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Firefox 2.0 RC3 Released
midkay writes "Firefox 2.0 RC3 has just been released. The release notes cover all the changes since the first release candidate, but RC3 appears to have a new Windows installer and more security in the extensions aspect, among a few other things."
That said, I wish they would take care of these problems at some point. I know on the current Firefox, you can take measures to restrict its size but I think it starts to thrash when I go to a largely intensive Flash site. I would rather it not steadily accrue memory as I use it through the day and visit sites that use Flash extensively. I know that Flash is a plug-in and this is one of the leading causes of memory problems in Firefox. But it's the only extension/plug-in I use and it's so I can see average websites, I don't do anything special or extraordinary with it. You'll probably be able to convince me that this is Flash's fault yet I don't quite see the same effects in IE. Conspiracy? Well, I'm all ears and happy if it is.
Maybe it's the fact that I have between 5 and 10 tabs open at a time. Although I'm good at closing them, sometimes the memory doesn't seem to be freed up. Maybe that's not Firefox's fault and it's these shady sites (like Slashdot) that allocate resources that can't be freed? Maybe this is an unavoidable problem and IE 7 will experience the same problems--I'm not sure but we'll see I guess. What should worry Firefox proliferation advocates is that I'm willing to try out IE 7 when Windows forces it on my machine just to see if I can use it all day without having it blow up a couple times due to memory leaks.
So this features list has some intriguing points but the one that would make me squeal like a giddy school girl would be:
- Large Amount of Memory Issues Fixed.
It's not a feature but it means the world to me.So, in the end, I hope that the development efforts of Firefox 2 are spent implementing better memory management and control instead of introducing more features. More features are probably a lot more fun to develop and I know I get this for free so I'm not in any position to bitch. But if you want to make me an I'm-going-marry-Firefox fanboy, fix the memory leaks that plague the occasional user--I'm not saying all of them, just the ones that large percentages of your users probably experience.
Does anyone else experience memory issues with Firefox? Does anybody know if development efforts for Firefox 2 have included memory management? I can't seem to find any record of that online.
My work here is dung.
I do not want t try out this release becasuse all my extensions do not work, and Firefox without those particular extensions is not worth the effort. However, I applaud their coding effort.
I installed RC2 when it came out and it completely wiped out my bookmarks in 1.5. To top that off, the tab functionality was completely broken. I think I'll wait till after the RCs.
...is this on Slashdot? This is almost like reporting on a nightly build. Remind me when it actually goes final.
WASTE - The Secure P2P
They are updated constantly and for my power book g4, they actually load around 2 times faster than the standard Firefox.
http://www.furbism.com/firefoxmac/
Although not exclusive to RC3, I'd like to say that Firefox 2's UIis cleaner and fits in better with the more "friendly" GUIs out there, such as OS X and Ubuntu.
It's a bit obvious from the number of major additions described, but the "phishing protection" and "new Windows Installer" are just new features of 2.0, which were already in earlier release candidates. Compare the announcements of RC3 and RC2 on the developer blog.
The release notes page itself seems a bit misleading, since they specifically talk about "Firefox 2 RC3" even in places where they mean Firefox 2 - perhaps someone saved time with a search & replace.
--
So while this announcement probably means they fixed bugs and are another step closer to the final release, the major features aren't news.
What were the "long standing issues" that effected the old Windows installer? I've never really had any problems with it so I'm just a little curious about what was so bad about it that it required a new tool to get the job done.
Some nice new features (no, I didn't RTFA):
-auto spellcheck (GREAT idea, especially for your typical slashdotter)
-session saving (although Opera beat it to the punch like, well, everything else(aww snap -1 troll))
-security updates... ?
After downloading the alpha of Firefox 3 a couple night ago, I don't think I'll bother. I couldn't see any worthwhile benefit from upgrading. If someone can tell me why two is better than three I might waste my dialup bandwidth. I RTFA'ed but nothing stands out.
It's not a bug, it's a feature :)
Blog -
Your boat has a hole in it.
Here is the link: Bill's Big List of Firefox 2.0 Compatible Extensions
I guess this will be what will eventually become IceWeasel 2?
Summation 2
What about thunderbird, how is development coming on that?
I've already seen issues with Thunderbird 1.5.0.7 on WinXP 64 bit, you can't use the right click send to, mail receipient option.
and each tab will now have a close tab button.and each tab will now have a close tab button.
I seriously hope they have changed the preferences this time so that is easy to change back to the pre 2.0 behavior (its doable but its quite a hassle - using about::config to enter a new option that does not exist is not really that user friendly).
God, having to move your mouse to close a multitude of windows just UBER sucks.. the last beta I couldn't even change the behavior to full pre 2.0 behavior - when I had less windows than what filled the horisontal screensize, the closing button would be at the right end of the tabs, not at the right end of the entire firefox window.. talk about sucky inconsistent user interface.
-pug
A script kiddie rules your computer.
will this be finally compatible with web 2.0?
for a minute there, i lost myself...
