<IT WORLD> Fans in frenzy for feisty Firefox
By Martin J Young
HUA HIN, Thailand - Netizens finally got their hands on the latest version of
the Firefox web browser this week. Its creator, Mozilla, encouraged people to
download the software on Tuesday, which it dubbed "Download Day" to set a world
record for the most-downloaded piece of software within 24 hours.
An interactive map showing downloads per country was displayed on its website
spreadfirefox.com throughout the day along with a tally that reached almost 8
million by the end of the 24-hour period on June 18.
Guinness is reviewing the world record attempt, which was not plain sailing for
Mozilla. The download rate peaked at 14,000 per
minute on Tuesday and its servers felt the strain, with many people left
disappointed as the software failed to download as initial interest overwhelmed
the company's systems.
The package is a 7.14Mb download for PCs, half the size of Internet Explorer 7
and Safari. During installation it sets itself as the default
browser by means of a checked box, one of the more aggressive tactics
now used in the browser domination race. The installation takes less than a
minute and will overwrite any previous version of the browser while keeping all
bookmarks, passwords and settings.
On the surface, most people will not notice a lot of difference as the majority
of the 15,000 or so changes from Firefox 2 have been made under the hood. It
also makes more of an effort to blend in with the design of your operating
system rather than looking like a third-party piece of software. Users of Mac's
OS X and Vista will notice this most.
The technical geeks in Asia Times Online's editorial office have been spending
the past few days test-driving the new browser and are willing to recommend it
for a number of reasons.
First and foremost is the noticeable performance and speed increase. This alone
should be enough to warrant an upgrade. Startup time and general operation is
more responsive and it does not grind to a halt with multiple tabs open, as its
predecessor often did. Memory-leaking problems suffered in Firefox 2 have all
been fixed and the new version is physically faster at processing and loading
up web pages due to its new "SpiderMonkey" powered Javascript engine.
Fancy terminology aside, this browser is probably the quickest on the market,
more stable and streamlined than its predecessor, and sparing you a bunch of
additional add-ons that you'll never use, a concept rarely seen in today's
software package upgrades.
To test it, we used ATol's front page and its relatively heavy video and
graphic content. Three tests of a full-page load were taken for Internet
Explorer and the latest Firefox with an emptied cache - IE loaded the page
completely in an average time of just under 27 seconds whilst Firefox did it in
just under 17. Far from conclusive, no doubt, yet the basic test shows up the
difference, and the higher download speed will be particularly welcomed by the
millions of people who are still not blessed with fast Internet connections.
Something that will save the eyes of the visually impaired, those with huge
screens, or readers of sites with tiny fonts, is a new and improved zoom.
Traditional browser zooming would usually enlarge only text so that the images
and layout of the website could get messed up in the process. Firefox 3 zooms
in proportionally so the web page retains its layout properties and is
perfectly legible, even when fully zoomed. Again we tried it on atimes.com with
perfect results - it is such a simple function but one that has been overlooked
in other browsers.
Mozilla has also beefed up the browser's security with improved protection
against malware and phishing. There are more encryption functions to protect
your data when using secure websites and connections such as online banking. It
also communicates with your anti-virus software on completion of executable
file download to ensure there are no nasties within.
Other improvements include bookmark tagging, a great little function for those
of us who still like to organize their bookmarks or favorites locally as
opposed to the increasingly popular method of social bookmarking. Keeping a
resource for later reference is even easier now and a handy Places Organizer
helps you keep them categorized.
There is also an improved add-ons manager that lets you keep track of them all
in once place and search for extensions within the manager. Also included is an
"intelligent address bar" that uses predictive text to remember where you have
been on the web. It will show a list of recent websites with the keywords
highlighted based on what you started to type in the URL bar.
One great innovation that was sadly omitted from this version of Firefox is a
system code-named "Weave", which allows you to store your bookmarks,
preferences and settings online in a "cloud". You can then start up Firefox on
any other computer, logon and retrieve your customized settings from the cloud
and away you go. You'll have to wait for Firefox 4 for this one.
The Firefox frenzy is over for now and Microsoft will have to up the ante with
Internet Explorer 8 if they want to keep hold of their market dominance. We at
least would recommend Firefox, if only for the fact that the speed and
performance benefits make it the browser of choice and the fastest one on the
web at the moment.
Hardware
The grappling in the graphics arena continued this week as chip makers Nvidia
and AMD both released new graphics processors. Nvidia's GT200 chip packs more
punch than previous processors with increased bandwidth, more transistors,
cores, and performance for the gaming enthusiast. The chips will feature in the
new power-hungry GTX260 and 280 cards offering three-way SLI configurations and
sit at the top of the tree with the company's 9800 GX2 industry leader.
AMD has announced its new Radeon HD 4800 series, which will offer up to a
teraflop of graphics muscle according to the manufacturer. The new HD 4850 and
4870 are due for launch at the end of this month and early next for US$200 and
$300 respectively. PC gamers have never had so much choice!
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.
(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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