Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. A Net Applications statistic puts Firefox at 24.35% of the recorded usage share of web browsers as of May 2010, making it the second most used browser worldwide after Microsoft's Internet Explorer.[7] Other sources put Firefox's usage share between 20% and 32%.[8][9][10][update]
To display web pages, Firefox uses the Gecko layout engine, which implements most current web standards in addition to several features which are intended to anticipate likely additions to the standards.[11]
Latest Firefox features[12] include tabbed browsing, spell checking, incremental find, live bookmarking, a download manager, private browsing, location-aware browsing (also known as "geolocation") based exclusively on a Google service[13] and an integrated search system that uses Google by default in most localizations. Functions can be added through add-ons, created by third-party developers,[14] of which there is a wide selection, a feature that has attracted many of Firefox's users.
Firefox runs on various versions of GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and many other Unix-likeoperating systems. Its current stable release is version 3.6.3, released on April 1, 2010.[15] Firefox's source codefree software, released under a tri-license GNU GPL/GNU LGPL/MPL.[16] [update] is
History
Main article: History of Mozilla Firefox
 (category) |
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| Contents |
| Origins and Lineage |
The Firefox project began as an experimental branch of the Mozilla project by Dave Hyatt, Joe Hewitt and Blake Ross. They believed the commercial requirements of Netscape's sponsorship and developer-driven feature creep[17] To combat what they saw as the Mozilla Suite's software bloat, they created a stand-alone browser, with which they intended to replace the Mozilla Suite. On April 3, 2003, the Mozilla Organization announced that they planned to change their focus from the Mozilla Suite to Firefox and Thunderbird.[18] compromised the utility of the Mozilla browser.
The Firefox project has undergone several name changes. Originally titled Phoenix, it was renamed because of trademark issues with Phoenix Technologies. The replacement name, Firebird, provoked an intense response from the Firebird free database software project.[19][20][21] In response, the Mozilla Foundation stated that the browser should always bear the name Mozilla Firebird to avoid confusion with the database software. Continuing pressure from the database server's development community forced another change; on February 9, 2004, Mozilla Firebird became Mozilla Firefox,[22] often referred to as simply Firefox. Mozilla prefers that Firefox be abbreviated as Fx or fx, though it is often abbreviated as FF.[23] The Firefox project went through many versions before 1.0 was released on November 9, 2004. After a series of stability and security fixes, the Mozilla Foundation released its first major update, Firefox version 1.5, on November 29, 2005. Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.12 is the final version officially supported under Windows 95.
Version 2.0
Main article: Mozilla Firefox 2
On October 24, 2006, Mozilla released Firefox 2. This version includes updates to the tabbed browsingGUI (Graphical User Interface); and the find, search and software update engines; a new session restore feature; inline spell checking; and an anti-phishing feature which was implemented by Google as an extension,[24][25] and later merged into the program itself.[26] In December 2007, Firefox Live Chat was launched. It allows users to ask volunteers questions through a system powered by Jive Software, with guaranteed hours of operation and the possibility of help after hours. Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.20 is the final version officially supported under Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, and Windows ME.[27] environment; the extensions manager; the
Version 3.0
Main article: Mozilla Firefox 3
Mozilla Firefox 3 was released on June 17, 2008,[28] by the Mozilla Corporation. Firefox 3 uses version 1.9 of the Mozilla Gecko layout engine for displaying web pages. This version fixes many bugs, improves standard compliance, and implements new web APIs.[29] Other new features include a redesigned download manager, a new "Places" system for storing bookmarks and history, and separate themes for different operating systems. The latest version under 3.0 is Firefox 3.0.19.
Development stretches back to the first Firefox 3 beta (under the codename 'Gran Paradiso'[30]) which had been released several months earlier on 19 November 2007,[31] and was followed by several more beta releases in spring 2008 culminating in the June release.[32] Firefox 3 had more than 8 million unique downloads the day it was released, setting a Guinness World Record.[33]
Version 3.5
Main article: Mozilla Firefox 3.5
Version 3.5, codenamed Shiretoko,[34] adds a variety of new features to Firefox. Initially numbered Firefox 3.1, Mozilla developers decided to change the numbering of the release to 3.5, in order to reflect a significantly greater scope of changes than originally planned.[35] The final release was on June 30, 2009. The changes included much faster performance thanks to an upgrade to SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine called TraceMonkey and rendering improvements,[36] and support for the
Version 3.6
Main article: Mozilla Firefox 3.6
Version 3.6 is the release codenamed Namoroka.[42] Development for this version started on December 1, 2008,[43] and it was released on January 21, 2010.[15] This release uses the new Gecko 1.9.2 rendering engine.
