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Mozilla Releases Firefox 3 Beta 4
Somecallmechief writes "Firefox 3 Beta 4 is now available for download. This is the twelfth developer milestone focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3. Ongoing planning for Firefox 3 can be followed at the Firefox 3 Planning Center, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #granparadiso."
did they fix THE memory leak?
There are at least two major bugs that have been there forever. I don't know if they annoy everyone, or affect everyone or just the people I talk to.
:-)
1) The damn proxy prompt window. For god's sake, if there's already one open window asking for the proxy user/pass, don't open another 20 at the same time. This is quite easy to reproduce: From a firefox that needs proxy to get out, go to any bookmark folder and choose 'Open All in tabs'.
2) For the life of me I can't figure out why sometimes the vertical scroll bar dissapear. It's not a specific page. Once the scroll bar is gone, it's gone forever, no matter what I load in that tab - if I open another tab it's all fine.
Yes I've opened bug reports for this. And no, I'm not fixing it myself, I've got my own projects to take care of.
Go ahead and mod me troll, I just needed to vent
The fact that Microsoft is even attempting to do it says something about the Mozilla dev team. They were quite content to sit around for years with no real browser development until Firefox got popular.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
Under OSX it's a giant leap forward compared to Version 2.X. It runs nearly as fast as safari, crashes less and does not consume all ram like the older versions love to do.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Been using this all morning and so far it's been nice and speedy for me. It's been much faster than the previous betas and there's definitely a significant improvement with most google aps (among others, but I use these all the time). Might not be many new features over Beta 3, but the speed increase and reduced memory footprint (it's still quite big, but better than previous versions - around 100Mb usage after about 6 hours of constant browsing) are very welcome. If this trend continues, the final release should be the best since 1.0.
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
So where do we go to provide input on the batshit-insanely-ugly toolbar changes they've made, especially on XP/Vista? Those icons are some of the worst I've seen (including IE) and will do quite a bit of harm to Firefox's branding. Right now whenever you see Firefox in screenshots, ads, etc, you recognize it immediately based on the toolbar icons (minor changes from 1.5 to 2.0 aside). This toolbar... you'll wonder what unpaid intern in an ad graphics department cooked it up thinking it looked "kewl"...
I don't know what kind of crack I was on, but I suspect it was decaf.
I've been using the nightly builds for a couple weeks now, and they're flagged as beta 5... I figured beta 4 had been out for a while already.
For what it's worth: I'm very impressed with what I'm seeing of Firefox 3 so far. It's faster, uses less memory, and I really like the new address bar features, and the bookmarking. (It has tagging built into the bookmarks now.)
Matthew Walker
http://www.tweeterdiet.com/ - My Diet Tracking Tool
From the release notes:
Anti-virus integration: Firefox will inform anti-virus software when downloading executables.
Why is this Firefox's job? Isn't that the point of Anti Virus?
Summation 2
When will there be a properly-supported 64 bit version? Assuming 64 bit is the future, delaying it will only increase the difficulty of adding 64-bit compatability later. I know there are third-party builds but they're not updated regularly and their reliability is questionable.
apterous.org
What's the story on the wmode flash transparency issue? Last I heard Adobe was waiting for Mozilla to put some sort of code into the Linux version of their browser in order for the wmode fix in Adoobe Flash to work properly. Or maybe it's the other way around now? Anybody have a clue? How can I show somebody Linux/Firefox as an alternative to Windows/IE when this problem drastically affects the functionality of many websites out there?
Firefox released a public build that passed Acid2 in December 2006. According to some sources (including Ian Hickson, who developed the Acid2 test), IE 8 Beta 1 still does not pass. Firefox (along with Opera and Safari) has far surpassed IE in standards compliance. I'd say supporting standards is definitely a priority for Mozilla. Can we stop it with the Firefox FUD? I thought we were glad that Firefox is helping to get MS off its rear to get IE up to speed with the other browsers?
What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
...with resizing fonts and logo pictures, which happened automatically the second time I gave the gmail window focus. Now the correct zoom level is retained.
Ok, I can live with the speed increases, the nice new native look and feel, the decreased memory usage - but someone please tell me how to turn off that damn funky new address bar - its driving me mad (and slowing down new tab creation)!
Some docs say to tweak the 'browser.urlbar.richResults' setting, which I have done and it has had zero effect (FF3 Beta 3). Any ideas?
There are none... Google toolbar, even when overriding your old addons to work with the new ones, doesn't work.
I am still using the nightly builds and absolutely loving it. So much faster than B3 on my MacBook Pro
-nick
Install the "Nightly Tester Tools" extension. Lets you override compatibility checks on extensions
"I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
Yea! And all those Windows users should also be ashamed of themselves for not using IE! And don't even get me started on Linux users who don't use Lynx. Using Linux with a graphical program! How irresponsible!
I hate printers.
Firefox 3 Beta 4 is 5x faster than IE7, 3x faster than FF2
Not bad.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
A horse can't be sick, you know, even if he wants to.
Well, if you want to see how different page loads can be in different browsers, I suggest you try loading a few non-cached pages in IE7 and Firefox 3 beta 4. The difference is very noticable. Don't ask me how, but somehow Firefox 3 seems to suck the pages down off the web and display them in half the time it takes in IE7.