I just told my Firefox 2.0rc2 to autoupgrade ; now when I ask "about Mozilla Firefox", it says "Firefox 2.0" - whereas 2.0rc2 said "2.0rc2" . So this , under the hood, is already 2.0 ; IMHO the dev team thinks that, most probably, there will not be a 2.0rc4, so they are betting on this to really be 2.0.
I was using RC2 which worked alright, although I actually preferred the way older versions did some things, like I don't like the way you have to scrolling through tabs now, instead of just making them smaller.
But with RC3 any URL I enter is opened in the first tab - its impossible to open pages in other tabs it seems. I'm amazed how this kind of massive bug made it into a release candidate.
It seems that page loads are even snappier in RC3 than they were in RC2?
Firefox promised a new bookmark system that was based on storage in a database, which would make them searchable and whatnot++. Wasn't that touted for v2.0?
Man if I had 100 mods points I'd give them ALL to you.
I use Firefox each and every day - for work and for play; but for some reason when ever I visit a site with FLASH my CPU feels the pain. And by pain I mean **100%** CPU usage pain. Well maybe 60% on my new system. Well maybe not every FLASH site, but it seems to be most of them. And why does IE not have this issue? Will someone please help me? Mozilla? Linus? CmdrTaco?
12 hours of always up useage...(I have the flu..and can't sleep)
Youtube, Veoh... lots of other sites.
It's using 90 Megs now, which I'm pretty sure would be 250+ megs idle under previous versions.
And this is on XP Pro.
I like it, yes it may have memory leaks, some browsers may be faster, but overall it is very stable (os x, linux and win versions in use), in an easy way extendable and at least for me , fast enough. The new version doesn't have that many changes, but what is it that you can change? Afterall it is a webbrowser and not an armed flying container ship on a red cross mission.
The restore session thingi works really nicely and the "list all tabs" button is a big help, as I have always >15 tabs open.
So, thanks a lot, whoever has worked on it
"People who are willing to sacrifice essential freedoms for security deserve neither freedom nor security."
B F
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=4736 82
Please voice your concern about memory at Mozilla.
What good is the yield/next iterator?
Every example that I've seen shows how to convert one loop into two loops totalling more statements. Can anyone explain to me how it makes my JS code simpler?
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
FLASH SUCKS! They need to be horse whipped with a dull horse! That's the problem, and the hordes of insane web masterbaiters who insist you use Flash to use their website. Screw them and screw flash. Get rid of it. It's a bogus feature that is not needed for anything.
Flash is the poster child for useless eyecandy stoopid bloaterizing of the web. And it really shouldn't even be considered, it is as closed source and nasty as it gets, you get every single closed source problem with no benefits.
I don't even use youtube at all because of flash, at least with google vids you can download a normal dot avi file and open it in a movie player.
it would be nice to install RC3, but the download page http://www.mozilla.org/projects/bonecho/all-rc.htm l just links to 1.5.0.7 even though it is supposed to be 2.0RC3. I tried the us and uk english versions and they're both 1.5.0.7. The same thing happened when i tried to install RC2 a week ago.
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
Unless I absolutely, positively have to have it, I'll not be installing it on my PC.
* It doesn't respect my themes.
* It's still useless without Tab Mix Plus
I'll pass for now.
I have RC2 installed, and it upgraded me automatically (without asking). For what it's worth, downloading the English(British) version from the linked page fired off a download of RC3 for me...
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Ever since the re-commercialization of Mozilla the on staff developers have been hard set against any technology which could compete with Flash such as MNG or SVG+JS automation. With support for this tech in common browsers it would be possible for website authors to achieve the same functionality without depending on the flash garbage.
It almost makes you wonder if they haven't been collecting a check for that decision.
-Bradly
It appears you have to have javascript enabled, otherwise you get redirected to the 1.5.0.7 page. That's that mystery solved.
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
I've been using the release candidates for nearly a month now, starting with the first candidate of RC1 (yes, they do release release candidates of release candidates ;)). There were some things that took a bit of getting used to, but within an hour, I was loving it.
:) No more need for NTT or for manually bumping up the maxVersion of such extensions.
1/ It seems faster. It also has a MUCH better memory footprint.
2/ Session-saving and undo close tabs is now built-in. This is great, because I used to get this from an extension, and that extension was a horrible memory leaker (this might contribute to #1).
3/ New tab management. I often have lots of tabs open, and it's nice to be able to scroll the tab bar now or to get a drop-down of all the open tabs. The close button on each tab is annoying (that's what middle-click is for) and the wider minimum tab width is wasteful, but both of those settings can be changed in about:config.
4/ Speaking of about:config, there is a new hidden setting that lets you disable compatibility checking for extensions. Oftentimes, an extension marked for 1.5 will work just fine for 2.0, but the author hadn't updated the extension's manifest to say that, so FF2 would refuse that extension. Not anymore.
