Articles by ElGuru

Firefox for Windows 8 Metro Prototype

Brain Bondy has posted on his blog information on the progress of getting a Firefox version specially designed for the Windows 8 Metro interface. The article does include a couple screenshots which look very similar to the mobile interface as currently being built on the Fennec XUL code (which Mozilla moved away from last year in favor of the native UI on Android). According to the Firefox Roadmap a working prototype is expected for the 2nd quarter 2012. However, Alpha and Beta releases are not scheduled until the second half of 2012. Though at this time Microsoft does not have firm release date…

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Firefox to reclaim title as ‘Top Browser’ in 2012?

Tom’s Hardware presented a very detailed article as to why they think Mozilla can reclaim the title as ‘Top Browser’ with Firefox in 2012. Firefox did not fair well in 2011 and as we mentioned the other day, a lot of the decline has to do with Firefox 4. I am not so sure if Mozilla can really pull this off. I realize we just started the 2nd quarter of 2012, but Mozilla has a lot of work to do with Firefox still including improving the mobile side (Boot 2 Gecko should help this) as well as adapting Firefox for…

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Minor Changes to Firefox Release Schedule

Back in July 2011 Mozilla moved to the Rapid Release schedule/process for both Firefox and Thunderbird with a scheduled (does not include re-spins and security releases) new release set for every six-weeks or about 42-days. This may change in the future by a couple days in either direction. The updates will be released when they are ready whether it is 40, 42 or 44-days out. Rapid Release was introduced for two reasons, one was to match the release cycle of Google Chrome (more on this shortly) and to ensure the massive delay in getting Firefox 4 release never happen again….

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Update: Java Plugin Blocking

Some updates in regards to the Mozilla to Block Older Version of Java Plugins post from earlier this week… Firstly, Apple has released a security update that fixes the security vulnerability in Java. All Mac OS X users should run Software Update and update their Java software as soon as possible. It should be noted that we haven’t blocklisted Java on Mac OS X yet, but we might do so in the following days. If we do so, it will be softblocked, meaning that you still have the choice to keep the plugin enabled. Secondly, we made a mistake that…

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Mozilla to Block Older Version of Java Plugins

Mozilla has announced they will be blocking older versions of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and Java Development Kit (JDK) plugins due to critical vulnerabilities that are being exploited. This vulnerability—present in the older versions of the JDK and JRE—is actively being exploited, and is a potential risk to users. To mitigate this risk, we have added affected versions of the Java plugin for Windows (Version 6 Update 30 and below as well as Version 7 Update 2 and below) to Firefox’s blocklist. A blocklist entry for the Java plugin on OS X may be added at a future date….

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Do Not Track & LinkSys Router Admin

I discovered an odd glitch when trying to access LinkSys Router Admin interface via Firefox. I was using the correct user name and password, but I was being told my login was wrong. I was able to get in via Chrome or IE, but not Firefox. I was looking around the LinkSys forums for something else when I came across a couple of posts from other people who could not get in via Firefox. Turns out if you have the Do Not Track (Tools > Options > Privacy > Tracking [Tell websites I do not want to be tracked]) enabled,…

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Thunderbird 11.0.1 Released

Mozilla released an update to Thunderbird 11.0 on March 28th to address a couple pesky bugs: bug 733731 – Fixes an issue that may cause hangs when handling IMAP mail bug 735940 – Fixes an issue that may cause filters that move mail to specific folders to be erronously (sic) changed I had not run into issues with the first bug, but had heard from users who were affected. The second bug, I had run into on the laptop, especially when Thunderbird was trying to re-sync my IMAP accounts upon resuming Windows from hibernate mode. There were a couple times…

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Firefox 3.6.x end of life Clarification

On the March 17th Release Update and we incorrectly stated there would be a Firefox 3.6.29 on April 24th as the final release for the Firefox 3.6.x branch. Firefox 3.6.28 released on March 13th is the final release on the Firefox 3.6.x branch. However, in the unlikely event of a chemspill update resulting in a Firefox 3.6.29 release, this in turn would be the final release. After April 24th users will need to move to Firefox 12 or Firefox 10.0.x ESR (for those who’s computers do not support the requirements for Firefox 12). Thanks to Mozilla’s Daniel Veditz for the…

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Firefox Support Changes Coming

A warning to Firefox 3.6.x users the last release is coming on April 24 the 3.6.x branch will finally be retired. This comes over a year after Firefox 4 was released last spring and is twice as long as Mozilla normally continues to provide support of older versions after a major release. Further starting with Firefox 13 on June 5, 2012, minimum requirement for Windows will change from Windows 2000 to Windows XP SP2. For organizations or individuals who are not able to update to the newer versions of Firefox due to older hardware and/or operating systems, there is the…

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Thunderbird Support Changes Coming

A warning to Thunderbird 3.1.x users the last release is coming on April 24 when the 3.1.x branch will finally be retired. This comes nearly a year after Thunderbird 5 was released last spring and is almost twice as long as Mozilla normally continues to provide support of older versions after a major release. Further starting with Thunderbird 13 on June 5, 2012, minimum requirement for Windows will change from Windows 2000 to Windows XP SP2. For organizations or individuals who are not able to update to the newer versions of Thunderbird due to older hardware and/or operating systems, there…

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