Firefox 2.0 Beta Set To Launch This Week

sci-tech-today.com ^ | July 11, 2006 9:20AM | Gwendolyn Mariano

[martin_fierro]

Firefox 2.0 Beta Set To Launch This Week

By Gwendolyn Mariano

July 11, 2006 9:20AM

Samir Bhavnani, director of research at Current Analysis, downplayed the new features in Firefox 2.0, saying users might not see a whole lot of difference between 2.0 and earlier versions of the browser. "A lot of changes are background changes, which are security in nature," he said.

Get ready for a new round in the ongoing fight among Internet browsers. Mozilla is set to release the first beta of Firefox 2.0, a highly anticipated follow-up to the increasingly popular browser that many say will steal the thunder from Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft's next-generation browser that is slated to be released later this summer.

Although Mozilla already has made a test version of the beta available for download by way of FTP, the company will not formally launch Firefox 2.0 Beta until later this week, "until all testing has been complete," said Alex Guerra, a spokesperson for Mozilla.

"Possibly Wednesday or Thursday," he noted.

Firefox Features

New features in Firefox 2.0 include improved performance, new tabbed browsing controls, an antiphishing tool, and an integrated spell checker.

Samir Bhavnani, director of research at Current Analysis, pointed out that although Firefox has been able to garner a lot of positive publicity, Microsoft's Internet Explorer still has "a lion's share" of the browser market.

Bhavnani downplayed the new features in Firefox 2.0, saying users might not see a whole lot of difference between 2.0 and earlier versions of the browser.

"A lot of changes are background changes, which are security in nature," he said.

Browser Share

In related news, Amsterdam-based OneStat, a company that monitors Internet statistics, released a report on Sunday revealing that Firefox has a total global usage share of 12.93 percent, a figure that increased by 1.14 points since May.

By way of comparison, the total global usage share of Internet Explorer is 83.05 percent, which represents a 2.21 percent decrease since May.

OneStat's report found that, in the U.S., the most popular browsers as of July are: Microsoft Internet Explorer at 79.78 percent, Firefox at 15.82 percent, Apple's Safari at 3.28 percent, Opera at 0.81 percent, and Netscape at 0.20 percent.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

My Firefox doesn't crash.....very, very rarely!

[Echo Talon]

I'll have to make sure I don't use the "Microsoft Internet Explorer" that has 0.01% market share.

I was just looking at that... hmmm... looks like it has a *space* infront of it maybe its an older version of IE or something?

[Echo Talon]

I'll have to make sure I don't use the "Microsoft Internet Explorer" that has 0.01% market share. That one must really suck.

"Microsoft Internet Explorer=17" does considerably better at 0.08%.

maybe its Konqueror web browser running with IE browser identification?

[Clara Lou]

My Firefox in WinXP never crashes--ever. Have you got an extension that's causing your crashes? In Linux, the Silver theme caused my FF to shut down, so I used a different theme. End of problem. I've also read that Ad Block causes corruptions for the Linux version of FF. The remedy is to use Ad Block Plus instead.

[Echo Talon]

FF in windows VERY VERY RARELY CRASHES(but more than IE), it crashes in linux quite often(at least once during a 3 hour session) and I have tried MANY MANY different versions of linux with the same results....

[rzeznikj at stout]

The Suse build is no different.

I've been known to sink it 6 times in 10 minutes...

[bwteim]

I'm a piker. Not nearly as many. Using Firefox 1.5.0.4 with

Adblock Plus 0.7.1
Dom Inspector 1.8.0.4
Talkback 1.5.0.4
NoScript 1.1.4.1
Tab Mix Plus 0.3.0.5
Extended Cookie Manager 0.7
Advanced Dork 2.0 Beta 5
Wayback 0.2.3

Have Privoxy on top

[Echo Talon]

I've been known to sink it 6 times in 10 minutes...

no doubt, i have had the same results with multiple linux distros.. the 1 firefox crash in 3 hours was being ultra conservative... :D

[Echo Talon]

you should try Snapper 1.3 its sweet

Snapper 1.3

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

FF in windows VERY VERY RARELY CRASHES(but more than IE), it crashes in linux quite often(at least once during a 3 hour session) and I have tried MANY MANY different versions of linux with the same results....

Funny, i've never had it crash in Linux. i'm currently running version 1.08 in SuSE 9.2 Professional on an HP Pavillion with an AMD 64 3200.

i'd love to be able to run 1.5.0.4, but it is incredibly difficult for me to install as either an RPM or tar.gz.

[Echo Talon]

i'd love to be able to run 1.5.0.4, but it is incredibly difficult for me to install as either an RPM or tar.gz.

Maybe 1.08 is more stable that 1.5.0.4? doesn't suse have an update utility like Apt-get, synaptic or YUM? Maybe you should upgrade to Mepis 6 Final when its released in a week or so? Mepis 6 RC3 was released yesterday you could use that...

[Echo Talon]

SimplyMEPIS_6.0-rc3_i386.iso

[bwteim]

Thanks, I downloaded it and will restart later to try it out.

[rzeznikj at stout]

yep...

Ironic, eh?

[Echo Talon]

you don't have to restart the computer, just close the browser and re-open it.. you will see a red fish in the bottom right corner, click the fish then click and drag your mouse on what you want to take a picture of.. the release your mouse and it should ask where you want to save the picture and what the name it.. :)

[Echo Talon]

weird, you would think that FF in windows would be the one that crashes all the time.. :D

[bwteim]

Misspoke, meant quitting FF and restarting it. Keep so many tabs open it is more of a nuisance than anything else.

Snapper still has DOS roots, apparently. When it asks for default folder to store it shows:
C:\Snapper_images\

Thanks for the tips.

[bwteim]

See how handy I am with all those tab windows? I asked the mod to remove my triple posting prowess;)