After 19 months of development, two name changes and more than 8 million downloads of its preview release, the Firefox browser is finally turning 1.0. Firefox is scheduled to be available for free download at 1 a.m. PDT Tuesday. Our Take: Sky’s the limit. After Thunderbird (and third-party NVU & Mozilla-Calendar), I would love to see the Mozilla Project build a multi-IM application (ICQ, AIM/iChat, MSN, Y!, Jabber, etc) with the same design/usability goals as Firefox, coupled with good voice and video support (support which lacks on all third party multi-protocol IM solutions today). UPDATE: It’s out.
Mozilla readies Firefox 1.0 release
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Man I love Firefox !! On Linux and Windows.
Oooh its been so eagerly awaited. Oh yeah, you know I’m going to be the first kid on my block with Firefox 1.0.
This is it. Over the next couple weeks we find out what Firefox and the spreadfirefox.com ad campain can really do. Will it make a real difference on the web? We’ll see…
What can it do you ask ?
I believe the question should be : what SHOULD it do ?
Right now, every time two similar products coexist, it seems there’s always a war ahead. I see it as having choice and choice is always good. I, for one, prefer Firefox over IE for loads of reasons, but I can conceive somebody else might disagree.
Firefox 1.0 is a major milestone and I’m impressed by this product, and more has yet to come. But I don’t see that as “Browser Wars, part II” and I believe seeing it as some war is succombing to simple sensasionalism.
Does this mean it will be available in 2 or 3 hours? or do they mean tuesday morning as in wednesday at 1 am
FireFox will continue improving even when MS and IE are long since gone and turned to dust.
I’m not a fan or supporter of Firefox, but I do support Mozilla, there’s just some things with Firefox that really annoy me, get on my nerves. Like having that Google search beside the url, would really like to get rid of that, and for going to .com web addresses, can’t just pop up the location window and type “crimsonthorn” and press enter, as well I don’t like it remembering previous addresses in the URL like Firefox seems to remember. I just stick with using regular Mozilla 1.7.3 or whichever is latest official or stable release.
You can get rid of the Google search next to the URL entry field by going View -> Toolbars -> Customize (sic).
I’m sure your other peeves can or are solved by extensions or about:config.
One feature I would like to see in Firefox is a private browsing mode, like is planned for Safari. Hit a switch (no pun intended) and all those indiscretions won’t be recorded.
You can get rid of the google search, just go view->tools->customize, and drag the google search into the window that opens up, you can drag buttons in and out its a real neat feature.
haha you beat me by 2 tenths of a second.
We are in standard time now. Does that mean the release will happen at midnight PST?
Our Take: Sky’s the limit. After Thunderbird (and third-party NVU & Mozilla-Calendar), I would love to see the Mozilla Project build a multi-IM application (ICQ, AIM/iChat, MSN, Y!, Jabber, etc) with the same design/usability goals as Firefox, coupled with good voice and video support (support which lacks on all third party multi-protocol IM solutions today).
>
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You’re most likely the only one. Rather doubt there is any interest in such a beast within the Mozilla Project itself for good reason.
It’s totally lame.
You can remove Google as search option from the search bar if you like.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.phtml?title=Firefox_:_FAQs_:_Uninst…
You can also do away with the search bar altogetheir by right clicking on the top portion of it and bringing up the customize menu and then dragging it over into it to get rid of it.
— “Like having that Google search beside the url, would really like to get rid of that…”
View -> Toolbars -> Customize. Firfoxes toolbars are almost infinately customizable. Personally, I like my bookmarks up on the top next to the menu and no third toolbar, and my mother rather likes having the google search field moved down to the third toolbar to the left of the bookmarks.
— “…and for going to .com web addresses, can’t just pop up the location window and type “crimsonthorn” and press enter…”
Istead of a location window, it just pops you up too the location bar with the address highlighted, where you CAN just type in, say, ‘osnews’, and it will bring up this site.
