Firefox 7 (And Its Improved Memory Usage) Hits Beta Channel
Firefox 7 (And Its Improved Memory Usage) Hits Beta Channel
Posted 08/19/2011 at 10:38am
| by Brad Chacos
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"Leaner and meaner" are two terms you may use to describe a malnourished lion suffering through a drought, but the same phrase also applies to a cornered Firefox. Google's Chrome took a bit of the luster away from Mozilla's star browser. Rather than simply shrug their shoulders, Firefox's developers rolled up their sleeves and got hard at work on the MemShrink program, an initiative to reduce the browser's horrible memory leaks. Members of the team have reported great successes; now, with the release of Firefox 7 Beta, you can check out the memory improvements for yourself.
The Future of Firefox blog says it achieved the reported 20 to 50 percent memory improvement using a couple of different tactics:
- Optimized Memory Use: Reduces memory use and improves performance areas including responsiveness, startup and page load time, even in complex websites and Web apps
- Improved memory management: The JavaScript garbage collector works more frequently to free up memory and improve performance when you have many tabs open or keep Firefox running for a long time
Firefox 7 Beta also includes a number of additional tweaks and changes. Most of them help back end work, but everyday users should noticed faster Firefox Sync times and quicker HTML5 Canvas-based animation rendering.
Intrigued? Want to help test drive Firefox 7? Head over to the Firefox Beta Channel to give the browser a whirl. The final release is expected to launch September 27.
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Talcum X
August 21, 2011 at 8:18am
I just found out 6.0 was out. I still run 3.6 as 4.0 didn't display several websites correctly. I was thinking 4.1 was a current version. I haven't been keeping up with the tech news as of late...
grayscale00
August 20, 2011 at 3:46pm
Still waiting for the day when people just stop complaining about version numbers and learn about the difference between firefox's channels. Stable FX6 users whining when an article about Nightly 9.0, or Beta 7.0 can get annoying.
DogPatch1149
August 20, 2011 at 6:44am
Tackling the memory leak problem? Well, you know what they say...seventh time's the charm.
NineRaven
August 19, 2011 at 9:17pm
Firefox must be working with the Fedora development team the way they've been cranking these out.
CHR15x94
August 19, 2011 at 1:10pm
Cool, been looking forward to FF7. Firefox has always been a memory hog and a tad slower than other browsers, hope this helps.
As for people complaining about constant releases, I'd blame Google as much as Mozilla for the decision, as well as the many average users who seem to think new version number = big changes. Mozilla was sort of forced into it. It was either join Google's rapid release club, or look irrelevant.
Not saying I like it, but I don't blame them for making the decision.
Holly Golightly
August 19, 2011 at 12:33pm
I don't even know which version of FireFox I am using now. Last time I remembered... I installed FireFox5... But I think it somehow updated on its own. Not 100% sure. I hope that FireFox gets its act together on the updating... Because all of these releases are getting annoying. They should be more secure like Internet Explorer. Releasing a new version every now and then... Not all the time like Google. Work out some of the kinks first.
ferariman
August 19, 2011 at 3:33pm
They should be more secure like Internet Explorer
does that say what i think it says???
Holly Golightly
August 19, 2011 at 4:12pm
Well, according to several recent articles, yes, Internet Explorer is the safest browser in the market right now. Because they do not have rapid release, they are able to better observe the flaws, and have the time to correct these problems, making a more secure, long term release. Which in a way, is better. FireFox should be more like FireFox... And less like Chrome.
thetechchild
August 20, 2011 at 7:01am
Firstly, if you're using Windows in the first place, you have to understand that you're sitting on top of one of the worst possible platforms with regards to security. Secondly, IE9 uses "URL-based filtering", meaning warnings based on where you're going. This can be easily accomplished in any other browser using addons like Web of Trust. Chrome's sandbox, while not absolutely perfect, is a powerful security feature that other browsers would be hard-pressed to beat. Moreover, both FF and Chrome *could* have *better* security, not worse, if they utilized rapid release properly.
The only difference between conventional release cycles and rapid releases is that rapid releases update more often, and so can respond to bugs faster or release minor features immediately. Firefox's issue right now is addon compatibility and the update process ; Chrome, for instance, can update simply by restarting (without any interaction required), and this almost never breaks any addons.
cownaetion
August 20, 2011 at 4:04pm
"The only difference between conventional release cycles and rapid releases is that rapid releases update more often, and so can respond to bugs faster or release minor features immediately"
Microsoft has their weekly updates, and can push updates out to fix bugs faster than Mozilla can with their major releases (according to your statement of FF's major releases).
"Firstly, if you're using Windows in the first place, you have to understand that you're sitting on top of one of the worst possible platforms with regards to security."
Wrong. Technically it is OSX that has the most vulnerabilities, Windows is just a bigger target.
"Moreover, both FF and Chrome *could* have *better* security, not worse, if they utilized rapid release properly."
The original commenter stated that it IS more secure, and you just solidified that fact. 'could have' does not mean it is. Mozilla is going down hill, and after following this browser's lineage since Netscape 3, it is sad to see.
tornato7
August 19, 2011 at 11:22am
I think this rapid release schedule is just a way to stay in the news more. Previously you would hear about firefox evey couple of months but now everyone's talking about it every day.
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