alpha/beta browser war (not really)

Minefield is FF3 in testing builds phase, containing "crazy" surprises and "mines",

FF3beta1 is an OFFICIAL beta available to public, it is stable and is a subset of Minefield. It does not support yet all extensions/addons.

cheers ...

 

can u submit some numbers from ur comp of this build usage vs the one u have the day before?

i would not be surprised if it goes back and forth in memory usage and cpu stress - that seemed to be the results of the last 6 builds

cheers ...

 

updated:
. can not confirm ur issue, build 2007121405 is running quiet and not exceeding 60MB with 3 opened/active tabs

cheers ...

 

Maybe it was just for a moment, it was using around 110mb

Right now it's using 50mb with 3 tabs open

 

Yeah well, I did that.

Thanks. I'll just play with this version from time to time.

 

update Opera 9.5 beta snapshot (build) 9694:
- cnn video streaming still broken
- still delaying in showing pages
- yahoo mail totally broken (build - oops, snapshot - 9681 worked)
- actually yahoo site is causing big headaches for this Opera build/snapshot
- horrible resources usage (mem and cpu stress)
- crashed left and right under vista
- waiting until next Friday snapshot (hey finally got the right syntax)

cheers ...

 

Opera build 9694

Download here

 

Seeing this progress really makes you wonder if the next opera version will be any good at all. I mean, FF3 is doing so well but Opera is sucking badly....

 

it must be fair to say that FF3/Minefield has been around for much longer than Opera 9.5 - so I would give it another few months yet.

The changelog and expectations of Opera 9.5 looks quite impressive, I suspect a big rewrite of many lines of code, and this will not be simple

cheers ...

 

I'm actually hoping that Opera gets their act together despite me being a FF fanboy because if they go down then they bring the web down. Like what IE is doing.

 

Bump. Interesting stuff.

 

LOL... IE is bringing the web down, how so? If you have the answer, maybe you can explain it to about a billion people that use it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers

 

Well, IE has bad standards compliance and it's very easy to make malware for it (i've done so on quite a few occasions but never released the code) by using just simple web coding.

And since it's embedded into windows whenever it crashes so does windows.

Which reminds me, i once had a plan of making a type of virus that downloads Firefox/Opera for people who just use IE and don't have an alternative browser they are actively using.

 

an interesting documentation!

A big surprise is Safari Windows growing acceptance ... I did personally like the beta 3.0.4 as stated in my previous research/test post

Well i just hope that Opera (9.5) gets its acts back together, seeming like it has lost its core user base steadily since mid '06. On this footnote, i have asked around the gals/guys in office that used Opera and left, as why. Guess this! it was, for this lot, the biggest issue was the security - or rather the IN.security - of the browser that drove them away. The explanation was the following:
. many researches and test reports always showed that Opera had no open security/vulnerability issues - fact and accepted!
. problem was that, the report came out a few days before (and sometimes after) a newer security upgrade version from Opera is being introduced. This was a pattern that can be traced back since version 9.0 (so they say)
. this lead this lot to believe that Opera was playing around with the disclosure timeframe of the security/vulnerability of the product
. Opera explanation to this (and it states so in their security policy, in my other thread regarding safe browsing) was that it made no sense to scream danger when there was no mean available to fix it. It would be better for users to wait for the new available security update/upgrade before telling users of "potential" issues. But even in this instance, many times Opera users were kept in the dark of the new version (why would they bother to look for update, since it was already secure, fast and dandy?); only when users came up, then Opera would "galantly" say that, "hey we know, there was a new security upgrade available, go grab it"
. and so it was, I personally rather be always on the lookout/alert accepting that my browser still has shortcoming, than blindly taking any official reports that stated this or that browser had NO security hole ...

cheers ...

 

AdBlock Plus is finally compatible with 3.0b3pre

Today's build is using a little more memory than usually. 3 tabs open, 88mb RAM

 

cool

made any differences when u disable the AdBlock?

cheers ...

 

update Minefield build 2007121705:
- one hour late of build submission today (i m just being naughty, kinda hooked on these builds)
- memory usage back down from what n0elia reported yesterday
- and wow: page rendering and clarity, respect! I played a bit with the "minimum Size Setting" font under Tools/options/content, setting it at 10 instead of none. It will be much clearer as one moves it up to and not more than 13.

cheers ...

 

additional note:
- Minefield (this build) is running consistantly 20MB less under Vista (ultimate) than XP SP2 (????) (2 partitions)
- it was also snappier (???)
- OS related performance issue?

cheers ...

 

Yeah, today's build is much more memory efficient

 

http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/08/better-animations-in-firefox-3/#comments

the Operator extension impressed me ...

cheers ...

 

I despise Opera: FF anyday!

 

I don't "despise" Opera, but I just think that the development on the 9.5 has really started to slow down, the new builds don't seem to offer much improvement, and there are still lots of bugs, that have not been fixed since really OLD builds!

Right now I'm using FF3 as my main browser... Have given up on Opera for now! But I'll probably give it a go again, once the builds become more interesting

 

Build 2007121805 (today) is rendering pages real smooth! The builds just keep getting better and better

 

What do you expect? It's mozilla, they always make the best stuff.

 

LOL what a fanboy

 

I'm not a fanboy of anything so i don't know i how i just randomly started with that last post.

 

any word on when the rc will be available yet??

 

rumor, and only rumor - sometimes next Spring

personally, let Mozilla taking its sweet time with periodic "official beta" releases and finalise it only when it has gone thru hard QA screenings and after reviewing all incoming inputs from Firefox users.

