Firefox 102: new ESR base and improved security
Firefox 102 and Firefox 102 ESR will be released later today. The new version of Mozilla's Firefox web browser improves security, picture-in-picture mode, and is the new base for the Extended Support Release channel.
All Firefox development channels receive updates on the same day. Firefox Beta and Firefox Developer editions move to version 103 and Firefox Nightly moves to version 104. Firefox for Android follows the version of the stable channel, which means that it is moved to version 102 as well.
Executive Summary
- Audio decoding is moved to its own process with stricter sandboxing.
- Firefox mitigates URL query parameters used for tracking in strict Tracking Protection mode.
Firefox 102 download and update
Firefox 102 and all other versions released today are delivered via the browser's automatic update feature to most devices. The update may not yet be available, if you are reading this on the day of release.
Direct downloads are also available, follow the links below to Mozilla's download website, to download the new version of the browser.
- Firefox Stable download
- Firefox Beta download
- Nightly download
- Firefox ESR download
- Firefox for Android on Google Play
Firefox 102.0 new features and improvements
Query Parameter Stripping
Firefox removes parameters from URLs automatically when these may be used to identify and track users. The removal should not impact the loading of the target address.
Starting in Firefox 102, a blocklist is used to strip known tracking parameters from top-level URLs.
The feature is enabled in the browser's private browsing mode and when Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection feature is set to strict.
Do the following to enable strict Tracking Protection:
- Load about:preferences#privacy in the Firefox address bar.
- Switch Enhanced Tracking Protection from Standard to Strict.
Hide the download panel
Firefox displays the download panel whenever a new download starts. Some may dislike this, and these users may now disable the automatic opening of the download panel.
To do that, right-click on the download icon and select "Show Panel when Download Begins" to toggle the functionality. If you see no checkmark in front of it, Firefox won't display the download panel.
Other changes
- Audio decoding happens in its own process now, which improves security through stricter sandboxing.
- Picture-in-Picture mode supports subtitles and captions on HBO Max, Funimation, Dailymotion, Tubi, Disney+ Hotstar, and SonyLIV.
- Pressing Enter while using a Screen Reader on Windows no longer activates the wrong element and/or another window.
Developer
- The update media feature is now enabled by default.
- The property Window.sidebar is controlled by a preference, as it will be removed in a future version.
- The interfaces IDBMutableFile, IDBFileHandle, IDBFileRequest and the method IDBDatabase.createMutableFile() have been disabled by default in preparation for removal in a future version.
- Transform streams are supported by Firefox.
- Readable byte streams are supported.
- Add-on developers may use the scripting API, "which provides features to execute script, insert and remove CSS, and manage the registration of content scripts", in Manifest V2 extensions.
- Manifest V3 extensions need to specify the wasm-unsafe-eval to use WebAssembly. Firefox supports Content-Security-Policy integration with WebAssembly.
- The nonPersistentCookie option of the privacy.websites cookieConfig property is deprecated.
Enterprise changes
Two new policies added:
- UseSystemPrintDialog commands Firefox to use the system's print dialog. It has the same effect as setting the preference print.prefer_system_dialog to true.
- ExemptDomainFileTypePairsFromFileTypeDownloadWarnings defines file types for which warnings are removed when they are downloaded.
Mozilla fixed an issue that caused a bug in Deceptive Content and Dangerous Software Protection policies. Locking the policies did not disable the about:preferences user interface.
Known Issues
none listed.
Security updates / fixes
Security updates are revealed after the official release of the web browser. You find the information published here after release.
Outlook
Firefox 103 will be released on July 26, 2022.
Firefox extension reviews and news
Recent Firefox news and tips
- Firefox 102: Query Parameter Stripping improves privacy
- Firefox 101.0.1 fixes issues in Mac, Windows and Linux versions
Additional information / sources
- Firefox 101 release notes
- Firefox 102 for Developers
- Firefox for Enterprise 102 - release notes
- Firefox Security Advisories
- Firefox Release Schedule
How long will 102.x ESR be supported (?) now that 115.x ESR has been released?
There will be another release on August 29, 2023, but this is the last one for the Firefox 102 branch.
Old Win 7 with 8gb ram I had to revert back to 91 esr from 102 esr branch. When 6 or more tabs are open 102 hangs windows. 91 can have 2 profiles with 10-15 tabs each open simultaneously with no problem. FF 91.13.0 seem to be the last one for me or for this laptop.
