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Firefox 39 Released, Bringing Security Improvements and Social Sharing
An anonymous reader writes: Today Mozilla announced the release of Firefox 39.0, which brings an number of minor improvements to the open source browser. (Full release notes.) They've integrated Firefox Share with Firefox Hello, which means that users will be able to open video calls through links sent over social media. Internally, the browser dropped support for the insecure SSLv3 and disabled use of RC4 except where explicitly whitelisted. The SafeBrowsing malware detection now works for downloads on OS X and Linux. (Full list of security changes.) The Mac OS X version of Firefox is now running Project Silk, which makes animations and scrolling noticeably smoother. Developers now have access to the powerful Fetch API, which should provide a better interface for grabbing things over a network.
Better video chat and social media sharing? Just what I'm lacking in a web browser. Ditched the Palemoon build long ago for Chrome and couldn't be happier.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
...randomly to where they are awkward to get to. Coz ya know chrome might have done the same thing. Gotta keep up.
I already abandoned ship for Palemoon after they changed the search bar.
Mozilla announced the release of Firefox 39.0, which brings an number of minor improvements ...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
And it still can't handle HTML5 video worth a damn? As of now, I have to use Chrome just to watch Youtube videos. What the fuck, Mozilla.
Here we go, the usual slashdot moan-fest when there's any Firefox news.
You know what, guys? Get over it.
Let's step back and look at the available browsers, shall we?
* Chrome: Google are getting more and more hungry for your personal data. If you trust them with it, use Chrome. I don't. Oh, and judging by the number of sites I'm seeing now that say "this site works best in Chrome", it looks like we might be heading back to the bad old days of the browser wars. Devs, please stop doing this: I for one do not want to be forced to use Chrome just because you happen to like it's new shiny features.
* IE/Edge: Sure. Actually, it's a decent browser. But are you ready to forgive the past? No? I thought not. This is slashdot, after all. And yes, they're probably after your personal data too.
* Safari: Yeah, right. You're using Safari are you? Wake me up when Apple starts actually doing some dev work on it again.
* Opera: Hahahahahaha. Oh, sorry. Is Opera still a thing?
* Firefox: Aparently, despite all the above, everyone still wants to hate Firefox. Oh well.
...more useless bloat that I'm going to have to disable when practical things like being able to view text files in the browser is STILL broken after years of waiting.
Seriously?! Your install of Firefox won't render plain text files?? I've never had that problem and I definitely don't recall have to change any configs.
It sounds like either it's a Windows thing; you accidentally set the filetype handling behaviour; or you have installed a downloader extension that changed things. Take a look at your mimetypes. It's easily fixable.
Or is it still the same you will do it the Mozilla way Australis [sp?] mess?
I won't be going back to Firefox until they have proper threading. I wish I could, I've tried a few times, but it just bogs down so much and so quickly if you open a bunch of tabs. No problem in Chrome. I used it for something like ten years before I finally tried Chrome and was blown away by the speed difference. Why are the working on this other stuff when such a fundamental problem, a problem they've acknowledged and worked on some, remains? I know it's hard to fix in such a complex codebase, but at least from my experience and what I've heard from others, it's a crucial issue affecting whether people use Firefox or not.
Error 404 - Sig Not Found
Support for social media? This means an NNTP client, right?
Have gnu, will travel.
the browser dropped support for the insecure SSLv3
**fake gripe mode engaged**
Oh great, now I have to have at least one machine on my network with an older web browser so I can manage those older network devices that still use SSL3- or other-broken-security-protocol-based web-management.
Now maybe my company's bean-counters will understand when I say "it's time to replace that 5-year-old photocopier/scanner/printer since we can't simultaneously run the monthly usage reports and keep our computers as secure as we would like."
**end fake gripe mode** ...but seriously...
This (removing support for broken protocols) is a good thing, in that it will make sure that all the computers in my business that do NOT need to run those billing reports are up-to-date with respect to security. I can keep my eye on the one machine (which I will likely re-build as a VM) that needs to have a less-than-secure web browser and make sure that nobody uses that web browser for anything except running these reports. There isn't really any need to replace this copier as long as the cost to the business of keeping that one computer with the old web browser up and secure is close enough to zero to be mere "noise" in the budget, which it is, at least for now.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Nope, it's Firefox. Plaintext files often don't have a mime type so present as unknown.
Here's the nearly 15 year old bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/s...
