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Gecko-based K-Meleon 0.9 browser Released

Posted by Hemos on from the keep-the-pressure-on dept.

Fylfot writes "After a long time in development, version 0.9 of the Gecko-based K-Meleon web browser for Windows has been released. K-Meleon is the geekier, more configurable, lighter-weight (XULless), speedier twin of Firefox. When 1.0 comes out, Microsoft may have another reason to worry about Internet Explorer marketshare. Also reported on Chip Online and MozillaZine."

16 of 345 comments (clear)

  1. Geekier? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I hardly consider something that tries to look like IE and that is Windows only to be geekier.

  2. Wait a second... by BlueCodeWarrior · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...K-Meleon is more geeky than Firefox?


    Oh shit, my Internet penis is shortening by the second....must......download....

  3. Too bad by datadriven · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'll never get to try it because I use slackware.

    --
    GETPKG - Package Management for Slackware
  4. Geekier? by raider_red · · Score: 4, Funny

    If this was geekier, don't you think the guys behind it would have a tougher web server?

    --
    It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
  5. I don't think so by Takyn-U-RUN · · Score: 5, Insightful

    K-Meleon is the geekier, more configurable... Microsoft may have another reason to worry about Internet Explorer marketshare.

    If K-Meleon is more geeky than Firefox, than I don't think IE will be worrying any time soon.

  6. Geekier? by Savant · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What percentage of the Internet Explorer audience run it because Firefox isn't geeky enough, and will be tempted by a "geekier, more configurable" browser?

    I don't buy the threat to IE market share. I'm sure it's a great browser, and I'm geeky enough to take an interest in it, but if I were representative of 99% of the population, Linux would be massive on the desktop.

  7. If its *that* good... by E+IS+mC(Square) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    then, i guess it would be Firefox which may lose market-share. after all, both of them (K-melon and FF) appleal more to the techie ppl than those rest 90% (i.e. IE users).

    So, chances are more that a FF user may convert to K-melon than an IE user!

    or not?

    1. Re:If its *that* good... by uimedic · · Score: 4, Informative
      I really agree. I use Firefox preferentially, and this Slashdot story made me aware of K-Meleon. Given how much I like Firefox, I was excited to try it.

      I downloaded the newest version and installed it. It installs cleanly, a feature I appreciate greatly (no registry entries or system files to be orphaned). It loads very fast. I manually brought in my bookmarks from Firefox and started browsing.

      So far, it loads fast and then goes about as fast as Firefox. K-Meleon uses a scheme that creates "layers" instead of tabs which I personally find much less intuitive. One features I use most in Firefox is the "Open in Tabs" selection from the bookmarks menu.

      Instead of an "Open in Tabs" option within bookmarks, K-Meleon has you create "groups" of "layers" which you then label. To create a group, you have to open individual layers for each page and then point each layer at a page I wanted in the group. You can then save them with a name like "news." You can then just type "news" in the address bar and hit Shift+Enter to bring up the group in different layers. It is slick and fast once the group is created. Of course, don't accidentally type in "News" b/c the group names are case-sensitive.

      All in all it's interesting and fun to play with new software. Yet with my N=1 sample of me, I'd say that I found tabs and their implementation in Firefox much more intuitive than layers and groups. There was no simple method to import Firefox bookmarks from within K-Meleon, but it did import IE Favorites quite easily and has methods that supposedly work with Netscape and Opera bookmarks. Also, while the browser itself feels light and nimble, its menu structure is cluttered and not particularly intuitive.

      All of this is written with about an hour and a half of use on a 0.9 release, so my impressions must be taken with a grain of salt and improvements are sure to come. However, this brief experience certainly makes me think that an IE user would adjust more readily to Firefox than K-Meleon. Consequently, I think K-Meleon is more likely to convert Firefox users than IE users.

      But that's just my opinion.

      --
      Diagnosis: you are paranoid. As luck would have it, you're also being followed.
  8. Faster but... by radixvir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well it seems much faster than firefox, but there's a point at which an application becomes 'too customizable'. You have to edit a text file just to change the toolbar buttons? And there doesnt seem to be any extensions right now, you might want to wait. Personally I would like to see a native-rendered firefox.