As usual, Mozilla makes decisions on what they think they users should see, and could care less about what their shrinking user base wants, further killing off their user base. Now with 102 if your tabs have light text the browser will run in dark mode for all of the Firefox elements like library, bookmarks, menus, popups etc. There is no preference to disable this behavior, you either suck it up, try to figure out the name of every element and spend god knows how many hours trying to code your way around it with CSS or you change browsers.
I’ve never seen a company that hates the people that use their product(s) so much. WTH is wrong with these people?
Firefox has a small 3% market share, lul. Firefox can never satisfy me for I am the market share size queen. I studied the Firefox marketshare while you were out being a productive person. Brave is good, Brave is god. I live off Brave advertising kick backs. Look at me, look at me. I have nothing productive to do today or the in the distant future. Chrome has better privacy protections than Firefox. Look at me. respond please. I add nothing of value to add the conversions. Read my diatribe against Firefox, it is so correct. I’ve been doing this for years. I’ve become a certified expert in this field. Firefox market share is too small to satisfy me. Respond please. Oh the the rewarding flood of serotonin. Look me, controversial opinion incoming. Firefox 2% market share. respond please. Feed me. Firefox this. Brave that. Chrome woohoo. Autism is fun. I am empty inside and live an unfulfilled life. Respond to my comments. I need a purpose in my life. I am famous here. I am a celebrity here. Look at me. Firefox sucks it only has 1.2% market share lul.. Respond please.
Does anyone find that ESR 102 is no longer respecting settings for nglayout.initialpaint.delay? I prefer to have the page fully download and render at once. Older sites still work, but many forums starts partially displaying immediately. And I have this pref set to 2000 ms.
As a caller in “Charlie Brown” said, when he called up Linus, who was running for school prefect, on the phone-in,
“WHAT ABOUT THE RIVERS?”
I regularly move the lock symbol left to the URL in Firefox to my desktop. Then a shortcut link is created to that particular site.
After the update to v102.0 that does not work anymore.
I noticed the following:
– for some URL’s it works
– for some URL’s nothing happens
– for some URL’s an empty folder is created with the name Windows copy
– for some URL’s an error message appears: C:\Users\name User\Desktop\Windows copy\ is unavailable. If the location…….
I did not investigate whether this is a bug or a settings question, but I applied a system restore. I am now back on v101.0.1 and everything works fine again.
My Computer
Quote Quote
“I myself, I am a free speech absolutist.”
Is that why you are demanding ghacks publish less articles about Firefox? Saying that ghacks shouldn’t cover Firefox because it has 3% marketshare is like saying if 3% of the population has a particular opinion, then that opinion should not be heard.
You are calling Firefox deplatformingfox, yet you have not named any site that is blocked by Firefox. Yes the Mozilla Foundation has expressed it’s opinion about marginalized groups getting equal rights. Is that what offends you so much? If so then just stop using Firefox, that is your right. Mozilla is a private organization. They can employ whom they want and express any opinion they want, that is their right. They do not answer to a central committee run by chairman Iron Heart.
> “You are calling Firefox deplatformingfox, yet you have not named any site that is blocked by Firefox.”
No. But the CEO seems to support the idea of deplatforming, at least for some.
“We need more than deplatforming”
https://web.archive.org/web/20210108192114/https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2021/01/08/we-need-more-than-deplatforming/
Or the “research” that Iron Heart mentions.
“Fellow Research: The Decentralized Web of Hate”
https://web.archive.org/web/20201102163124/https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/fellow-research-decentralized-web-hate/
Marginalized groups? Firefox is like a “marginalized” browser that are trying to stick up against the bigger, stronger players, perhaps Mozilla should focus on doing something about that instead of applying the activist american mind-set in everything they do and expect that their whole worldwide user base also have appropriated the american mind-set and hence should have no problem loving everything that Mozilla is showing off to them.
@Iron Heart
“gHacks can focus on whatever it wants, and I can call that misguided however often I want.”
Fair enough
@Karl Marx
“Fellow Research: The Decentralized Web of Hate”
I took a quick read of the report. It was not written by the CEO and is not official Mozilla policy. Despite the title it does not seem to be advocating de-platforming. In fact it seems to be saying the opposite in some places. It spends a lot of time asking questions and pointing out problems with attempting to regulate hate speech and mass shooter manifestos. In fact here’s a quote from the report saying the opposite of de-platforming.
Page 8 is talking about P2P. “It’s generally technologically impossible for a central authority, whether that be a forum moderator, a platform policy enforcement team, a domain host, or law enforcement, to dictate speech and conduct of users.”
I think you would agree with Page 9 “Centralization, such as a server controlled by a corporation, allows us to quickly remove dangerous content but it puts the control for what constitutes “dangerous” in the hands of a privileged few.”