New features for Firefox 3.6 include built-in support for Personas (toolbar skins), notification of out-of-date plugins,[44] full screen playback of Theora video, support for the WOFF open webfont format,[45] a more secure plugin system, and many performance improvements.[15]
Firefox for mobile
Main article: Firefox for mobile
Firefox for mobile, codenamed Fennec, is a web browser for smaller non-PC devices, mobile phones and PDAs. It was released for the Nokia Maemo operating system (specifically the Nokia N900 and N810) on January 28, 2010,[46] and is under development for Android.[47] Firefox for mobile 1.0 uses the same version of the Gecko layout engine as Firefox 3.6. The user interface is completely redesigned and optimized for small screens, the controls are hidden away so that only the web content is shown on screen, and it uses touchscreen interaction methods. It includes the Awesomebar, tabbed browsing, Add-on support, password manager, location-aware browsing, and the ability to synchronize with the user's computer Firefox browser using Firefox Sync.[48]
Future developments
The precursory builds of upcoming Firefox releases are usually codenamed "Minefield", as this is the name of the trunk builds. Development on the Mozilla trunk (mozilla-central) is currently directed towards Version 4.0.[49]
Lorentz
Next on Mozilla's schedule after Firefox 3.6 is a minor update to Firefox 3.6 code-named Lorentz. The major feature of this release will be out-of-process plug-ins (OOPP) (part of the Electrolysis project), which isolates execution of plug-ins like Adobe's Flash or Apple's QuickTime into a separate process. Starting with Lorentz, Mozilla also plans to release non-intrusive changes as minor updates that previously included only stability and security fixes.[50]
A preview version of Lorentz (Firefox 3.6.3plugin1) was made available on April 8, 2010.[51] Betas of Firefox 3.6.4 were made available starting on April 20, 2010. The final version is to be released in June 2010 as Firefox 3.6.4.[52]
Firefox Home
See also: Firefox Sync
Mozilla is working on an application called Firefox Home for the iPhone based on the Firefox Sync technology. it will allow iPhone users access to their Firefox browsing history, bookmarks and recent tabs. It will also include Firefox's "Awesomebar" location bar. Firefox Home is not a browser, the application will launch pages in either a Webkit Web viewer or in Safari.[53][54]
Version 4.0
Tentatively scheduled for release in November 2010, Firefox 4 will bring a new, "faster" user interface.[49]Windows,[55] Mac OS X,[56] and Linux[57] have been made available. Other features slated for Firefox 4 include a new Account Manager,[58] improved notifications, application tabs, and a redesigned extension manager.[59] Mockups of the new interface on
Additionally, Firefox 4 will add support for WebM, WebGL, multitouch displays,[60] and 64-bit systems.[61] It will also come with improved HTML5[62] and CSS3 support, and a new JavaScript engine.[61]
Mozilla 2.0
On October 13, 2006, Brendan Eich, Mozilla's Chief Technology Officer, wrote about the plans for Mozilla 2, referring to the most comprehensive iteration (since its creation) of the overall platform on which Firefox and other Mozilla products run. These changes include improving and removing XPCOM APIs, switching to standard C++ features, just-in-time compilation with JavaScript 2 (known as the Tamarin project), and tool-time and runtime security checks.[63][64][65] It has also been announced that support for the Gopher protocol will be removed by default to lessen attack vectors, although it has been suggested that the protocol could be retained if someone were to implement Gopher support in a memory-safe programming language.[66]
Future features
Integral offline application support technology—similar to Gears—is being developed for Firefox. Mitchell Baker, Mozilla's former Chief Executive Officer, has said that given the level of investment made in the web as a platform, taking applications to the next level will require that they continue to work when a computer is offline.[37][67]
The Mozilla development team has also announced a project named "Electrolysis" to make Firefox multiprocess, similar to implementations done by Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 8.[68][69]
Release history
Main article: History of Mozilla Firefox
