Firefox 153 Released (firefox.com) 43
Longtime Slashdot reader williamyf writes: FireFox 153 was released today. The most important user-facing changes are improvements to PDF handling (you can now merge PDFs and add images to them), and HDR video playback (on Windows, provided HDR is active systemwide). Other under-the-hood changes include browser-wide containers and QWAC support. The full list is in the change notes.
But the most important feature is that this version is an ESR and, therefore, defines the ESR feature set for the next year. Why is being an ESR so important, you ask?
1.) ESR, rather than "normal" (a.k.a. Rapid Release), Firefox is the out-of-the-box browser for many important distros, including Debian, RHEL, Kali, Tails, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Slackware, and others.
2.) Many organizations, large and small, standardize on Firefox ESR as their default browser, regardless of the default browser included with their OS.
3.) Firefox ESR is the basis for many downstream projects, such as Waterfox and KaiOS. All these projects will inherit, for a year, whatever ESR brings to the table today.
4.) Many ISVs and SaaS providers, if they certify their wares for Firefox at all, certify for the ESR version only.
Please note that ESR 153 will not be offered as an automatic update until two months from now (ESR 140 will still be supported). If you want it now, you will need to download and install it manually.
Also of note, ESR 115 will be supported until March 2027. If you use an unsupported version of macOS or Windows (like Windows 7 or 8.x), this is the version to get. However, even Mozilla cautions against running a supported browser on an unsupported OS: "Note that Microsoft ended official support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 in January 2023. Unsupported operating systems receive no security updates and have known vulnerabilities. Without official support from Microsoft, maintaining Firefox for outdated operating systems becomes costly for Mozilla and risky for users."
But the most important feature is that this version is an ESR and, therefore, defines the ESR feature set for the next year. Why is being an ESR so important, you ask?
1.) ESR, rather than "normal" (a.k.a. Rapid Release), Firefox is the out-of-the-box browser for many important distros, including Debian, RHEL, Kali, Tails, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Slackware, and others.
2.) Many organizations, large and small, standardize on Firefox ESR as their default browser, regardless of the default browser included with their OS.
3.) Firefox ESR is the basis for many downstream projects, such as Waterfox and KaiOS. All these projects will inherit, for a year, whatever ESR brings to the table today.
4.) Many ISVs and SaaS providers, if they certify their wares for Firefox at all, certify for the ESR version only.
Please note that ESR 153 will not be offered as an automatic update until two months from now (ESR 140 will still be supported). If you want it now, you will need to download and install it manually.
Also of note, ESR 115 will be supported until March 2027. If you use an unsupported version of macOS or Windows (like Windows 7 or 8.x), this is the version to get. However, even Mozilla cautions against running a supported browser on an unsupported OS: "Note that Microsoft ended official support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 in January 2023. Unsupported operating systems receive no security updates and have known vulnerabilities. Without official support from Microsoft, maintaining Firefox for outdated operating systems becomes costly for Mozilla and risky for users."
Re:Wow! (Score:5, Insightful)
you can now merge PDFs and add images to them
That's quite amazing... ...and not something that I've ever needed nor considered doing in a browser. I wonder if I'll use it much.
You and me, not much.
But considering the ammount of PDFs you find on the web nowadays, coupled with the ammount of people that use only a browser and no other SW, the venn diagram of that is a pretty large user base.
Throw into that people who have machines so underpowered that they can not run two apps at the same time if one of the Apps is a browser and another App is something as heavy as a full suite of PDF editing (I see plenty of these here in Venezuela), and this may be welcome by those as well.
I was sceptical about the base browser being able to display and edit PDFs all those years ago (and I still think this should have been managed by a plug-in, like widevine and OpenH264, even if the Plug-in was developed by Mozilla themselves), but native PDF rendering is here. Mozilla may as well keep developing it.
Re:Wow! (Score:5, Insightful)
PDF is not primarily a web function, that is true. But as you said, there is a HUGE overlap between PDF and interacting with web sites. The ability to fully handle PDF, including filling forms and editing them in the browser, is majorly convenient. So much so that I welcome all efforts for that in Firefox. Especially under Linux, where the FOSS options for simple PDF editing are not quite as numerous.
I, too, wouldn't mind if it were a separate addon that was included/enabled by default and users could choose to remove it. But having that integrated as a non-addon doesn't offend me much.... Even though I do think it would be better as an addon. Even so, it can currently be turned off/disabled if not wanted and isn't huge.
Re: Wow! (Score:2)
Re: Wow! (Score:1)
I guess a lot of people haven't heard of PDFsam then
Re: (Score:3)
Throw into that people who have machines so underpowered that they can not run two apps at the same time if one of the Apps is a browser and another App is something as heavy as a full suite of PDF editing
It seems odd to me to think of a browser like Firefox as a memory or CPU frugal option to do anything - so far my experience was the opposite.