It does raise an interesting point on page 8, “However, the ability to remove dangerous or illegal content arguably creates a space that is more open and inclusive for marginalized individuals who may feel that their speech is chilled by interfacing with hateful threats. Therefore, moderation could also be considered paramount to living in a world free of hate-based violence and promoting more speech.”
Did anybody read the report past the title? It seems not. If you think big tech like Google and their vassals like Opera, Vivaldi, Brave, etc. are your friends and are going to protect you from big bad Firefox, then I have some prime beach front property in Afghanistan for you
PS. Afghanistan is a land locked country.
@Aluminum
Haha. You should not have added Marx to my name as we stand on opposite sides, probaly when it comes to 99% of his mind-set. Lol.
The first link/article is indeed by the CEO. And she deliver a clear and loud message. But you only focused on the second URL….
The second article is not by the CEO, which I also didn’t say it was, but it is posted on the “official” blog of Mozilla which sends a strong signal in it self, “official policy” or not.
One can never get “more speech” (or even claim that one “promote more speech”) by removing speech that you/me/anybody, based on some definition, would classify as “hate speech”. Especially not in the times we live in where some people classifies everything they are “offended” by as hate speech.
“‘Hate Speech’ Laws Are Just Another Way For Governments To Punish People They Don’t Like”
https://www.techdirt.com/2015/10/28/hate-speech-laws-are-just-another-way-governments-to-punish-people-they-dont-like/
Mozilla (and similar orgs/companies) may not be “the government”, but that is not the point.
@Karl
“Hate Speech’ Laws Are Just Another Way For Governments To Punish People They Don’t Like”
https://www.techdirt.com/2015/10/28/hate-speech-laws-are-just-another-way-governments-to-punish-people-they-dont-like/”
I again refer you to page 9. “Centralization, such as a server controlled by a corporation, allows us to quickly remove dangerous content but it puts the control for what constitutes “dangerous” in the hands of a privileged few.”
@Aluminium
Dude, I can’t “demand” anything. I merely suggested that gHacks, considering its strategy of reporting on various projects long-term, may want to pick projects that will still be around in five years. That’s it. gHacks can focus on whatever it wants, and I can call that misguided however often I want.
> You are calling Firefox deplatformingfox
Yes, and? Mozilla says we need “more” than deplatforming even, so calling it Deplatformingfox is actually an understatement on my part still. Whatever that “more” is, I don’t know… Jailing critics? Killing critics? Whatever it may mean, it gives the highly politicized organization “Mozilla” a bad look. They also promote articles that piss on decentralization like the article “The Decentralized Web of Hate”, where they actually promote advocacy for the Internet being in the hands of powerful centralized entities like Google or Facebook because that’s better for censorship. Yuck.
Deplatformingfox is their mentality as an organization, and as for the browser not blocking things yet (I totally believe it will in the future, given their 5th clolumn as of now. However, once the powers that be actually figure out that censorship on search engine- and ISP-level can be circumvented, Mozilla’s hour will come. Wait and see.
@herman zee german
Despite the German love for statistics, your statistics seem to be totally off. Please count all my alleged “offenses” again and check if your claimed numbers are correct, thank you. Btw, I didn’t call Martin a “co-conspirator”, I just say that his moderation sucks and when you introduce silly rules, better apply them to everyone.
*column
He has nowhere else to go and wants to feel important. Every other platform he gets downvoted to oblivion. At this stage he has posted about Firefox’s market share 7,367 times, linked madaidan 3,085 times, called Martin a co-conspirator 97 times, had 945 posts moderated, and 1,732 posts deleted … and caused 14 Firefox articles to have all their comments disabled (and therefore no longer visible). This is his MO.
@herman zee german
What is your source for those stats?
Also the last nail in the coffin for Firefox was brought upon when Mozilla failed to materialize a 64bit browser in a timely fashion and it all went downhill from there with various things being added and removed over time that many did not agree with until we find ourselves here today. On the surface it probably didn’t appear to seem like a big deal but many people felt disenfranchised and looked for alternatives which resulted in many firefox forks/mods which splintered the community. A few people even went to Chrome.
It wasn’t their only mistake, not by a long shot but it was probably the absolute beginning of the end for them. The Firefox we have today is nothing like the firefox we wanted, expected or needed.
In regards to articles pertaining to Firefox or any other browser, large or small are fine. Perhaps its the writers passion, perhaps the writers realize that they earn more views and comments on said articles (statistically true).
I would love to see more articles on other products too but it is what it is. I feel there are a few people here that could probably contribute many such articles if they were so inclined and permitted. I mean look at the passionate and long comment lines we post here… there is definitely enough here for that.