| Browser name | Gecko version | Version | Support status | Codename | Release date | Significant changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix | 1.2 | 0.1 |  | Pescadero | September 23, 2002 | First release; customizable toolbar, quicksearch, tabbed browsing.[70] |
| 0.2 | | Santa Cruz | October 1, 2002 | Sidebar, extension management. | ||
| 0.3 | | Lucia | October 14, 2002 | Image blocking, pop-up blocking whitelist. | ||
| 1.3 | 0.4 | | Oceano | October 19, 2002 | Themes, pop-up blocking improvements, toolbar customization. | |
| 0.5 | | Naples | December 7, 2002 | Multiple homepages, sidebar and accessibility improvements, history. | ||
| Mozilla Firebird | 1.5 | 0.6 | | Glendale | May 17, 2003 | New default theme (Qute), bookmark and privacy improvements, smooth scrolling, automatic image resizing. |
| 0.7 | | Indio | October 15, 2003 | Automatic scrolling, password manager, preferences panel improvements. | ||
| Mozilla Firefox | 1.6 | 0.8 | | Royal Oak | February 9, 2004 | Windows installer, offline working, bookmarks and download manager improvements, rebranded with new logo. |
| 1.7 | 0.9 | | One Tree Hill | June 15, 2004 | New default theme (Winstripe), comprehensive data migration, new extension/theme manager, reduced download size, new help system, Linux installer, mail icon (Windows only). | |
| 1.0 | | Phoenix | November 9, 2004 | Added new features such as RSS/Atom feed support, find toolbar, plugin finder. Reached its end of life on April 13, 2006 with the release of version 1.0.8.[71][72] (support for older versions of Firefox typically ends six months after a new major version is available). | ||
| 1.8 | 1.5 | | Deer Park | November 29, 2005 | Added support for SVG and canvas, UI adjustments and improvements in JavaScript 1.5 and CSS 2/3. Reached its end of life on May 30, 2007 with the release of Firefox 1.5.0.12. Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.12 is the final version officially supported under Windows 95.[73] | |
| Mozilla Firefox 2 | 1.8.1 | 2.0 | | Bon Echo | October 24, 2006 | Added new features such as session restoration after a browser crash, search suggestion for Google and Yahoo!, new search plugin manager and add-on manager, web feed previewing, bookmark microsummaries and Google's anti-phishing protection.[74]Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, and Windows ME.[75] Winstripe theme refresh. Included support for JavaScript 1.7. Reached its end of life on December 18, 2008 with the release of Firefox 2.0.0.20. Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.20 is the final version officially supported under |
| Mozilla Firefox 3 | 1.9 | 3.0[76] | | Gran Paradiso | June 17, 2008 | Cairo used as a graphics backend. Cocoa Widgets included in OS X builds. APIs implemented from WHATWG specs. Changes to how DOM events are dispatched, how HTML object elements are loaded, and how web pages are rendered. New SVG elements and filters, and improved SVG specification compliance. Acid2 test compliant. New UI improvements, including default themes for different operating systems and new download manager. Introduction of Smart Location Bar (a.k.a. Awesome Bar).[77] Windows 95, 98, ME, Mac OS X v10.3.9[78]GTK+ 1.2 and lower[79] no longer supported. addons.mozilla.org integration in the Add-ons window. Support for APNG files. Google's "malware protection".[80] Reached its end of life on March 30, 2010 with the release of Firefox 3.0.19.[81] and lower, and |
| Mozilla Firefox 3.5 | 1.9.1 | 3.5[82] |  | Shiretoko[83] | June 30, 2009 | Web standards improvements in the Gecko layout engine. Text API for the |
| 3.5.9 | | March 30, 2010 | Security and stability update. Predated by 3.5.1 to 3.5.8. | |||
| Mozilla Firefox 3.6 | 1.9.2 | 3.6 | | Namoroka[85] | January 21, 2010[15] | Improved performance to the TraceMonkey JavaScript engine. Support for -moz-background-size CSS property, CSS Gradients, and multiple background images. Notification of out-of-date plugins. |
| 3.6.3 | | April 1, 2010 | Security and stability update. | |||
| Mozilla Firefox 4.0 | 1.9.3 | 3.7a5 | | N/A[Note 1] | June 14, 2010[86] | 4.0 features changes to the user interface. The browser will be given a home tab. The preferences and add-ons manager windows will also be redesigned to better assist users. The Gecko layout engine will be improved to support more HTML5CSS3 features. and |
- ^ Mozilla Firefox 4.0 has not yet been assigned a codename. Alpha builds so far are titled "Mozilla Developer Preview".
