Firefox: Difference between revisions
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|genre = [[Web browser]] |
|genre = [[Web browser]] |
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|license = [http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/legal/eula/ Mozilla EULA], see [[#Licensing |
|license = [http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/legal/eula/ Mozilla EULA], see [[#Licensing|Licensing]]-section |
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|website = [http://www.mozilla.com/firefox www.mozilla.com/firefox] |
|website = [http://www.mozilla.com/firefox www.mozilla.com/firefox] |
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These numbers<ref>http://feeds.spreadfirefox.com/downloads/firefox.xml</ref> do not include downloads using software updates or from third-party websites. They do not |
These numbers<ref>http://feeds.spreadfirefox.com/downloads/firefox.xml</ref> do not include downloads using software updates or from third-party websites. They do not repr |
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===Spread Firefox campaigns=== |
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{{main|Spread Firefox}} |
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The rapid adoption of Firefox apparently accelerated in part because of a series of aggressive marketing campaigns since 2004. For example, [[Blake Ross]] and [[Asa Dotzler]] organized a series of events dubbed "marketing week". |
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On [[September 14]] [[2004]], a marketing portal dubbed "Spread Firefox" (SFX) debuted along with the Firefox Preview Release, creating a centralized space for the discussion of various marketing techniques. The portal enhanced the "Get Firefox" button program, giving users "referrer points" as an incentive. The site lists the top 250 referrers. From time to time, the SFX team or SFX members launch marketing events organized at the Spread Firefox website. |
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====World Firefox Day 2006==== |
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The [http://www.worldfirefoxday.com World Firefox Day] campaign started on [[July 15]] [[2006]],<ref>"[http://www.spreadfirefox.com/node/24241 World Firefox Day Launches]", ''Sfx Team's Blog'', ''[[Spread Firefox]]'', [[2006-07-16]].</ref> which is the anniversary of the founding of the [[Mozilla Foundation]], and ran until [[September 15]] [[2006]]. Participants registered themselves and a friend on the website for nomination to have their names displayed on the Firefox Friends Wall, a digital wall that will be displayed at the headquarters of the Mozilla Foundation. An e-mail is sent to the nominated friend which provides a hyperlink to download Mozilla Firefox. If the friend downloads the program from this link the nomination is accepted. The names also appear on a website. The link to this website can be found by looking in the credits of the current version of Mozilla Firefox, Firefox 2. The Firefox Wall of Friends can also be found at the [http://www.worldfirefoxday.com World Firefox Day website] |
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===Industry adoption=== |
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Since the pre-1.0 stages, several well-known websites and [[web application]]s, including [[Gmail]], have supported (and in some cases, required) the use of Firefox. Since [[March 30]] [[2005]], the [[Google (search engine)|Google search engine]] has utilized the [[link prefetching]] feature of Firefox for faster searching. [[Google|Google, Inc.]] also recommends Firefox as the browser for its [[Blogger.com]] [[weblog]] service.<ref name="blogger">[http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=929 Where can I upgrade my browser?] ''Blogger Help''.</ref> On [[May 18]] [[2005]], [[eBay]] announced support for Firefox for its eBay Picture Manager.<ref name="ebay">[http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200505181716522.html eBay Picture Manager Enhancements]. ''eBay''.</ref> In 2006, Microsoft released a Firefox-compatible [[Windows Genuine Advantage]] browser plug-in.<ref name="Microsoft-2006">{{Cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/faq.aspx#Question3Label|title=Genuine Microsoft Software|accessdate=2006-11-06|publisher=Microsoft Corporation|year=2006|work=Windows Genuine Advantage: Frequently Asked Questions|format=HTML}}</ref> |
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[[Search engine]] companies including Google, [[Yahoo!]] and [[A9.com]] now also offer Firefox [[List of Firefox extensions|extensions]] for accessing their services, in addition to their original Internet Explorer add-ons. Google has released four Extensions for Firefox,<ref>http://toolbar.google.com/firefox/extensions/index.html</ref> further affirming the company's interest in Firefox. |
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In December 2005, [[the Inquirer]] reported that [[Dell]] UK would start shipping the Firefox browser pre-installed on their PCs, but neither Dell nor Mozilla have confirmed this.<ref name="dell">[http://blakeross.com/2005/12/19/firefox-shipping-on-dell-uk/ Firefox shipping on Dell UK]. ''blakeross.com''.</ref> |
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===Institutional adoption=== |
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During the [[FOSDEM]] 2005 conference, [[Tristan Nitot]], president of [[Mozilla Europe]], noted that Firefox has had more success in the consumer market than with institutions.<ref name="firefoxsneaksintotheenterprise">[http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/applications/0,39020384,39189585,00.htm Firefox sneaks into the enterprise]. ''ZDNet UK''.</ref> He also theorized that pressure from Microsoft caused institutions who had adopted Firefox to remain silent about it. |