— “…as well I don’t like it remembering previous addresses in the URL like Firefox seems to remember.”
Not sure about this one, but Im sure there is a way to tell it not to.
I’d like an IM Client.
Gaim is ass on Windows
Trillian costs money
Miranda can’t send files on AIM
You’re my only hope Mozilla!
Erm…
Yeah, Firefox kicks ass!
I would imagine that multi-protocol video and audio would be a pain because every IM system has a different way of doing video and audio which is the most complex thing that an IM client does these days. I think that unless a universally adopted A/V codec / protocol is used, it is likely that this IM client would be bloatware – at least in my humble opinion
Gaim works fine here (except file transfers eat cpu, fine normally, but bad when using it across a lan to share a file).
I still find the XUL stuff to be slow in linux gtk2 builds; it seems ok in windows though (Athlon 1800+). Although, I think some of it is just the way firefox is.
I like the idea, and it should also include extensions, so you only get the protocols you want, to keep it light.
That said, Mozilla isn’t the biggest organisation on the planet, and their resources can only stretch so far. There are also patent issues with some of the protocols.
If they could just get the Sunbird stand-alone calendar on par with Firefox/Thunderbird…
Rather than have another multi-IM client in the mix, I would rather see some of these companies with a lot of clout behind them (Mozilla and Google for example) push to standardize the IM protocol. (Jabber probably, since it’s Open.)
Imagine if you had to have a half dozen e-mail clients so you could e-mail all the people you know. I think using multiple messengers (or all-in-ones) is every bit as absurd as having a bunch of e-mail clients would be.
Wasn’t there something about separating gaim into a frontend and a backend. I wonder if it progressed far enough that you could build a XUL based interface for it?
Instant messaging has turned into a huge dissapointment. It seems to be synonymous with UI catastrophes (and bloat) and featuritis. And I only have contacts spread across 3 protocols.
It also enjoys Linux phenomenon. Its difficult to change to something simple, open and reliable when everyone already uses the crap that MS, AOL, Yahoo! and whatever deliver.
How about turning away from mail client and calender in favor of web-based ones. They are more convenient since you can access anywhere that has a browser + internet connection.
So, basically just need a good browser like Firefox to handle all the communication tasks.
[i]I don’t like it remembering previous addresses in the URL</>
tools-options-privacy-history = 0 days.
forgot to close the tag
“Wasn’t there something about separating gaim into a frontend and a backend. I wonder if it progressed far enough that you could build a XUL based interface for it?”
Libgaim is used as a back-end for the Adium messenger on OS X, so I presume it’s all good.
RE: Standard IM protocols
It’s already started, with Apple including Jabber support in iChat for Tiger.
Libgaim is used as a back-end for the Adium messenger on OS X, so I presume it’s all good.
Does Adium support the gaim-encryption plugin?
This release is set to launch the same day as Halo 2
No idea, sorry.
Our Take: Sky’s the limit. After Thunderbird (and third-party NVU & Mozilla-Calendar), I would love to see the Mozilla Project build a multi-IM application (ICQ, AIM/iChat, MSN, Y!, Jabber, etc) with the same design/usability goals as Firefox, coupled with good voice and video support (support which lacks on all third party multi-protocol IM solutions today).
Holy christ that would be cool. Handy too for enterprises (I’ve worked at several big companies where MSN for Exchange is used quite extensively within company walls). I definitely second this.
I guess that’s in 2 hours. I wonder how many people they’ve got on standby to help deal with the massive pounding their servers are going to take 🙂
I use Firefox and Thunderbird on a daily basis, and i really love/appreciate them, *BUT* they are really resource-hungry; Firefox is currently eating 40mb of memory with 4 sites, Tbird is eating slightly less, 35mb currently. But i know they can easily reach 50-70mb each. I would not use an IM client with the same memory footprint. Just as a comparison, Miranda is using now 3mb (maximum used memory: 9mb) and is doing everything i need.