Also, adding yet another large piece of attack surface by introducing PDF merging features sounds like something one should rather avoid in a software exposed to the Internet.
Re: (Score:2)
Throw into that people who have machines so underpowered that they can not run two apps at the same time if one of the Apps is a browser and another App is something as heavy as a full suite of PDF editing
It seems odd to me to think of a browser like Firefox as a memory or CPU frugal option to do anything - so far my experience was the opposite.
Also, adding yet another large piece of attack surface by introducing PDF merging features sounds like something one should rather avoid in a software exposed to the Internet.
FireFox IS NOT a frugal option for anything, but if on top of the non-frugal option of firefox you deploy the non-frugal option of full fat adobe acrobat PDF editing, well... you go non-frugal times two. Underpowered machines running on the edge would trip over that edge (pun intended)
Re:Wow! (Score:4, Insightful)
>"FireFox IS NOT a frugal option for anything"
(Yet no less so than any other full, multi-platform browser)
>"but if on top of the non-frugal option of firefox you deploy the non-frugal option of full fat adobe acrobat PDF editing, well... you go non-frugal times two. Underpowered machines running on the edge would trip over that edge (pun intended)"
Bingo
A computer without a full browser is almost useless nowadays. A computer without a full PDF editing monster is still very useful and not uncommon at all.
But if you can slide in some of the most important PDF handling into an existing program that everyone will already have on their machine (a browser), with little resources added, then it is a big win. And that is exactly what Mozilla did.
Re: (Score:2)
>"FireFox IS NOT a frugal option for anything"
(Yet no less so than any other full, multi-platform browser)
I was the one who submited the article to /., I use FireFox ESR as my main browser, I have nothing against firefox,
And yet, I am the first one that will admit that, compared to Chrome or Safari (I use MacOS) firefox is an absolute sieve of memory, and slow compared to the other two. And my Chrome also has uBlock Origin lite and sponsorblock, and privacy badger, and all the other niffty plug-ins... so, is not the plug-ins slowing Firefox down.
PS: Safari is left as is, as the browser of last resort.
Re: (Score:3)
I compare to Chromium at times, and speeds under Linux seem to be about the same, as does memory usage. It does vary depending on types of tasks and sites. Often Chromium uses considerably more memory, but is also sometimes faster.
So I would say they are both perfectly acceptable from that perspective (phone use might be different, but I don't care because I rarely browse on a phone). However, what is not acceptable to me is Chrom* lack of privacy and user control, and their bullying trying to control st
Re: (Score:2)
I ditched Firefox and Chrome at least 13 years ago and have used Safari exclusively since. In fact, Chrome hasn't ever been installed on this MBP, which I've had for five years. I don't miss their bloating and battery drain, nor having a privacy raping app from Google. I also appreciate the integration with Messages and Mail for how easy this makes 2FA on web sites that send codes, as well as unified keychain and history across all of my devices. That doesn't mean I'm unaware of the current state of the
Re: (Score:2)
I ditched Firefox and Chrome at least 13 years ago and have used Safari exclusively since. In fact, Chrome hasn't ever been installed on this MBP, which I've had for five years. I don't miss their bloating and battery drain, nor having a privacy raping app from Google. I also appreciate the integration with Messages and Mail for how easy this makes 2FA on web sites that send codes, as well as unified keychain and history across all of my devices. That doesn't mean I'm unaware of the current state of the other browsers: I do have FF, which I dabble with occasionally, but it drives me nuts, it's just shit and it's obvious why it's losing market share, and I get forced to use other browsers on remote Windows machines or in local VMs of Windows and Linux.
If I only used MacOS, I'd gone that same route. But when I selected Firefox all those years ago, I had mixed use of Windows and MacOS. Nowadays, I still bootcamp from time to time to play. And I also use Linux esporadically...
So firefox it is...
Re: (Score:2)
It would be amazing for me at work where we don't have a license for Acrobat which allows us to do that, except they install Chrome and not Firefox on our PCs (because they like having us spied on I guess) so I still won't be able to do this.
Re: (Score:3)
I /suspect/ it's so when you have to upload a file to a website as a PDF but you have several and it doesn't handle that well you can multi-select a group of files and it will upload a single PDF.
No idea if that's what they mean but it might actually be useful.
Re: (Score:2)
Why is the pdf viewer so shitty? I click on a 200 page pdf. Wait for it to buffer, scroll down halfway, wait to buffer. Scroll back up to the beginning (that was previously loaded) and it has to buffer again?
What the fuck?
Re: (Score:3)
>"Wait for it to buffer, scroll down halfway, wait to buffer."
It could be the download is slow? The site supplying it is slow? Some sites will send PDF in a way that can be rendered as it is downloading (you don't have to wait for it to finish to see or scroll, but if it isn't loaded yet, there will be delays).
I just opened a LOCAL 652 page PDF in Firefox/Linux. It loaded instantly and it renders as fast as I can drag the scrollbar.... all the way to the end.