Honestly sometimes there are some really good comments here that yield great information and worthy of saving but I have noticed lately that some comments are no longer visible for whatever the reason and its a shame because as I said there are some really great comments in the mix.
> Honestly sometimes there are some really good comments here that yield great information and worthy of saving but I have noticed lately that some comments are no longer visible for whatever the reason and its a shame because as I said there are some really great comments in the mix.
It’s Martin’s “moderation”. I specifically am not allowed to call it censorship least my comment be “moderated” out of existence.
Martin probably thinks that removing comments gives this blog a better look. It doesn’t.
That’s a shame. I thought I had perhaps spoken out of term or there was something wrong on my end but I guess Martin felt like the discussions need to be set to hidden. Perhaps a lock on comments would have been better if he felt like the discussions are getting completely out of hand.
Its not even one specific comment or another but a complete discussion thread on the article.
At least ghacks hasn’t gone like many other websites and blocked comments altogether.
I know moderation can be a tricky thing but completely blocking the possibility to comment is silly and I cannot see the logic of hiding all the comments but at the end of the day it’s Martin’s website and we are all just guests.
What would be funny is if someone developed a script or extension to backup and restore comments and facilitate additional comments through a third party website fed inline to the website in question (not just ghacks) but now I’m just thinking about it too much. haha.
Carry on everyone.
@Mystique
I am actually really mad at Martin recently. Why, you ask? Well, because Martin seems to allow people going on a trolling spree against me here, including altering my nickname in non-nice ways and insulting me. He lets these “comments” (Do they deserve this description?) stand but “moderates” my comments out of existence for allegedly “insulting” other people, actually mostly in response to the aforementioned trolls.
I myself, I am a free speech absolutist. People call me an asshole, then I call them assholes, case closed. I can actually exist in such a way. However, clearly most people are softer than that and need “rules” to protect their safe space. These rules can be good or bad, smart or dumb, but whatever may be the case, the rules are for everyone, and apply to everyone equally.
Indeed, rules have PROs and CONs for Martin. The PRO is, they allow for more civilized discussions. The CON, for Martin anyway, is that you can’t be an obvious hypocrite and only apply them selectively. For example, Martin deletes parts of my comments where I call other people “trolls” (I really only do that for Cpt. Obvious Trolls, but that’s besides the point), but when I am called a troll, Martin does nothing. What’s that? (drum rolls) Hypocrisy! So rules actually have a pretty hilarious side to them, so whenever someone calls me that, I will bitch and cry about it since I am getting “moderated” for the same offense. I will bitch and cry about it incessantly and in righteousness in fact, until the rules actually apply to everyone. So the moment you introduce silly rules, you can potentially become a hypocrite in their application… I don’t say you have to be, but you the possibility is there. Enjoy me crying about offenses against me, Martin!
Once upon a time Internet Explorer had the biggest market share. Does anyone remember how great IE was then?
In Iron hearts defense I can see what he is trying to say. Google renders pages better and in perhaps a few cases does when other browser do not or do not do it “correctly” (according to the google standards) and as such the market share is some what of a valid metric considering webmasters will develop their website to work better for the most popular browser. Of course a good webmaster will be able to make a website work for all browsers but you have to admit that it would be cheaper (and money talks) to just code for one web browser that is the most popular.
I detest Google for their tactics and what they have done to swindle their way into that position whilst many of you were hoodwinked by the shiny new toy on the tech block.
The only thing that is different now in comparison to the old browser war days is that Google entrenched itself deeply into all aspects of the internet and pretty much dictate how browsers should operate as they pretty much control web standards but that does not mean that it is a better product than say Firefox per say, it just means that google tilts things in their favor but that does not mean that Google gets a pass on everything and their feeble and gimped extensions are fine. Nobody is more political than Google, they have a vested interest in controlling the way in which you browse or how you can defend against yourself if it harms their bottom line and overall products ie tracking, ads, streaming, data mining etc then you can bet that they are not on your side.
Back in the day it was fine for you to have less market share because there was such things as web standards that were upheld by a third party known as the W3C so there was some flexibility there as both had to work to meet those standards as did webmasters but now it is dominated by google and whoever has the largest market share.
Mozilla is so far behind on that front that they may never get their foot in the door at this rate.
The war is over my friends. Why do you think Microsoft buckled and opera collapsed?
There is hardly any competition in the web browser scene these days.
As much as I hate google I am not going crucify Iron Heart on his statements as I do believe there is some degree of validity to his claims. Should we all just accept Google’s terms and move on with Mozilla and anyone else in the dust? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!