So I would prefer seeing Firefox, Tbird (and maybe Sunbird) optimized than seeing the birth of another project (if i remember well, they are planning to create a sort of generic XUL framework and put the various apps on it, optimizing in this way the memory usage)
just my 2 (euro)cent
Have you not tried the gaim fork gaim-vv? They offer video and voice support for several protocols.
Firefox is mem hungry because it by default uses a large portion of your memory to cache web pages (one of the reasons why the back function is so fast). Another problem is due to the overhead of the xul engine, although it’s far less than you think (xul rendering is handled by gecko engine, which is very fast). The debut of XRE (xul runtime environment) would allow all mozilla programs to share some of the memory overhead, thereby optimizing the memory footprint. Personally, I don’t have that much an issues with mem usage and my computer only has 64mb! So I guess does not affect performance that much.
If you don’t want to remember the addresses saved in the location bar, you have to disable the history function (Go to Options…/Privacy/History and set the number of days to 0. Although by doing this, you will not save any history.
I still prefer Maxthon over Firefox, blogged about it actually on my website at http://www.trajano.net/.
But it is a matter of preference, I won’t switch back to Internet Explorer per se, but if you haven’t tried Maxthon its not a bad browser replacement http://www.maxthon.com/
great… I just upgraded from 0.9 to 1.0PR and I lost most of my bookmarks (the only ones that are left are ones that were located in folders, the ones from the root of the bookmark tree are totally wiped out)… this SUX completely… if this happened to a novice firefox user (unlike me) I am positive that that person would not want to use firefox anymore… this is just the thing that HAS to be avoided in order to get more widespread use of firefox…
Thanks user” for your reply, i know i can reduce caching in firebird, infact the thing that astonish me a bit is the memory usage of thunderbird (that afaik doesnt have to cache anything
)
Yeah, XRE is the acronym i didnt remember
I wonder how many people they’ve got on standby to help deal with the massive pounding their servers are going to take 🙂
Mozilla downloads are invisibly spread across a globe-wide network of participating mirrors (which makes getting solid statistics on downloads difficult for them).
@Archimedes Trajano
I read your blog entry, and I can tell you that all of your problems with Firefox can be overcome. Ask around at the Mozillazine forums:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=38
http://gaim-vv.sourceforge.net/
I just upgraded from 0.9 to 1.0PR and I lost most of my bookmarks
When using beta software, you should expect to see the occasional problem like this. I’m sure it will be addressed in the 1.0 release.
1.0 has been up since ~3:19AM EST.
Do you think I am an idiot or do you think I don’t know about gaim-vv (OSnews was the first site reported on it)? Thing is, this project moves more slow than turtles, and overwritting my gaim installation is not an option. It has to either integrate with the gaim project, or it has to fork. And of course, it should move faster.
is syncing right now on the mozilla ftp server
posting now with 1.0
I definitely agree that a decent cross platform IM client is desperately needed. The only reason why I basically still use windows/msn messenger is for the webcam functionality ..
seems a bit snappier.
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
wow, crashed already, got in to a refresh loop, because someone’s terrible frames.
Damn invisible Caching provided by my ISP!!!
Can’t See it yet
Dang. It’s a little too late at night/too early for me.
Here is the link to the 1.0 folder.
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/1.0/
The previous link I sent still directs to 1.0PR
after 30min of usage it’s quite stable, and it found only 1 extension (tinyurl) and 2 themes incompatible. I updated noia theme and now it’s ok.
The only (strange) thing is that my userContent.js suddenly disappeared from my personal/profile directory, so ADs are back… (obviously i downloaded the file and put it again in the dir
)
thanx dude for the link.
I got V1.0 earlier than all of my friends!
Too bad for the 1.0 release : http://www.mozilla.org is down for me (from France) :-(((
It is now on http://www.mozilla.org/
Good night.
The Swedish version is broken. Refuses to start. Just gives you a window with “somethingsomething.theme…”. The English version is OK, fortunately.
