The Mozilla Labs have released the final version of Mozilla Weave, the Firefox and Fennec extension to synchronize user data amongst all your Firefox powered devices.

Of course alternatives like Xmarks (formely Foxmarks) already existed for a long time, Weave is more than just bookmarks synchronization (although not really cross browser). Mozilla Weave is all about user data in the cloud, meaning your bookmarks, preferences, passwords, history and tabs. The beauty of it is that Mozilla Labs both offers the extension for clients to use with Mozilla's servers, as well as the server portion to host it yourself (for you, family and friends for instance). Of course syncing your passwords sounds scary, but Mozilla Weave uses encryption to make sure all your personal data is safe.

You can download Mozilla Weave from the add-ons page; in the future expect even more elaborate synchronization with the cloud, such as your installed add-ons (yay!) and a possible inclusion in future Firefox releases. Mozilla Weave is a recommended download for Firefox users, as it transcends both Chrome's bookmarks sync as well as Opera Link in form and function and keeps your data safe.

Google may be the biggest competitor to Microsoft on a whole scale of non traditional ways, but one thing is definitely true, they are pushing new technologies where they can.

Where Apple dominated the new wave of touch-screen mobile devices, Android is opening up the market by exposing a similar OS albeit with multi-tasking and customization. In the same approach not pleased with the slow development of Firefox (hey where is that new update approach coming from Mozilla, and why?) they introduced a new way of browsing the web with the fastest JS performance and multi-processes.

Today is the day that they push technology in another way, though with a sharp edge to it. We already know that HTML 5 comes with the video-tag and that there have been arguments about whether support for the different encoders should be part of the specification. Currently encoders don't play a role, and Google opted for the most superior encoder out there, but with a cost.

H.264 is the new standard to be used for Google's latest HTML 5 experiment for YouTube, but the thing is only Chrome (Frame) and Safari support it. H.264 requires that you pay a certain sum, and although Mozilla must have the money (from the Google search deal), they do not support it, heck they only support the open-source OGG format.

Anyway, if you have Chrome (Frame) or Safari, you can now enjoy the HTML 5 video-tag without the need for Flash, and with perhaps better quality at the new YouTube page. You can opt-in here if you have a supported browser.

After months of hard work the combined forces of the open-source community under the Mozilla banner have released the next version of Firefox. While the version number may not imply it, the amount of changes is significant under the hood.

Finally it's here, the final release of Firefox 3.6, which helps the furry web browser to position itself better against the fierce competition, of which the ever evolving Chrome might be the biggest on the radar.

For performance the JavaScript engine has been increased, but also updated to work asynchronously when loading the page, decreasing the start-up time. On the other hand a lot of effort was put into making the UI of the web browser, which runs on XUL in the rendering engine, more responsive while loading content.

Standards support for CSS, DOM and HTML 5 has also expended including most noticeably support for the WOFF font format.

Other changes include tighter security for add-ons (preventing crashes), alerts for out-of-date plugins, full screen video-tag support, integrated light weight themes (known as Personas), and much more.

As noted before Firefox 3.6 may very well mark a new milestone. With Firefox 3.7 possibly removed from the road map as a traditional release milestone, the coming months may be filled with small updates that include (under the hood) improvements until we reach the release of Firefox 4.0 with a new look and feel.

Firefox users are recommended to upgrade to Firefox 3.6 and can do so by downloading the full installer from the official Mozilla web site.

Previously we've already heard that theme changes for Firefox were dropped from 3.7 altogether and are purely being focused for the 4.0 release. But now it seems that there's more going on...

Once Firefox 3.6 is released sometime this month (hopefully) there may not be a successor this year. Yup, Firefox 3.7 might be canned, and although we might see the first beta's of Firefox 4.0 at the end of this year, the final release is probably coming in the beginning of 2011, leaving a big gap, or not?

Well, apparently Mozilla has the plan to introduce some of the Firefox 3.7 features into 3.6. For instance we'll see the full scale of Electrolysis (separate processes for plug-ins and tabs, like Chrome) in 4.0, but over the course of time this year we'll get minor feature updates for 3.6 of which one is plug-in process isolation (like Safari 4 on Snow Leopard). Risky changes that might affect the user experience, such as a new theme, or other GUI changes are not part of these minor updates though.

Whether it will pay off remains to be seen, but it definitely seems like a better way to have regular releases especially with the aggressive release cycle that Chrome has. With the automated test system and branches for small projects (that integrate into the main branch) they hope to hold a tight enough grip, to not cause major regressions.

Update: Corrected story to indicate this is the most likely plan to be executed, see for more details the response from Mike Beltzner.

