Windows 7: Firefox 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 to Ship in 2011

**yowanvista** · 07 Feb 2011

Quote:

Gone are the days when users had to wait as much as a year between major iterations of Firefox. Mozilla is planning to release no less than 4 new versions of its open source browser by the end of this year.

Firefox 4.0, Firefox 5.0, Firefox 6.0 and Firefox 7.0 will all ship in 2011, the open source browser vendor confirmed.

Mozilla intends to radically overhaul its release cycle for Firefox per the Google Chrome model. The current pace at which new Firefox releases are offered to users will accelerate dramatically this year, following the launch of Firefox 4.0.

Among Mozilla’s Product Priorities for 2011, Mike Beltzner, Director of Firefox put “Ship our new technology to users in smaller bundles, more frequently” at no. 1, adding that the browser vendor needs to push “four technology shipment vehicles in 2011, including Firefox 4 and achieve a regular cadence for shipping.”

Firefox 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 to Ship in 2011 - Softpedia

johnwillyums · 07 Feb 2011

Thanks for that. I'm using FF Minefield x64 and recently had a mailing from Mozilla saying they were going to eventually make it an official release.
Hopefully it'll be one of these

Gornot · 07 Feb 2011

I don't get this idiotic "numbering cycle". Why does (major) version number matter at all? As long as the companies actually update and more regularly release new builds of their browsers (like Google does), who cares what the major version number is?

Besides, I don't buy this BS at all, if Mozilla had this in plan, v4 would be long released and already updated dozens of times.

**yowanvista** · 07 Feb 2011

Quote:

Besides, I don't buy this BS at all, if Mozilla had this in plan, v4 would be long released and already updated dozens of times.

FF4 was delayed because of huge amount of bugs due to the code transition from 3.6 to 4.0

Zen00 · 07 Feb 2011

So, instead of calling their updates Firefox 4.1,4.2,4.3,etc, they're going to be numbering them 4,5,6,7,etc? Sound like a cop-out in order to trick fools into thinking they're getting more than they really are. Just give me my yearly major overhaul, that's often enough, and my monthly security/bug fixes.

ie9 · 07 Feb 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by Gornot

I don't get this idiotic "numbering cycle". Why does (major) version number matter at all? As long as the companies actually update and more regularly release new builds of their browsers (like Google does), who cares what the major version number is?

My guess is that it's for the non-techies. Sure, people might argue that non-techies stick with IE, but there are some that like to try out different browsers.

Those people may not be comfortable with a 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, build. So firefox, chrome, and others will push out their "major" versions even though to the techie it won't seem significant enough to merit it. Just thinking out loud

kpo6969 · 07 Feb 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by johnwillyums

Thanks for that. I'm using FF Minefield x64 and recently had a mailing from Mozilla saying they were going to eventually make it an official release.
Hopefully it'll be one of these

Hope so too. Using 4.0b pre12 x64.
I didn't get a mailing though.

Quote: Originally Posted by ie9

Quote: Originally Posted by Gornot

I don't get this idiotic "numbering cycle". Why does (major) version number matter at all? As long as the companies actually update and more regularly release new builds of their browsers (like Google does), who cares what the major version number is?

My guess is that it's for the non-techies. Sure, people might argue that non-techies stick with IE, but there are some that like to try out different browsers.

Those people may not be comfortable with a 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, build. So firefox, chrome, and others will push out their "major" versions even though to the techie it won't seem significant enough to merit it. Just thinking out loud

PR vs Chrome and a good guess.

TVeblen · 07 Feb 2011

BCXtreme · 07 Feb 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by Zen00

So, instead of calling their updates Firefox 4.1,4.2,4.3,etc, they're going to be numbering them 4,5,6,7,etc? Sound like a cop-out in order to trick fools into thinking they're getting more than they really are. Just give me my yearly major overhaul, that's often enough, and my monthly security/bug fixes.

+1.

Quote: Originally Posted by ie9

My guess is that it's for the non-techies. Sure, people might argue that non-techies stick with IE, but there are some that like to try out different browsers.

Those people may not be comfortable with a 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, build. So firefox, chrome, and others will push out their "major" versions even though to the techie it won't seem significant enough to merit it. Just thinking out loud

What's most ironic is that a number of techies actually won't touch any x.0 build ... they assume that x.0 builds (first releases) are always buggy, and won't touch the new versions until they hit x.1. (Kinda like those who never upgrade to new versions of Windows until SP1 comes out.)

I personally think that this new practice of "let's slap up a new major version number for every tiny little thing we do" that Chrome started is nothing less than ridiculous, and it totally messes up the currently accepted versioning practices.

If there's anyone that feels otherwise, give this a thought. What would your reaction be if MS came out tomorrow and said, "Hey, we're going to rebrand Windows 7 SP1 and call it Windows 8, and offer it as a paid upgrade under the same pricing model as Windows 7."

smarteyeball · 07 Feb 2011

Chrome does have a lot to answer for with it's numbering - but lets not forget that IE is now at 9, Opera is at 11 - by comparison '4' sounds old to the uninitiated

Quote: Originally Posted by BCXtreme

What would your reaction be if MS came out tomorrow and said, "Hey, we're going to rebrand Windows 7 SP1 and call it Windows 8, and offer it as a paid upgrade under the same pricing model as Windows 7."

My reaction would be to wonder "When did I buy a Mac?" ...

Windows 7: Firefox 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 to Ship in 2011

Firefox 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 to Ship in 2011 problems?