5/ Button to restart Firefox after installing an add-on. And the new session saving kicks in to restore all your tabs and even what you have filled into forms after the restart. Makes installing stuff much less painful.
6/ Spell check! No more copying-and-pasting into word to check for typos.
7/ Better RSS management
8/ Better password auto-fill
9/ I personally love the look of the new theme. The old tabs looked rather ugly on Windows Classic. Now combined with ClassicFox, Firefox looks stunning on Windows Classic. But that's a matter of personal taste.
Personally, I didn't care much for the other features like anti-phishing (I have it disabled 'cuz I think I can protect myself, but it's good for Joe Sixpack), live titles, or the search suggest (which I also have disabled). Anyway, at the risk of sounding like some sappy endorsement, I really love Firefox 2. Once I got used to it and tweaked the settings, I can't believe how I ever managed to get along with 1.5.
the most anoying bug form me is one of the oldest, if you have a table, select, copy and paste it on an excel (or OO) spreadsheet, it will put everything in one cell instead of respecting the cells content.
4 50)
this bug is 4 YERS OLD!!! (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=137
if ie7 adresses his problems, it's probable that I will go back to it.
Does anyone have an extension or a way to "un-fix" the tabbed browsing changes? I actually prefer the original method of tabs getting smaller.
In Soviet Russia...michael would be rotting in Siberia!
Your comment sounds funny considering this is RC3. On a different note, I was just serious anyway, doesn't it bug you guys/gals that your extensions are always breaking? Just use Opera, it does a lot of things by default that require extensions in Firefox (mouse gestures!). I'm not saying it's better than Firefox but I think people would really learn to like it if they gave it some time (I know, the interface is a bit wacky and things are hard to find at first but those growing pains go away quickly).
They should add the feature where firefox doesn't crash every 60-90 minutes, that would be kind of nice. Imagine if IE crashed as often as firefox, how the fanboys here would lose it!!
It is a must have yet it doesn't work with FF 2. Anyone knows a working alternative?
I tried FF 2 a few days ago and gave up because of this reason.
now when I ask "about Mozilla Firefox", it says "Firefox 2.0" - whereas 2.0rc2 said "2.0rc2" .
that's weird, at least for me RC1 said "Firefox 2.0" (I didn't check RC2)
Well, they've fixed some memory leaks in all but one of the 1.5.0.x releases (check the release notes). And they have fixed more memory leaks in 2.0.
If you're interested, there's a page detailing Mozilla's tools to find memory leaks. It was originally posted in 2001, but as you look through it you'll find a bunch of sections updated in summer 2006.
I just installed it on win2k and i have to say the default theme has thin, grimy icons, and naff looking half assed glass effects on the tabs. YUCK YUCK YUCK. and there are only 10 themes on the mozilla themes page that are compatible with 2.0, and they're all shit. The least hideous is the opera rip off, but even that is still crapper than the 1.5 default theme. I hope someone makes a theme for it that reverts it back to the 1.5 look and feel.
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
Hmmm. I can confirm that 2.0beta2 reports "2.0b2" in the about window. It may be that I had installed 2.0beta2 , but never upgraded it for long time, and then I upgraded from 2.0b2 to 2.0rc3 . I am not so sure anymore, please ignore the comment regarding 2.0rc2 :->
I recently enabled support for the new Firefox 2.0 auto-suggest search engine feature on all Wikimedia servers.
Wikipedia will provide suggestions to your search as you type in the search box. To enable, visit any Wiki-site (i.e. http://en.wikipedia.org/ ), and click the Engine Selector button (to the left of the search box). Click "Add Wikipedia". Afterwards, when you start typing in the search box while having Wikipedia engine selected, titles will automatically appear. Sometimes a FF restart is needed for the feature to begin to work. If you have any questions or suggestions, leave me a comment at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Yurik . At some point more relevant search will be implemented as well.
I hate the way Firefox defaults to saving everything as "Default.asp" instead of the actual title of the document. This was raised as a bug with the Firefox developers, who arrogantly said "why would you want to save it as anything but the filename?" Even IE does this right.
File Title 1.1 finally fixes that awful problem. Until Firefox 2.0 supports File Title (they're famous for breaking 'extensions') I won't bother. Does anyone know the compataibility with this and Linky.
Extensions are important. They need to tell us what breaks so we can decide if we want to upgrade,
Ok, I can understand copying bookmarks.html when making a fresh profile on Firefox, but Thunderbird?! Thunderbird is an email client. People keep emails most of the time, archived in folders or accounts. How does one go about copying these emails over to a fresh profile WITHOUT porting over any bugs that might be in that database? Does MozBackup copy only the data and not any latent bugs? I'd love to know.
Visceral Psyche Films
I suggested a fresh profile to test whether the bug could be because of a broken profile or because of how his build worked on his OS.
You can always import the (mbox-formatted) mail from your old profile to the new one.
I don't use MozBackup (my entire home directory is part of a regular backup), so can't tell you what it does.