable distribution gives you the latest software as soon as is feasible while still maintaining unmatched quality, and has (to my knowledge) the largest collection of packages of any distro, compiled for several architectures.

Combine all that with package management that is so good that other distros have eventually given up trying to match it and are now adopting apt one by one, and you have a distro that can turn intelligent people into zealots like me. Get on your knees and apologize! ;-)

Portable Firefox (Run from a USB key)

[CritterNYC]

For anyone who's interested, Firefox 0.9 now supports the ability to run from a USB key without any major changes AND be able to take your entire profile with you. I've repackaged the Firefox 0.9 Release Candidate as a ZIP that will create an 8.1Mb install of Firefox on your USB key, complete with a built-in profile. Full details of the changes (if you're curious, or so you can try it yourself) as well as a ZIP are available here:

http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/portable_firefox/

Any commentary or questions on this new feature can be addresses in this thread on mozillaZine.

Gentoo

[IshanCaspian]

Haha, silly debian users...I run Gentoo. I'll let you guys know what 0.9 is like next week, when it finishes compiling. ;)