|
February 09, 2006
Review: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, And Other Browsers In Four-Way Shootout Firefox 1.5: What's Next?
A sub-page on the Firefox 2 Planning wiki offers insight into what Mozilla hopes to deliver in the 2.0 release, including a major revision of the bookmark system that could change the bookmarking paradigm. Also on the list is a significant update to the tabbed-browsing system, which could include tab-session saving and undo-closed-tab functionality. Other features planned for refresh or improvement include RSS support, extension security and management, search, online patching, anti-phishing, auto-complete, and spell checking. One specific improvement for Firefox 3 that Mozilla has mentioned is "major architectural advances in graphics and content languages." Not much else is known about the 3.0 release, but Mozilla had internally planned it for the first quarter of 2007. Documentation to that effect was recently amended, and the projection is less clear, but Mozilla is still working toward a 2007 release. (As always, all of Mozilla's public documents about future releases are subject to change.) Mozilla's ambitious upgrade plans are encouraging. They show a committed development community with no tendency to rest on its initial laurels. Page Loaded With over 100 million downloads and a near doubling of market share over the last year or so, according to Net Applications, Firefox is the fastest-growing Web browser by a very high margin. This is an important year for Mozilla, which must work hard to sustain at least some of that growth. That won't be easy with Microsoft now fully awake and fighting back, and the release version of IE7 expected by the fourth quarter this year. Internet Explorer 7 includes tabbed browsing and other Firefox-inspired features. Will that kill Firefox's growth? To merge two Magic 8-Ball answers: Reply hazy, try again later. But let's not go back to a one-browser world.
|