Later than expected, but as promised the first release candidate of the (minor) upgrade for Firefox is here. This release should be at an almost golden state, meaning that perhaps another build may role out, perhaps not if it's stable enough.

Compared to beta 5 there have been 70 bugs fixed alone, still showing a large number of polishing that has happened. All in all this should result in one of the most stable releases of Firefox yet!

If you've forgotten, Firefox 3.6 may sound minor, but does contain some major alterations all things considered. Such changes are how add-ons are handled, making Firefox safer and less crash prawn if they behave badly. But also the ability to run scripts asynchronously to speed up page load times, built-in Personas extension (for simple skinning), plug-in version detection and notification, WOFF font format, support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies, improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and start-up time.

Although not intended yet for the common end-user, this release candidate is of such quality that it can be safely used, give or take a little bug or so. Be sure to check and report any issues you may find, so the folks at Mozilla can make this their best release yet!

The folks at Mozilla released a new version of their main web browser, Firefox 3.5. In this seventh update the usual stuff is included to make this a recommended update for all users.

According to the release notes the two major changes are related to: a fix for a common stability issue and a fix to how updates are presented to users.

These rather vague descriptions are however backed by a bug list with three highly technical fixes: DNS resolution in MakeSN of nsAuthSSPI causing issues for proxy servers that support NTLM auth, [Win] Topcrasher for Firefox 3.5.1 [@ memmove | nsTArray_base::ShiftData(unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int)][@ nsObserverList::FillObserverArray, and do not use background notification for major updates (was PMU 3.0->3.5 major update has been really poor).

As always the update should happen automatically for Firefox 3.5 users (or can be triggered through Help > Check for Updates). If you don't have Firefox or want the full binary, you can download it from the official Mozilla site.

Under heavy pressure from competitive products such as Chrome and Opera, the folks at Mozilla must be sweating right now. A new roadmap that introduces altered dead lines doesn't sound too good if they are all to be considered delays.

Hope to get Firefox 3.6 released before the end of the year seems lost. The first release candidates aren't out yet and previous betas contained hundred of fixes, each. But I don't think this is something to be too harsh about, yes it's delayed, but for a good reason: stability and performance. While delays aren't fun, the move is a responsible one as many end users these days rely on Firefox. The new release is scheduled for sometime in the first quarter of next year.

As we noted before, Firefox 3.7 will not contain the theme refresh. Instead of an evolutionary design where the first round is introduced in 3.7 and the biggest impact of changes (tabs on top, removal of menu, etc.) in round two as 4.0 they've op-ed to do it all in one go. Unfortunately this will not be in 3.7, but in 4.0, which is much further away. Being one of the ugliest browsers for Windows doesn't help either, as almost none of the Aero features are supported (while Vista exists for years now). There are some good things that remain in this release though, such as plug-in process separation for Windows and Linux (currently Mac is not supported), which is similar to how Chrome and Safari 4 (on Snow Leopard) work. It will also include two extensions features in the Mozilla Labs: Weave (for bookmarks synchronization) and JetPack (for lightweight extensions, which require no restart). When Firefox 3.7 is expected is kinda vague, it's supposed to be released somewhere in 2010 now.

And last but not least, Firefox 4.0 which will include the new interface and the efforts from the Electrolysis-project (process-per-tab) may appear early 2011. Yeah that's next next year. Although in 2010 we'll see the first betas, it's awfully far away.

If this new release schedule will hold up against the aggressive competition remains to be seen. Chrome 4.0 is expected to be released in the first half of 2010 and includes extensions support, which is the number one feature that Firefox had as a weapon. Opera also showed major leaps with their 10.50 pre-alpha, using Aero to its fullest with a lightning fast JavaScript engine and software renderer.

Next year marks the year that we'll see the final version of Google Chrome 4.0. On at least Windows and Linux this means a lot, it will be the first time that support for extensions is included. Can Firefox withstand the tide of Chrome?

Currently the Mac version of Chrome is lacking behind in several key areas: extensions support and managing bookmarks. Whether Google will release 4.0 with extensions support remains to be seen, but without it may not yet be up to a fight with Firefox on the Mac, it can however take on Safari.

But we're talking about Firefox as well. Currently it is seen as the world's most used browser (if counting version numbers and not the total of usage per browser). Some small fires have been reported in the past between Mozilla and Google, of which recently Asa Dotzler, a community manager at Mozilla, suggested to use Bing instead of Google due to privacy concerns. Some of the key developers behind Chrome, such as Ben Goodger, were key in the creation of Firefox (and in fact the UI and extensions support).

Why Chrome is getting stronger
So what does Chrome have that might threaten Firefox? Well, first of all it has a strong backing. It cannot be ignored that Google is big, the revenue they generate is a nice injection into Chrome. Chrome itself allows Google to be a portal, not just towards its search engine, but also its services (now and in the future).