Features
Main article: Features of Mozilla Firefox
- Latest Firefox features[12] include tabbed browsing, spell checking, incremental find, live bookmarking, a download manager, private browsing, location-aware browsing (aka "geolocation") based on a Google[13] and an integrated search system that uses Google by default in most localizations. Functions can be added through add-ons, created by third-party developers,[14] of which there is a wide selection, a feature that has attracted many of Firefox's users. service
- Firefox provides an environment for web developers in which they can use built-in tools, such as the Error Console or the DOM Inspector, or extensions, such as Firebug.
Standards
Mozilla Firefox implements many web standards, including HTML, XML, XHTML, MathML, SVG 1.1 (partial),[87] CSS (with extensions),[88] ECMAScript (JavaScript), DOM, XSLT, XPath, and APNG (Animated PNG) images with alpha transparency.[89] Firefox also implements standards proposals created by the WHATWG such as client-side storage,[90][91] and canvas element.[92]
Firefox passes the Acid2 standards-compliance test from version 3.0.[93] Firefox versions 3.6 and 3.7alpha4 do not pass the Acid3 test; they score 94/100[94] and 97/100[95] respectively. It is unlikely that Firefox will pass the Acid3 test in the near future, since implementing SVG custom font support is a very low priority for Mozilla, as of May 2010.[96]
Firefox also implements[80] a proprietary protocol[97] from Google called "safebrowsing" (used to exchange data related with "phishing and malware protection"), which is not an open standard.
Security
Firefox uses a sandbox security model,[98] and limits scripts from accessing data from other web sites based on the same origin policy.[99] It uses SSL/TLS to protect communications with web servers using strong cryptography when using the HTTPS protocol.[100] It also provides support for web applications to use smartcards for authentication purposes.[101]
The Mozilla Foundation offers a "bug bounty" to researchers who discover severe security holes in Firefox.[102]disclosure of vulnerabilities so as not to give potential attackers an advantage in creating exploits.[103] Official guidelines for handling security vulnerabilities discourage early
Because Firefox generally has fewer publicly known unpatched security vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer (see Comparison of web browsers), improved security is often cited as a reason to switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox.[104][105][106][107] The Washington Post reports that exploit code for critical unpatched security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer was available for 284 days in 2006. In comparison, exploit code for critical security vulnerabilities in Firefox was available for 9 days before Mozilla shipped a patch to remedy the problem.[108]
A 2006 Symantec study showed that although Firefox had surpassed other browsers in the number of vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities that year through September, these vulnerabilities were patched far more quickly than those found in other browsers.[109] Symantec later clarified their statement, saying that Firefox still had fewer security vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer, as counted by security researchers.[110] As of March 19, 2010, Firefox 3.6 has no (known) unpatched security vulnerabilities according to Secunia.[111] Internet Explorer 8 has four unpatched security vulnerabilities, the worst being rated "moderately critical" by Secunia.[112]
In October 2009 Microsoft's security engineers acknowledged that Firefox was vulnerable since February of that year due to a .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 Windows update that silently installed a buggy 'Windows Presentation Foundation' plug-in into Firefox.[113] This vulnerability has since been patched by Microsoft.[114]
All patched vulnerabilities of Mozilla products are publicly listed.[115]
Portable versions
See also: Portable application
There is a portable edition of Firefox for Windows, which can be used from a USB Flash drive. This particular distribution makes it possible to run Firefox (and many of its extensions) on corporate/government networks in lieu of the default browser. This can be especially helpful for any user who does not possess administrative rights on the system being used.
