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Firefox 4 beta 9 now available to download
Mozilla has just released the latest version of Firefox 4 Beta. As we're now into the closing stretch, there aren't any new or exciting features with this release -- just tweaks and bug fixes. The bookmarks and history code has been overhauled, which will improve browser startup and bookmarking speed (was bookmarking ever slow?). Per-compartment garbage collection has also been enabled, which improves the efficiency of complex animations.As we reported earlier this week, Firefox 4 is hopefully on target for an end-of-February release. There's still one more beta to pump out, though, and then a release candidate or two. A little bird tells me that the final build of Internet Explorer 9 might also appear around the same time, too...
For more details, check the full Firefox 4 beta 9 release notes.
Comments
17
Subscribe to commentsLeCrackzorJan 14th 2011 8:51PM
sorry ff. dont care anymore. you took too long. and chromes got ya beat
DonJan 17th 2011 1:04AM
@LeCrackzor -- Don't you dare like TWO browsers. The world would end.
RirathJan 14th 2011 9:07PM
I'm a web developer and quite enjoy Firefox's extensive extension collection. I'm sticking with FF.
DonJan 17th 2011 1:05AM
@Rirath -- Very true. But Chrome is catching up quite quickly with their own extensions.
ScottJan 15th 2011 5:08AM
I was excited when the first beta came out. I to have given up and switched to Chrome.
ChrisSskJan 15th 2011 8:28AM
@Scott
Most improvements didn't land until beta 6 and feature freeze was in beta 8. Firefox 4 as it is now feels and looks nothing like Firefox 4b1
I would definitely suggest giving the latest beta a try
ArtsJan 15th 2011 5:50AM
The tabs bar kinda shifted up to the giant orange button did it not? not sure if the update caused it tou.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 15th 2011 5:51AM
@Arts Yep! Cool eh? :)
technophobeJan 15th 2011 8:40AM
@Sebastian Anthony
There is so much screen space now its awesome, especially with small icons and the ad-on bar hidden
Sebastian AnthonyJan 15th 2011 8:47AM
@technophobe Tell me about it :)
There's some real competition for fast-and-slim browsers now. Chrome isn't the hands-down winner any more!
Even IE9 is shaping up nicely...
vasa1Jan 15th 2011 9:31AM
@Sebastian Anthony:
In comparison to Chrome,
The download is smaller.
The post-install footprint is much smaller. (Okay, Fx doesn't come with a baked-in Flash Player and PDF Reader.)
The conveniences and customization without resorting to extensions are many more. And the main talking point, speed, isn't that different now.
JamesJan 15th 2011 11:31AM
For years I loved Firefox... until Google Chrome developer builds were available on the Mac. Haven't touched Firefox since. I have nearly all the same extensions installed as I did in FF and it's still at least 3X faster.
If Mozilla could just improve the app's launch speed it would be worth checking out, but as it stands I don't get much further than that before I say "nope, still not worth it."
Matt RitchieJan 15th 2011 1:49PM
Still having to restart after installing extensions is crappy.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 15th 2011 1:50PM
@Matt Ritchie Only some extensions...! They _can_ be restartless now, but it depends on the add-on developers.
SpeedGunJan 16th 2011 4:42PM
@Matt Ritchie
Look under this tag: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/tag/Jetpack
Restarts no more!
DonJan 17th 2011 1:06AM
I love Firefox. But I'm afraid it's going to be out-updated into oblivion by Chrome (which is also excellent). I'll wait till FF 4 stable arrives & give it another spin.
JokerJan 19th 2011 8:12PM
I switched to Opera from Chrome. Now, this Firefox 4 beta 9 made me switch to it. Firefox back to its best.