What's up with Firefox updates?

splash

It looks like Mozilla is quickly releasing new versions of Firefox. From what I read the reason they are making large leaps in version numbering is simply because they want to catch up to "9" because Internet Explorer is at this version number. Of course this is meaningless since most people don't know what version web browser they are using and the other percentage of people aren't tricked by version numbering. I know Chrome is on 12 or 13 or whatever, but really, browser version shouldn't matter anymore... or should they? Why doesn't Mozilla and Microsoft adopt the updating scheme of Google and have it upgrade and install silently?

useless4

It's because they are using a totally new numbering sequence for nightly builds.
So 5 is the current version, 6 is the nightly builds of what's coming next and 7 is the "next next" version.

But it leads to really stupidly funny actual headlines like "Firefox 7 is 5x faster than Firefox 5" the day Firefox 5 is released.

I don't know what happens when 6 becomes real, does 7 then become nightly builds and 8 is the next next version?
Or are they going to pull a Land Rover and be stupid with numbers "5 is NOW 6 and 6 is now 7!"

tardcore

I don't even remember Firefox 4. I remember updating from 3 point something to 5.

HallowedFaith

Because they have a system in place right now, they probably see no real desire to flip over to the Chrome method as it would incur time and cost that isn't really justified in the long run.

However, if marketing says anything it is that people are suckers for the bigger better deal and MS/Explorer have a few advantages over everyone by default. Gotta fight wherever you can. Bigger number, same browser, more share.

Dritz

The previous versioning system of Firefox focused on lumping new features in big x.0 releases. The new system is meant to release new features much faster. People say it's just for marketing (which is probably a factor) but in practice x.0 releases probably aren't going to be celebrated as much as they were in the past.

splash

An update about this. Mozilla say they plan to hide version numbering and rather tell users just whether they are running the latest version or not. So I have to assume they may be using the same updating scheme as Google.

tardcore

Looks like Firefox 6 is out.

The Anonymous

splash wrote:

An update about this. Mozilla say they plan to hide version numbering and rather tell users just whether they are running the latest version or not. So I have to assume they may be using the same updating scheme as Google.

So much nerdrage in those comments. I mean, I agree this isn't something that should be done, but seriously. It is not "sabotaging Firefox" or what have you.

bowen

IIRC, it is to catch the numbering scheme of firefox up to IE because people assume "IE9" will be better than "Firefox 3" just because 9 > 3.

The Anonymous

I've heard that one too.

I've also heard a bunch of other reasons, so I'm not exactly sure what's real here.

bowen

The Anonymous wrote:

I've heard that one too.

I've also heard a bunch of other reasons, so I'm not exactly sure what's real here.

It made sense, I think, because there was only like 4 lines of code difference between two of the full number revisions. Though I'm not sure of the real reason.

splash

The Anonymous wrote:

splash wrote:

An update about this. Mozilla say they plan to hide version numbering and rather tell users just whether they are running the latest version or not. So I have to assume they may be using the same updating scheme as Google.

So much nerdrage in those comments. I mean, I agree this isn't something that should be done, but seriously. It is not "sabotaging Firefox" or what have you.

Yea I didn't even bother looking at the comments because I knew it'd be ridiculous. Since you can still retrieve the version number. But as I said for regular people they don't know what version number they are using for browsers and I think it's a much better idea these days to update browsers frequently and silently. Browsers should function more like a live service rather than a traditional program if that makes sense.

Magus`

Anyone know why FF6 has my mouse scroll scroll like 2-3 PAGES when I use it? It makes it pointless to use the scroll wheel.

useless4

I think this hiding version numbers will kill it in the corporate market.
"We are at 4 for production and 5 on dev" will be impossible when it's "i have... um... tuesdays? version on production but no idea what we have on dev"

GnomeTank

useless4 wrote:

I think this hiding version numbers will kill it in the corporate market.
"We are at 4 for production and 5 on dev" will be impossible when it's "i have... um... tuesdays? version on production but no idea what we have on dev"

It's not hidden, you just have to type about:support in the browser bar to see it. Since corporate IT people should be smart enough to do this, it shouldn't matter. In fact, this should be good for corporate IT people. They don't have to worry about users calling them about "not having the latest Internet version" because they looked at the about box and saw a lower number than they wanted to.

amnesiasoft

If end users actually complained about "not having the latest Internet version," we probably would have seen IE 6 disappear a long time ago.

The Anonymous

And we wouldn't have a website dedicated to getting people to not use it anymore.

Frem

I really like getting shiny things on a regular basis in Aurora. Did the alpha update schedule get more ironed out since they changed their version numbering system? Or has the alpha always been this awesome and I just didn't notice because it wasn't advertised as much?

splash

Firefox 6 is out, yay. When I go to Help > About Firefox it says "6.0 - You are currently on the release update channel." Umm. Okay!

Frem

splash wrote:

Firefox 6 is out, yay. When I go to Help > About Firefox it says "6.0 - You are currently on the release update channel." Umm. Okay!

And in about 11 weeks, you'll be using the Firefox 8 version currently in Aurora. It's rather nice. Memory usage is improved. It's ever-so-slightly snappier. Also, they made ripping tabs off and moving them between windows work like it does in Chrome.

ParisInFlames

Does anyone else have the problem where using the middle mouse button over a link no longer opens that link in a new tab?

Frem

ParisInFlames wrote:

Does anyone else have the problem where using the middle mouse button over a link no longer opens that link in a new tab?

Does it happen on every website? Links under the influence of Javascript won't necessarily work properly.

ParisInFlames

Frem wrote:

ParisInFlames wrote:

Does anyone else have the problem where using the middle mouse button over a link no longer opens that link in a new tab?

Does it happen on every website? Links under the influence of Javascript won't necessarily work properly.

I have a number of different types of websites open, not a single type of hyperlink is working...though I just got another Firefox beta update prompt, I'll see if this does anything.

deadonthestreet

Weird bug with latest release. When I double click the tab bar (I have it on bottom, not top), it maximizes the window instead of opening a new tab. Any insight?

Lord Jezo

Winamp once went from version 3 straight to version 5 because they wanted to distance themselves from 3 which everyone thought was the worst thing ever.

So yeah, release numbers are useless.

ASimPerson

Lord Jezo wrote:

Winamp once went from version 3 straight to version 5 because they wanted to distance themselves from 3 which everyone thought was the worst thing ever.

So yeah, release numbers are useless.

My company skipped 13 and 14 because of triskaidekaphobia and tetraphobia.

The Anonymous

But there was still a thirteenth and fourteenth release!

What now.

bowen

I know firefox had to invalidate that cert auth vendor for https because they gave a google authed one to some company out in Arabia, so there's that at least to justify that specific version. Though that may have been a 6.0.1 version instead of a full number revision.

Donovan Puppyfucker

The best update there is for Firefox is when you download and install Chrome...

Frem

Meh; certain things are better. Other things aren't.

Firefox is guaranteed to always have better extensions. XUL and all that.

Firefox's sync is also more reliable, longterm. The server is open source, so I can run my own sync server if I wanted to. I'm not putting my passwords into a black box, even a pretty one made by Google.

---

Oh, that reminds me. The "open tabs in other browsers" thing is almost useful, but we have to be pretty close to the point where the entire DOM can be copied back and forth, right? Being able to open something like Freenode's webchat on one machine and pick up seamlessly on another would be really neat.