ON THE NEW FIREFOX 2 BETA

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

As regular readers know, I've been a big fan of the Firefox browser like tens of millions of others, for a quite while now. 

So when there's a new version 2.0 beta out, I notice.  As the Mozilla developer site announces:

Firefox 2 Release Candidate 2 is now available for download

Firefox 2 Release Candidate 2 (RC 2), the latest preview release of the next version of the Firefox browser, is now available for download. Web application developers, our testing community, and users who want to get a sneak peek at the next version of Firefox should download and install this release candidate. Please note that at this time, users should not expect all of their extensions, plugins and themes from previous versions of Firefox to work properly."

Then, they go into What's New...here's a summary:

• A new theme that updates Firefox’s familiar interface
• Built in Phishing Protection
• Enhanced search engine management and search suggestions for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com
• Improvements to tabbed browsing, including the ability to re-open recently closed tabs
• Firefox will resume from where you left off after a system crash or browser restart
• Better support for previewing and subscribing to Web feeds
• Inline spell checking in Web forms
• The ability to create bookmarks with “Live Titles” for Web sites that offer microsummaries
• New Add-ons manager that simplifies management of extensions and themes.
• Support for JavaScript 1.7
• Extended search plugin format
• Updates to the extension system to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions
• Support for client-side session and persistent storage
• Support for SVG text using svg:textPath
• New Windows installer based on Nullsoft Scriptable Install System

And I'm scratching my head at which item/s above get me motivated to download this beta version, with all it's minor inconveniences (like existing extensions/plug-ins not all working with the new version).

But nothing really gets me motivated to do so (well, maybe the "client-side session and persistent storage", but I need to better understand the implications). 

So, I think I'll just wait and download the final version when it's out, along with the mainstream masses.

Am I missing something?

Comments

[John Cox]

The spell check is real nice and worth the upgrade, IMO.

[Yaser Anwar]

The new version doesn't add any major new features compared to previous betas, but instead improves on what has already been added. My favorites are: the improved RSS handling, session saving, and major tab handling upgrades.

My favs that don't work: Tab Mix Plus, Forecast fox, Update Notifier & some more. Oh ya! most of my themes went bust.

There are often in-development extensions that users can grab that do work, and there are ways to tweak the extension files to trick Firefox into loading add-ons it doesn't think are compatible.

So Michael if you've got must-have addons, your right to wait for the final version so extension authors have time to catch up.

Probably in a month or so, based on the version 1.5 time line.

[Omar Upegui R.]

Hi Michael:

I totally agree with you. Why suffer from bug infestations when you can wait until the final polish version of Firefox is available.

Isn't common sense the most common of all senses?

Cheers,

Omar.

[Mariam]

I am just trying out the new release of IE7, and find it interesting all the debate about this release versus the Firefox download. One of the most interesting aspects of the IE vs. Firefox battle is the development of the ecosystem of extensions or add-ons. It’s not just about bugs and features. Right now Firefox had a great advantage in this space but you can see Microsoft trying to catch up.
I noticed an interesting extension called Trailfire, set up as a recommended download for IE7. See link:

http://www.ieaddons.com/SearchResults.aspx?keywords=trailfire

I think the ecosystem for Firefox and IE will decide who wins this battle. What do you think?