System requirements
Browsers compiled from Firefox source code may run on various operating systems; however, officially distributed binaries are meant for the following: Microsoft Windows (Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS X 10.4 (or later) and Linux (with the following libraries installed: GTK+ 2.10 or higher, GLib 2.12 or higher, Pango 1.14 or higher, X.Org 1.0 or higher *or any TinyXPentium 233 MHz and 64 MB RAM for the Windows version or Macintosh computer with an Intel x86 or PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor and 128 MB RAM for Mac version.[116] server implementation*). Official minimum hardware requirements are a
64-bit builds
As of Firefox 3.6, Mozilla does not have any official 64-bit builds available. However, unofficial third-party builds do exist for Windows.[117] In Linux, both vendor-backed performance optimized stable 64-bit builds exist (such as for Novell-Suse Linux, Red Hat Linux, and Ubuntu Linux) in addition to the nightly builds. Official 64-bit[118] and Mac[119][120]. builds from Mozilla are being worked on for Windows
64-bit nightly builds for Mac OSX were made available on early April 2010 [121] and 64-bit nightly builds for Windows were made available on late May 2010.[122]
Older operating systems
Firefox 1.5.0.12 is the last version to work on Windows 95 and Firefox 2.0.0.20 is the last version to work on Windows 98, Windows Me and Windows NT 4.0. Although not officially supported, a utility called KernelEx can run Firefox 3.x versions on Windows 98 and Windows Me (These versions/lines are no longer supported by Mozilla).
Firefox 2.0.0.14 is the last version to work on OS/2 Warp 3. Later Firefox versions requires a libc 0.6.3 based version of the GCC runtime library (libc 0.6.2 and laters requires Warp 4).
Firefox 2.0.0.14 is the last version to work on OS/2 Warp 3. Later Firefox versions requires a libc 0.6.3 based version of the GCC runtime library (libc 0.6.2 and laters requires Warp 4).
Licensing
Firefox source code is free and open source software, and is tri-licensed under the Mozilla Public LicenseGNU General Public License (GPL), and the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).[16] These licenses permit anyone to view, modify, and/or redistribute the source code, and several publicly released applications have been built on it; for example, Netscape, Flock, Miro, Iceweasel, and Songbird make use of code from Firefox. (MPL),
In the past, Firefox was licensed solely under the MPL,[123] which the FSF (Free Software Foundation) criticizes for being weak copyleft; the license permits, in limited ways, proprietary derivative works. Additionally, code under the MPL cannot legally be linked with code under the GPL or the LGPL.[124][125] To address these concerns, Mozilla re-licensed Firefox under the tri-license scheme of MPL, GPL, and LGPL. Since the re-licensing, developers have been free to choose the license under which they will receive the code, to suit their intended use: GPL or LGPL linking and derivative works when one of those licenses is chosen, or MPL use (including the possibility of proprietary derivative works) if they choose the MPL.[123]
Trademark and logo
The name "Mozilla Firefox" is a registered trademark; along with the official Firefox logo, it may only be used under certain terms and conditions. Anyone may redistribute the official binaries in unmodified form and use the Firefox name and branding for such distribution, but restrictions are placed on distributions which modify the underlying source code.[126]
Mozilla not only forbids creating derivative works from Firefox logo (i.e. modifying it),[127] but also strongly discourages creating independent, but similar logos.[128]
There has been some controversy over the Mozilla Foundation's intentions in stopping certain open source distributions from using the "Firefox" trademark. Former Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker explained in an interview in 2007 that distributions could freely use the Firefox trademark if they did not modify source-code, and that the Mozilla Foundation's only concern was with users getting a consistent experience when they used "Firefox".[129]
To allow distributions of the code without using the official branding, the Firefox source code contains a "branding switch". This switch allows the code to be compiled without the official logo and name, for example to produce a derivative work unencumbered by restrictions on the Firefox trademark (this is also often used for alphas of future Firefox versions). In the unbranded compilation the trademarked logo and name are replaced with a freely distributable generic globe logo and the name of the release series from which the modified version was derived. The name "Deer Park" is used for derivatives of Firefox 1.5, "Bon Echo" for derivatives of Firefox 2.0, "Gran Paradiso" for derivatives of Firefox 3.0 and "Shiretoko" is used for derivatives of Firefox 3.5. Derivatives of Firefox 3.6 will most likely be referred to as "Namoroka". The codename Minefield and a modified version of the generic logo stylized to look like a bomb is used for unofficial builds of version 3.0 and later, and for nightly builds of the trunk.
Distributing modified versions of Firefox under the "Firefox" name requires explicit approval from Mozilla for the changes made to the underlying code, and requires the use of all of the official branding. For example, it is not permissible to use the name "Firefox" without also using the official logo. When the Debian project decided to stop using the official Firefox logo in 2006 (because of copyright restrictions on its use incompatible with the project's guidelines), they were told by a representative of the Mozilla Foundation that this was not acceptable, and were asked either to comply with the published trademark guidelines or cease using the "Firefox" name in their distribution.[130] Ultimately, Debian switched to branding their modified version of Firefox "Iceweasel", along with other Mozilla software.
