Firefox 4, 5, 6 and 7 to arrive in 2011

Posted on Tuesday, February 08 2011 @ 17:10 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Mozilla is kicking into top gear this year, later this month we can expect the final release of Firefox 4 and if the company has it way Firefox 5, 6 and 7 will follow before the end of the year! A more frequent update cycle sounds good, but I wonder if it's really necessary to ramp up the version numbers as quick as Chrome, four new version numbers in just one year feels too excessive.

Anyway, here's a list of Mozilla's product priorities for 2011:
1. Ship our new technology to users in smaller bundles, more frequently
1. Four technology shipment vehicles in 2011, including Firefox 4
2. Achieve a regular cadence for shipping

2. Develop a product that is responsive from "click to render"
1. No more than 50ms delay between user action and application reaction
2. Provide optimizations to hide network latency
3. Obtain metrics from users in addition to our test infrastructure

3. Expand the Open Web Platform to include Apps, Social and Identity
1. Design and implement open systems for Identity and social interactions
2. Design and implement Web Application Framework
3. Implement missing pieces of CSS/HTML required for compelling Web Applications

4. Never lose the user's data or state
1. Continue to improve stability
2. Mitigate the cost of application failure
3. Interact with cloud-based storage to allow users to "take it with them"

5. Shine the primary UI until it gleams
1. Determine and optimize top 5-10 user interaction flows (ie: search for restaurant)
2. Improve tools for customization/restoration of old functionality so we can remove it from primary UI
3. Improve user interface polish so that Firefox feels modern, graceful and elegant

6. Support modern operating systems and platforms
1. support Firefox Windows 64-bit builds
2. OSX 10.7 system integration
3. Android 3.0 tablet integration
4. ensure JIT performs well on modern ARM CPU families

7. Plan for a future where Desktop, Mobile and Web Apps run on a common platform
1. Need to design and architect towards this eventual outcome
2. Implementation of this is not a priority
A list of planned features for the next major releases of Firefox can be found at the Firefox Roadmap page.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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