The Mozilla team seems to be back on track with the release of the seventh beta of the upcoming web browser Firefox 4. The release marks a milestone in the development as this is the first feature complete release of version 4 of the Internet browser. What does it mean? That the developers won’t add new features to the browser. All they do from this point in development on is test, test and test to fix bugs and get the browser ready for a prime time release in the beginning of 2011.
Firefox 4 Beta 7 was originally scheduled for a mid September release which means it is almost two months late. The developers had to fix several blocker bugs that kept them from releasing the new beta on time. Probably the most interesting addition in the beta is the inclusion of the new JavaScript engine JaegerMonkey which speeds up the processing of JavaScript, moving the browser in the region of the fast browsers Opera and Google Chrome.
Several other changes have already been known from previous beta versions, including the removal of the status bar, the addition of the add-on bar in its place and the url bar that now displays link urls when the user hovers the mouse over links on a webpage.
Users who have not tested Firefox 4 release so far will have to get used to other changes as well. This includes the one-button menu, the new tab management feature Panorama, the new add-on and plugin manager and other layout and design changes.
The official Mozilla website has not been updated yet with the download link of the new version. The new beta release is however already available on the Mozilla ftp server and third party download portals such as Softpedia.
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“[...]Users who have not tested Firefox 4 release so far will have to get used to other changes as well[...]”
As I don’t like the modifications imposed by the developers, I will resort to using another browser. Good thing that there are other free options around :)
Martin,
the new javascript engine is called JaegerMonkey not jaegerMoney. I guess its a typo :)
Thanks, corrected.
In the future I will be removing FF from my system.
Thank you for sharing this information… :)
Might be wonderful for technophiles but I wonder what the ‘average user’ is going to make of it. Will it be too gimmicky and too much of a change from what they know?
The one thing I think that most people overlook is the fact that Mozilla also gives you an easy way to customize Firefox to make it look just like the old version. If you cared to do any research you would know this. As far as the new menu and tabs on top is concerned get used to it. Chrome has done this for quite some time. This is like when Windows XP first came out, people complained it looked different and stupid, repeated again when Vista came out. We eventually learn to like it or at least get used to it. I feel though that the new Firefox is a welcome change to a great browser that had gotten outdated. Congrats to Mozilla for actually updating it.