Advertising
The rapid adoption of Firefox, 100 million downloads in its first year of availability,[131] followed a series of aggressive marketing campaigns starting in 2004 with a series of events Blake Ross and Asa Dotzler called "marketing weeks".[132]
On September 12, 2004,[133] a marketing portal dubbed "Spread Firefox" (SFX) debuted along with the Firefox Preview Release, creating a centralized space for the discussion of various marketing techniques. A two-page ad in the December 16th edition of the New York Times, placed by Mozilla Foundation in coordination with Spread Firefox, featured the names of the thousands of people worldwide who contributed to the Mozilla Foundation's fundraising campaign to support the launch of the Mozilla Firefox 1.0 web browser.[134] SFX portal enhanced the "Get Firefox" button program, giving users "referrer points" as an incentive. The site lists the top 250 referrers. From time to time, the SFX team or SFX members launch marketing events organized at the Spread Firefox website. As a part of the Spread Firefox campaign, there was an attempt to break the world download record with the release of Firefox 3.[135]
The "World Firefox Day" campaign started on July 15, 2006,[136] the third anniversary of the founding of the Mozilla Foundation,[137] and ran until September 15, 2006.[138] Participants registered themselves and a friend on the website for nomination to have their names displayed on the Firefox Friends Wall, a digital wall that will be displayed at the headquarters of the Mozilla Foundation.
On February 21, 2008 in honor of reaching 500 million downloads, the Firefox community celebrated by visiting FreeRice to earn 500 million grains of rice.[139]
Some of Firefox's contributors made a crop circle of the Firefox logo in wheat near Unionvale, Oregon, near the intersection of Lafayette Highway and Walnut Hill Road.[140]
Market adoption
| Firefox | Chrome | Safari | Opera |
| Other | Netscape | Opera Mini | |
| Firefox market share overview According to Net Applications data — May 2010[142] | ||
| Browser | % of Fx | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Firefox 1 | 0.12% | 0.03% |
| Firefox 1.5 | 0.37% | 0.09% |
| Firefox 2 | 2.26% | 0.55% |
| Firefox 3 | 10.88% | 2.65% |
| Firefox 3.5 | 21.56% | 5.25% |
| Firefox 3.6 | 64.44% | 15.69% |
| Other[FF 1] | 0.33% | 0.08% |
| All variants[143] | 100% | 24.35% |
| ||
See also: Usage share of web browsers
Mozilla Firefox's usage share has grown for each growth period since inception, mostly at the expense of Internet Explorer; Internet Explorer has seen a steady decline of its usage share since Firefox's release. As of May 2010, according to Net Applications, Firefox had 24.35% worldwide usage share of web browsers, making it the second most-used browser, after Internet Explorer.[7] According to a study released by the AT Internet Institute in May 2010, European usage share is slightly higher at 29.6% in March 2010.[144][update]
Downloads have continued at an increasing rate since Firefox 1.0 was released in November 2004, and as of July 31, 2009 Firefox has been downloaded over one billion times.[145] This number does not include downloads using software updates or those from third-party websites.[146] They do not represent a user count, as one download may be installed on many machines, one person may download the software multiple times, or the software may be obtained from a third party. According to Mozilla, Firefox had more than 350 million users as of March 2010.[147][update]
Reception
Forbes.com called Firefox the best browser in a 2004 commentary piece,[148] and PC World named Firefox "Product of the Year" in 2005 on their "100 Best Products of 2005" list.[149] After the release of Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 7 in 2006, PC World reviewed both and declared that Firefox was the better browser.[150]Which? Magazine named Firefox its "Best Buy" web browser.[151] In 2008, CNET.com compared Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer in their "Battle of the Browsers" in terms of performance, security, and features, where Firefox was selected as a favorite.[152]
Performance
In December 2005, Internet Week ran an article in which many readers reported high memory usage in Firefox 1.5.[153] Mozilla developers said that the higher memory use of Firefox 1.5 was at least partially due to the new fast backwards-and-forwards (FastBack) feature.[154] Other known causes of memory problems were malfunctioning extensions such as Google Toolbar and some older versions of Adblock,[155] or plug-ins, such as older versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader.[156] When PC Magazine compared memory usage of Firefox 2, Opera 9, and Internet Explorer 7, they found that Firefox used approximately as much memory as the other two browsers.[157]
Softpedia noted that Firefox 1.5 took longer to start up than other browsers,[158] which was confirmed by further speed tests.[citation needed] IE 6 launched more swiftly than Firefox 1.5 on Windows XP since many of its components were built into the OS and loaded during system startup. As a workaround for the issue, a preloader application was created that loaded components of Firefox on startup, similar to Internet Explorer.[159] A Windows Vista feature called SuperFetch performs a similar task of preloading Firefox if it is used often enough.
