Mozilla Firefox 4.0 Officially Released

[bug77]

Bug77, why exactly is not isolating tabs a bad thing? It makes the browser use a bunch more memory. If it's a well made, stable browser, like Firefox, it's not necessary now that plugins run in a separate process.

Because when Flash crashes, it still takes the whole browser with it. Same for misbehaving JS. And because you can't have both regular and private windows at the same time.

[crazycheese]

Because when Flash crashes, it still takes the whole browser with it. Same for misbehaving JS. And because you can't have both regular and private windows at the same time.

You can use NoScript to ban JS selectively, but sometimes they do overload or crash - true. But there are more advantages - SMP on selective tabs. Modern processors will expose more and more cores, soon whole array of them with some running specific tasks only. It is of utter importance that heavy and mid-weight apps use SMP to the max.

[bug77]

But there are more advantages - SMP on selective tabs. Modern processors will expose more and more cores, soon whole array of them with some running specific tasks only. It is of utter importance that heavy and mid-weight apps use SMP to the max.

I did not understand any of that.

[crazycheese]

I did not understand any of that.

Isolated tabs running as threads(or child processes) scale on multicore.

[bug77]

Isolated tabs running as threads(or child processes) scale on multicore.

Ah, yes, that's true. Usually when FF hangs, there's a plugin-container.exe eating a whole core by itself.

[smitty3268]

Because when Flash crashes, it still takes the whole browser with it. Same for misbehaving JS. And because you can't have both regular and private windows at the same time.

Not here. Flash has been moved into a separate process, so that when it crashes the browser keeps running just fine.

I would like for some tab isolation, though, because when you get tons of tabs they can start to affect response times.

[DeepDayze]

Not here. Flash has been moved into a separate process, so that when it crashes the browser keeps running just fine.

I would like for some tab isolation, though, because when you get tons of tabs they can start to affect response times.

When Flash crashes you'll get something like an "Aw Snap!" page

[bug77]

I wish FF were still competing with the big guys (Chrome and Opera). Right now it is behind in multithreading, JS performance and it still insists we need a separate search box. The latter is the reason I still use Seamonkey at home.
Now, after all the ranting...

FF4 is a much better browser than FF3.6 and is certainly capable to deliver. I use it regularly at work, my wife uses it all the time. I really hope this "a little behind" doesn't become a trend.

[XorEaxEax]

I wish FF were still competing with the big guys (Chrome and Opera).

Big boys? Chrome has taken a good chunk of the browser market since it arrived (mainly from IE), but Opera?

February browser stats from w3schools, w3counter and gs.statcounter.com respectively:

IE 26.5% Firefox 42.4% Chrome 24.1%Safari 4.1% Opera 2.5%
IE 40.2% Firefox 30.5% Chrome 15.2% Safari 6.0% Opera 2.0%
IE 50.3% Firefox 31.13% Chrome 11.45% Safari 4.46% Opera 1.96%

Most likely Firefox will see an upswing in the March statistics due to the release of Firefox 4 (over 10 million downloads as I write this) so when you are saying that 'Firefox is no longer competing with the big boys' I can't help but wonder what medicine you are on.

[lyovushka]

Big boys? Chrome has taken a good chunk of the browser market since it arrived (mainly from IE), but Opera?

February browser stats from w3schools, w3counter and gs.statcounter.com respectively:

IE 26.5% Firefox 42.4% Chrome 24.1%Safari 4.1% Opera 2.5%
IE 40.2% Firefox 30.5% Chrome 15.2% Safari 6.0% Opera 2.0%
IE 50.3% Firefox 31.13% Chrome 11.45% Safari 4.46% Opera 1.96%

Most likely Firefox will see an upswing in the March statistics due to the release of Firefox 4 (over 10 million downloads as I write this) so when you are saying that 'Firefox is no longer competing with the big boys' I can't help but wonder what medicine you are on.

Where is the like button, I want to like this post