Firefox 8 Now Available For Download
The latest version of Firefox is now available on Mozilla's download server.
At the time of this writing, the download link is not live, but users can simply replace the version number in the link from 7.0.1 to 8.0 to get the updated browser -- or hit the download links below.
Mozilla usually advises us that no Firefox release is official until the software is announced by the company, but we can safely assume that the quiet publication is a sign of a release candidate process without hiccups and that this is, in fact, the browser that will be pushed out to Firefox users this week. As a side note, Mozilla will not be including a silent update in its browser until version 10, so you will still have to grant permission for an update in this and the next version of Firefox.
As previously noted, the big news in this release are the addition of a Twitter search option, a few tab tweaks and greater restrictions for third-party add-ons. Most importantly, add-ons such as toolbars are not given free reign and cannot run without the user's explicit permission anymore. If you are a Firefox user, this is a must upgrade.
It will be critical for Mozilla to avoid a upgrade mistakes in this version as it was the case with version 7.0, which forced the company to release a 7.0.1 fix. Market share for Firefox was down to 26.39 percent in October, just ahead of Chrome, which landed at 25 percent, according to StatCounter. Google recently updated its stable channel to version 15 in late October, the beta channel to version 16 and the developer channel to version 17 last week. Chrome 16 Beta officially introduces a profile manager, which enables a much more convenient switching between multiple users. Version 17 adds support for panels, and adjustable margins in Chrome's print preview.
- Commodore Announces New Quad-core C64x Extreme
- How Windows 8 Will Deal With Tons of CPU Cores
- OLPC to Drop Tablets from Sky in Developing Countries
- AMD Bulldozer Speed Record Broken Again at 8.58GHz
- Rosewill's Blackhawk Ultra Gaming Case Released
- Japanese K Supercomputer Smashes 10 Petaflop Barrier
- Gigabyte Shows "3D Power" Control On X79 Mobos
- Nvidia Tegra 3 Under Pressure After Tegra 2 Concerns
- Firefox 8 Release Candidate Published for Download
- IBM Offers Windows on Mainframes For The First Time
- Google Says Microsoft Uses Patents When Its Products Fail
- BioWare Reveals SW:TOR Early Game Access Details
- Ultrabooks to Account for 43 Percent of Notebooks in 2015
- Netgear Adapter Streams HD Video from Legacy PCs
- HP Adds New 3D-enabled AIO, Photon Tech to Portfolio
- Foxconn to Build ''Robotic Kingdom'' in Taiwan
- Intel Says Android 4.0 Has x86 Optimizations
- Deals Nov 8: COD: MW3 (360) + $20 Credit for $55
So what's new in version 8?
So what's new in version 8?
The 8
the version number doesnt stand for any major change. you can't keep posting articles for every version. as far as i'm concerned if the interface hasnt changed its still 4.0.
the version number doesnt stand for any major change. you can't keep posting articles for every version. as far as i'm concerned if the interface hasnt changed its still 4.0.
It's gotta be at least 4.0.5.
So what's new in version 8?
The 8
4.0.8
I must remember to renew my subscription to "Big Whoop" magazine
Who cares?
Well it updates without the person needing to know how to download it. It wont let toolbars just install without you truly wanting them. I am not connected to any browser and if one is better then the other, I will switch. FireFox is built by the people, not corporation with infinity funding, right?
..it sucks just tried it. I understand it's a "beta" but good lord crashes every 5 mins.
Looking back, we are technically at approximately 4.1.3 (or 6, depending on lower digit verison numbering) with firefox 9 being 4.2.
Firefox 5 added the CSS 3 / HTML 5 standards into the browser in full implementation, so thats a big deal. Firefox 9 adds type inference like V8 has that makes Jagermonkey competitive with V8 again, so thats a big deal. 6 - 8 just did some light UI tweaks and optimizations, so nothing important there.
The biggest downfall about the rapid release ideology is you can no longer hype a version. You can't say Firefox X will be a big deal because its only 3 months since X - 1 came out and 3 months until X + 1. It hurts products more than helps them, especially at the corporate level, where they don't rapidly update browsers and running Firefox 4 when Firefox 8 is coming out and Firefox 10 is the currently alpha drives sysadmins insane because they have no idea the difference in standards and security between any two versions, whereas a jump from something like 3.X to 4.X meant a big deal.
Now there are no big deals, and that, in my opinion, hurts the product.
Is not the memory management better with this release? Smaller memory foot print?
This article explains it nice and short. Waiting for version 10. but in the meaning time they made some nice tweaks to the software..
http://www.tested.com/news/whats-n [...] x-10/3126/
It won't auto-load all the tabs every time you start it up. That alone is reason enough to upgrade for me
I just love not having to click anything to update chrome
I just love not having to click anything to update chrome
In Aurora they do this and i believe in the new version they will be doing this so you dont have to think about updating.
yea dawggg
Is not the memory management better with this release? Smaller memory foot print?
I really hope so, but I doubt it. This is by far the #1 request from users, but they seem to be ignoring it in the rush to jam more features in. Who really wants a twitter search? I've never even met a person IRL that uses twitter.
Version 8 is so last month I am already using 10 XD
Crashed no startup
uninstalled and installed back to version 7
Thumb my comment down all you want truth hurt...FF8 is terrible. Every 5-10 minutes "Not Responding", hit the "X" and everything suddenly works again for a few more mins. Still a huge memory hog and still can't handle flash worth beans. Had the same 4 tabs open in FF8 and IE9, ESPN, CNN, THG and CNET. IE9 216MB, FF8 524MB PLUS 38MB for plug-in container. I stopped using FF after version 4.
Well, I shall stay with Firefox as long as Mozilla doesn't make an update service that runs even when Firefox does not. But yes, waiting for 10.
opera works for me
"This is not a valid Win32 application" when trying to install the Windows version. What the?
Firefox is getting removed from my PC my home page is plain HTML located on my HDD and even it takes many seconds to load. Firefox was my choice of browser in the past due to it's speed and at one time was more secure.
see ya FF my PC in back on the market...lol
Single PC looking for Web Browser.
- must be responsive to my needs.
- non memory eater.
- must not be old and clunky.
- Must accept my WinXP baggage
(not enough DirectX 11 to make me adopt Win7 yet)
upgrading from FF 7 to FF 8 with 55 tabs open memory usage is cut in half here.
Firefox is getting removed from my PC my home page is plain HTML located on my HDD and even it takes many seconds to load. Firefox was my choice of browser in the past due to it's speed and at one time was more secure.see ya FF my PC in back on the market...lolSingle PC looking for Web Browser.- must be responsive to my needs.- non memory eater.- must not be old and clunky.- Must accept my WinXP baggage (not enough DirectX 11 to make me adopt Win7 yet)
I should be bashing FF for constantly going up in version number, however, I think I should slap you even harder for not adopting Win7
I believe version 9 has the memory improvements.
You don't have to wait for it. You can download the Aurora version which is firefox 9 beta. It's a separate install from firefox. I've used it for quite some time at work and it's had no issues that I've seen.
who cares about the memory footprint, I can buy 4GB DDR3 for less than a pizza.
They need to stop updating the version number on Firefox 12. Then they should match the major version number to the year (2012), and minor version on the month (like 12.10 would be October release on 2012).
who cares about the memory footprint, I can buy 4GB DDR3 for less than a pizza.
It doesn't matter when it's sucking up a gig of RAM. It gets sluggish and non responsive. FF has been garbage at v4.