Tests performed by PC World and Zimbra in 2006 indicated that Firefox 2 used less memory than Internet Explorer 7.[150][160] Firefox 3 used less memory than Internet Explorer 7, Opera 9.50 Beta, Safari 3.1 Beta, and Firefox 2 in tests performed by Mozilla, CyberNet, and The Browser World.[161][162][163] In mid 2009, Betanews benchmarked Firefox 3.5 and declared that it performed "nearly ten times better on XP than Microsoft Internet Explorer 7".[36]
In January 2010, Lifehacker compared the performance of Firefox 3.5, Firefox 3.6, Google Chrome 4 (stable and Dev versions), Safari 4, and Opera (10.1 stable and 10.5 pre-alpha versions). Lifehacker timed how long browsers took to start and reach a page (both right after boot-up and after running at least once already), timed how long browsers took to load nine tabs at once, tested JavaScript speeds using Mozilla's Dromaeo online suite (which implements Apple's SunSpider and Google's V8 tests) and measured memory usage using Windows 7's process manager. They concluded that Firefox 3.5 and 3.6 were the fifth and sixth fastest browsers respectively on startup, 3.5 was third and 3.6 was sixth fastest to load nine tabs at once, 3.5 was sixth and 3.6 was fifth fastest on the JavaScript tests. They also concluded that Firefox 3.6 was the most efficient with memory usage followed by Firefox 3.5.[164]
Relationship with Google
The Mozilla Corporation's relationship with Google has been noted in the media,[165][166] especially with regard to their paid referral agreement. The release of the anti-phishing protection in Firefox 2 in particular raised considerable controversy:[167] anti-phishing protection enabled by default is based on a list updated by twice-hourly downloads to the user's computer from Google's server.[168] The user cannot change the data provider within the GUI,[169] and is not informed who the default data provider is. The browser also sends Google's cookie with each update request.[170] Some[who?] Internet privacy advocacy groups have expressed concerns surrounding Google's possible uses of this data, especially that Firefox's privacy policy states that Google may share information gathered with "safebrowsing" service with third parties, including business partners.[171]Eric Schmidt's comments in December 2009 regarding privacy during a CNBC[172] Asa Dotzler, Mozilla's director of community development advised users to switch Firefox's search from Google to Bing.[173] Google also promoted Mozilla Firefox through YouTube until the release of Google Chrome. Recently, Mozilla Security assisted the search giant by pointing out a security flaw in Google's Chrome browser.[174] Currently, Firefox's default search provider is Google, and its default homepage, "Firefox Start", uses and is hosted on Google.[175] Following Google CEO show,
In 2005, the Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation had a combined revenue of US$52.9 million, with approximately 95 percent derived from search engine royalties.[176][177] In 2006, the Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation had a combined revenue of US$66.9 million, with approximately 90 percent derived from search engine royalties.[176][178] In 2007, the Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation had a combined revenue of US$81 million, with 88 percent of this sum (US$66 million) from Google.[179][180] In 2008, both Mozilla organizations had a combined revenue of US$78.6 million, with 91 percent coming from Google.[181]IRS and some[who?] believe its non-profit status may be called into question.[179][181][182] The Mozilla Foundation and Corporation are being audited by the
Response from Microsoft
Microsoft's head of Australian operations, Steve Vamos, stated in late 2004 that he did not see Firefox as a threat and that there was not significant demand for the feature set of Firefox among Microsoft's users.[183]Bill Gates has used Firefox, but has commented that "it's just another browser, and IE [Microsoft's Internet Explorer] is better"[184] Former Microsoft Chairman
A Microsoft SEC filing on June 30, 2005 acknowledged that "competitors such as Mozilla offer software that competes with the Internet Explorer Web browsing capabilities of our Windows operating system products."[185][186] The release of Internet Explorer 7 was fast tracked, and included functionality that was previously available in Firefox and other browsers, such as tabbed browsing and RSS feeds.
