Firefox 2 To Come Out On Oct 24, 2006 Thats tomorrow

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

Firefox 2.0 due tomorrow

Usability and security upgrade for IE7 competitor

 

Elizabeth Montalbano

 

Not to be outdone by Microsoft's recent release of Internet Explorer 7.0, Mozilla is planning the second major release of its rival Firefox browser tomorrow.

 

According to Mozilla vice president of products Christopher Beard, Firefox 2.0, which should be available on Tuesday if all goes according to schedule, includes key new usability features missing in IE7.

 

Mozilla also enhanced the popular tabbed browsing feature in 2.0 that Firefox introduced when it emerged two years ago as the first significant rival to IE in years. Tabs allow users to navigate more easily between multiple web pages when browsing the internet, and Microsoft added the feature to IE7 after Firefox's success with it.

 

In Firefox 2.0, Mozilla added a "close" button on its tabs, and also added visual features to make the tabs appear more obvious to the user, Beard said.

 

New usability features in Firefox 2.0 that differentiate it from IE7 include one that will restore the browser to pages where the user was working if a sudden OS restart is required. "If you're browser needs a restart or the OS asks you to reboot, losing all of those web pages and content is pretty disruptive," Beard said.

 

Firefox 2.0 is offering two options to enable this feature for users. One way is that by default, the browser will give a user an option to restore his or her browser sessions if there is an unexpected shutdown, and the other is an advanced option to set the browser so it always restores the last five pages visited before a sudden reboot.

 

Like IE7, Firefox 2.0 also has an antiphishing filter that will help protect users from divulging personal information to fraudulent websites. But Mozilla has taken a different approach to its antiphishing filter than Microsoft has, Beard said.

 

Instead of checking individual web pages users visit against lists of known phishing sites, thus sending information from the site to third parties that keep lists of such sites, Firefox updates its black list of known fraudulent websites automatically every 30 minutes. Beard said this better protects users' privacy because no information from the sites they've visited is sent to any third parties.

 

Mozilla also has added spell-checking features to the browser similar to those found in word-processing applications. Whenever a user is typing text in the browser, such as the name of a website, a blog entry or an email, Firefox's spell checker will underline in red words that appear misspelled. Right-clicking on the word will give a user options for the correct spelling.

 

In addition, Firefox 2.0 has a new feature in its integrated search box that will suggest a list of search terms after a user types a few letters of a word, depending on the search engine being used. Firefox 2.0 uses Google, Yahoo and Ask search engines as options for the search box, and each uses a different algorithm to suggest search terms, Beard said.

 

Although recent figures by web analytics company OneStat.com show Firefox market share declining 1.44 percent since July - from 12.93 percent to 11.4 percent - Beard said Mozilla partners and users are reporting that the browser is more popular than ever.

 

"We're not seeing a decline at all," he said. "All of our partners and friends are reporting very strong growth recently."

 

Beard said he expects that to only continue with the introduction of Firefox 2.0. Firefox currently has 70 million to 80 million users, he added.

 

Source: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/internet/firefox-20-due-tomorrow-7401/

 

W00T!!! I thought it would take longer, but guess not!

 

xboxrulz

Edited October 24, 2006 by xboxrulz (see edit history)

[mirdux 0]

i dont know, some of those things i might be a bit weary of:- More features in general= a tad bit slower (process-wise) of a browser.- the backup function of the tabs would slow things down a bit for it would have to continually save a file of what tabs the browser is on- spell check would probably be a nuisance for things not requiring standard spellings, like username/PW fields, etc. Although a new look would be good, for firefox is a great idea, but i think it should be kept relatively simple so it doesnt end up like netscape (alot of extra stuff=a slower browser alltogether.) which is almost TOO integrated, at least for my taste.

[Kyro 0]

Though it is good to spread the word of FireFox,

FireFox 2 is still not released to the public as "final" yet, as of the time of this posting, FireFox 2 is still at RC3 stage.

Yes it is up on the FTP mirrors and main FTP server but it is still in RC3 and final stop build issues can arise and cause the release date to be changed.

