18692706
submission
surveyork writes:
Firefox 4.0 beta 9 (AKA "a huge pile of awesome") was released on January 14, 2011. Firefox 4's release schedule includes a beta 10 and a release candidate before the final launch in late February. However, one wonders if this schedule won't slip again, since there are still more than 100 "hardblocker" bugs, more than 60 bugs affecting Panorama alone and 10 bugs affecting the just-introduced Tabs-on-Titlebar. Some long-standing bugs wont' be fixed in time for Firefox 4 final either (example, example). Many startup bugs are currently pending, although Firefox 4 starts much faster than Firefox 3.6. As a side note, it's unlikely that Firefox 4 final will pass the Acid3 test, despite this being a very popular demand amongst Firefox enthusiasts. Perhaps we'll have to wait until Firefox 4.1 to have this "huge pile of bugs" (mostly) fixed.
18634162
submission
surveyork writes:
A new chapter in the browser wars:
"Google in a defense of its decision to pull H.264 from Chrome's HTML5 revealed that it will put out WebM plugins for Internet Explorer 9 and Safari. Expecting no official support from Apple or Microsoft, Google plans to develop extensions that would load its self-owned video codec. No timetable was given."
So Google gets started with their plan for world-wide WebM domination. They'll provide WebM plugins for the browsers of the H.264-only league, so in practice, all mayor browsers will have WebM support –one way or the other.
Machiavellian move?
18621614
submission
surveyork writes:
"Mozilla today officially released Firefox 4 Beta 9 and it's a big improvement over previous betas and a parsec beyond the Firefox 3.6.x experience.
At this stage, after months of development, Mozilla developers are clearly nearing the end of this development marathon."
After Firefox beta 9, a beta 10 and a single RC are scheduled (this road map can change, of course). The main features of Firefox beta 9 are IndexedDB ( http://www.w3.org/TR/IndexedDB/ ) and tabs on titlebar (just like Chrome and Opera). IndexedDB allows sites to store data on your computer (prior your authorization). Tabs on titlebar is self-explanatory. Old-schoolers can always turn on the "show menu bar" to get their familiar GUI back.
Oh, and Fx beta 9 is fast and starts fast.
Firefox beta 9 available here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/beta/ and in lots of official mirrors.
18124108
submission
surveyork writes:
Opera Software released Opera browser 11 for desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc). The main features are support for extensions similar to Chrome and Tab Stacks, Opera's version of tab management. The extension catalog is still small, with roughly 200 extensions, but steadily growing. The browser is very fast, Chrome-fast, and lightweight, with a new installer which is 30% smaller than the one in the previous version. Other enhancements include visual mouse gestures and better address field. There's no hardware acceleration YET, but it could be coming in a further dot release and benefit XP users as well as Mac, Linux and Windows 7/Vista users.
Also mentioned here: http://mashable.com/2010/12/16/opera-11/
