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Firefox To Get a Nag Screen For Upgrades
ruphus13 writes "Firefox has been pushing version 3.0 very aggressively, and firmly believes that it is a solid product. The Download Day was just one of their ways to drum up user support for the new release. Now, Firefox is going to 'gently nudge' users of Firefox 2.0 to upgrade. Some users may have been waiting for their add-ons to get upgraded, but now Mozilla is planning to apply a little nudge. Sometime within the next week, people using Firefox 2.0.0.16 will see a request to upgrade and though you'll have the option to decline, it's likely Firefox will ask again anyway. Users will most likely be offered a second chance to upgrade after several weeks. (Mozilla will stop supporting version 2 in December.) It will be interesting to see if this speeds up the rate of upgrade by users, as well as upgrades of the add-ons."
Because Firefox 3's rendering engine is not identical to firefox 2's, and there could be some intranet software that still needs to be adapted to be functional. This is also the same reason why MS can't simply push IE7 to everyone.
Fact of the matter is that you don't always need to upgrade software, nor should you always.
When it comes to software that is as crucial to the security of your computer as the browser, yes, you should always upgrade if not upgrading means that you're no longer getting security updates.
Also disturbing is that they are apparently adding this "function" to existing Firefox 2.x browsers. How are they doing this? Did they ask for consent? Are they installing something without permission? If Mozilla can do this sort of thing, doesn't that SCREAM spyware/trojan vulnerability?
Nope, it doesn't scream vulnerability. There are lots of ways for them to do it securely. Most likely, the new "feature" will be pushed as part of a normal security update. And since FF2 security updates are stopping in a few months, it arguably IS a security feature.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Great, now will have more little reminders and popups. Soon everything will be like Vista.
Wrong. Vista is based on everything else. The constant nagging for upgrading and reminders can been seen in Java 1.3 and higher, every MMO before WoW, QuickTime before it became infused with iTunes, Real Player, any software from the 90s that "reminded" you to register, Winamp (once bought by AOL), Mplayer, BonziBuddy, and DirectX when you attempted to play a game at a later version.
Where have you been?
----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
Users running on unsupported operating systems will not get the major update notice. This is checked server side, see bug 418129. The updater even checks that the updated version will be compatible for Linux users. For information on the release and the testing that is being done, read the 2.0.0.16->3.0.1 Major Update page on the Mozilla wiki.
Firefox portable.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Some websites just shouldn't be kept in the history, if you ask me...
use the Distrust addon. One click, visit sites, click again, history for just those sites erased.
Only certain add-ons do that, and it is the code of the add-on to load that page, not in Firefox.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Why can't I just have a barBar? What kind of shoddy coding can't manage to make this option...optional?
Earlier versions did have an about:config option to switch. They removed it. I can't think of a legitimate reason for them to do that; feature removal is generally the province of marketing and politics.
This is also the same reason why MS can't simply push IE7 to everyone.
Huh? Microsoft did push IE7 to everyone.
Except for the very few people who know that there is a way to permanently decline updates (which requires you to examine the updates and pick which ones you want, which most people don't—and shouldn't—do), it was installed automatically by Windows Update. For most people, it's better to tell them "let Windows Update keep your machine up to date" instead of explaining to them how to decide what is and isn't important.
Also, although it is now considered an "Update Rollup", when first released into Windows Update, it was listed as either a "Critical" or "Security" update, which made it appear more important to install than it really was.
"Don't Remember" means not to remember it. At all. It won't, it can't, it shouldn't try to complete the text when you type "hotgirlo...". That's the point, right? All that will show up is "hotmail" when you type "hot..." If you want to go there, you know the whole URL, you can get the whole URL, you follow a normal link, or you have it bookmarked. But don't remember it for the purposes of type-ahead.
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