We are all entitled to our opinions and maybe this is one of the times we have to take a broader look at whats happening and has happened.
yeah, I just tried and now I have a zero-bytes file that I cannot delete: windows says that it cannot find the file, even if it’s there… thanks firefox!
I had that issue with a zero-bytes file also; even a system restore wouldn’t get rid of it. Resorted to internet search and found this (simplest I could find) : Start a command prompt in admin mode, CD to location of bad file; enter “del *.*”
That should do it, but if there are other files in that folder you want to keep, move them out to a temp folder first and then move them back after the bad file has been removed.
Btw, the system restore also restored my Firefox version to 101.0.1 of course, and I think I’ll stay there pending a possible fix for this issue.
With 102, I can no longer create a shortcut to the current page by dragging the URL bar padlock to another folder. The resulting icon looks like a blank sheet and doesn’t function when selected.
Same issue here. In some urls it works, in others it doesn’t.
Apparently there are two new esr versions for Ubuntu; I was given 91.11.0, but I could have chosen 102.0, for Ubuntu 20.04. I don’t know if 91.11 will be further updated soon or not.
There will be two more releases (91.12 and 91.13) of the older ESR branch before it is no longer supported and ESR will move to the new 102.x branch.See the release schedule here: https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/16/mozilla-firefox-release-schedule/
Firefox 102 Beta 103, Nightly 104, Firefox ESR 91.11 and Firefox ESR 102.0 — 28.6.2022
Firefox 103 Beta 104, Nightly 105, Firefox ESR 91.12 and Firefox ESR 102.1 — 26.7.2022
Firefox 104 Beta 105, Nightly 106, Firefox ESR 91.13 and Firefox ESR 102.2 — 23.8.2022
It won’t be, support for it ends soon.
Down streaming is slower on this version. Upstream is fine. I tested with Chrome and Edge and its definitely not my ISP.
Well, seems like they are coping Chromium competition. It’s like a lonely kid in High School trying to do everything other people do, but rarely gets attention.
Plus you know sandboxing is not going to do much security about anything, so doing sandboxing on the sound process is just marketing and just a way to pretend they are working on the browser more than they are.
I mean, it is open source so I guess we could go and check how well done and effective that sound process sanboxing is or if ‘bad people’ who use vulnerabilities to damage someone will even care about it, like how browsers put in memory in plain text all the info when you use a browser but it needs more work to do something about it than just other methods.
I mean, the update is literally nothing, audio might be more secure… but will it run better with all that sandboxing? will it desync? or will it end up consume more or less cpu?
Sandboxing is so useless, most people could turn it off and have better resources in their browsers and nothing would happen.
But what else? nothing, PiP that nobody will use to watch movies like that. Yandex supports subtitles for a while and same as others, Yandex supports it and I don’t know which other does to be honest, but I have used it twice because I was doing something else, but it was just a Youtube video, not like a movie I wanted to really sit and watch with subtitles if needed.
I mean, an article as long as this make it sound like some game changing amazing update and it was literally nothing. Firefox is dying, and more and more people use Chromium based browsers everyday, even Vivaldi with many downsides seem to gain some users lately, probably ones who don’t care about the downsides, but that shows Librewolf and the other many ‘forks’ which are just premade Firefoxes with a similar file, won’t save Firefox.
Anonymous is right. Yandex is the best browser. I personally run mine on Red Star OS and you should too. Don’t worry about any special operations that are running in the background, They are running to protect you from the fascists at Firefox.
And anti-fingerprinting was made useless for touch and pen users: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1772711
3% market share browser overreported here just got to version 102? Fine, I guess.
What will gHacks focus on when Deplatformingfox has been totally run into the ground by Mozilla? Any new topics already planned? Martin, you should plan this in advance, Deplatformingfox only has a few years left before Mozilla either drops it entirely and focuses on political activism (their main thing even today) or change it to be Chromium-based…
To people who says that the market share does not matter, almost at all. Well, for a “free” browser it surely does, I doubt Mozilla would be able to make the search engine deals as they do with Google if the Firefox market share would drop too low to keep Google’s interest up. No more sweet deals like these for Mozilla I would guess:
“ZDnet reports that Mozilla and Google will extend the search deal for another three years. Google will pay Mozilla between $400 and $450 million per year for the privilege of becoming the Firefox web browser’s default search engine in most regions.”
https://www.ghacks.net/2020/08/14/google-and-mozilla-to-extend-search-deal-according-to-reports/
So depending on whatever the market share is when the current deal runs out and Mozilla would want a new one, the money might be affected. But they will no doubt keep their terrible CEO in place no matter what happens.
