Mozilla Adds New Firefox Channel to Facilitate Rapid Release Schedule
Mozilla Adds New Firefox Channel to Facilitate Rapid Release Schedule
Posted 04/14/2011 at 11:27am
| by Paul Lilly
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Are you under the impression that the modern day browser war doesn't amount to a hill of beans? Try telling that to Mozilla, who is in a dogfight with Microsoft (Internet Explorer) and Google (Chrome) for browser dominance. With plenty of ad dollars at stake and control over emerging Web standards, browser makers have vested interest in grabbing as much market share as they can. Mozilla, whose second place Firefox browser is at serious risk of being overrun Chrome, announced a new rapid release development cycle, with an early version of Firefox 5 now up for grabs.
Previously there were three channels with which to test new features in Firefox. These included:
- Nightly test builds: Includes features not tested by Mozilla QA
- Firefox Beta: Broadly test the stability of new features and improvements in the next version of Firefox
- Firefox Final Release: Deliver the polished and stable features in Firefox to hundreds of millions of users
Now there's a fourth channel called "Aurora," which Mozilla says is a place users can go to test the latest features and innovations. The first version of what will end up being Firefox 5 landed in the Aurora channel earlier this week, which is similar to Google's "dev" channel for Chrome. Firefox 5 is expected to go into beta form on or around May 17, with a final release scheduled for June 21.
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Dartht33bagger
April 14, 2011 at 12:41pm
Personally, I'm tired of all these new browsers. FF4 just came out and we're already talking about FF5. IE9 just came out and we're already talking about IE10. FF4 should at least have 2-3 years of life before FF5.
If they keep making new browsers at this rate, we are going to be on FF18 and IE30 in a matter of years.
SuperiorBeing
April 14, 2011 at 11:30pm
So? So what if we end up using Firefox 597 by 2020? Browser are constantly evolving. They're getting faster, more secure, and more features all the time. That's a good thing. I want more powerful open web standards, I want more efficient, better looking user interfaces. I really don't think it's a bad thing that sluggish developers like Mozilla are heating things up. Competition is a great thing, because otherwise we'd all be using IE6 and Windows XP.
AETAaAS
April 14, 2011 at 11:40am
Wow, it really has gone into overdrive... FF4 just finalised recently and the FF5 card is already on the table. Looking back, it seemed like I was on FF3 for donkey's years compared to this.
I've usually used the final builds so I'm not sure what's going on now. How much more aggresively updated can the Aurora channel be compared to the Nightly Builds which are already largely untested? xD
whiteknight89
April 14, 2011 at 2:40pm
Here. This is from Mozilla's website. It explains the situation a little better I think. Im surprised the article didn't link it.
AETAaAS
April 14, 2011 at 3:04pm
Thanks, even with the official explanation, it still seems needlessly complicated, but I'm sure they know what they're doing. I'll just wait till June for the full release. xD
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