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Firefox 8.0 is Released

mozilla.org

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Re: Firefox 8.0 is Released

#11

Post by melling »

[deleted] wrote: post #4

[deleted]

Mozilla will soon be auto-updating Firefox every 6 weeks like Chrome, so half the Internet will be getting a regular update and progress will happen much more quickly. The version number is irrelevant. Personally, I think it's amazing that we can move this quickly.

Re: Firefox 8.0 is Released

#13

Post by azakai »

hozzer wrote: post #2

Dear Mozilla. Why do you keep doing all these full version releases? Seriously it's just annoying. Just because IE is on version 10. Doesn't mean you have to be. Why are you doing this.... You've gone from 3-8 in a year. That's not right.

Firefox and Chrome both have the same update cycle - a new major version every 6 weeks.

I believe the main reason for both projects doing it are allowing them to get improvements and new features to users faster. One or two releases a year means a very long time before improvements get to users, and it holds everything back. 6-week releases means you get improvements to users in just a few months.

Of course there are downsides to 6-week releases. If you prefer a slower-updating browser, there are other good options, such as Opera. And if you want even more stability, there are Safari and IE, which these days are quite good as well.

Re: Firefox 8.0 is Released

#14

Post by evanw »

joenathan wrote: post #8
recoiledsnake wrote: post #5

Just got the notification, but didn't upgrade because a lot of my very useful extensions for HTML dev weren't compatible. I don't think the new features in 7->8 make up for the lack of my extensions.

Use this extension to "make" your extensions compatible https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/add-on-compat...

This is great, thanks for posting it. I manage my passwords with 1Password, and while they're good about pushing updates, I've never seen their Firefox extension marked as compatible when a new version of Firefox is released.

Re: Firefox 8.0 is Released

#15

Post by jlongster »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #5

Just got the notification, but didn't upgrade because a lot of my very useful extensions for HTML dev weren't compatible. I don't think the new features in 7->8 make up for the lack of my extensions.

I disabled addon compatibility checking, and jumped from 7 to nightly (version 10) and was surprised to find all of my extensions still work great (including Firebug).

Mozilla is working towards making this happen automatically, but it seems to be working well already.

Re: Firefox 8.0 is Released

#16

Post by keeperofdakeys »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #5

Just got the notification, but didn't upgrade because a lot of my very useful extensions for HTML dev weren't compatible. I don't think the new features in 7->8 make up for the lack of my extensions.

As of Firefox 4.0, there is an extension api that is both version-less and allows restarting extensions without restarting the browser. Especially with Firefox's new release schedule, more extension developers should probably make the effort to start using it.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Extensions/Bootstrapped_ext...

Re: Firefox 8.0 is Released

#17

Post by Karunamon »

notatoad wrote: post #12
[deleted] wrote: post #4

[deleted]

here we go again with the version number complaints. get over it. it doesn't make any difference to you what number they want to call it.

Considering the whole reason they're doing this crap is to make it look like they're keeping up to date with Chrome, yeah, it kinda does make a difference.

Methinks they don't understand the concept of "Major release.minor release"

Re: Firefox 8.0 is Released

#19

Post by Karunamon »

eCa wrote: post #7
hozzer wrote: post #2

Dear Mozilla. Why do you keep doing all these full version releases? Seriously it's just annoying. Just because IE is on version 10. Doesn't mean you have to be. Why are you doing this.... You've gone from 3-8 in a year. That's not right.

I sort of understand their reasoning. It's easier to get people interested in a "full" release, than some 3.0.21 version every three mongths. It also was more wrong to stay on 3.6.* for over two years. A middle road might be to start a year with a full release and then do point-releases doing that year, so in 2013 we would have, for instance: 13, 13.0.1, 13.1, 13.2, 13.2.1, 13.3.

This is a valid, on topic, cogent post. Why is it getting downvoted?
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