Then I just went to here https://spytm.com [spytm.com]
Re: Wow! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Compared to what? Acrobat Reader?
I use Linux and Adobe stopped providing updates to the Acrobat Reader port several years ago, there is no PDF reader under Linux which covers all the many "features" Adobe inserted into the PDF specs so I'm quite happy with those which cover most of the bases.
Re: Wow! (Score:2)
ESR (Score:5, Insightful)
>"Why is being an ESR so important, you ask?"
I don't need to ask :)
We use Firefox ESR at work as the most stable/predictable version for production use. It means we can focus on policies/config/testing on our machines (several hundred, all Linux) and sites, then roll it out and not have to worry about new "features" popping up that cause confusion for users, require additional training/support, or cause unexpected issues for a reasonable period of time (1 year). It is a good release model. Point updates to ESR are just bug fixes and security fixes, no feature or UI changes.
At home, my machines (all Linux) run the latest non-ESR versions.
Re: (Score:2)
>"Why is being an ESR so important, you ask?"
I don't need to ask :)
We use Firefox ESR at work as the most stable/predictable version for production use. It means we can focus on policies/config/testing on our machines (several hundred, all Linux) and sites, then roll it out and not have to worry about new "features" popping up that cause confusion for users, require additional training/support, or cause unexpected issues for a reasonable period of time (1 year). It is a good release model. Point updates to ESR are just bug fixes and security fixes, no feature or UI changes.
At home, my machines (all Linux) run the latest non-ESR versions.
I could not say this when I submited the article, as my particular case is not relevant, but I can say it here:
I actually use ESR as my daily browser in my personal machines. Can not be arsed to deal at home with unexpected changes each 4 (and begening now 2) weeks... What I do, that most enterprises do not, is that I switch to ESR the day it lands, via a manual install. I want to have a modern browser for at least 4 (and now only 2) weeks. Enterprises normaly wait 24 weeks to test everything before they do
My continuing question ... (Score:2)
Is the person/committee who picked the newer private New Tab colors literally blind or just colorblind? They're horrible.
Vulkan (Score:1)
HDR (Score:2)
HDR video is nice, but I hope HDR images are not far behind. These days even mid range phones take HDR images, and conversion to SDR is often sub-par.
What the F*** (Score:2)
"The most important user-facing changes are improvements to PDF handling (you can now merge PDFs and add images to them)"
What the fuck is this feature doing in a browser??
This makes me even happier that I stopped using Firefox years ago, because these fuckers have clearly lost the plot as to what a browser is supposed to do.
I'm curious, though, does Firefox still render web pages or has that minor feature been deprecated?
Re: (Score:2)
It saves you from being under adobe's thumb.
On Linux, it's a godsend.
I'd take this over AI slop any day.
WTF is an ESR? (Score:2)
Re: WTF is an ESR? (Score:2)
Eric S. Raymond wrote "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", which inspired Mozilla to make their browser open source. For some reason, this means they name their extended support releases after him.
Re: (Score:2)
In the summary I count 11 instance of the acronym 'ESR', yet nowhere is it defined. Please do better.
I can not believe that a 5 digit /. user can not google on his/her own what FireFox ESR means.
Re: (Score:2)
All y'all, raise the bar.
Re: (Score:2)
Firefox Data Collection Still on by Default (Score:3)
ESR Is Not Understood By Devs or Their Management (Score:2)
Each time I log into my Vanguard brokerage account using Firefox 140.12.0esr which was the previous esr from Mozilla, I'm greeted with a message that tells me I should really be using the most current browser both for security and features.
I dinged them on it last week via their chat link and yesterday I received a call from their tech support. The guy had no idea what the esr version was and told me that they would not support it. I tried to explain using many of the points in the post, but it seemed to ha
Can't trust the about screen (Score:2)
Fired up Firefox and used the help/about. Was on 151 and it was saying that was up to date. Downloaded installer and ran it. Help/about now reports 153 (and up to date). So I guess I'll make sure I just download the installer if I hear about any urgent security updates to Firefox in the future.
Loads of trouble with Firefox on Linux and FreeBSD (Score:2)
Maybe it's just me.
A few years back I was using RedHat, and I gave up on Firefox because videos would not play smoothly.
Now I am using FreeBSD, and I have recently gave up on Firefox because of a few issues.
1. Buttons often don't work. For example, the "Show More" button on Google does not work.
2. Pages often don't load on first attempt. Whether I click on a link, or enter a URL, the pages just don't load of the first try.
I just gave up. Sorry but, for me, Chrome and/or Chromium, seem to work better.
New York Times and Firefox failing (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Haha. You are in an arms race with NYT. Right now, they are ahead.
bloat (Score:2)
Ever more features to add hacking targets, debugging complexity, and unneeded features. Just make a standalone PDF hack. That I would use. This, I don't need.