Around the Browsersphere #11

Posted on July 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

Since my last installment of Around the Browsersphere was posted back toward the beginning of May, there’s simply way too much going on to get all caught up without breaking things up a bit.  Therefore, this eleventh edition will focus solely on the “minor players,” or the web browsers not named Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera or Safari.

Avant

Flock

Konqueror

Maxthon

SeaMonkey

Others

I’m hoping to catch up on the major players soon, so stay tuned.

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Firefox 3.0.1 Beta (Build 1) Released

Posted on July 10th, 2008 | 6 Comments »

Apparently because I was downloading versions of Firefox 3 before it was officially released, I’ve been automatically enrolled in the Beta Testers Program.  Because of that, I was notified via a toaster notification tonight that Firefox 3.0.1 beta (build 1) is now available for testing.  I’m posting this from the new version, which identifies itself as follows:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008070208 Firefox/3.0.1

If you aren’t a part of the Beta Testers Program you can download the new beta build, or if you’re just curious what it’s all about, you can head over to the mozilla.announce.prerelease newsgroup or take a look at the MozillaWiki page.  However, I’ve taken a look at both and I’m still not quite sure what the new release is all about.

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Firefox 3 Released

Posted on June 17th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Following a slight server hiccup, Firefox 3 was officially released today at 11:16 AM Pacific time.  That means “Download Day” has officially arrived.  You can track global downloads over at Spread Firefox.  At the time of writing, it appears that the United States, which is in the lead globally, is already nearing the half-million download mark just a couple hours after the official release.  Germany and Spain currently round out the top three countries downloading Firefox 3.

If you haven’t made your mark yet, regardless of where on the planet you might live, head on over to getfirefox.com and download Firefox 3.

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Firefox 3 Could Be Released Today

Posted on June 17th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Amazingly enough, Twitter was available for long enough today to allow the mozillafirefox Twitter account to relay the fact that Mozilla is having some server troubles due to anticipation of the release of Firefox 3, which was set to become available at 10am Pacific time this morning:

The outpouring of interest and enthusiasm around Firefox 3 has been overwhelming (literally!).  Our servers are currently feeling the burn and should be back to normal shortly.  Download day will officially commence once the site goes live.  The 24 hours period will be clocked from that moment.  Thanks for your continued support.

The “Download Day” mentioned refers to the Firefox team’s attempt at setting a Guiness World Record for the most software downloads in a 24-hour period.  More information on the effort is available over at The Register.

I noticed that the server at GetFirefox.com was already having some issues a couple hours before the official, planned kick-off, so it sounds like things have only gotten worse since then.  Even if the Firefox team does manage to get their servers back online, one has to wonder whether the bandwidth will be such that the 24-hour period will accurately reflect the number of downloads that were intended by the browser’s broad user base.

I’ll likely be posting more on this later in the day, so stay tuned.

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Opera 9.50 Released

Posted on June 14th, 2008 | No Comments »

As so astutely pointed out by commenter iamcheese, Opera 9.50 was released on Thursday, June 12th.

Those following the Opera Desktop Team Blog likely saw the release coming, as there was a lot of focus on stability in the weeks leading up to the release, and also a preview of some of the major features, including a new default skin (which, like any major theme change, received a lot of immediate feedback) and malware protection.

Impressively, the official release of the browser came only two days after the release of the Opera 9.50 Release Candidate build.  For interesting facts about the release, you can check out the official announcement or the coverage at Opera Watch.  The latter also has some additional coverage on the new skin change.  Or, if you’re interested in the improvements made in Opera 9.5 on the CSS front, be sure to look at CSS3 . Info’s synopsis.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you can download the latest release at opera.com.

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Firefox 3 RC2 Released

Posted on June 4th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Just over two weeks after the release of Firefox 3 RC1 and about a week after confirmation it would be made available, Firefox 3 RC2 was released today.  You can read more about the release over at Mozilla Developer News, but don’t expect to find detailed information on what changed between RC1 and RC2 (at least, I wasn’t able to).  If you’re already running Firefox 3 RC1, you can go to Help, Check for Updates to upgrade to RC2.  Otherwise, head on over to the Firefox 3 RC2 download page.

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Firefox 3 RC2 Confirmed

Posted on May 27th, 2008 | No Comments »

I was referred to the following from Mozilla Links tonight (via Twitter):

On today’s Firefox 3 status meeting, the need for a second release candidate was confirmed and it has been tentatively targeted for early June.

RC2 will fix about a couple dozen bugs including some top crashers, some affecting performance and localization related. Most of the bugs already have patches waiting for review or landing and the revised code is expected for tomorrow, with initial builds available on Thursday. QA will start the same day and last for about a week.

If all goes as planned, RC 2 should be released close to June 6 for a new round of tests by Firefox users. Depending on whether a new critical bug is found or not, a third RC could be necessary or RC2 will become Firefox 3 final.

According to some of the notes from the mentioned status meeting, two of the outstanding bugs on the hook for RC2 specifically involve a rendering-related crash and cross-domain security restrictions.

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Firefox 3 RC1 Released

Posted on May 17th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

As a user of Firefox 3 Beta 5, an update to Firefox 3 RC1 was automatically rolled out to me tonight.  If you’ve been using the latest beta, go to Help -> Check for Updates… to upgrade to RC1.  If you’ve been holding out on testing Firefox 3 until a release candidate was made available, your wait is over.  You can download Firefox 3 RC1 right now.

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Opera Mini 4.1 Released

Posted on May 13th, 2008 | No Comments »

As alluded to previously, Opera Mini 4.1 was released today.  Though the official announcement at the Opera Mini blog left a little to be desired, Opera Watch came through as usual with a good synopsis of what to expect from the new release:

Opera Mini 4.1 introduces the following new features:

  • Opera Mini 4.1 is up to 50% faster than Opera Mini 4.0
  • URL completion auto-suggest, making address input easy and intuitive
  • Web pages can be saved for later off-line viewing
  • New quick find feature for words and phrases (similar to Ctrl+F function in desktop browsers)
  • Images, ringtones and other content can be downloaded without leaving Opera Mini

You can download the new release from operamini.com using your mobile phone.

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Maxthon 2.1 Released

Posted on May 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

Maxthon 2.1 (officially version 2.1.0.1870) was released on Thursday, May 8th.  The new release features improved stability, better performance and “hundreds of bug fixes,” according to Maxthon Resources.

If you’re interested in the full rundown on all the changes in the new release, TechConnect Magazine has a pretty good summary.

You can download the new release from maxthon.com.

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