A multiprotocol messenging app is really needed, I only use Windows for the Yahoo and MSN Webcam support, other wise I’d use Zeta.
I’ve got it. Works great even with Romanian language pack. Don;t troll, uninstall previous versions then install 1.0 and try it again. Or maybe it’s better to re-install Windows
Archimedes Trajano, Maxthon still uses the IE rendering engine, your just as vulnerable as ever; Until MS understands (*cough* not now – or ever) that a browser is meant to be a separate application. :p
guys this article is regarding Firefox turning version 1.0
pls don’t start browser war again.
If the site is slow for people, here is a download (en-US version) of the windows installer http://stuwww.uvt.nl/Firefox%20Setup%201.0.exe
Well I got it, and yes it does feel a little faster… probably in my head
I’m a little disappointed for two reasons:
1) The installer is still lousy. When choosing a path other than the default, the installer still for unknown reasons defaults the path to a temp folder. The installer also doesn’t let you type in a path to install, forcing you to clumsily use the “Browse” menu and clicking “Make New Folder” to create a Firefox folder for you to install in.
2) Foreign language characters are still not imported correctly. When the import favorites function was added a few versions ago, all foreign characters imported from IE would turn to question marks. When Firefox 1.0 PR came out, the behavoir changed. All favorites in IE with foreign characters in them were not imported at all. Firefox 1.0 displays the same behavoir as 1.0 PR. This is a serious hit to it’s usability. I want to convert my parents to using Firefox only, but I’m going to have a tough time doing so when the long list of favorites that they have doesn’t get imported.
he EXE installer was introduced in Firefox .8 I believe, and it went through two versions with no improvement. The foreign character problem was reported in December 2001, and is still yet to be fixed.
Two problems:
1. Everytime I restart Firefox, it forgets that I have checked the “close the download window upon successful download”. It just doesn’t stick.
2. Firefox freezes on some specific pages, *sometimes*. It freezes about once an hour or so (usually on my local plain/simple HTML bookmark page and on ImDB). This happens to ALL recent Firefox versions, be it compiled by the official ArchLinux guys OR from the Mozilla guys. I had to go back to Epiphany because of that. The freeze doesn’t happen with the Windows version of Firefox (have the same pages there too).
> 1. Everytime I restart Firefox, it forgets that I have checked the “close the download window upon successful download”. It just doesn’t stick.
This doesn’t appear to be a problem with Windows version.
I’ve been using the Mac OS X version for about an hour and it occasionally freezes. While I was setting the preferences, and then a few minutes later. It simply does not respond to links nor anything. However, if you press “quit” it will quit normally. As if the “engine” stopped working. Will investigate.
On the other hand, given the campaign and effort placed in this release, a “nicer” .dmg would have been appreciated. It’s just a pain icon, no background, no “drag this to your app folder” etc. Not that I care, but since you’re expecting “millions” of downloads… heck all they had to do was ask for it.
Anyways, even when it looks somewhat slower I am comparing it side by side with the windows version and it behaves exaclty (tho the win version does not occasionally freeze).
Oh, and I don’t have extensions. (but want to install ad-block as soon as the servers are less loaded).
what i love from firefox are
+ google search + ebay + amazon.com + ..
+ with menu bar and location bar are so save space, it provides a very good view for 14’inches and laptop viewers
+ a read/new messages at the [tools] menu bar is good
+ very customisation: you can put any extensions you like and what ever button on the location bar
+ speed: N/A i dun see any dominant speed of firefox over mozilla or even netscape 7.2 (i tested myself on the same system)
+ cant read about plug-in in firefox . i love this option in mozilla
+ absolutely it give IE a knock-out (at least with me) for IE6 sp1 even installed winXPSP2, it is seriously attacked (i dun say which ones is more secure, may be firefox has not yet to be a target for hackers
+ all banking websites around australia (wp, commonwealth, anz..) have been viewed okay in firefox
it s quite ideal for surfers who love OS
i think it’s ‘cos i am using the mac version, as someone else stated, it doesn’t quite seem as stable.
i also had the problem where it wouldn’t be quitable unless force quitted.
what’s ca-AD/ ???