Just one thing: the majority is ALWAYS wrong.
> Just one thing: the majority is ALWAYS wrong.
The majority prefers cars over chariots, are they wrong?
I am not even claiming that the majority is always right (it is in places, however, claiming that the majority is always wrong is equally false), and insinuating this is putting words in my mouth. What I can and do claim however is that you can download whatever browser you want to use free of charge, so the playing field is even in this respect. Firefox doesn’t seem to cut it for most people or is not worth switching to, just accept this already. It gets more attention here than it deserves IN MY OPINION, based on the stats I see. Why do the people even get worked up over my opinion? Is it because it could be correct? Are they not believing in Firefox’s future too? Questions, questions…
> just accept this already.
So you are all for free speech, as long as everyone submits to your opinion. After so many years doing this, perhaps it’s time for you to accept people here like Firefox.
Do you eagerly anticipate the day desktop Linux is no more due to its low user %?
Such a high number of hateful comments, wow. Just for me pointing out that Firefox is going the way of the dodo which is objectively visible as @svim has pointed out. gHacks seems to pick various projects and then seems to report on them long-term. When you have a reporting strategy like this, you better pick projects that will be around in a few years. I can’t see that for Firefox not least because it is tied to the Gecko engine – which is also why comparisons to Chromium-based browsers with an even smaller user base like Brave or Opera are nonsensical, since these will work fine as long as Chrome and Edge work fine. This should be obvious but some people here will never get it, as they clearly don’t understand the difference between “browser” and “rendering engine”.
I don’t actually mind a project being small in market share – all projects started out small, even behemoths like Google Chrome were once a small minority in the market. What I do mind though are “trends”. What is a trend? A trend is a tendency of growth, i.e. does a project’s market share increase or decrease? Firefox has been declining since 2010 (that’s when it had its peak market share), and as long as it runs on Gecko – which is a selling point of theirs for whatever reason, not being based on the Chromium open source base – this has actual implications. Firefox declining also means support for Gecko declining. Brave or Opera being small does not mean Chromium goes the way of the dodo because more important projects like Chrome or Edge also use it.
In relation to its current market share – 3% overall – and the trend which is only downwards, Firefox IS OVERREPORTED here, no doubt about it. I would like to read something about privacy E-Mail services, VPNs, OSes like GrapheneOS or Qubes etc, not about a product that can only be described as “He’s dead, Jim!” no matter what the fanatical community in this bubble here claims. The real world stats show it.
Last but not least, just look at your hateful comments all of you people have posted for me pointing out a FACT… Do you really think this is sensible or even sane? Like, is there anything you have to say to me except hating me for pointing out reality? No? Then why post here, makes no sense. Gosh, you guys are actually like the Linux community except they are not as grim about their irrelevance on the desktop. There is actually a joke going around where people claim every year to be the “Year of the Linux desktop” in an ironic fashion, these guys are cool about being irrelevant and don’t mind someone pointing it out. You guys are like them, minus the joyfulness and the fun. You guys are a sad bunch pointing fingers at me, maybe you should remove the sadness from your lives and learn to deal with the facts, that’s the only counsel I have for you. Living in alternate realities where people are supposed to care about your stuff despite the stats clearly saying otherwise is harmful and unproductive, and can only lead to hurtful comments directed at the realists.
* [Editor: removed, stay polite please]
> have been as polite as humanly possible
Doubt.
> [Editor: removed, stay polite please]
can you please do us all a favor and limit Iron Heart to 128 characters or something. These long rambling rants are becoming far too common and an eyesore
@a concerned netizen
You might never exceed 128 characters because you have nothing to say, fine by me. Do you know what making up rules that are only valid for one person is called? DISCRIMINATION.
> Doubt.
More polite than what your comments deserve, is that better? Closer to the truth.
> Closer to the truth.
You can’t handle the truth.
@thebrowser
If what you say is the truth(TM), that is. Which I doubt.
So, what was Firefox market share again? I forget.
> Yet I am not […] making delusional claims regarding their importance
that’s the funniest joke I’ve read in over five decades. you do have a sense of humor and irony
Post where you got this “3% market share” from. Go ahead. I dare you.
The only place that info exists is in your addled imagination.
Don’t even get me started on your precious Brave.
What’s it’s market share?
>> Post where you got this “3% market share” from. Go ahead. I dare you.