 

You will know when FireFox is released to the public as Final by going to https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/ it is best to not download FireFox 2 from FTP mirrors and outlined in the article below.

 

You can read Preeds Mozilla Blog posting on "pre release issues" here

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

You will find current Release Issues, Meeting notes and Release Check lists at Mozila's wiki page

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox2

[Markymark2 0]

hmm no thanks!!I will stick to trusty Opera and when i have to preview a site for non Opera browsing..I will carry on to use IE6..http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ check out what will be coming up in the next firefox realease and what they stole from Opera to make the new version :PDOWN WITH FIREFOX!!! LOL

Edited October 24, 2006 by Mark420 (see edit history)

[Hercco 0]

No Firefox 2 final yet... I keep the site open and keep checking like once per hour.

[Chesso 0]

Stole? ouch then most of the world has stolen insanely heh.go Firefox 2 release eh.

[Grafitti 0]

As of 8:30 PM where i am (GMT+5), the latest release is still 1.5.0.7

[webintern 0]

Because of my impatience, I decided to just stick with RC3 of Firefox 2. Anyway, this is pretty much the final release without the official version designation.I did not notice a slowdown in the performance compared to Firefox 1.5. On the surface, there is not much change to my browsing experience either. The user interface may have a glossier look and the tabs now have recall in case of an untimely crash or accidental closure. Otherwise, it does not "appear" to be much of a breakthrough (I'm sure there is more under the hood).I, however, noticed that the tabs sometimes have rendering problems. I do not know whether this will be fixed by the final release today. Right now, the getfirefox.com site is slowing down. I suspect there are thousands, if not millions, rechecking the site for the release.Update: the website wasn't slowing down. It was a temporarily lag in my Internet connection.

Edited October 24, 2006 by webintern (see edit history)

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

As of 18:42 EST, the latest version is 2.0@Mark 420: umm... Opera 9 doesn't have a lot of Firefox 2 technologies. Also, there are many browsers that share similar ideas. Plus, I don't like Opera myself. The web renderer never renders websites properly.xboxrulz

Edited October 24, 2006 by xboxrulz (see edit history)

[KDEWolf 0]

i dont know, some of those things i might be a bit weary of:
- More features in general= a tad bit slower (process-wise) of a browser.

- the backup function of the tabs would slow things down a bit for it would have to continually save a file of what tabs the browser is on

- spell check would probably be a nuisance for things not requiring standard spellings, like username/PW fields, etc.
Although a new look would be good, for firefox is a great idea, but i think it should be kept relatively simple so it doesnt end up like netscape (alot of extra stuff=a slower browser alltogether.) which is almost TOO integrated, at least for my taste.

RC3 is, as webintern already stated, pretty much the final version without the official designation.

It's not slower than the previous versions (actually the rendering of pages is much quicker. And the restore of tabs isn't really noticeable on resource use... Maybe if you have more than 50 tabs it could be an issue bu I don't see it happening to my system by now.

And the spell check currently is default only for multi-lined text boxes, for the reason you said. But you can enable/disable it in any input box any time you want it.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

This is what I find about Firefox 2:- Much smoother and faster for web-browsing, the same speed under "Optimised" mode in FasterFox in 1.5.x.- crash restart function- individual tab close- better feel and lookThe only down side is none of my extensions work yet, esp. the JogaTV companion.That's about it.xboxrulz

[Mafamba Team 0]

Today's the 25th so I'll have a look.I haven't seen any update signs on my computer for a while though.

[minnieadkins 0]

I downloaded it as well. So far not much changed as stated. Same appeal to me. Perhaps with time I'll get to know the features a little better. Until then I'll just stick to the times and keep using it.

[Hercco 0]

I got my 'Fox 2.0. Everything so far has been really great. I especially love the spell checker! I have a lot of extensions and I was happy to find out that only one isn't compatible with 2.0. The rest worked either instantly or with quick automatic update.

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

Agreed that it feels smoother and snappier, whether its actually using more resources or not doesn't bother me since it FEELS as good or better thus far. As well, I'm loving the default skin which is very unusual as usually its the first thing I want to change. The spell checker is a nice touch as well. Just waiting for extensions to flood through the gates heh.