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Mozilla Announces Quantum, a New Browser Engine For Firefox (softpedia.com)

Posted by msmash on from the Firefox-delights dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla is currently working on a new browser engine called Quantum, which will take parts from the Servo project and create a new core for the Firefox browser. The new engine will replace the aging Gecko, Firefox' current engine. Mozilla hopes to finish the transition to Quantum (as in Quantum Leap) by the end of 2017. The first versions of Quantum will heavily rely on components from Servo, a browser engine that Mozilla has been sponsoring for the past years, and which shipped its first alpha version this June. In the upcoming year, Mozilla will slowly merge Gecko and Servo components with each new release, slowly removing Gecko's ancient code, and leaving Quantum's engine in place.

6 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds like a disaster in the making by somenickname · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So, the idea is to replace the working but "ancient" code with stuff that is currently considered alpha quality software? In the next year? For a project the size of Firefox? That certainly doesn't sound like a recipe for success.

    1. Re:Sounds like a disaster in the making by thegarbz · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Based on the way Firefox runs, they are replacing alpha quality code with alpha quality code.

      But frankly they can do whatever they want. I abandoned them early this year when their update broke. Not a plugin or anything specific but just everything. Update ran and "Not responding", restart ... "Not responding". Reboot the computer "Not responding". Installed Pale Moon, migrated my profile across and purge that piece of shit from my system.

  2. By the end of 2017 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Firefox will be dead by then.

    1. Re:By the end of 2017 by ArtemaOne · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Then you can stick to the ones mining all of your data.

  3. why? by thygate · · Score: 1, Insightful

    what happened to "don't fix it, if it aint broken" .. what is so bad about the current engine then ?

    1. Re:why? by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It has a removable battery, and a headphone jack. You can't have those in a modern Web 3.0 Internet of Things Cloud based web browser engine, that's soooo 2015.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.