Here’s one of several popular polling/stats sites that indicate Firefox’s market share numbers have unfortunately dwindled down to single digits
https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share
Of course different sites use different metrics to analyze their collected data but there’s a clear sad trend that Chromium-based browsers are now dominating. We have allowed the web browser usage to devolve back into a restrictive monoculture again. Back in the 90’s into the early 2000’s Microsoft shoved their IE/Trident/ActiveX into our faces, forcing web development to cater solely to work with Microsoft’s then anal online policies. Then Mozilla popped up and opened up a browser war with Firefox and web development shifted focus back to following W3C standards. Flash forward to now and Chromium-based browsers are killing off the competition. And don’t forget, Chromium may be be Open Source but its primary supporter/maintainer is Google, our new online overlord. Diversity in web development has died off yet again. All those who neglect to recall how bad Microsoft used to be is ignoring how bad Google has become.
I wouldn’t be afraid of Chromium, it’s open source. If the lord is doing something bad, people can just fork it. Unlike on the IE era where people can do nothing except to move to other browser.
“…browser overreported here…”
It’s not “overreported here.” We WANT news about Firefox.
There goes the crow gain …
What the heck does a product’s market share have anything to do with its pros and cons, with users’ interest? Unless to consider that market shares are relevant of a product’s quality? The masses, intoxicated with marketing and with this odd but confirmed need to follow the trends, feed the market and would legitimate a product’s quality from there on?
Good Lord …
“What the heck does a product’s market share have anything to do with its pros and cons”
So true. There’s a major fast food chain that touts it’s “billions served” market share is supposed to validate their dreck Big Meat is a good hamburger. They’d have to pay me to have one for a meal…
What the heck does a product’s market share have anything to do with its pros and cons? Nothing, Iron Heart just likes to troll and post this and other spam in every Firefox article.
@Martin Brinkmann @mary jane
> troll
Martin, that gal called me a troll!!!! I thought calling other people trolls is forbidden under your rules? My comments at least get “moderated” for this all the time. Why do you only apply rules selectively? Tell that gal that she should be polite to other people, it’s in the rules!
mary jane – that’s a good username, gives another silly excuse to listen to Mary Jane’s Last Dance again https://youtu.be/aowSGxim_O8
@Tom Hawack
Why are you even offended? Firefox is declining and barely has any market share left, and there is no sign of a turnaround. There are many amazing projects in the privacy sphere, both new and old, that are actually expanding and could have a future. Just because I would like to hear something about them instead of the convulsions of Firefox’s corpse that you and others mistake for signs of it being alive, does not mean I am a horrible person.
@Iron Heart, what, what makes you think I’m offended?! I’m just stunned. Market share is not an argument, period. At least not for users, or shouldn’t be, because unfortunately it is for many of us.
> There are many amazing projects in the privacy sphere, both new and old, that are actually expanding and could have a future.
True. Why not take the opportunity to mention them whenever you can. Simultaneouly you’d recognize that emphasizing on maket shares is irelevant.
> Just because I would like to hear something about them instead of the convulsions of Firefox’s corpse that you and others mistake for signs of it being alive, does not mean I am a horrible person.
I’ve never read a comment spitting on any of yours which would have promoted fairly whatever product, which would have expressed the wish to hear more about hidden gems. Do it. But all those gems will never be brighter by systematically, repeatedly breaking another product, be it Firefox. You know that in debates, those in companies, those in politics, those among friends even, there are two methods : either promote what you like, either try to crucify what you hate and which may happen to be what your opponent likes. We all know that method 1 is the only to be valuable, the latter often considered as relevant of lack of arrguents.
i’m off. Most of the time I endure silently, this time i slipped.
^^ Thank-you, Tom. Very well said.
> Most of the time I endure silently
Doubt.
You don’t know how many percentage of us, readers of this site, are in fact using Firefox.
No need to get stressed this site has Firefox related articles? I am sure there are many sites for your preferred browsers.
T. K.
Firefox, Edge and Chrome user
They haven’t and cannot deplatform, it’s not like they run censorship platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Youtube. Well who cares what percentage they are at, people still use it.
Opera has less usage than Firefox but people still use. If it’s irrelevant to you than why are you
bothering to comment, got nothing better to do ?
@Anonymous
Why are you even mad at me? Think about it, 3% market share is grossly mismatched with the overall number of reports here. Nobody outside ta small bubble here cares and you can’t rationally attack me for pointing that out.
> Opera has less usage than Firefox
How does that matter? Opera is based on Chromium. They have no web compat issues as long as browsers based on Chromium dominate the market. Can’t say the same about Firefox.
I’m not mad at you,no one cares about market share. They use what they want to use whether
that happens to be Firefox or anything else. Opera has less market share but somehow it isn’t
irrelevant to you. The web compact, dude there is no issue there. I watch Gardener Bryant
show that on one particular site it was in fact chromium that failed to show an element on the
page which worked fine in Firefox. Get wrecked.
