Mozilla has just released the final version of Firefox 3.5. The JavaScript performance — critical for many web apps — is massively improved thanks to the new TraceMonkey engine, making 3.5 feel very fast indeed. In addition to improved performance and standards compliance, Firefox 3.5 features new privacy controls, location-aware browsing, and the ability to play video and audio content without using plugins. A quick video tour of the updated version is available here. Firefox 3.5 is a free download for Windows, Mac and Linux from Mozilla. (The story was originally posted on WebWorkerDaily which also has reviewed the release candidate for this new browser.)
When looking at the update option through FF, it says all of my most oft-used plugins would be disabled if I upgrade. These include Web Developer, Firebug, ColorPicker, and others. Maybe I’ll wait.
Nice. But have they fixed the memory issue which causes the flash plugin to stutter? Its not a problem with flash but with Firefox. I researched it.
This issue caused me to use Firefox as a secondary browser, and switch to the excellent Safari 4.x browser. Now video watching is fun again, and my secondary browser has all the plugins which I rarely need to switch to unless i need to debug something.
http://dotnetperls.com/chrome-memory
“Here we saw an experiment that tested the memory usage of Firefox 3.5 and Google Chrome 3.0, along with Safari 4.0 and Opera 10 (some pre-release versions). The memory watcher program that recorded and accumulated memory every three seconds over 19.2 minutes of intense browsing in four browsers at semi-random intervals reported figures that place Firefox 3.5 in the clear lead in memory usage. Firefox 3.5 showed the best memory efficiency in the average, maximum and final measurements.”
I just went to Symantec website, and they said they are due to release a hotfix on 7-15. See this at: http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20090630125147EN&lg=en&seg=hho&ct=us&pvid=nis_2009&selected_nav=5
this is bad advice for anyone who wants to keep their Norton Safe Web and Anti-Phishing toolbars working. these are currently incompatible with Firefox 3.5….
Rich… good point. Sometimes we Mac guys don’t remember those points. Sorry about that and glad you brought it up.
Unfortunately my Norton Safe Web (Norton Internet Security 2009) does not work with Firefox 3.5. I have already abandoned Google Chrome just because. What else can I do? The only option is keep my Internet Explorer…
No: change your antivirus ! I got the same problem with NIS 29009. But I tried ff 3.5 on my second PC with Kaspersky and it worked absolutely perfect !
… change to Opera.
I run version 10.0.3beta, and its faster than Firefox.
FF is ditched because its a spaghetti of core and “add-ons”. The problem with the “add-ons” is that they work differently, every one has their way of doing things that differs slightly. Simple things like “Save As” becomes a nightmare when you loose track of the “add-on” used that will then determine where the file was saved on my disk.
Opera has “Widgets” that works within the Opera framework. It also has a complete email client, and industry customers that demands reliability and not just performance.
… but then it is not invented in the USA.
Meks- Firebug and ColorPicker have 3.5 versions (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843 and https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/271, respectively). Not sure about Web Developer toolbar. I was a bit worried about upgrading for the same reason- for whatever reason, Firefox didn’t find the upgrades.
I think most of the plugins will be up-to-date soon enough. I am sure you can run two instances of the browser on your computer – the old and the new one.
Got it and love it. It does feel quicker loading more complex pages than before.
slower to start-up the application – consistently (chrome is the fastest), after its loaded webpage browsing does seems faster.
Need to update the post icon to the new Firefox logo ;-)
I’m really a big fan of Mozilla Firefox.Also rather than Opera or Internet Explorer.I always prefer and recommend Mozilla Firefox.It’s fast,easy and secured browser.All attributing various cool features also i guess the new Firefox 3.5 should be the best one of all the old versions.
I’m gonna download it sooner.
woaaaaaaaaa this is really quick, Firefox has finally got the speed it lacked in previous versions.I just downloaded and this is really good. Still discovering all other minor changes that might have been introduced. Let us see how better 3.5 is apart from speed.
Sonal
USourceIT: Riskfree IT outsourcing/sourcing partner for SMBs/SMEs
FireFox is fuckin’ ugly. Chrome and Safari are my fav. I use Chrome the most because it puts my passwords in for me on all sites unlike every other browser. When I go to Myspace all I have to do is click sign in and that’s it rather than having to type in the password everytime. I still have to keep iExplorer because certain features on sites won’t work with Chrome or Safari.
firefox 3.5 is indeed snappy and pretty fast; except for the initial boot up. i think just a little bit slower than chrome 2.0. Of course google chrome is the fastest of all!. I think the new tracemonkey javascript engine is killer. Most of my add ons still work except for real player record plug-in; which is a huge dissapointment for me. Hopefully realplayer and/or Mozilla willl fix that. So although i am deeply sadened by the absence of real player record plug in; The big increase in speed and quickness of firefox 3.5 VS firefox 3.0.11 to almost as fast as chrome 2 will keep me with firefox and I wil keep chrome as a reliable backup. IE 8 is much slower than both of these browers. Chrome 2.0 still remains the unchallenged speed demon of the bunch.
yes, it is really better.. both GigaOM site and my wordpress editor page have shown improvement.
Not sure. I lost 2/3 of my bookmarks after the upgrade. Never was able to get them back.
I love the new Firefox! It does feel faster and I like its new features. Yes, some people have add-ons compatibility problems, but thankfully all my add-ons are OK.
Javascript engine for FF 3.5 keeps jamming. When I use Firebug, I found that on several sites that work fine in Safari, Opera and IE (and older FF) produce a warning that says Firefox has no permission to create a wrapper for unNamedClass (450). I completely wiped out all FF related files and re-installed, it’s still there. Reverted to 3.0.1 and it’s fine now.