For people who use a web browser in their line of business Firefox is a definite looser.
Absolutely not. I do; and Firefox is FAR from a looser.
GUI is nice, and can be changed whatever way you’ll like.
Don’t you think that it might be your connectivity instead of the browser that is slow?
And it got better security by far than IE.
Firefox 1.0 seems even better, thank you.
To each his own.
Archimedes Trajano, Maxthon still uses the IE rendering engine, your just as vulnerable as ever; Until MS understands (*cough* not now – or ever) that a browser is meant to be a separate application. :p
I think, perhaps, you miss the point of a reusable browser component…
Architecturally, IE is no different to KDE/konquerer’s khtml.
> If the IE clones were this slow and hogged as much memory they would have been laughed off the internet a long time ago.
This has been discussed many times in here: windoze loads IE modules at its start, so opening and using IE or clones doesn’t use much memory…
I’m using Firefox since it was Firebird and I had no problems whatsoever.
Where’s the English (UK) version?
You idiot. You posted the exact same stuff when the last Firefox RC came out. we explained you that all points you made were null and void, and now you come again.
Dead slow on dialup.
You’re the only one who experiences this problem, so the problem is on your side. Probably you have a slow DNS or none set.
Takes 19MB of memory with just this page !
And how much do you think is IE taking? Firefox isn’t integrated with your stupid Windows 98, in contrary to IE.
Crude and bland GUI.
which happens to be a lot simpler and more logical than Internet Explorer, and people seem to love the graphics too.
If the IE clones were this slow and hogged as much memory they would have been laughed off the internet a long time ago.
The slowness is your problem, and the IE-based browsers hog as much memory. You just can’t see it, because the rendering engine is “integrated with the OS”.
This has been discussed many times in here: windoze loads IE modules at its start, so opening and using IE or clones doesn’t use much memory…
Your argument is specious. Being “loaded at startup” (and AFAIK the IE component loads on-demand, although since it’s required by the Windows shell that’s rather a moot point) could only conceivably affect how fast the first browser window opens. It will have no effect on either how fast the browser is after that, or how much memory it uses.
Finally extensions developers will have a stable platform for a while. And you can recommend Firefox without recommending beta software 🙂
>Dead slow on dialup.
I’ve used for years a 56k connection and firefox is always faster than IE. Try with these procedure:
-go to about:config page
-set network.http.pipelining to TRUE
-set network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to a high value like 34 (i have 100)
-set browser.turbo.enabled to TRUE
PS And dont forget that speed in navigation is not only page downloading but also page rendering, ad and popup-blocking and so on
>Takes 19MB of memory with just this page !
IE 6 takes 15mb just opened (empty page) on my win2000 box.
Try with 4-5 pages in Firefox and the same in IE. There wont be so much difference
>Crude and bland GUI.
Use themes
Happy day, and a huge milestone for Internet in itself. Now finally things might take off and we might see Firefox take control of the web…
http://download.softpedia.ro/software/TWEACK/moz_opt.zip“>Firefo…
Where’s the English (UK) version?
That’s a good question. Does anyone know if there was a EN_GB version of any of the previous releases (I never bothered looking)?
It would be nice if there were a version where the quick searches defaulted to their UK equivalents (e.g. google.co.uk, amazon.co.uk).
Well, even though I prefer khtml/webcore, it’s sure great to see FireFox reach the all-important 1.0 release! Congratulations to the Mozilla team and all that have contributed. The more decent choices the better
.
“I just upgraded from 0.9 to 1.0PR and I lost most of my bookmarks (the only ones that are left are ones that were located in folders, the ones from the root of the bookmark tree are totally wiped out)”
Perhaps you should have installed 1.0…not 1.0PR. 1.0PR is a beta. 1.0 is the final product. No problems with bookmarks here.
Did you install without uninstalling?