  9. Mind warp by Hoplite3 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It starts with a "K", but it's not for KDE. It's windows only. This violates an essential rule of software. If it's called "kfoo", it's for kde, "gfoo" -- gnome, "xfoo" -- graphical cousin to pre-existing "foo" cli application, "yfoo" -- I don't know. Why foo?

    --
    Use the Firehose to mod down Second Life stories!
    1. Re:Mind warp by druske · · Score: 4, Funny
      It starts with a "K", but it's not for KDE. It's windows only. This violates an essential rule of software. If it's called "kfoo", it's for kde, "gfoo" -- gnome, "xfoo" -- graphical cousin to pre-existing "foo" cli application, "yfoo" -- I don't know. Why foo?
      Don't forget iFoo for the Mac!
  10. Dissecting the features by Staplerh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Found this on the release page, a list of features:

    Support for Bookmarks, Favorites and Hotlists
    Hmm, nothing too special? It'll be interesting to see what form they take - whether the Safari-esque model of bookmark management (a page) or the standard pop-up organizer.

    Layers(Tabbed Browsing)
    Wooo... Kind of a necessity in today's brower 'market'.

    Integrated search tools to search Google or configurable to use your favorite web resources
    Neat. Still nothing revolutionary.. think Firefox.

    Enhanced privacy and security features to protect against spyware and viruses - block pop-ups and web sites that try to change your home page or download spyware!
    Anything like this is great.. Maybe this will start to hint Microsoft along those lines, and we can get real security that can keep my family's computer running (despite the naive endusers).

    Unique right-click toolbar buttons allow quick access to additional features and settings
    Now, right mouse button features are good but I feel they are a bit of a crutch for poor design and don't make it as accessible to the user. I suppose I fall into teh 'Apple' camp of one button computing.. the right button/scroll is handy, but not the end all/be all... certainly not something to trump as a unique feature.

    Complete customization of all menus and toolbars
    Now this is a great thing.. I love the way I can configure MS Office to my exact specifications, and this could be the real reason to switch over to K-Meleon 0.9 IMHO.

    Configurable to use your mail and news programs
    Hmm, wonder if this will take the form of just popping up my mail client when I click on something, or a news client when I click on something, or if it is something revolutionary?

    Bit of a screed, I know, but just my two cents.

    --
    "There's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all."
    - Bob Dylan
  11. Re:Hopefully no memory leaks like FireFox by birder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sounds like you have serious issues that I have never see exhibited before. You might try using the MOOX build of firefox. For one, it fixes the annoying ./ render bug.

    http://www.moox.ws/tech/mozilla/

  12. Or just try Moox by badmammajamma · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://www.moox.ws/tech/mozilla/

    This guy makes processor optimized builds of Firefox. He even provides some numbers of tests he did on an Athlon system. Anyway, if you use a moox build with some other minor tweaks (like pipelining), you will definitely notice a difference.

    --
    Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood. -- H. L. Mencken
  13. Simple. XUL == Slow. by brunes69 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Try running Firefox or Mozilla on a Pentium 166, or even less. It is slow as molasses. This has nothing to do with Gecko (which is super fast), but the XUL GUI. It is just too slow for these older machines.

    Browsers with native toolkits, like K-Meleon or Galeon or Epiphany, fill this void. They use the excellent Mozilla rendering engine with fast, native widgets.

  14. I predict... by bonch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I predict that, because everyone here has grown so attached to Firefox, everyone will attack the submitters' "geekier" claim and mindlessly defend Firefox without even bothering to try K-Meleon, which really is faster and more configurable. Instead of actually discussing K-Meleon, the discussion will be about defending Firefox, because, for some reason, geeks really hate change or when the things they're used to get criticized or bested. Note that not all of you are like this--but a large majority.

    It's totally pointless for Firefox to re-implement its own widgets when I have a GUI that already provides those to apps for a reason! I switched to Opera long ago because it takes up half the memory and works at twice the speed. Cross-platform compatibility, you say? Opera happily exists on multiple platforms while still using native widgets. For crying out loud, Firefox even has its own generic string class! Unless the Mozilla/Firefox developers are intent on constructing their own OS, they should stick to just being a native browser on whichever platform of choice. Otherewise, Mozilla/Firefox will continue to be slower than they should be and will continue to take up ungodly huge amounts of RAM when they shouldn't. And most people will continue to defend it just because they don't like Microsoft and have adopted Firefox as their little badge of rebellion. Sheesh.