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Firefox 3.6 is available for download now
Stop the press! Firefox 3.6 has just been released and is available for immediate download.It's safe to assume that this is the Release Candidate 2 that has been in the wild for just two days, so if you've already read the release notes for RC2, you can skip this! For those of you that haven't kept up to date with our (very extensive) coverage of Firefox, here's a brief run-down of Firefox 3.6's features, fixes and improvements.
- Personas -- the 'biggest' new feature is integrated Personas support. Personas are Firefox's personalization system -- if you've ever wanted a pretty (or ugly...) picture on the background of all your Firefox menus, now's your chance! There's now over 35,000 themes, so there's definitely a lot of choice -- whether you'll find more than a handful of them pleasing to the eye is another matter entirely.
- Stability -- a lot of bugs have been fixed between 3.5 and 3.6! There have also been some changes in the way add-ons interact with Firefox, which should reduce the number of crashes you experience. The original roadmap for Namoroka/Firefox 3.6 isn't actually all that exciting -- it was intended to evolve rather than revolutionize Firefox. 3.6 was never intended to be crazy, just more user-friendly, more readily-adopted, to further swell their user base.
- SPEED! -- no, not the amphetamine, but sometimes using Firefox 3.6 feels a bit like it! From updates and changes to the JavaScript engine that allow asynchronous execution, to little tweaks in all the right places, 3.6 generally feels a bit snappier. Tabs open a little faster, as does the browser itself.
- Security & Safety -- finally, Firefox will warn you when you have out-of-date add-ons! There's now a highly-visible warning when add-ons need updating, much like the 'do you want to save your password?' bar that pops up at the top of the page. With updated add-ons comes greater browser stability and security.
Why are you still reading? Go and download Firefox 3.6 already!
Comments
7
Subscribe to commentsmotangJan 21st 2010 12:18PM
I am going to have to wait, as I relay on a lot of extensions for wed developing and accessibility. But I do have it running on one my notebook and it does seem faster.
Gardiner WestboundJan 21st 2010 12:38PM
The downside of being an early Fx 3.6 adopter is a lot of extensions and themes don't work. If these are important to you stifle the urge to update for a week or two to allow the authors to catch up.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 21st 2010 4:22PM
I think they've tried to get developers to update in time for 3.6 -- and as a commenter mentions below, you can install an add-on that lets you use out-of-date add-ons too :)
blasztaJan 21st 2010 12:57PM
My logmein addons doesn't supported yet (as well as a bunch of other addons like tab mix plus, etc).. well I guess I need to wait a little bit longer
JóiJan 21st 2010 12:59PM
Luckily only Google Gears doesn't work for me... all the other add-ons do.
StanJan 21st 2010 1:29PM
The add-on "Nightly Tester Tools" can force "compatibility." I've never had an add-on not work after using Nightly Tester Tools. Especially when it's a relatively minor update like this one.
Bryan PriceJan 21st 2010 6:32PM
Running it now as my installed Firefox. I used the Nightly Tester Tools to force some extensions to keep working. And they are working. And I knew that because I've had them running on my portable 3.6 nightly installation.