The rapid release thing was totally stupid. However, I still prefer Firefox over any other browser. Chrome just annoys me (but it's not bad).

Up-grading to 13th. I lost all my bookmarks on the PC I use most.

I think I'll go ahead and buck the trend of proclaiming doom on Firefox here.

Quote:

---

After once being a rising star, the Firefox browser has quickly lost its luster while losing share quickly to Chrome and to a lesser degree, Safari.

---

Firefox's share has admittedly decreased a little, but this statement strikes me as inaccurate. Internet Explorer is the browser that has really been hemorrhaging market share to Chrome. And all the Firefox-is-dead comments are a bit melodramatic. So it's not number two anymore -- big deal. There are still at least a couple hundred million people who have stuck with it. If we naively assume that market share is a reliable indicator of a browser's superiority, IE has been the best browser for the past decade, and Chrome just now barely equals it (by some metrics).

Truth be told, I think a lot of Chrome's success is due to the same reason IE was successful for so many years: Computer illiterates end up with it by default. There are so many programs that come bundled with Chrome nowadays that anyone who blindly clicks "Next" to install something will probably wind up with Chrome as their default web browser before long, if the manufacturer of their computer didn't already put it there. How many programs/manufacturers bundle Firefox? I think Google's influence in software and the search market is a much bigger factor in the shift in browser share than Firefox's change in release cycles.

Rapid releases may have rubbed some people the wrong way, but as the name implies, they have also enabled performance improvements and web standards updates to quickly reach the release phase of development. Firefox's memory management, JS performance and web standards support have all improved dramatically over the past couple years, and delaying these advances to adhere to the old release cycle might have cost even more market share than the rapid release cycle that so many find distasteful.

The process of transitioning add-ons to new Firefox versions has also become much more manageable than when FF 4 first came out, and the fact that there are fewer substantial changes between major releases also means that new releases tend to be less disruptive to an add-on's workings. The process of updating Firefox itself has also been streamlined recently, to the point that user interaction can be completely avoided.

I'm not saying rapid releases are a perfect solution, but they're not without their benefits, and I think a lot of people are ignoring the fact that the old release system had some notable flaws too.

The beta is far worse. they had 3 updates last week.

it's at V14.11 now.

If they would simply address the memory leaks & keep the footprint small I would be perfectly fine with it. It's not like I don't use FF all the time as it is.

My secondary is Chrome for the simple fact I have FF so locked out of 'Flash traps' & the likes I can't get to simple sites like Instructables or others that really don't have security issues (within them).

I wasn't aware the FF was being targeted as hard as IE by virus' & the likes. But they didn't have to go the route they did with the upgrades. That's like tearing down the house when they originally planned to repaint.

i still love firefox but yeah less updates better, dont update for the sake of it

Originally posted by JGJD2001:

---

i used to look forward to a major update but you never know when that will come with them now.

---

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Features/Release_Tracking ;-)

Originally posted by noprob_01:

---

using firefox version 3.6.28

works well for me to date/as of this post and passes my personal bank "browser test"

I care not for the versions above 3.6 whatsoever.

---

This is inadvisable considering that 3.6 no longer receives security updates. (Not to mention updates to support rapidly evolving web standards that more and more sites are beginning to utilize.)