Firefox updated
Tonight Firefox installed a new updated version, I don’t know what it adds but let’s hope it fixes the hangups!
One thing I know for sure, I’ve been using Internet Explorer quite a bit since Firefox has been acting up and boy, Firefox is sssooooooo much faster than IE!
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It’s a fix for the QuickTime vulnerability. Or at least a partial fix until Apple totally fixes it.
James, you should really download Opera 9! It’s truly cross-platform, more responsive than either Firefox or Internet Explorer, deals with memory better, and has a lot of features built in that you’d need to download extensions for Firefox… and it’s still smaller! Oh, and it’s free without ads; ads have been gone for a long time now.
IE sucks with Google Reader and new tabs take for ever to open. I only use it when I have to — some sites still insist on working only with IE (unfortunately, like one site I have to spend most of the day working with).
I haven’t used IE7 for anything more than a Windows Live Mail and Outlook Web Access (for work) in ages now, and I’m a long-time user of Firefox.
That said, I fail to see how anyone can say that Firefox is, freshly installed at least, faster than IE. Only with FasterFox extension installed and several tweaks made can I get Firefox up to about the same speed.
I can’t help but wonder how many people are in need of an extensions and plugins enema, however, due to slow browser performance (regardless of browser).
Oh, man! GoodThings2Life, open a new tab in Firefox and IE7. There’s no comparison. It’s instantaneous in Firefox. In IE, it’s excruciatingly slow. I have no idea what IE does before it opens a new tab (what’s up with that “connecting” jazz? — I just want a blank tab), but that’s the main reason I avoid it as much as possible (well, that, the fact it doesn’t work right with Google Reader, there’s no session restore — I’ve been bitten more times than I’d care to admit with THAT missing feature…).
@ bluemonq: The choice between Firefox and Opera (or IE or Safari for that matter) isn’t about performance, but about convenience. Using customizable gestures, TabTip, and Grab & Drag, Firefox offers a superior pen/touch interface. Opera might load pages a fraction of a second faster, but navigating in FF, properly configured, is a breeze using the pen.
@ GoodThings2Life: I don’t think it’s fair to shoot down Firefox because it needs tweaking for optimum speed. FF is cross-platform and by default is tuned for any given setup. IE is Windows-only and no doubt optimized for Vista and XP. That said, Scott is right about the tabbed browsing – no comparison.
@Sumocat: your argument sounds exactly like the argument for the iPhone vs N95 ;)
However, I would say it’s an issue beyond performance or usability: if Firefox freezes at random times, with absolutely no warning, how well can you use that vaunted usability? Besides Opera 8 (which shall never be spoken of again), I’ve never had it crash or freeze on me; this is over the lifetime of three laptops and two desktops. This has also proven to be the case for my friends who adopted Opera. Which is not to say it will not crash for anyone; however, it seems to be more stable than 2.0.0.6 for the moment, and 2.0.0.7 doesn’t seem to fix anything (I have it; I fully believe in trying things out for myself before makin a decision. It freezes sometimes and is otherwise sluggish on my maxed-out RAM TC1100).
Admittedly, TIP has to be accessed from the bar (or softkey on the 1100), but the functionality is not impaired (has to do with the APIs that Microsoft set; notice that in Word 2003 and before TIP access is also spotty?). I’ll be selfish and state that lack of Grab-and-Drag hasn’t been an issue since I have a jog-dial; however, many other tablets do, too. I’m also not sure that using the scrollbar rather than dragging is such a big deal; it’s a little neat, but at least the version I have is a little glitchy sometimes and won’t let me select text. As for customized gestures, I’ll cede that point. Opera’s built-in gestures make sense, though.
@ bluemonq: Actually, I have made that same argument for the iPhone over the N95 as well. Weighing hardware features alone, the N95 is tops, but software and interface are frequently overlooked and critically important, particularly as devices get more powerful and complex (yeah, I say that part a lot too).
Look, if I experienced frequent errors with Firefox, I would consider that a bigger issue than ease of navigation with the pen. But I don’t have that problem. Haven’t even run into the issue that James and others have. But as you point out, things like that can happen with any app, so I don’t consider it a flaw specific to Firefox.
But bottom line: with FF, I can use the floating TIP, kinetic grab & drag scrolling, and gestures that make sense to me and don’t overlap my other preferences. I can’t get that kind of pen-centric configuration in another browser. I’m not against them; they simply don’t offer the functionality I need. But Firefox does because it is highly customizable and that’s a huge deal given the very personal nature of mobile computing.
>>>if Firefox freezes at random times, with absolutely no warning, how well can you use that vaunted usability? Besides Opera 8
Yeah, Opera. On the Nokia 770, it was worse than the Firefox freezes I have on my PC. And Fox has only crashed — explicitly crashed — just twice. If Opera on the 770 crashed *twice in one day*, that was a *good* day.
I dreaded the fact the Foleo was going to use Opera.
Opera: Just Say Firefox!
Great updated, freeze up stops, now tabs don’t work. I wish I remember which version it was where everything worked. Oh, the good ol’ days…2 or 3 weeks ago.