mozilla

As with many tech code-names, MemShrink doesn't sound particularly exciting. And yet, the memory leak-managing project at Mozilla finally sees some of its biggest changes reach the vast majority of people using Firefox with today's major update.

Mozilla expects that the new Firefox 15 for PCs (download for Windows | Mac | Linux) finally will put an end to the multitude of memory-managing issues that have plagued Firefox for years. As we noted in July when Firefox 15 went beta, the MemShrink project has spent much of its time fixing how the browser handles add-ons that contribute to memory problems. … Read more

For more than three years, Skype has worked to improve online audio through involvement in a project now called Opus. But perversely, Skype's new owner, Microsoft, is undermining Opus just as a Web standards effort is poised to carry it into the mainstream.

Opus is an audio "codec" -- technology to encode and decode media streams for efficient transmission over the Internet or storage on computing equipment. Opus backers besides Microsoft's Skype division include Google, Opera, and Mozilla.

Opus has a lot of potential to improve online audio, something that's increasingly important as more communications … Read more

Mozilla took a big step toward the coming conflict between native apps and Web apps as it introduced Web app support to Firefox 16, which moved to the the developer's Aurora channel last Friday.

The Web app support in Firefox 16 Aurora (download for Windows, for Mac, for Linux, and for Android) means that when the Mozilla Marketplace opens to the public -- likely to be sometime before the end of 2012 -- people will be able to run Web-based apps through any iteration of Firefox. This is part of Mozilla's "Kilimanjaro" project, syncing up the … Read more

Firefox users who've installed a custom theme may bump into trouble if they upgrade to the latest version of the browser.

Released earlier this week, Firefox 14 offers a few enhancements, including better security. But it comes with one gotcha -- lack of support for a lot of existing themes.

Many Firefox users probably know that they can change the style of their browser by installing one of many custom themes, available at the Themes section on Mozilla's Add-Ons page. You can choose from among hundreds of different themes to customize the look and feel of Firefox's … Read more

A plethora of changes land in Firefox for Android 15 beta, as its desktop counterpart moves its memory management improvements up a notch.

Firefox 15 beta for Windows (download), Mac (download), and Linux (download), brings the memory management improvements developed in Mozilla's MemShrink project one step closer to the stable version of the browser, this time focusing on long browser sessions and how add-ons affect Firefox. Nicholas Nethercote, a developer at Mozilla, wrote on his blog that Firefox 15 beta is likely to be "drastically" faster than Firefox 14, in some cases.

The changes in the beta … Read more

The bottom line: Firefox 14 is a worthy expression of Mozilla's ideals. The browser is competitively fast, sports a minimalist look, and includes some excellently executed features. Unfortunately for the 'fox, that describes most of its competition, too.

Please note that the First Look video below is still applicable to Firefox 14, as is this Firefox How To collection, even though it features Firefox 4.

Review: For those of you who spent last year away from the Internet, it's the year that Firefox went from annual major-point updates to a Chrome-style quick-release cycle. How quick? A new major … Read more

The latest update to Firefox brings better security to search and to the URL bar, as the browser gets OS X and HTML5 tweaks, too.

The biggest change to Firefox 14 (download for Windows | Mac | Linux,) is that it runs HTTPS for all Google searches. This means that prying eyes, especially over public networks, won't be able to intercept your queries. Though Firefox currently supports this only for Google, Mozilla said in a blog post announcing the update that it hopes to extend HTTPS to other search engines in the near future.

A small interface design change also affects … Read more

Reports of the death of Mozilla's Thunderbird may have been greatly exaggerated. But the e-mail program is no longer on the company's priority list.

Responding to news items that his company was dumping Thunderbird, JB Piacentino, managing director of Thunderbird, tried to clarify the future of the software in a Mozilla blog.

Thunderbird users can look forward to upgrades down the road, with versions 14, 15, 16, and 17 on the horizon.

Mozilla also plans to support the application at least until the second half of 2013, according to Piacentino, and is trying to determine how to support … Read more

Surprised to find out that Mozilla's Thunderbird isn't dead yet? Well, have we've got news for you.

Mozilla is just now (sort of) pulling the plug on its open-source e-mail software, TechCrunch reported today. The company is looking for feedback and plans to share a final action plan in September.

In a "confidential" message sent to "Mozillians" prior to an official announcement this coming Monday, Thunderbird Managing Director JB Piacentino said Mozilla is moving its resources away from further developing the software with hopes that Thunderbird's vocal fans will take over that … Read more