The fact you are crying because a Firefox news was just written is so funny. Cry more please.
No-one besides Chrome on Android and Safari on iOS can get a look in. Perhaps Samsung on their devices. Mobile is over half the devices
When you look at desktop, Firefox is 7 to 8% which is nothing to be ashamed of, considering that the Edge comes bundled with Windows, and Microsoft play dirty games, while Chrome abuses it’s position to push non web standards and degrade other engines on their platforms, not to mention the advertising on it’s leading platforms such as search, gmail, youtube.
Firefox is losing around 1% a year for the last two years, so at this rate .. see you in 50 years. Meanwhile, Brave is a rounding error, owned by an advertising company
@Peacock365
> When you look at desktop
Why should I only look at the desktop? Desktops aren’t the primary devices of most people in 2022. Further, websites are created with flexible layouts today so that developers no longer have to create separate versions, one for desktop and one for mobile. That’s an antiquated way to look at it. A web dev would realistically see Firefox at 3%, not at 8% (which is still very low)
> while Chrome abuses it’s position to push non web standards and degrade other engines on their platforms
No, the standards are actually open and well-documented, and Mozilla (funded by Google, pseudo-opposition) supports most if not all of them. That’s not a reason to use FF. If you can’t implement these web standards because of technological ineptitude and in spite of all the Google money you get and are looking for excuses, please leave the market for good.
> Firefox is losing around 1% a year for the last two years, so at this rate .. see you in 50 years.
Firefox had 30% overall market share in 2010 and has 3% overall market share now. Getting to 0% market share doesn’t take 50 years at this rate. Math is not your strength.
> Meanwhile, Brave is a rounding error
Dude, Brave has 60 million monthly active users and FF has 200 million, so if Brave is in fact a rounding error, FF is not far above a rounding error either at this point. Way to kill your argument.
Btw, Brave is based on Chromium and Chromium has 80% market share (all browsers using it combined). Brave will not have any web compatibility issues because of that even if it stopped growing today. Where will Gecko be when Firefox reaches 60 million users? Most web devs will have dropped support for it by then. Brave can’t be dropped as long as Chrome / Edge aren’t dropped.
> owned by an advertising company
*an advertising company going out of their way to create a form of advertising that is not abusing user data in the process.
Also, don’t throw with stones in that glass house of yours, Mozilla is basically a Google subdivision, and Google’s business model, contrary to Brave Software’s, is actually based on surveillance. But you knew that already, didn’t you?
Guess I go silent for 1 year about CSS and settings then, as my goal was achieved:
https://github.com/ran-sama/firefox-preferences#the-esr-78-look-is-finally-possible-on-esr-102
I hope this brings some joy to people who love the usability and workflow on a secure Fox 102 ESR whilst keeping true to the FF 78 look. Back when all was quite comfortable.
We’ll see how long the good ride continues. Cheers to another year!
Enterprise changes : in fact four new policies have been added to Firefox 102 :
UseSystemPrintDialog, as noted
ExemptDomainFileTypePairsFromFileTypeDownloadWarnings, as noted
But as well,
AppUpdatePin : Prevent Firefox from being updated beyond the specified version.
StartDownloadsInTempDirectory : Force downloads to start off in a local, temporary location rather than the default download directory.
Otherwise, whatever update, I linger to understand why the Release Notes are never served simultaneously with the browser download availability :
“We’re still preparing the notes for this release, and will post them here when they are ready. Please check back later.”
I know, I may sound as an upstart crow yelling “Hep, you, bring me a coffee, presto”. I’ll add, “Please, Mozilla” :=)
Getting increasingly politer as years go by, lol.
“…whatever update, I linger to understand why the Release Notes are never served simultaneously with the browser download availability”
Perhaps they want people to update before they realize which cherished functionalities Mozilla has now ruined in the UI.
;-)
> Firefox 103 will be released on August 23, 2022.
Actually, Firefox 103 will be released on July 27, 2022.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/Calendar
@errata,
Your comment only mentions “Firefox 103 will be released on August 23, 2022”
What are you referring to? Neither the article nor any another comment than yours mentions this.
> Actually, Firefox 103 will be released on July 27, 2022.
Good to know, but that’s an info, not a response …
> Transform streams are supported by Firefox.
For developers, the biggest improvement for sure.
Thanks Martin. Nice updates. I am pleased. Great that bloklist and that audio decoding is moved to its own process with stricter sandboxing.
And there is more. Nice!