Mozilla cranks out Firefox 5 with cross-platform 'Do Not Track' feature

The Register ^ | 21 June 2011 | Kelly Fiveash

[ShadowAce]

Just three months after Mozilla pushed out what was its final big beast of a browser release in the form of the long-awaited Firefox 4, the next iteration of its popular surfing tool is now available online.

Firefox 5, as it has been sensibly named, can be downloaded for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android platforms.

Few major tweaks have been slotted into this release, which is hardly surprising given the fast, splatter-gun style of updating Mozilla code.

The iterate-big-or-die cultural shift inside the open source browser outfit's Towers comes in clear acknowledgement of Google's Chrome schedule.

It may be mirroring Google's developer roadmap these days, but Mozilla wants the world to be aware that it is the first browser maker to debut the so-called Do Not Track privacy feature across platforms, including on Google's own Android.

Apart from that, Mozilla boasts "more than 1,000 improvements and updates" to its browser, including support for more modern web technologies to aid developers who build Firefox add-ons, web apps and websites.

Now the race is on in this brave new code-frenzy world for Mozilla to ping out Firefox 6 on 21 September.

Meanwhile, some browser fans might be crying into their beer about relatively small software releases being given major version names without a committee of openistas first poring over the philosophical consequences of such a dynamic, corporate-like move.

The code is this way. ®

[ShadowAce]

[ShadowAce]

[Sprite518]

Just installed it.

http://www.mozilla.org/

[taildragger]

Hmmm... Are they incorporating the functionality of such "Add Ons" as: No Script, Ghostery, and Better Privacy? Will we not need them ?

[freedumb2003]

I use all 3:

IE for business and any question to MSN
FF for browsing and searching
Chrome for fun

I split FReeping between FF and Chrome (Chrome is still faster).

[jagusafr]

Biggest question for us military types: does 5 have a workable DoD configuration so we can use our CAC readers?

Colonel, USAFR

[VA_Gentleman]

I use 3. I had too many problems with 4. Although lately hotmail doesn’t work in 3. Evidently they didn’t test that thoroughly.

[TomGuy]

A couple of days ago, MajorGeeks showed FF5 on their website but the Mozilla website didn’t have it up.

FF4 was out just a few weeks ago.

Microsoft seems to be doing the same — Windows 8 is supposed to be released soon. Windows 7 hasn’t even settled in yet.

==

Are these upgrades really worth it?

[yarddog]

To read later.

[freedumb2003]

Wait for Windows 9, Q1, 2012.

I think it includes native JES2, JCL and ISPF/PDF...

;)

[Berlin_Freeper]

I had just upgraded 5 minutes ago. Browser loads very fast.

[antiRepublicrat]

Meanwhile, some browser fans might be crying into their beer about relatively small software releases being given major version names

That's it. Major versions need major changes in order to support the whole version increase. Some bug fixes and a couple new features is a dot release, not a whole version release.

[antiRepublicrat]

Biggest question for us military types: does 5 have a workable DoD configuration so we can use our CAC readers?

http://kuujinbo.info/misc/firefox-dod.aspx

[DesertSapper]

About to install FF5. It HAS to be better than FF4 (which hangs and freezes more than Chrome, IE, and Opera combined).

[Big Giant Head]

Fast? Good.

Lately I’ve been having difficulty with FF both the stable 4.xx whatever, and the beta 5 just simply locking up. There they sit, unable to load a page. I have to close the browser, and go into the task manager to close whatever FF function is still running.

Then, out of frustration, I open IE and it screams compared to FF. I hate that. I want FF to scream that fast.

[DesertSapper]

FF5 already seems to work faster than FF4 for me. I think one key point is that the installer checked the compatibility of addons and blocked a couple that I didn't even know I had installed.

I'll give FF5 a whirl for a bit. If it ends up more like FF4 than Chrome 11 or IE9-32bit, I'll stop using Firefox again.

[rarestia]

I agree, Tom. Why the heck is M$ rushing us so quick through OS revisions before letting one stick? They need to understand how to read the market better, because people are not keen on this transitional OS crap.

Vista was a nightmare in so many ways, and they should’ve been transitioning users by some method other than wholesale OS re-install; for instance through Windows functionality enhancements or “feature” in the background as a subset of some Control Panel app. Make it optional to integrate new components into the OS, and leave the core alone. Linux does this very well, IMO. I’m still on Ubuntu 10.04, and the core runs spectacularly well, esp. Firefox!

It just seems to me that M$ is racing into the smartphone market by trivializing releases in lieu of first-to-compatibility markets. W8 is going to a be poorly received. Most folks want to get comfortable with an OS and have it left alone. For instance, my relatives all had to be dragged into W7 from XP, and they’ve since been very satisfied with the transition. Telling them that W8 is going to be the new cool thing, I’ll get the normal eye-roll and then a phone call 9 months later.

Just give it a break, M$! Just release it to the smartphone market for new tablet or smartphone use specifically, and leave the desktop users alone.

[Moltke]

Thanks to all you beta testers who installed it as soon as it came out!

I’ll take another look at it in a few months when the biggest bugs have been addressed. (I still have FF2 running on one machine and it is for the most part not inferior to any of the later iterations as far as I can tell...better in some respects even. Admittedly, there are some compatibility issues with some websites - not FR, though.)

[max americana]

>Are these upgrades really worth it?<

Beats me. I still use Win XP.