I kind of agree with them. This is a waste of memory and time for the huge majority of people. We are talking about a project which is already under attack for it's bad memory usage. I understand why they don't want to go that road. It, to the least, show that their can be other points of view and that you do not need to be that aggressive with them.
A web developer will probably not use "view source" very much anyway. Try firebug. That's the way to go if you really want to understand a page. You'll rarely need "view source" after that.
Normally I'm somewhat against feature creep, but I think that the new features added are all very, very good. Most are security concerns, and some just make the dang thing easier, more eficient, and smoother to use (star button to add fav bookmark). The added features seem to not be of the bells and whistles type.
The attention to reducing memory footprint, mem leaks, and speed are all very well received, and thoughtful. It seems to be a big push of this release to concentrate on that.
This seems like a very nice release and improvement. - I particulary like the thunderbird anti-phishing tie in.
..........FULL STOP.
XenoPhage
Technological Musings
I don't care whether Mozilla is "a company with a profit interest" or not. What I care about is the product - if some people are making money, well, good for them. This isn't Communism, you know... (yeah, that's gonna cost me).
One of the many things that make Open Source Software so great is that you can just fork it if you don't like the direction the product is headed in.
I seriously don't understand the animosity towards Mozilla for becoming a "real" company. It's enabling them to do a lot of great things that they wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.
And, if you don't like it, fork it!
Why I need a 64-bit version of Firefox????
Well, I'm running a 64-bit OS. I do have a chrooted 32-bit environment for my online banking, but keeping the chrooted environment up-to-date is a hassle.
If you think that *memory* is the sole raison d'etre for 64-bit, you are mistaken. AMD64 is a new instruction set with many advantages. In fact, almost everything I run is 10-70% faster in 64-bit and this has nothing to do with memory limits.
I was very impressed with FF 3 beta 3, but beta 4 seems much much faster even than beta 3. Firefox 3 looks like it'll be really great.
The only downside is as usual, a lot of extension authors need to bump their version checks again - a lot of my extensions that were working with FF 3 beta 3 don't work with beta 4 (due to the version check)
Mike
Linux fan and Win32 developer
Using nspluginwrapper (link) you can use 32bit Flash (amongst others) with 64bit Firefox.
Deze sig is in 't Nederlands geschreven.
You can try out 3 Beta 4 without disrupting your Firefox 2 install on Windows by using Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 3 Beta 4. It's designed for portable devices (USB flash drives, iPods, portable hard drives), but you can also just run it from your desktop.
Portable versions of Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, etc
Acid3 status of firefox3 in a spreadsheet, just for your entertainment.
There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
The address bar behaviour seems odd, but it might be OK when I'm used to it. There should definitely be a way of switching back to the normal behaviour though.
This is good, but can't we put the responsibility on the system where it *really* belongs? Viruses, not Firefox, should inform the AV system when malicious code is about to executed.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
Also known as IceWeasel, as may have noticed those who followed the recent problems of firefox branding and the consecutive fork.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I'm also running FF3 beta 4, and I can say: IT IS FAST. It is probably the fastest browser I have used, ever. I don't necessarily like all the changes, and agree the new icons are a little homely, but the speed is undeniable, and those other quibbles are largely cosmetic.
For those of you on Windows who don't want to hose your registry with multiple Firefox installs, I highly recommend the portable version. In fact, for 20 different reasons I recommend the portable version of not only Firefox, but all your Windows apps:
http://portableapps.com/news/2008-03-11_-_firefox_portable_3_beta_4
It's not a real package management system, but it beats the hell out of installing and reinstalling tons of crap in Windows. I think in many ways it also beats most Linux package managers I've dealt with.
I also want to submit a complaint about a lack of x64 apps in general. There is still no Skype for 64 bit Linux, for example, and that's just plain bad form.
Keep rocking Mozilla! Keep rocking FOSS! Keep rocking portableapps.com!
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
Well certainly, but you seem to have missed the part about unused memory. The parent poster said that there is tons going unused - he's obviously aware that it's faster than the hard drive, and is curious as to why page files are being used anyways intead. I certainly wonder the same thing - I have over two gigs of physical memory listed as available in my task manager, yet I still have a 1.25GB page file. My MBP at home is a bit better that way because at least when I was running 2GB it would dwindle down to about 1% free before starting aggressive paging use (I don't think I've gotten it to max out 4GB since making the jump though it's certainly still paging). The question isn't so much with our software as it is with the OS if you ask me - why on earth are large amounts of data being cached out to the swap file with so much free RAM? Unlike a lot of ignorant enthusiasts, I didn't get lots of memory just to have more free.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
1. Microsoft is attempting to make an Acid2-compliant browser
2. It says that Microsoft realizes that they have fallen behind and need to actually be competitive again.
3. MS was content to sit around. IE6 was *the* browser for years. That's the reason for No. 2
for those who don't get it, that's the gecko (the rendering engine firefox uses) image decoding libary. i believe the "official" name was "libimg2", but some people apparently thought that name was too boring.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
You are (almost) in luck. Firefox's integrated auto-updater will now, as part of the dialog telling you there's a new version and asking if you want to upgrade, list your extensions and highlight which are and aren't compatible (and lets you do a bulk "check for updates" at the same time). It's quite slick, I was impressed.
But that doesn't help you if you're upgrading from 2.0.x or if you're not receiving the new version through the built-in updater.