Firefox To Drop Version Numbers Entirely

[severedsolo]

I don't know what's going on at Mozilla... but I've frankly been disillusioned for a while. I make no secret of the fact I'm a bit of a Firefox Fanboi, but still. The whole weird ass numbering system, making it look exactly like Chrome, and now this? Someone needs to bang their heads together.

I think the question is... where do the Firefox faithful go from here? To me at least, IE is slow and boggy, although admittedly not as bad as it was, Chrome is... well it's Chrome, kinda the reason I want to get away from Firefox anyway. As for Safari... god that's like some kind of torture.

Opera maybe... although I did vow never to use it again after the whole whinging about the EU browser choice thing. They just took that too far.

 

[Coke Robot]

Methinks Mozilla is running the company straight into the ground, all the way to hell in a bread basket...

 

[preiius]

I feel exactly the same way. Only things stopping me from moving to chrome completely are awesomebar and tab mix plus!

 

[Coke Robot]

I feel exactly the same way. Only things stopping me from moving to chrome completely are awesomebar and tab mix plus!

Have you discovered the world of IE 9?...

 

[Lebon14]

I still love firefox. Wherever they go, I'm here. Can't live without my add-ons. I can't say that Chrome is bad though... it would be my second choice in fact.

 

[Coke Robot]

I remember the days of using and installing firefox, how I'd tweak HTTP settings for max speeds, then I used and did installations of safari and suffered through version 5. And then I met Internet Explorer 9, my life has never been better....

 

[kronckew]

mozilla developer's intent is to turn FF into a chrome clone. they are doing this secure in the knowledge that they know best and end-users are not important enough to be considered and must be protected from themselves...

version number just confuse our poor little user minds anyway, so they are doing what is best for us and we should be grateful.

...now, where did i put that sarcasm smiley....

 

[preiius]

Wait, doesn't that remind you of another company??

 

[PwnFrnzy]

This saddens me, I love using Firefox, I've enjoyed using the browser since 2.9 days, now the once friendly and user-centered Firefox I once knew is no longer here. The add-ons are basically the only reason I'm sticking with Firefox, my W.O.T. add-on has saved me from sites that have very bad reputations.
If Firefox continues to dig it's own grave, I might have to go Chrome, the only reason I hesitate so much about Internet Explorer are because of IE6 from Windows XP, it was just a relentless virus onslaught. That kind of made me hesitate to even try IE again.

 

[Coke Robot]

This saddens me, I love using Firefox, I've enjoyed using the browser since 2.9 days, now the once friendly and user-centered Firefox I once knew is no longer here. The add-ons are basically the only reason I'm sticking with Firefox, my W.O.T. add-on has saved me from sites that have very bad reputations.
If Firefox continues to dig it's own grave, I might have to go Chrome, the only reason I hesitate so much about Internet Explorer are because of IE6 from Windows XP, it was just a relentless virus onslaught. That kind of made me hesitate to even try IE again.

IE 6 was a decade ago, IE 9 is now. It's actually been reviewed to be a lot better with malware denial than chrome.

 

[Airbot]

The pure proprietary induced lack of customization loses me on IE every time.

Nothing against it, quite nice actually, but not being able to customize or add some few certain functionalities suited to my needs is not suitable for me to use in everyday situations.

 

[kneel]

I personally don't like the look/feel of any of the new browsers. I'm still a FF guy...but they made it too much like Chrome, which I really don't like.

I don't really care either way...just want a decent browser...is that so much to ask these days?

 

[Lordbob75]

Dunno if this is really going to affect how FF works or not, but if it becomes a nuisance I will just swap to Chrome (since FF is going to look like it anyways).

Llordbob

 

[Gornot]

I laugh... Seriously, I do; what more is there to say?

 

[KazeNoKoe23]

I'll stick with it. Firefox has never failed me. I use Chrome on my netbook, but on my primary machine, it's FF all the way.

 

[pparks1]

This is what Microsoft does better with product releases: they don't release new versions of their software every six months. That gives people plenty of time to get cozy with the software, love it, and then get bored and upgrade to the next version in three years....unless if you're weird.

I couldn't disagree more with this. Microsoft has been playing catch up for years and years and years. They have always been extremely late to the part in the web browser front. The primary reason I moved away from IE (years ago) was the fact that it didn't have a built in popup blocker, nor did it support tabbed browsing. So, I find other browsers that were far more modern in their feature set. I've never really looked back.

It seems that over the years, the story is always the same. IE6 is going to be standards compliant and far more secure. Wait until IE7 gets here, its going to be the most secure browser ever. Well, IE7 isn't great, but boy IE8 really steps up the security and will be standards compliant. So, have you seen IE9, this one is really great. I honestly have never really noticed anything compelling with any of these releases and always go back to the other browsers.

Up until about 3 months ago, Firefox was pretty much all I would use. But I got disappointed in all of the releases and the add-ons breaking with each new release, so I started playing with Chrome. I found that the plug-ins that I really wanted (like Adblock Plus) were available in Chrome. What sold me on Chrome was the sync feature allowing me to keep my work pc's and home PC's synced as far as bookmarks, my bookmark bar, and my history. (I know Firefox has a sync, but compared to the Google Chrome version, it was just slow and unpredictable).