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{{cquote|I know companies that are deploying Firefox or Thunderbird, but they aren't talking about it as they don't want to see an increase in their [Microsoft] Office licence price.}} |
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Some observers, such as Serdar Yegulalp of TechTarget<ref>{{cite web | url = http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1215319,00.html | title = How to switch an enterprise from IE to Firefox | work = TechTarget | author = Serdar Yegulalp | accessdate = 2006-10-08}}</ref> and Jim Rapooza of eWEEK<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1722434,00.asp | title = Mozilla Firefox 1.0 | author = Jim Rapooza | work = eWEEK | accessdate = 2006-10-08}}</ref> note that Firefox does not provide tools that make institutional deployment easier, such as a client customization kit (which Mozilla has since released<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.mozilla.org/projects/cck/firefox/ | title = Firefox 1.5 CCK (Client Customization Kit) Wizard | accessdate = 2006-09-22}}</ref>) or [[Microsoft Installer]] (MSI) packages. Furthermore, they note that Firefox does not support some technologies that are sometimes used in institutional environments, such as [[ActiveX]] and [[Active Directory]] (though it does support [[Kerberos]] and [[LDAP]] for certain functions). |
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While institutions may not be actively deploying Firefox in large numbers, more and more are allowing their employees to install Firefox, according to JupiterResearch. They found that in 2006, 44% of companies with more than 200 employees allowed Firefox on their employees' systems, compared with 26% in 2005.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=193302738&pgno=2&queryText= | title = IE7 vs. Firefox 2.0: Why This Browser Battle Matters To Businesses | author = J. Nicholas Hoover | work = InformationWeek | accessdate = 2006-10-17}}</ref> |
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==Other versions, builds, and forks== |
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{{Firefox TOC}} |
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===Portable versions=== |
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Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition<ref name="firefox_portable">http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable</ref> (also known as [[Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition|Firefox Portable]]) is a repackaged version of Firefox designed to run from a [[USB flash drive]], iPod, external hard drive, or other portable media. The newest version can be run live from a CD. It arose out of a mozillaZine thread in June 2004. John T. Haller released the first packaged version and has led its further development. It includes a specialized launcher that adjusts extensions and themes to work as it is moved between different computers. |
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There is also a portable version of Firefox available for Macintosh computers called Portable Firefox OS X.<ref name="freesmug">http://www.freesmug.org/portableapps/firefox</ref> |
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Here is a full list of Firefox in [[portable application|portable app]] form: |
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*Firefox Portable for [[Microsoft Windows]] and [[Wine (software)|Wine]] on [[Linux]]/[[Unix]]<ref name="firefox_portable"/> |
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*Portable Firefox OS X for [[Mac OS X]]<ref name="freesmug"/> |
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*Cross-platform Portable Firefox for [[Mac OS X]] and [[Microsoft Windows]]<ref>http://www.theplaceforitall.com/portablefirefox/</ref> |
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*Firefox for [[U3|U3 smart drives]]<ref>http://software.u3.com/Product_Details.aspx?ProductId=89</ref> |
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*X-Firefox as part of WinPenPack (in Italian only)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.winpenpack.com/main/index.php?mod=01_WinPenPack%20-%20Download/WinPenPack%20-%20Software%20portatili/Internet | title=WinPenPack - X-Software collection | accessdate=2006-09-17}}</ref> |
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*[[Torpark]] (Portable Firefox with Tor built in) |
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===Unofficial builds=== |
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[[IceWeasel]] is a generic term for unofficial builds of Firefox, and has been adopted by developers at [[GNU]] and [[Debian]] as the name for their versions. |
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==Response from competition== |
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Despite Firefox's apparent gains on Internet Explorer, Microsoft's head of Australian operations, Steve Vamos, stated that he did not see Firefox as a threat and that there was not significant demand for the featureset of Firefox among Microsoft's users. In contradiction to that statement, many features that previously distinguished Firefox from competitors are now available with [[Internet Explorer|Internet Explorer 7]] Vamos stated that he himself had never used it.<ref name="firefoxdoesnotthreatenie">[http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/0,39023165,39166227,00.htm Microsoft: Firefox does not threaten IE's market share]. ''ZDNet''.</ref> Microsoft Chairman [[Bill Gates]] has used Firefox, but he has commented "so much software gets downloaded all the time, but do people actually use it?"<ref name="billgates">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4508897.stm The assault on software giant Microsoft]. ''BBC News''.</ref> |
