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For Firefox 4, You'll Need To Wait Until 2011
An anonymous reader writes "Mozilla said that it will not be releasing Firefox 4 RC, or the final version, before early 2011. Apparently, the bugfixes in the current beta take up much more time than anticipated. Mozilla is working on the feature freeze release Beta 7, which has 14 bugs left. The beta 7 is about six weeks behind schedule and will be released 'when it is ready,' according to Mozilla. It seems as if the original schedule, which estimated that Firefox 4 RC would be released in the second half of October was a bit too optimistic. Microsoft, by the way, released a new IE9 platform preview (PP6) at PDC 20910 today."
The problem with MS isn't the delay itself, its the fact it gets delayed with no improvement. The problem wasn't that Vista was delayed, it was because Vista was delayed and crap.
Theres nothing wrong with taking your time, but when you take a long time then still release a half-baked product, that is where the problem comes in.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Why would you need a 64-bit native browser?
So I don't need to have 32-bit libraries on disk wasting space? Not to mention the performance improvements to be had with a proper 64-bit jit'ing JS engine (don't underestimate the power of a larger register set).
I think you meant plugins.
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``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
Why would you need a 64-bit native browser?
So I don't need to have 32-bit libraries on disk wasting space? Not to mention the performance improvements to be had with a proper 64-bit jit'ing JS engine (don't underestimate the power of a larger register set).
This. I would hate to see a distant future where we still use i386 binary browsers with compatibility layers on top of compatibility layers on top of compatibility layers, just because no browser needs more than 4GB.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
What's amazing is how it has been progressively heavier, but yet loses functionality. There's no bookmark/cookie/password sync anymore (which was really nice in Netscape), no email or nntp support, and with Firefox 4, gopher:// will be gone too. And don't suggest using plugins for the lost functionality -- that will lead to an even bigger footprint.
Code bloat attacks pretty much any long-lived app that isn't controlled by one or two people, but Firefox has bloated more than most apps. Sure, it has many nice features too, but it's not just features, but layers upon layers of abstractions.
Very true. The really ironic thing is that the browser/mail-news-client they now call "seamonkey" was the original Mozilla browser and they actually spun off Phoenix (changed to Firebird, and now Firefox) to create a slimmer, faster browser!
Caveat Utilitor
You can mod clang_jangle troll, but everything said in that comment is true and you can't change that, slimey troll with modpoints!