And from a security standpoint, perhaps unfounded, but I feel better not having Active-X controls installing on my machine.

 

[fseal]

Heh, tabbed browsing was FIRST available for IE (as an add on). Later available on FF built in.

IE actually spoorts a LOT of customizability, but fewer people take advantage of it so ther is not as much of a public knbowledge base about it and in the end not as much development on it.

And really, I think that Coke Robot was being a little more step-back philosophical about software development in general. I think that the fatc is. MOST people and definately all buisness WANT a fairly stable (read non-chaning) platform for longish periods of time. Then can accept breaking interrupts every 2-4 years.

Sure.. maybe not for US! But.. really, think about most peoples needs for a browser...

The idea that software updates itself continuously with UI surprises and compatbility surprisies on a monthly or even weekly schedule is really fairly user and buisness hostle to a VAST majority of users. I (as a software developer) aslo find it a much sloppier way of relesing that pushes many more running bugs into peopls hands than proper WELL tested out beta and relese cycles that last months instead of days or weeks.

 

[pparks1]

Heh, tabbed browsing was FIRST available for IE (as an add on). Later available on FF built in.

But I don't consider bolt on's from outside third parties when I discuss the features of a browser. It's the fact that the companies didn't get off their own butts for such a long time that turned me onto seeking alternatives. Same thing with a built in pop up blocker...I don't want to have to download some stupid Yahoo Toolbar or add-on for something as simply as a pop-up blocker...but for years that was what you had to do with IE.

And really, I think that Coke Robot was being a little more step-back philosophical about software development in general. I think that the fatc is. MOST people and definately all buisness WANT a fairly stable (read non-chaning) platform for longish periods of time. Then can accept breaking interrupts every 2-4 years.

Yes, I understand where he is coming from. As a Linux admin, I can appreciate the frequency of distro releases like Fedora and Ubuntu...but for production systems that I depend upon, I always go with the enterprise class versions like RHEL and CentOS..which have a 5+ year supported lifecycle. Sure it might not always be bleeding edge, but I bet it's still running and supported.

 

[MilesAhead]

The pure proprietary induced lack of customization loses me on IE every time.

Nothing against it, quite nice actually, but not being able to customize or add some few certain functionalities suited to my needs is not suitable for me to use in everyday situations.

I'm prejudiced against IE since the only time I got totally nailed by Malware was via a BHO. It's just a target that isn't there with other browsers. I used to like MaxThon. IE engine with tabs and lots of fun AddOns. But that IE ActiveX Control engine gets you into the same BHO vulnerability.

I always preferred software that let you set up your way. IE always seemed to me like I had to do it its way or it wouldn't work. Same bitch I have with Opera. What's it about 10 years or so they have the Wand form filler in the browser and refuse to encrypt the info. Now that's being stubborn. Makes something that could be usable useless in my book.

Firefox is fun to play around with and has some nice AddOns and themes. But they need to get it to snap up off a busy HD before it will be my primary browser again.

 

[Coke Robot]

This is what Microsoft does better with product releases: they don't release new versions of their software every six months. That gives people plenty of time to get cozy with the software, love it, and then get bored and upgrade to the next version in three years....unless if you're weird.

I couldn't disagree more with this. Microsoft has been playing catch up for years and years and years. They have always been extremely late to the part in the web browser front. The primary reason I moved away from IE (years ago) was the fact that it didn't have a built in popup blocker, nor did it support tabbed browsing. So, I find other browsers that were far more modern in their feature set. I've never really looked back.

It seems that over the years, the story is always the same. IE6 is going to be standards compliant and far more secure. Wait until IE7 gets here, its going to be the most secure browser ever. Well, IE7 isn't great, but boy IE8 really steps up the security and will be standards compliant. So, have you seen IE9, this one is really great. I honestly have never really noticed anything compelling with any of these releases and always go back to the other browsers.

Up until about 3 months ago, Firefox was pretty much all I would use. But I got disappointed in all of the releases and the add-ons breaking with each new release, so I started playing with Chrome. I found that the plug-ins that I really wanted (like Adblock Plus) were available in Chrome. What sold me on Chrome was the sync feature allowing me to keep my work pc's and home PC's synced as far as bookmarks, my bookmark bar, and my history. (I know Firefox has a sync, but compared to the Google Chrome version, it was just slow and unpredictable).

And from a security standpoint, perhaps unfounded, but I feel better not having Active-X controls installing on my machine.

Yeah, I come from the same place, for a LONG time, I've always thought IE was superiorly inferior compared to Firefox, and safari, and chrome. But after using all three of those, they seem either too chrome-knockoffy or very unstable.

Honestly, I was surprised I switched back to IE. It took me like, three months to wean off safari but what sold me on IE was the utter prettiness and speed of without much CPU use. Besides, I can get to bookmarked sites faster from looking at the favicon than the webpage preview...