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A Microsoft SEC filing on [[June 30]] [[2005]] acknowledged that browsers such as Mozilla are competitive threats to Internet Explorer: "Competitors such as Mozilla offer software that competes with the Internet Explorer Web browsing capabilities of our Windows operating system products."<ref name="firefoxathreat">[http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=7233 Firefox a threat]. ''MozillaZine''.</ref> |
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In [[August 2006]], [[Microsoft]] made an offer to Mozilla to help integrate Firefox with the forthcoming [[Windows Vista]],<ref>[http://news.com.com/Microsoft+reaches+out+to+Firefox+developers/2100-7344_3-6108221.html?tag=nl Microsoft reaches out to Firefox developers]</ref> which Mozilla accepted.<ref>[http://news.com.com/Microsoft+offers+helping+hand+to+Firefox/2100-1032_3-6109455.html Microsoft offers helping hand to Firefox]</ref> Upon the release of Firefox 2, the Internet Explorer 7 development team shipped a cake to Mozilla as a sign of appreciation.<ref name="ie7cake">[http://fredericiana.com/2006/10/24/from-redmond-with-love/ From Redmond With Love]. ''fredericiana''.</ref> |
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==Google relationship== |
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The [[Mozilla Corporation]] has begun a corporate relationship with [[Google]],<ref>[http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3590756 Mozilla's Millions? ]</ref><ref>[http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=181501852 Mozilla Confirms Firefox Taking In Millions Of Google Dollars]</ref> especially with regards to use of Firefox to provide revenues and data for [[Google]].<ref>[http://www.threadwatch.org/node/6756#comment-40066 Mozilla sells out to Google]</ref> The release of the anti-[[phishing]] protection in Firefox 2.0 especially raised controversy.<ref>[http://www.platinax.co.uk/news/26-10-2006/firefox-2-releases-privacy-storm/ Firefox 2 releases privacy storm]</ref> Default anti-phishing protection is based on list that is regularly (approximately each half hour) updated and downloaded to user's computer<ref>http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/legal/privacy/firefox-en.html</ref> from Google's server (user is not able to change data provider within GUI<ref>[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=342188 Bug 342188 - support changing the local list data provider]</ref> nor is informed who default data provider is). The "advanced" security feature of builds by the Mozilla Foundation activate an anti-[[phishing]] feature to provide live protection and send each visited [[URL]] to Google<ref>[http://wiki.mozilla.org/Phishing_Protection:_Design_Documentation#Overview Overview of Firefox Phishing Protection]</ref> (user must explicitly opt-in for it). Barring [[Internet privacy]] issues over such anti-phishing protection, there are concerns how Google may use the data, even though Firefox's privacy policy states that Google may not use personal information for any purposes other than the anti-phishing protection feature.<ref>[http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/legal/privacy/firefox-en.html Firefox Privacy Policy]. ''mozilla.com''.</ref> On the other hand, Google admits that it "may share aggregated non-personal information with third parties outside of Google".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy.html |title=Google Privacy Policy Highlights |publisher=Google Inc. |date=2005-10-14 |accessdate=2006-12-11}}</ref> |
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== Gallery == |
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<center> |
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<gallery> |
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Image:FFX1.5.PNG|Firefox 1.5 in Microsoft Windows XP |
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Image:FFX2winmedia.PNG|Firefox 2 in Microsoft Windows XP Media Center |
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Image:Firefox2ForMac.png|Firefox 2 running in Apple Mac OS X v10.4.8 |
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</gallery> |
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</center> |
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==Footnotes== |
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<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;"> |
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<references /> |
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</div> |
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==References== |
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<div class="references-small"> |
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* {{cite web | last = Goodger | first = Ben | year = 2004 | url = http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/charter.html | title = Mozilla Firefox Development Charter | accessdate = 2004-09-22}} |
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* {{cite news | last = Hesseldahl | first = Arik | date = [[2004-09-29]] | url = http://www.forbes.com/2004/09/29/cx_ah_0929tentech.html?partner=tentech_newsletter | title = Better Browser Now the Best | publisher = [[Forbes]]}} |
