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Firefox 36 Arrives With Full HTTP/2 Support, New Design For Android Tablets

Posted by Soulskill on from the onward-and-upward dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla today launched Firefox 36 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. Additions to the browser include some security improvements, better HTML 5 support, and a new tablet user interface on Android. The biggest news for the browser is undoubtedly HTTP/2 support, the roadmap for which Mozilla outlined just last week. Mozilla plans to keep various draft levels of HTTP/2, already in Firefox, for a few versions. These will be removed "sometime in the near future." The full changelog is here.

8 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. Is Media Source Extensions supported? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You can't play 1080p videos or higher from Youtube without it. This is the absolute last thing that's holding me back from removing flash altogether. I know they mentioned specifically enabling MSE for youtube only on the bugtracker page (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=778617), because of some issues but I don't see this in the changelog.

  2. Re:Don't forget Firefox Hello! by sexconker · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I believe this shit was introduced in the last version. And yes, it's absolutely useless fucking shit that shouldn't be in a fucking browser.

  3. I've posted this 1312 times by AbRASiON · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No more features.
    No more features.
    No more features.
    No more features.
    Stability, performance.Stability, performance.
    Stability, performance.Stability, performance.

    Did I mention Stability, performance?

    Stop.
    This goes for Firefox, this goes for Android (VERY much)
    Stop assuming there's always more powerful things coming. Stuff has slowed down the last 5 years. I can't believe how slow a modern browser can get on a decent machine. I shouldn't need 8 cores at 4.5ghz with 16gb of DDR4 or something ridiculous like that.

    Stop fiddling and start cleaning up.
    Oh and Firefox? It's 2015...... native 64bit as default already, for fucks sake.
    and this, ASAP.
    https://wiki.mozilla.org/Elect... A.S.A.P

    1. Re:I've posted this 1312 times by thegarbz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The modern browser isn't slow due it itself. The modern browser is slow due to the online experience bloating.

      HTML5, fancy graphics, all elements on the screen moving relative to each other, every object being dynamic, pictures, did I mention dynamic objects? The constant reliance on a link between server and client to send push messages, and of course all the dynamic objects.

      If you disable javascript and break most of the webpages then browsers run quite blazingly fast. It's not a Firefox related problem that the internet now demands the browser to be a borderline operating system with built in media player.

      Maybe slashdot could release an autoplaying video description of why this trend is such a problem.

  4. Re:Don't forget Firefox Hello! by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You say bloat, I say functionality.

    Let's see there's skype (that requires installing a closed source binary from the evil empire), FaceTime (that only works on Apple hardware), Hangouts (that requires a Google account, and yes there are still people on the planet...) Other technologies exist but those are the most Grandma-friendly.

    Videoconferencing from any device on the planet without installing any special software is bloat?

  5. Re:Don't forget Firefox Hello! by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 4, Insightful
    No, I'm not Lennart but I can see that the web has evolved from 25 years ago when it was a simple viewer for hypertext into an application platform. Some might harken for simpler days but that's progress.

    If you want to do videoconferencing, install Skype. Or pick an open source solution, there are plenty.

    Which fails the grandma test, since its another piece of technology that grandson has to support and maintain on her computer.

    In any case, you're suggesting a browser plugin as an alternative and in the same breath talk about reducing the attack service... Mozilla are proactively reducing reliance on browser plugins, e.g. (1) by supporting HTML5 to create an alternative to Java applets, (2) Developing pdf.js to substitute for Acrobat Reader, (3) Supporting video formats formerly requiring flash (4) Developing shumway for other legacy content. All use the same sandboxing model which reduces the attack service from what plugins provided.

    Now you talk about firefox stability with multiple tabs, which are slowly perhaps glacially being addressed by servo and electrolysis. Surely that's a limitation of the implementation that a flaw of videoconferencing?

    [Perhaps I should apply for a job at Mozilla; I do spend a good deal of time defending it on here! :) ]

  6. Apache has mod_spdy by dwheeler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I agree that Apache web server support is vital if HTTP/2 is to get much use. That said, the mod_spdy plug-in for Apache supports SPDY, and has been accepted into Apache trunk. See: http://googledevelopers.blogsp... https://svn.apache.org/viewvc/...

    Since HTTP/2 is based on SPDY, it seems likely that this plug-in will be tweaked to support HTTP/2. That said, I suspect the Apache Foundation would say something like, "patches welcome".

    --
    - David A. Wheeler (see my Secure Programming HOWTO)
  7. Re:What about the 87% of 'sad' feedback reports? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People are genuinely disappointed with all of the Firefox products these days.

    Well, I must not be "people" then. I've used Firefox for years and while Mozilla has made a slip or two, it's my go-to browser of choice.

    At least on my system, it's smaller and faster than Chrome, and it has far more useful and privacy-protecting plugins. More plugins in general, I think.

    No complaints here.