Firefox 9 (Aurora) With Type Inference Now for Download

News
By Wolfgang Gruener
published

Mozilla has just released the developer version of Firefox 9, which will include a boost for JavaScript performance.

Firefox has not been good for a lot of positive headlines lately, especially since it seems to be surrendering market share to Chrome faster than the arctic its ice cover. However, it recently sent its first true rapid release (Firefox 7) out the door and there is now a good picture of Firefox 9, which could become the most significant release of the browser this year.

Scheduled for a December 20 release, Firefox 9 is now shipping as an Aurora release and includes, most importantly, support for type inference. This technology allows Firefox' JavaScript to sift through code more effectively and run JavaScript applications much faster as a result. Mozilla claims that Firefox 9 is about 44 percent faster than Firefox 8 in its own Kraken benchmark. Other new features include a JavaScript do-not-track API, as well as the integration of the new tablet touch UI.

The software can be downloaded from Mozilla's Firefox Releases channel.

Wolfgang Gruener
47 Comments Comment from the forums
  • acadia11
    They need to focus a release on cleaning up it's memory footprint, firefox has become a freaking hog.
    Reply
  • cmadrid
    I think that was Firefox 7..
    Reply
  • borden5
    firefox developers on crack .....
    Reply
  • evilaaron11
    why all the hate towards firefox? you see a positive headline and everyone's quick to chastise FF developers. Firefox is twice the browser Chrome will ever be.
    Reply
  • Zeh
    There's too much downtime on my plugins with so many upgrades.
    I still prefer Firefox over Chrome, but I admit I'm frequently using both at the same time.
    Reply
  • I have to admit, I don't like this new version numbering system. I suspect that development of all mozilla apps have't changed regardless of the numbering system. Before, I knew exactly, that f.e. thunderbird 3xx was a stable version, and 3.1.x was sth to expect in the future. Am I minority at it?

    Was it simple politics behind that change? If it is only to imitate "rapid developement" of chrome, then well...
    Reply
  • cmadrid
    I guess you haven't used 7 then.. it uses the least memory for multiple tabs
    Reply
  • ^^I'm using around 15 tabs and it use less then 500 mb ram.
    Reply
  • MasterMace
    acadia, you should check Tom's Browser Grand Prix. Firefox won the memory show down, by a friggin lot.


    Not sure if this image goes through, here's the link to the site.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firefox-7-web-browser,3037-14.html
    40 tab usage (mb):
    Firefox - 475
    Safari - 730
    Opera - 853
    Chrome - 1,057
    IE - 1,375

    Reply
  • MasterMace
    The only complaint I can see about firefox is how long it holds onto the memory it uses.
    Reply