The final version of this handy Firefox extension has been released. A recommended download for all Firefox and Gmail users who don't use the Gmail pop3 functionality.

Gmail Notifier 0.4 Released

Get it while its fresh!

• Now uses a JavaScript XPCOM component. This means that all windows are now in sync.
• [REQUEST] Option to reset counter to 0 when opening Gmail using the notifier.
• [REQUEST] Opening Gmail in new tab option now focuses the new tab.

No idea how long it will take to make it to update.mozilla.org though.

After a long wait, and a large contribution by the Mozilla Community, the time is finally near. Today the large U.S. newspaper, New York Times, will feature a large two page advertisement to get more users onboard. How fast will the already 11+ million downloads rise now?

Ben Goodger, of Firefox fame, has updated his Inside Firefox blog with more information on what he's currently working on for the next versions.

Congrats to the Mozilla Foundation with obtaining 11+ million downloads in little over a month. The web is truely moving in the right direction (away from IE) =)

Development Under Way

I'm still working on a product plan for 1.5/2.0, but while that progresses I've also begun a lot of development work for 1.1. I really need to buckle down and finish off the various patches that I have in motion at the moment, before I lose any or they become out of date. What I'm doing right now:

• Mac Browser Profile Migration (Safari, MacIE done, Camino in progress, todo: OmniWeb)
• Mac Shell Service for Default Browser, etc.
• New Options Window, so that it works properly on OS X, GNOME (non modal, instant-apply settings) etc.

And some ancilliary patches that pave the way for 1.5 and 2.0 features, like a patch that improves the look of tabs on Windows.

Asa Dotzler, from the Mozilla Foundation, updated his blog with more information regarding the upcoming releases of Mozilla Suite 1.7.5, 1.8 Alpha 6 and Firefox 1.1.

Upcoming releases

We're working towards a 1.7.5 release this week. The stable branch Mozilla application suite release is basically an attempt to get the Mozilla 1.7 app up to date with the Firefox Gecko. If we get this right, then web developers will be able to certify in one app and have confidence that their pages/web apps will work in the other.

Slashdot reports that CNET News.com has interviewed Doug Turner, project leader of the Minimo Project. The Minimo Project is focused on code-size and runtime footprint reduction, and porting to small consumer devices.

Unfortunately the interview feels like a commercial marketing campaign by an open-source foundation:

"We can be ported to many platforms that Opera can't," he said. "Mozilla has been developed to work on every flavor of Unix and every type of processor, chip or widget set."

Which seems based on no facts at all, as the original goal of the rewritten Opera 7 browser was portability to many platforms. Opera for Mobiles is currently the most ported browser ranging from the Microsoft SmartPhones Platform to Nokia phones.

Thanks to Ben Goodger, W3Schools has updated their statistics page showing some new numbers on the usage of (technology) users on their site.

Compared with last month, Opera went down to 2.1% (from 2.2%), Mozilla (All) went up to 21.2% (from 19.3%) and IE6 went down to 67.0% (from 68.5%). Especially the decrease in IE usage is a good sign that more and more people are discovering the rebel browsers, and that's exactly what we want to accomplish =)

ForecastFox is a Mozilla Firefox extension previously known as WeatherFox, but had to change its name due to copyright issues. With the name change comes an updated version which contains mostly fixes and some new locales.

Installation

Please file any bugs that you find on our bug reporting tool.

Version 0.5.8 [install]

Changes Since 0.5.8

• Fixed: Much more error protection.
• Fixed: Name changed to Forecastfox.
• Fixed: Tons of other stuff that...
• Added: de_DE, en_EN, es_ES, fr_FR, pt_PT, ru_RU, it_IT, nl_NL locales

The GMail Notifier is one of my favorite Firefox extension out there, which allows Firefox users to instantly see if they have new mail and can access the GMail site with a mouse click.

Another GMail Notifier Beta Call

Gmail Notifier 0.4 Beta (0.3.20).

The last issue people are reporting is the system notification the notifier uses on Windows doesn't work for some. If you install and enable the notifications (right click on the gmail icon and choose preferences to enable) and see problems, please go to the preferences panel and click on the Debug Console button and post that output here.

Thanks!

AOL has released the new Netscape browser prototype which is based on Mozilla Firefox 0.9.3. Users can test this release which is an early preview of the upcoming return of the Netscape browser. Being based on Firefox 0.9.3 it also includes the tab/windows settings from the Mozilla Suite as well as the old pre-defined form filling. Besides this you can find the new green Netscape skin, extra privacy buttons, as well as extensions for weather and news.

The most important "feature" is the IE compatibility. Users can set per site if they want it to render in Gecko or IE, giving users the option to view incompatible websites. It also however introduces security issues inherit by using IE. Also of special note is that the development of the Netscape browser was outsourced by AOL to a Canadian software firm Mercurial Communications.

Users of Mozilla Firefox will unlikely switch to this release as it contains no additional value. The weather extension is inferior to WeatherFox, the better Firefox/IE form filling is gone, the skin is only busy and distracting non-standard, based on an old Firefox release.