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* {{cite news | last = Markham | first = Gervase | date = [[2004-11-30]] | url = http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/gerv/archives/006998.html | title = Firefox Language Coverage | publisher = Hacking for Christ}} |
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* {{cite news | author = [[Walter Mossberg|Mossberg, Walt]] | date = [[2004-09-16]] | url = http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20040916.html | title = How to Protect Yourself From Vandals, Viruses If You Use Windows | publisher = [[Wall Street Journal]]}} |
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* {{cite news | last = Schmidt | first = Jürgen | date = [[2005-07-13]] | url |
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http://www.heise.de/security/artikel/61652 | title = Chrome-plated holes. Mozilla's security concept is not invincible | publisher = c't magazine}} 14/2005, page 202. |
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* {{cite news | last = Stross | first = Randall | date = [[2004-12-19]] | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/business/yourmoney/19digi.html | title = The Fox Is in Microsoft's Henhouse (and Salivating) | publisher = [[New York Times]]}} |
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* {{cite news | last = Weber | first = Tim | date = [[2005-05-09]] | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4508897.stm | title = The assault on software giant Microsoft | publisher = [[BBC News]]}} |
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</div> |
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==Further reading== |
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{{wikibooks}} |
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<div class="references-small"> |
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* {{cite book | last = Granneman | first = Scott | title = Don't Click on the Blue E!: Switching to Firefox | publisher = O'Reilly | year = 2005 | id = ISBN 0-596-00939-9}} |
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* {{cite book | last = Hofmann | first = Chris | coauthors = Marcia Knous, & John Hedtke | title = Firefox and Thunderbird Garage | publisher = Prentice Hall PTR | year = 2005 | id = ISBN 0-13-187004-1}} |
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* {{cite book | last = McFarlane | first = Nigel | title = Firefox Hacks | publisher = O'Reilly | year = 2005 | id = ISBN 0-596-00928-3}} |
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* {{cite book | last = Reyes | first = Mel | title = Hacking Firefox : More Than 150 Hacks, Mods, and Customizations | publisher = Wiley | year = 2005 | id = ISBN 0-7645-9650-0}} |
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* {{cite book | authorlink = Blake Ross | last = Ross | first = Blake | title = Firefox for Dummies | publisher = Wiley | year = 2006 | id = ISBN 0-471-74899-4}} |
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* {{cite book | last = Yeow | first = Cheah Chu | title = Firefox Secrets: A Need-To-Know Guide | publisher = O'Reilly | year = 2005 | id = ISBN 0-9752402-4-2}} |
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</div> |
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==See also== |
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{{portalpar|Free software}} |
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*[[Browser timeline]] |
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*[[Comparison of web browsers]] |
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*[[Flock (web browser)|Flock]] |
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*[[List of Firefox extensions]] |
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*[[List of web browsers]] |
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*[[Netscape Navigator]] |
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*[[Swiftfox]] |
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*[[Wikipedia:Tools/Browser tools/Mozilla Firefox|Wikipedia Firefox Browser Tools]] |
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=== Mozilla === |
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*[[Mozilla]] (from which the Firefox project descends) |
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*[[Mozilla Corporation]] |
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*[[Mozilla Foundation]] |
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*[[Mozilla Add-ons]] |
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==External links== |
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{{wikinewscat|Mozilla}} |
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{{commonscat|Mozilla Firefox}} |
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*[http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ Mozilla Firefox homepage] – For [[End-user (computer science)|end-users]]. |
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*[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/ Mozilla Firefox project page] – For developers. |
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*[http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/legal/eula/ Mozilla EULA] |
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*[http://www.squarefree.com/burningedge/releases/ Firefox changelogs] |
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*[http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases ftp.mozilla.org] – All releases from 1.0rc1 to the current beta/RC. |
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*[http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=firefox Firefox older versions] – All of the old versions from version 0.8 to the latest one |