This isn't Firefox 39. This is Firefox 4.39
The idiots have totally jumped the track and lost all sanity and reason when it comes to proper practices in versioning. I haven't seen anything that warranted a +1 on the major version in ages, yet every time they integrate some stupid new advertising/social gimmick that should've been left as an extension, they bump the major version number. Or if no one has offered them cash recently to whore themselves out, they just bump it because they're bored out of some version-penis envy with Chrome.
And this coming from one of the historically biggest Firefox fans amongst my friends, family and colleagues. I've been promoting it since Phoenix, being a longtime Netscape and Mozilla user for many years before that.
How is the "standard release" of Firefox, newsworthy in the least (to nerds)?
Nightly is at 41. Threading is improving, but most extensions still don't support the API that is needed in order to access "page content".
Firefox is about the only browser you can open dozens of tabs in. Even Opera 12 crumbles - if those pages contain primarily images... Opera (pre-blink) started falling apart years ago, as images in the 2000x3000px size or larger started becoming the norm.
This is why SJWs are the cancer killing this industry.
I just don't get Mozilla. Firefox's share of the market has dropped so much. Recent browser market share stats show that all versions of Firefox Desktop are only around 8% of the market. Firefox 38 is only at 7.45%, so we can expect Firefox 39 to be below that, possibly forever. Firefox for Android is at 0.14% (yes, that's a leading 0!), and Firefox isn't really a viable option on iOS.
To put things in perspective, the latest version of Chrome for Android by itself, at 13.77%, has almost twice the number of users as Firefox has in total! IE 11 at 7.60%, and Safari for iOS 8.3 at 6.42%, both almost exceed Firefox's total number of users!
Clearly desktop users are fleeing Firefox, and nobody wants to use Firefox for Android. Mozilla has no other projects of significance aside from Firefox. Nobody uses Firefox OS, even the third-worlders they tried to force it on. Bugzilla is a relic. They put Thunderbird out to pasture some time ago. Let's Encrypt has yet to deliver anything useful. Rust is unimpressive and unwieldy, even now that 1.0 was finally released after so many years. Servo is very experimental, and its progress is crawling along slower than even Rust's did!
This decline in the usage of Firefox, combined with the total lack of future prospects, should have everyone involved with Mozilla in a total panic! This is an organization that should be shitting its pants, so to speak. The only reason it still exists, Firefox, is rapidly evaporating. What, do they really think that Yahoo! will keep throwing money at them once Firefox has almost no users to target?
Yet instead of the unrestrained panic that we should be seeing out of Mozilla, we instead see them continuing down the same path of failure that has dogged them for so many years now. They make more dumb and unwanted social media changes to Firefox that nobody actually wants. Heck, they most notable part of this release is that they removed or disabled existing functionality!
I used to like Firefox. I want Mozilla to succeed. But son of a bitch, it's like they're doing everything they can to speed up their demise, while being totally oblivious to it the whole time! Why won't they, as a collective group of people, wake up to what's happening?!
75% of the right-click open-in-new-windows actions in Firefox 38 result in a bare window with no menu, controls, or scrollbars. Tried a few config setting which resulted in 5x5 pixel windows. Really useful.
sPh
Certainly you mean Firefox 1337, correct?
As long as this https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/s... BUG is present, Firefox is a far cry from being a secure browser. Since I know about this, I advise anybody that needs to have secure browser to stear away from Firefox!
How much do you think Pocket, etc paid Mozilla to make their services an integral part of the browser?
How long do you think it will be before advertisers pay Mozilla to route around adblock extensions and display their ads?
Why is it that when I hear there's a new Firefox update, I always think "Oh no -- what did they mess up now?" Other groups' updates aren't met with instinctive dread.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
How rounded are the tabs? A bit rounded in the corners? No straight lines at all? Or all fractally with curves on curves, looking like the result of a foolish encounter between heraldic nebuly and a Mandelbrot set.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Chat! Yay! I already HAVE apps that allow me to do that.
Social media! Yay! I already HAVE apps that allow me to do that. And I hate the fuck out of social media to begin with!
What I WANT is a rock-solid fucking browser again goddammit!
All these stupid, hacked-on "features" that nobody uses are simply contributing to a browsing experience that's almost as stable as Chuck Manson on a bad acid trip!
You want to make a social media application? GO AHEAD! Stop fucking up a perfectly acceptable browser in the chase to do so!
IE blows (we're going to bend over and....)
Chrome blows for the opposite reason (we're going to protect you from yourself!)
And the more Mozilla deviates from Firefox = Web Browser, the more Firefox blows.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
There's actually another extension that restores the search bar, more customizable interface, status bar, tabs-on-bottom, and a bunch of other stuff. I think it was called "Firefox 3" or something...
