Sep 102012
 

Browser maker Mozilla has patched a bug in the latest major version of Firefox that could have exposed the websites of those using the “Private Browsing” mode.

“Private Browsing,” a feature implemented in most modern browsers, allows users to browse the Web without leaving any trace of the websites visited on the user’s computer.

But shortly after the latest Firefox release was dished out to end-users, a bug report was filed to claim that any site visited while in the privacy-conscious mode “could be found through manual browser cache inspection,” according to Mozilla’s bug-reporting site Bugzilla.

Website addresses, page images, search queries, passwords and cookies — known as cached content — were stored by Firefox 15 when the browser privacy mode was enabled.

MORE:  Private browsing bug fixed in Firefox 15.0.1 | Internet & Media – CNET News.

 


Jul 102012
 

Mozilla’s Jono DiCarlo has come out to say what many a Firefox user has long been thinking: the rapid release cycle is killing Firefox.

DiCarlo has a long and well-argued post on how and why Firefox’s attempts to ape Google Chrome have not only made the browser less usable, but done the very thing Mozilla was trying to prevent — driving people to switch to Chrome.

The problem, argues DiCarlo, isn’t just the rapid releases, but the way Mozilla has handled them:

Ironically, by doing rapid releases poorly, we just made Firefox look like an inferior version of Chrome. And by pushing a never-ending stream of updates on people who didn’t want them, we drove a lot of those people to Chrome; exactly what we were trying to prevent.

That squares with the user feedback Webmonkey has received over the last year or so of rapid Firefox updates — comment after comment of fed-up users tired of the endless updates and dialog boxes. Less anecdotally, Webmonkey traffic from Firefox has declined from roughly 34 percent to roughly 30 percent since Firefox 4 and the rapid release cycle debuted.

MORE: Firefox Developer: ‘Everybody Hates Firefox Updates’ | Webmonkey | Wired.com.

 


Oct 122011
 

Total revenue for Mozilla in 2010 was $123million, up approximately 18 percent, according to the newly released State of Mozilla report.

The browser giant’s revenue is generated mostly by partering with the major search engines for the search functionality in Firefox, as well as donations and grants.

via Mozilla revenue up 18% | News | .net magazine.

Aug 202011
 

So why does Mozilla want to ditch the version number? In the words of Asa Dotzler, director of Firefox, “we’re moving to a more web-like convention where it’s simply not important what version you’re using as long as it’s the latest version. We have a goal to make version numbers irrelevant to our consumer audience.”

via Firefox: The Emperor Wears No Versions | Webmonkey | Wired.com.

 

Does not seem entirely rational. -JA