Firefox getting multi-threading like Chrome and IE

Link

 

That's awesome news!

 

NICE!!!Let's hope it gets released soon!!(before november)

 

Finally. My FF3.5 b4 crashed today while I was downloading 2Gb file.

 

Try 2010.



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The article says that Firefox is going to start using multiple processes for increased stability. I don't think that's multithreading, is it?

 

Multiple processes = multiple threads

At least that's considered true for most people.

For people who're more technical and want to know the truth, almost everything in Windows is multi-threaded. E.g. a single tab for IE is about 20 threads, explorer.exe is around 10-15 threads, System process is around 70-80 threads...etc

 

Ahh ok cool. I'm interested in where Chrome and IE will be by the time Firefox releases this. The browser war is always interesting.

 

This will be a huge improvement to an already excellent browser.

 

To be honest, I will only continue using Firefox as long as Chrome lacks add-ons. However, seeing that add-ons will be available soon, there will be little reason to continue using FF.

 

It's about time. Hopefully this will rid Firefox of the terribly slow start-up time.

 

Unfortunately, multi-threading won't decrease the startup time. Multithreading is used to improve stability and the performance of the browser when multiple tabs are active.

 

Unfortunately, most people would then end up thinking that Firefox isn't currently multithreaded. But... actually it is.

The issue is, the benefits are different. The benefit of multithreading is letting the browser handle multiple tasks at once. The benefit of moving threads to different processes is isolating tasks (pages in this case) so that a problem with one page doesn't cause everything to crash.

Yup. If you open Task Manager, in the Processes tab, you can do View > Select columns... and add the "Threads" column... now you can see the number of threads in each process.

All they're doing with Firefox (and other browsers) is moving the threads to different processes. What that will do is make it so that when one page causes a crash, now only that page will crash instead of the whole browser.

As far as performance... I'm not really sure, but I can't think of any reason off the top of my head for why it would improve performance. It will probably cause it to use a little more memory though.

 

For most people, multi-threading for a browser is multiple threads for multiple tabs. Each tab is a process. The crash of one tab results the crash of a specific processes which leaves other tabs and the web browser running.

 

I might actually go back to Firefox if this update can make it as fast as Chrome.

 

Just buy an SSD and firefox with tons of addons IS as fast as chrome (and all your other apps + the os, too )

it was a costy solution, but best thing ever

still, i like progress. and i don't like firefox to be behind the others..

 

If he buys SSD and he use chrome, then chrome will still be faster. LOL

 

Well, we cant all afford SSD's. My next lappy will have one for sure, but by then I expect Firefox to be super mega fast anyway.

 

don't get a next laptop. get an ssd instead.. cheaper, and more gain.

 

The performance gain is largely due to when he'll buy his next laptop.

 

I would assume the prices would be down by then. Well, I'll wait for the benchmarks for the next firefox update.

 

no clue how to parse that sentense really. but everyone who wants to buy a new notebook as they think "mine is slow, i want something faster", can instead spend less money on a good ssd, and use it in the existing notebook.

result: money saved, and much more performance gained.

so instead of planning for a new notebook, why not plan for an ssd?

 

Without bothering to go into detail, one acronym: GPU

 

If he's planning to buy a laptop 5 years later, it's more cost effective to buy a new laptop 5 years later than to buy an expensive SSD right now. He'll save money and much more performance will be gained.

It can also be the other way around like you have said.

 

sure. but if he plans on 5 years later, then that plan is unimportant anyways. there will be so much change till then, it all doesn't matter.

and still, he could say "i'd spend 2000$ all 5 years", so he could instead spend 400$ each year. that would mean a nice 80gb intel this year instead of a nice new laptop in 5 years.