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
Nope, it's Firefox. Plaintext files often don't have a mime type so present as unknown.
Here's the nearly 15 year old bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/s...
You appear to be confused. That (wishlist) bug is not that Firefox can't or won't show plain text files (it certainly will, ftp, http, or local) - it's Add "View as Text/HTML/..." option for unknown mime content-type. As a typical /. reader I can appreciate how you missed reading the description or saw words that plain weren't there. i.e. conflated that with your claim that "Firefox will not render plain text files". Tricky.
The reason that hasn't been "fixed", and may never be fixed is because it's blocked by two other bugs (1 and 2). The main problem being that servers are unreliable when it comes to describing the mimetype.(in reference to your second sentence).
More importantly, as I've already pointed out - Firefox/Iceweasel does display plain text files
Rather than dismissing that fact, maybe you should have taken the time to read the link I posted on how to solve your "issue" (which works fine when the server provides the correct mimetype).
The relevant sections from the default mimeTypes.rdf (~/.mozilla/firefox/$gibberish.default/mimeTypes.rdf)
Note: the order in which they occur is important. As is the presence of any other handler rules for text/plain.
If you have those rules, in that order, and no other rules about text/plain then plain text files will be rendered by the browser - I checked with Windows 8.1 (and I want that 10 minutes back).
If modifying/correcting mimeTypes is too hard for you. Use the extension that achieves the same outcome.
What is fun is that NSS still has not removed SSLv2 code thanks to RedHat.
"remember back when Google used to be behind Firefox?"
Google paid Mozilla Foundation $300 million each year.
Now, I understand, Mozilla Foundation now gets most of its money from Microsoft. Microsoft pays Yahoo. Yahoo pays Mozilla Foundation to make "Yahoo search" (actually mostly Microsoft Bing search) the default search engine in Firefox. Most people don't have the technical knowledge to know how they've been manipulated, or how to restore the default search engine to Google search.
The Thunderbird and SeaMonkey Composer GUIs have been damaged, apparently deliberately. Every time you do a file save, the newer versions of both ask for a new file name, and don't suggest the last one chosen. The damage was reported several months ago, but has not been fixed. Is that another example of Microsoft's Embrace, Extend, Extinguish? People who feel forced away from Thunderbird may choose Microsoft software to replace it. Is that something Microsoft is trying to accomplish?
Its astonishing to me that this thing still doesnt do a sandbox. They keep adding stuff like video chat, great, but if you can spend time on that you can find time for getting the sandbox in. They have been talking about the sandbox for years. Implement it by default already and if for some reason a plugin a user is incompatable allow the user to select to go back to single process. There is no reason why the sandbox should have taken this long. Yes you have go to a multi process model but it shouldnt be THAT big of a job to take years.
You misunderstand me. text/plain can be rendered, I understand that. However, it can only be rendered if it has the mimetype of text/plain. "unknown" mimetypes are not treated as text/plain, they are treated as text/* which is NOT rendered.
...so are the Firefox releases of our lives."
The problem is also exampled by https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/s...
Nope, it's Firefox. Plaintext files often don't have a mime type so present as unknown.
Here's the nearly 15 year old bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/s...
I just dragged a text file (ANSI windows standard) to my browser and it rendered fine. Never had a problem doing so on any prior version, back to 3.0 either.
ANSI windows standard is mimetype text/plain not text/*
People unaware of this BUG are vulnerable to account hijacking when they leave the place after cosing the browser in the assumption they did the right thing to close their sessions. And yes, english is not my native tongue so I made a little mistake, I'll steer away from that in the future, thanks for noticing.
The problem is also exampled by https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/s...
That's a completely different "problem" to your original complaint. For completeness I've addressed it - in context, further down.
Yes, it's a different problem that highlights the original complaint by showing what happens when you open an unknown mimetype.
It's exactly this naive assumption of you that only one session is involved in your authentication that makes this bug so dangerous. Thousands of students all over the world log in using federated authentication that involves AT LEAST three independant sessions at independant url's of which at least one is never cleared on logout. They are told only closing their browser clears their login, WHICH SHOULD BE THE CASE if browser respected SESSION lifetime cookies to only live while the browser is open. It's a BUG, it's dangerous, it should be fixed and I don't give a rat's arse about lost shopping carts!
https://wiki.mozilla.org/SeaMo...
Soon for v2.35. They're having build issues. No to the lame features like Firefox is getting AFAIK.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
IIt has IMAP. SM's email is bascially based off Thunderbird's.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Try "Classic Theme Restorer"...
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole