Firefox to be more Chrome-like in 4.0 in late 2010/early 2011.
Firefox 3.5 may be the world's most popular web browser now, but that won't stop Mozilla from pushing ahead to release 3.6 and eventually 4.0. Of course, maybe the lead in web share now has Mozilla a little bit more comfortable in taking time to make things just perfect.
Mozilla originally slated Firefox 3.6 to be released at the end of 2009, but that goal has now been moved to sometime in the first quarter of 2010, CNet reported. (Those adventurous and frothing at the mouth for 3.6 can run the public beta, which I've been doing solely for the Windows 7 Aero peek enhancements.)
The browser wars are now deeper than just Mozilla trying to wrestle market share away from Microsoft (though that is still the main goal). Now Firefox has to deal with speedy alternative Chrome from Google, which has just recently reached to Linux and Mac OS.
The competition from Google is helping to fuel innovation for Firefox 4, such as moving each tab into its own separate process and cleaning up the interface to maximize browser content area.
Here is one proposed interface change for Firefox 4 as compared to the current layout for 3.5:
-
16sunflier , December 29, 2009 10:10 PMWith so many IT related products being delayed, 2010 should be a big year for the industry.
-
16sunflier , December 29, 2009 10:10 PMWith so many IT related products being delayed, 2010 should be a big year for the industry.
-
5phatboe , December 30, 2009 12:41 AMHow about making Firefox less bloated. The UI is fine IMO, having tabs in separate processes would be nice and supplying native 64-bit builds for windows would be nicer but I really want to see FF become leaner.
-
5maestintaolius , December 29, 2009 10:45 PMUgh, what's with this ribbon style trend that everything seems to be going towards? I hate these simplified, "clean-looking" interfaces with one magic button. I refuse to 'upgrade' to office 7 from 2003 (at home, at work I didn't have a choice) because I hate the ribbon with a fiery vengeance. The reason there's 50 icons on my desktop is because I hate having to go through 20 menus to find the file I need or to change the font. Maybe some people like to have everything hidden and pretty but I, personally, want most features right in front of me and 1-click away.
