Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory
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Re: Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory
#2I'm reminded of MySQL.
"You don't have transaction support" "Sure we do - just handle it in your code" "But I need transactions" "No you don't! That's just overarchitecting!" "No really I do" "Look how fast we are!" ... years later... "Hey look at MySQL - We have transactions! Look how great we are!" etc.
I like FF. I use it. But every time there's some comment about FF memory, we usually see a bunch of people coming out saying they never see FF memory issues, the OP must be doing something wrong or have a bad system, they use their computer non-stop for 4 years without ever even seeing FF slow down, etc. Then endless discussion about "how can you even function having more than 2 tabs open? I always close all mine because of some cognition study from 1974 which I read in my one open tab, then closed it".
Now many of those same people will be spouting how great FF is because they've cut memory usage so much (and maybe how they'll venture in to the brave new world of 3-tabs-at-a-time).
End of the day, this is just how computer stuff goes - deny there's a problem, fix it, then promote how great your fix is. Just gets a bit tiresome.
Oh, and yes, I set up a bunch of strawmen up there. I love the smell of them burning in the morning.
Re: Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory
#3I'm using Firefox 5.0.1, I just clicked "Check for updates" and it said I'm up-to-date.
Shouldn't 6 come out first? Isn't it too early to talk about 7?
I think this is bad marketing from Mozilla, they're totally confusing people.
Re: Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory
#4I'm using Firefox 5.0.1, I just clicked "Check for updates" and it said I'm up-to-date. Shouldn't 6 come out first? Isn't it too early to talk about 7? I think this is bad marketing from Mozilla, they're totally confusing people.
For better or worse, that's how open source works. You can't really control the message by keeping future versions secret.
Re: Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory
#5I'm using Firefox 5.0.1, I just clicked "Check for updates" and it said I'm up-to-date. Shouldn't 6 come out first? Isn't it too early to talk about 7? I think this is bad marketing from Mozilla, they're totally confusing people.
Agreed. And in those charts, a view of Firefox 8 puts the memory back up a bit. A quick look makes it feel like two steps forward, one step back.
Re: Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory
#6I'm using Firefox 5.0.1, I just clicked "Check for updates" and it said I'm up-to-date. Shouldn't 6 come out first? Isn't it too early to talk about 7? I think this is bad marketing from Mozilla, they're totally confusing people.
Firefox 7 isn't even a real release. You'll have to wait for 8. The new versioning system uses the Fibonacci sequence, so that after 8, the next "real" release will be 13, and then 21 etc. This is why you're currently stuck on 5.
Re: Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory
#7I don't know what everyone is complaining about, whenever I want to open a few more tabs I just purchase a couple more gigs of ram, problem solved, bunch of whiners!
Re: Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory
#8I'm using Firefox 5.0.1, I just clicked "Check for updates" and it said I'm up-to-date. Shouldn't 6 come out first? Isn't it too early to talk about 7? I think this is bad marketing from Mozilla, they're totally confusing people.
Agreed. And in those charts, a view of Firefox 8 puts the memory back up a bit. A quick look makes it feel like two steps forward, one step back.
http://blargon7.com/2011/07/endurance-tests-demonstrate-fire...
Update: It appears that the explicit memory calculated for Firefox 7 on Mac was artificially low. This explains the slight increase in Firefox 8. If you’re interested you can read further details on Bugzilla.
Re: Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory
#9I'm using Firefox 5.0.1, I just clicked "Check for updates" and it said I'm up-to-date. Shouldn't 6 come out first? Isn't it too early to talk about 7? I think this is bad marketing from Mozilla, they're totally confusing people.
6 = current beta, will become release in 1-2 weeks
7 = current alpha (Aurora), will become beta when beta gets released
8 = current nightly, will become Aurora when...you get the point
So basically Firefox 6, 7 and 8 have already "come out" and you can use them if you're willing to run beta or alpha software. (In my experience, Aurora is already very stable, much more so than normal alpha software) The versions advance in a 6 weeks cycle.
I'm guessing the above has been explained about 1000 times when Firefox 5 came out soon after 4, anyway.
Re: Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory
#10I'm using Firefox 5.0.1, I just clicked "Check for updates" and it said I'm up-to-date. Shouldn't 6 come out first? Isn't it too early to talk about 7? I think this is bad marketing from Mozilla, they're totally confusing people.
You can pick the upcoming releases (beta, currently v6, or Aurora, currently v7) at: