March 2008

Firefox 3 Beta 5 Delayed

Firefox 3 Beta 5 was suppose to be released last Thursday the 27th. However, on Sunday, March 23rd a major bug was discovered. Bug 424719: Firefox leaks nsDocument on http://www.freearcade.com/ when playing a game. Since the next developmental release after Beta 5 is suppose to Release Candidate 1 (which should not contain major bugs) there were faced with two options: Option #1: continue with the Beta 5 release as scheduled then fix this bug with a Beta 6 release. Option #2 : delay the Beta 5 release until this bug is fixed I believe part of the reason they went…

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Week Update 2008-03-31

Here’s an overview of this week’s Update Meeting: Fx 2.0.0.13 Released: March 25 Fx 2.0.0.14 Schedule in development Planning meeting later this week. Firefox 3 Beta 4 Beta 4 Shipped on March 10th Firefox 3 Beta 5 Code freeze: March 18 Builds start: March 27 QA: In Progress Release to beta channel: Final Release: March 27 Week of March 31st Status: Delayed due to ‘showstopper’ bug 424719 Firefox 3 Final 53 Blockers resolved in the last week 54 Blockers added in the last week 100 blockers remain for final 20+ blockers have patches waiting on review/landing Character of the bugs…

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Mozilla’s 10th Birthday

March 31, 1998 was the official beginning for Mozilla (then Netscape Communication Corp) with first developer release of Netscape Communication 5.0. Over the next 10-years the source code ended up being completely re-written. Here’s the press release: MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (March 31, 1998) — Netscape Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:NSCP) today announced that the first developer release of its Communicator 5.0 source code is available for download from the mozilla.org Web site. Targeted at the developer community, this unprecedented release of the client source code promotes acceleration of the evolution of Communicator 5.0 development by allowing the company to harness the creative…

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Update: New AMO Launched

Just a quick addendum to the earlier post: New AMO Launched. Basil Hashem who is part of the AMO Team added a comment in reference to the inability to install incompatible add-ons: Try visiting the “Advanced Details” section and take a look at the Complete Version History link – it includes all available versions and doesn’t do the smart detection so that testers, developers and others can download any version of an add-on (for whatever OS platform and edition of Firefox) you want without the hassle. Here is an example: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addons/versions/1865 Now I can understand the justification for keeping this…

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New AMO Launched

Back in February I took a look at the preview for the soon-to-be released Addons.Mozilla.Org (AMO). Some of the things that were pointed out in this review included: New visual refresh/redesign is a nice new clean look, but at the same time the site seems cluttered with so much information. The site automatically defaults to add-ons for English-US Firefox. Other applications can be selected from the top-right. The search box is very prominently displayed on top, but still sucks. As pointed out in the review, you can not filter for add-on type (extension, theme, plug-in, etc.) The actual add-on page…

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Get a Mac: Bad Vista reviews Misleading

The latest Get A Mac ad, Bad Vista reviews is a very misleading. The ad calls the banners ads about Vista which appear at the top “reviews”. Sadly, this is entirely untrue: The “review” from PC Magazine: ‘It’s Time for a Vista Do-Over’ is actually the tile of the article. The article doesn’t really say that there is anything wrong with Vista, more that Microsoft needs to more work into their next operating system. The”review” from C|Net: ‘Vista…one of the biggest blunders in technology’, was from an op-ed on why Microsoft should dump the OS completely. News Source: CyberNet News

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Safari For Windows an Illegal Operation

Usually, it is the application performing the Illegal Operation. However if you were to install Safari on your windows PC, you would be performing the Illegal Operation. According the Safari License Agreement (below) you are allowed to, “…install one copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-labeled computer…” I know many consumers never bother to read the End User License Agreement (EULA) when they install software, but apparently Apple hasn’t bothered to read their own EULA for Safari. Looks like they are recycling the old EULA from when Safari was Mac only application when they pushed it out to…

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Firefox 3 to be Released In June?

Back on December 8th, 2006, Firefox 3 Alpha 1 was released. Over the next nearly year and half, Places have been added, removed, then added, then removed and finally put back into the builds. Now comes word that the final release could come as early as June 2008. Percy from Mozilla Links writes: Mozilla VP of Engineering, Mike Schroepfer, has confirmed that the final release of Firefox 3, currently in Beta 4 stage, is expected for June, a full quarter later than the latest estimate and some nine months past the original. Looking back at the Mozilla Ships Alpha Release…

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Fx 3.0b5 Test Day

I had kind of thought Mozilla was being overly optimistic with their targeted Match 27th release date for Firefox 3 Beta 5. I realize the Beta 5 release was suppose to fix a few remaining blockers that couldn’t be fixed in time for the Beta 4 release. However, the aggressive Beta 5 schedule would have had the release a little over two weeks after the Beta 4 release. That just seemed too soon and uncharacteristic of typical Firefox release pattern (with the exception of the Firefox 2.0.0.11 release at the end of November 2007). I suspected Mozilla was not going…

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