Despite the cold reception from Microsoft's top management, the Internet Explorer development team maintains a relationship with Mozilla. They meet regularly to discuss web standards such as extended validation certificates.[187] In 2005 Mozilla agreed to allow Microsoft to use its Web feed logo in the interest of common graphical representation of the Web feeds feature.[188]
In August 2006, Microsoft offered to help Mozilla integrate Firefox with the then-forthcoming Windows Vista,[189] an offer Mozilla accepted.[190]
In October 2006, as congratulations for a successful ship of Firefox 2, the Internet Explorer 7 development team sent a cake to Mozilla.[191][192] As a nod to the browser wars, some readers joked about the cake being poisoned, while others jokingly suggested that Mozilla send a cake back along with the recipe, in reference to the open-source software movement.[193] The IE development team sent another cake on June 17, 2008, upon the successful release of Firefox 3.[194]
In November 2007, Jeff Jones (a "security strategy director" in Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group) criticized Firefox, claiming that Internet Explorer experienced fewer vulnerabilities and fewer higher severity vulnerabilities than Firefox in typical enterprise scenarios.[195] Mozilla developer Mike Shaver discounted the study, citing Microsoft's bundling of security fixes and the study's focus on fixes, rather than vulnerabilities, as crucial flaws.[196]
Firefox was one of the twelve browsers offered to European Economic Area users of Microsoft Windows in 2010.[197]
.Net Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1
In February 2009, Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for version 3.5 of the .NET Framework. This update also installed Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant add-on (enabling ClickOnce support).[198] The update received a moderate amount of media attention after users discovered that the add-on could not be uninstalled through the add-ons interface.[199] Several hours after the website Annoyances.org posted an article regarding this update, Microsoft employee Brad Abrams posted in his blog Microsoft's explanation for why the add-on was installed, and also included detailed instructions on how to remove it.[200]
On 16 October 2009, Mozilla blocked all versions of Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant from being used with Firefox and from the Mozilla Add-ons service.[201] Two days later, the add-on was removed from the blocklist after confirmation from Microsoft that it is not a vector for vulnerabilities.[202][203] The latest version of the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant (version 1.1, released on June 10, 2009 to the Mozilla Add-ons service) allows the user to disable and uninstall in the normal fashion.[204]
Vulnerability statistics
Firefox security vulnerabilities have been patched relatively quickly. Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report Vol. 10, based on data from the first half of 2006, reported that while Firefox had more public vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer during that time period (47 vs. 38), Firefox's vulnerabilities were fixed on average one day after the exploit code was made available, as compared to nine days for Internet Explorer.
InfoWorld has cited security experts saying that as Firefox becomes more popular, more vulnerabilities will be found,[205] a claim that Mitchell Baker, president of the Mozilla Foundation, has denied: "There is this idea that market share alone will make you have more vulnerabilities. It is not relational at all."[206]
Expert and media coverage
The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) stated in October 2004 that Internet Explorer's design makes it very difficult to secure. In contrast, almost none of their concerns apply to Firefox.[207]
There are a number of significant vulnerabilities in technologies relating to the IE domain/zone security model, local file system (Local Machine Zone) trust, the Dynamic HTML (DHTML) document object model (in particular, proprietary DHTML features), the HTML Help system, MIME type determination, the graphical user interface (GUI), and ActiveX... IE is integrated into Windows to such an extent that vulnerabilities in IE frequently provide an attacker significant access to the operating system.
Some security experts, including Bruce Schneier[208] and David A. Wheeler,[209] recommended that users should stop using Internet Explorer for normal browsing, and switch to a different browser instead; Wheeler specifically recommended Firefox.
Several technology columnists have suggested the same, including Wall Street Journal columnist Walter S. Mossberg,[104] Washington Post columnist Rob Pegoraro,[210] USA Today’s Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz,[211] Forbes's Arik Hesseldahl,[212] eWEEK.com Senior Editor Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols,[213] and Desktop Pipeline’s Scot Finnie