Another big plus is that Chrome is new and fresh. Long ago Apple decided to create WebKit, based on KHTML and not on Gecko. Apple, and its core developers, believed that choosing KHTML and adapting it for their own purposes (and merging it back) would be more favorable. Especially since KHTML was much faster, smaller and easier to understand (due to the programming language and architecture). Chrome adopted WebKit as well, but added V8 as a separate JavaScript engine, as Google wanted to push effort in JavaScript powered web applications. Both WebKit and V8 surpass Gecko and TraceMonkey (Firefox' JavaScript engine). But it doesn't stop there, the security model, which involves sand boxing thanks to its multi-process architecture makes Chrome so unique, no other browser fully matches yet.

That is why I think the final and last major feature (next to bookmarks sync) to Chrome, which is extensions support might be the killer blow. Although Chrome's extensions may be limited due to the security model, the most popular one for Firefox to block ads has seen several incarnations already. Whether the more limited model will hamper adoption remains to be seen, at least the developer community seems very active. Chrome already surpassed Opera without extensions support, but if my guess is correct, their market share will be much, much higher once 4.0 launches.

Near future
Currently Firefox can be seen as following the footsteps of Chrome. It was only in 3.5 that, after much delay, private browsing was introduced, something Chrome, IE8 and Safari already had. With Chrome's support for extensions and making it clear that it too has a stricter security model also led to Firefox 3.6's adapting it's extensions' security. And of course TraceMonkey, it is less speedy than V8 and was mostly triggered by the existence of V8 (and Safari's Nitro). Just looking at the mock-ups for Firefox 4.0 (which partially were intended for 3.7 next year), and the per-process effort known as Electrolysis, Mozilla keeps being inspired by Chrome, instead of taking the lead.

While Firefox is currently at a safe distance from Chrome in usage, you shouldn't underestimate how quickly people can switch, especially when it's free and easy. And easy it is, Chrome can import almost anything from any browser. Of course it begs the question if this would be a good development. Mozilla is a more neutral and open party than Google, which knows tons about you through their search engine already, and is of course commercial of essence. Surely you can trust a company which has a mantra to do no evil? Another thing is the diversity of engines, Opera cannot do it alone to be another alternative to IE's Trident or Chrome and Safari's WebKit, they are just too small for that. Gecko may be harder to work with, but it's far from even being a bad rendering engine.

What Mozilla must do is drive releases, quickly, just like Google. Focus on features that matter and don't be afraid to bring new stuff in the game. For the time being the standard feature set of Chrome is very simple, much like its services (what is there is executed nicely). Perhaps integrate some essential extensions, such as Firebug, an ad blocker, or just hold a vote to fill it in. Abandon Thunderbird development (unless someone wants to work on it freely), ICC profile v4 support, put all effort on the new Firefox 4.0 looks, perhaps even abandon Firefox 3.7 development in favor of 4.0 (which must be released next year).

Mozilla can survive Google, Firefox can survive Chrome. Their paths are crossing right now, but that doesn't mean it needs to be. Of course the joined effort for an open web (against the IE lock-in) is the most import thing, but the casual Joe doesn't care, he wants features, and hopefully both can bring that on a reliable (security) and safe (privacy) way.

Stephen Horlander, of Firefox fame, has updated his blog with new concept art of the upcoming redesign of Firefox 4.0's theme. Sporting a look that should win over the hards of Windows Vista and Windows 7 users, one can only hope it will appear sooner than later.

Especially since the Firefox 3.x look is simply ugly on Windows. For Linux and Mac users Firefox looks quite ok, but for Windows it looks like nothing, it does not integrate well with Aero (unless you use add-ons) or any other modern Windows platform features (actually Vista introduced Aero back in 2006).

However there is also some sad news. According to Stephen Horlander all focus has been set on Firefox 4.0's theme, leaving Firefox 3.7, which would contain an evolutionary redesign, in the cold. Yep, that means that Firefox users will have to endure the ugly default theme for a year or so at the very least.

The new look is surprisingly nice though. Stephen shows us that he's considering several options, such as instead of the "Page" and "Tools" button like Chrome and Safari to introduce an application button in the top left, similar to Paint and WordPad in Windows 7. The personal toolbar is also considered to be either part of the current tab or under the uniform location bar.

Seems like there won't be a vote on it yet, but the concept art does give a good indication. While Firefox 4.0 is not slated to have a final release in 2010, it sure is needed as soon as possible. With the continuation of the competition, even on the UI front, by Google Chrome and Opera, Mozilla is in no way capable of standing still.