An IM client with video/audio capabilities for all OS platforms would be nice. Using Jabber protocols would be great. I had enough of trying to convince my friends to switch from one IM to another just because in Linux and OS X I don’t have the same capabilities on AIM/MSN/Yahoo like those for windows. And keeping 3 different IM clients with 4-5 contacts on each is neither a viable option 😉 .
So JabberAV PLEASE!
P.S. There is also this skype with audio/IM capabilities which behaves similar on Windows/Mac/Linux but people are reluctant in leaving behind their IM clients related to free (or almost free) mail accounts…
It was available since yesterday
There are several images at: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
which have plugin related info such as “Macromedia Flash Enabled” and “Macromedia Shockwave Enabled” and “Java”
This lead me to believe that it came prepackaged with Flash and Java plugins. I gather though, that it does not (Flash doesn’t seem operational).
Is there a version that comes with these plugins already packaged? If not, maybe that you be a good thing for Mozilla to think about. That or changing some of the graphics on the site. Some individuals who are considering switching may see those graphics, try Firefox, then get pissed that the plugins aren’t already there like the web site would seem to indicate.
I don’t really care…been using Firefox since two name changes back and at 0.4. Really…I can handle a plugin download…but some others may get irrate.
As all of us can see, firefox is almost an perfect browser. But there is really a thing I dislike: its bottom search box…. I prefer popup search box much more. Anyway to change the default?
Firefox is great, but you still can’t install over the 0.8 version on a Win98 system. I thought this was going to be fixed. Anyway, it’s a great browser.
I just love firefox and have been using since firebird and oops I forgot other name!!!! but every new release, extensions and themes become obselete and it should be taken care as I expect that with quality browser like Firefox!! All the Best Firefox team and congrats on creating best browser till now!!!
We need more open-source apps like this. Fast, stable, secure.
I think, perhaps, you miss the point of a reusable browser component…
Architecturally, IE is no different to KDE/konquerer’s khtml.
Except KDE is not tied to the OS underneath and do you are not required to use Konqueror to upgrade the goddamn OS.
Congrats to the Moz team for this milestone release! The public really needs a completely free standalone open-source browser aimed at Joe Clueless *and* being so superior for development as well
Gecko is amazing. Firefox is great.
Geek excitement is high.
Is there any way to open a new tab with the history of the old one, still present (a la galeon)?
guys,yes,i have firefox 1.0..and yes!its great!
all the benefits of open source in a browser lean mean and fast!i love the gui,i love the speed,the extensions,and tabbed browsing…no more IE dictatorship…long live mozilla foundation and firefox browser!
By Sabreman (IP: —.ozonline.com.au) – Posted on 2004-11-09 11:55:04
If the IE clones were this slow and hogged as much memory they would have been laughed off the internet a long time ago.
—
Mate, what you don’t realise is IE’s code is loaded when Windows is loaded. How much ‘hidden’ ram does it consume that’s ‘hidden’? At least when I quit Firefox, I know it’s not running in the background chewing up resources when I don’t need it. Just like any other app like Photoshop or whatever.
BTW, Firefox is much faster than IE in my experience. Not to mention more customisable (Extensions!), with a layout/rendering engine to make IE even more laughable than it already is (great development environment), as well as safer, more convenient for the masses, etc.
the older name was phoenix i believe
http://www.google.com/firefox
Awesome… my new home page !!!
Here it is on the front page of CNN’s tech secton…
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/
Well, they’ve got one for IE too:
http://www.google.com/ie
Just doesn’t look nearly as good
. Go Firefox!
http://ktd.sytes.net/index.php?p=32
Congrats to the Firefox Team!
😀
Besides the fact that Firefox is just plain superior to IE in features, it is also thankfully CSS standards compliant. IE has got to be the most noncompliant crapola browser out there. It sucks having to code CSS for that POS browser.
If I have to implement the box model hack one more time I’m gonna puke!
http://positioniseverything.net/ie-primer.html
Aargh!