Lots of Minefield users out there are already using this as a standard browser (myself included), accepting some shortcomings of the test version. This is one of the best beta-test version I ever experienced, but then it had taken long enough time (since early 2006) to mature

cheers ...

 

u r right. i m glad that FF is paying more attention now to the look and presentation of the pages, taking many rough edges out. This will definitively make it easy for themes developers.

i did notice that Minefield also works smoothly into windows desktop theme without losing font and clarity presentation.

cheers ...

 

Build 2007121905

6 tabs open, with Flash in almost every one of them, RAM usage = 60MB
Page rendering still smooth
Not so bad

 

I don't know, with a comment like "What do you expect? It's mozilla, they always make the best stuff.", I'd say you are. As far as I can tell, it has everything you normally expect from a fanboy. Blind, absolute loyalty towards a brand. ( 'always', 'best', 'mozilla')

 

The low memory usage does not hold for long, if you're using the browser for a long time. Right now It's at 95MB with 2 tabs.

Oh well, maybe I should stop bi***ing about mem usge

 

well, how many pages/sites have u been visited? caching flashes etc ... do add up after awhile. Main thing to look at is if the memory is being released if u clear the cache ...

cheers ...

 

Actually, i was going to explain to you why i wasn't a fanboy but i really don't care what you think of me so i won't waste my time. I said i wasn't a fanboy and i don't need to divulge any further detail beyond that.

 

i'd like to start at reviewing its newer features comparing to FF2
. better animations ( http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/08/better-animations-in-firefox-3/ ) - Opera 9.5 will also be implementing APNG
. visual makeover ( http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/10/beauty-and-the-.html#previouspost )
. new Download Manager with buttons to show files on your hard drive as well as a button to see where the files came from
. The Location bar auto-complete feature has also been further refined and now works on page titles, addresses and tags, underlining the matching elements as you type
. with each new build Minefield continues to squash and eliminate the memory leak bugs
. OSX users are giving praises to the Minefield builds
. Linux users were already happy to note that FF 3 beta 2 brought in the native GTK theme for Firefox’s default icons, buttons, and menu styles. Firefox finally looks like every other Gnome application and if the Linux platform is any indication, the final release of Firefox 3 will look perfectly native regardless of what OS you're using
. thru the grapewine, Mozilla will release another Official Beta before securing the release date for final FF3

cheers ...

 

i'd like to start at reviewing its newer features comparing to FF2
. better animations ( http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/08/better-animations-in-firefox-3/ ) - Opera 9.5 will also be implementing APNG
. visual makeover ( http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/10/beauty-and-the-.html#previouspost )
. new Download Manager with buttons to show files on your hard drive as well as a button to see where the files came from
. The Location bar auto-complete feature has also been further refined and now works on page titles, addresses and tags, underlining the matching elements as you type
. with each new build Minefield continues to squash and eliminate the memory leak bugs
. OSX users are giving praises to the Minefield builds
. Linux users were already happy to note that FF 3 beta 2 brought in the native GTK theme for Firefox’s default icons, buttons, and menu styles. Firefox finally looks like every other Gnome application and if the Linux platform is any indication, the final release of Firefox 3 will look perfectly native regardless of what OS you're using
. thru the grapewine, Mozilla will release another Official Beta before securing the release date for final FF3

cheers ...

 

Are you guys able to browse this ftp in FF3?:
ftp://ftp.zepto.dk/

Also, an update for Maxthon:

Download here

 

I really like FireFox a lot better, I haven't found a way to block ads in Opera yet.

In FF, AdBlockPlus works great.

I haven't seen ads in ages.

 

update Opera 9.5 snapshot 9716:
. jerkiness and hesitation in page rendering seemed to be fixed
. cnn video streaming still broken
. yahoo video streaming windows not fit well inside the opening page
. page scrolling is not as smooth as the official 9.25 version
. memory raced up toward 100mb after 20min of usage
. not workable under vista environment still
. security issues under 9.24 were being fixed as in 9.25, but no word and status on 9.5 security issues

update Minefiled build 2007122105:
. well, i m totally hooked on this, it had been my ff standard browser for the past 10 days (still have ff2 and others in background just in case)
. comparing the pages of same sites side by side with Opera 9.5 snapshot 9716, Minefield is taking the lead in smooth scrolling, clarity. Speedwise looked/felt the same on both for me.

cheers ...

 

Just found this great add-on for FF today

Google Preview

 

is FF3 coming in a linux flavor? (soon?)

 

absolut, as stated in post#185!

cheers ...

 

I've used that addon before. Why don't you try this addon instead? You'll probably like it more.

 

Todays build (20071224)
is a little disappointing.
F
While the memory usage is quite normal or below average, page rendering is not as smooth as before. Flash videos are not so smooth either

 

mine said 2007122304 (??) - no right-in-the-face changes from yesterday's build, u have some referencing sites that we can try out?

cheers ...

 

An update for Maxthon ver.2.0.7.1030:

Download here

 

I'm using FF 3.a8 in Linux, but much prefer Flock for Linux....who wudda thunk?

 

nothing wrong with it, Flock for a long time has been a "community/social" browser for many users (i among them) and has come a long way since a branch-away from a few firefox developers.

It has been kinda under the table friendly fight between the Flock and Firefox group, with each nudging the other forward (my personal take).

cheers ...

 

update Minefield build 2007122605:
- sweeeeeeet!

cheers ...

 

I've got my favorite firefox extensions installed in Flock...works great under Linux, but installing it was a pain.