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*[http://www.spreadfirefox.com Spread Firefox] – The center for Firefox marketing |
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*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6086798.stm BBC News: Internet Explorer 7.0 and Firefox 2.0 Go Head-to-Head] |
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* {{Secunia|4227|NAME=Mozilla Firefox 1}} |
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* {{Secunia|12434|NAME=Mozilla Firefox 2}} |
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{{Web browsers}} |
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{{Mozilla Software}} |
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{{Featured article}} |
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[[Category:Free web browsers]] |
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[[Category:Internet history]] |
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Revision as of 14:15, 19 December 2006
The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
Mozilla Firefox running on Ubuntu, displaying the English Wikipedia main page | |||||
| Developer(s) | Mozilla Foundation / Mozilla Corporation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stable release |
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| Preview release |
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| Repository | |||||
| Engine |
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| Operating system | Cross-platform | ||||
| Available in | Multilingual (41) | ||||
| Type | Web browser | ||||
| License | Mozilla EULA, see Licensing-section | ||||
| Website | www.mozilla.com/firefox | ||||
Mozilla Firefox is a free, open source, cross-platform graphical web browser developed by the Mozilla Corporation and hundreds of volunteers.[5] Started as a fork of the browser component (Navigator) of the Mozilla Application Suite, Firefox has replaced the Mozilla Suite as the Mozilla Foundation's flagship product. Firefox is often abbreviated as FF; officially it is Fx or fx.[6]
Firefox had gained acclaim from numerous media outlets, including Forbes[7] and the Wall Street Journal,[8] even before its 1.0 release on November 9, 2004. With over 25 million downloads in the 99 days after the initial 1.0 release, Firefox became one of the most downloaded free and open source applications, especially among home users.[9] Firefox 2 was released on October 24, 2006 and downloaded over 2 million times within 24 hours.[10]
As of September 2006, Firefox's usage share is around 12% of overall browser usage (see market adoption below), with its highest usage in Germany (about 39% as of July 2006).[11]
History
Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross began working on the Firefox project as an experimental branch of the Mozilla project. They believed that the commercial requirements of Netscape's sponsorship and developer-driven feature creep compromised the utility of the Mozilla browser.[citation needed] To combat what they saw as the Mozilla Suite's software bloat, they created a pared-down browser, with which they intended to replace the Mozilla Suite. On April 3 2003, The Mozilla Organization announced that they planned to change their focus from the Mozilla Suite to Firefox and Thunderbird.[12]
The Firefox project has gone through many name changes through its history. Originally titled Phoenix, it had to be renamed because of trademark issues with Phoenix Technologies. The replacement name, Firebird, provoked an intense response from the Firebird free database software project. In response, the Mozilla Foundation stated that the browser should always bear the name Mozilla Firebird in order to avoid confusion with the database software. Continuing pressure from the database server's development community forced another change, and on February 9 2004, Mozilla Firebird became Mozilla Firefox (or Firefox for short).[13]
The Firefox project went through many versions before 1.0 was released on November 9, 2004. Aside from stability and security fixes, the Mozilla Foundation released one major update to Firefox—version 1.5, on November 29, 2005—before the debut of Firefox 2.
On October 24 2006, Mozilla released Firefox 2. This version includes changes to the tabbed browsing environment[1]; enhancements to the extensions manager; enhancements to the GUI[14] (including a more glossy-looking default theme); improvements to the find, search and software update engines; a greater level of accessibility; session and download restore; and new anti-phishing features.[15]
Future development
Template:Future software According to the roadmap, future Firefox development will include version 3.0. Development on version 3.0, which will be based on Gecko 1.9, occurs simultaneously on the Mozilla trunk. Newer versions of Firefox will use Cairo as the rendering layer instead of GDI+.[16]
Version 3.0

The development name for Mozilla Firefox 3 is Gran Paradiso.[17] The precursory releases were codenamed "Minefield", as this was the name of the trunk builds. "Gran Paradiso", like other Firefox development names, is an actual place; in this case a national park in Italy. With the release of version 3.0 alpha 1 on December 8, 2006, it adopted the "Gran Paradiso" codename.[18] The estimated release date for Firefox 3 is in November 2007.[19]
The largest change for Firefox 3 will be the implementation of Gecko 1.9, an updated layout engine (more correctly big changes to the reflow code and migration of nsTextFrame to the Thebes infrastructure). Firefox 3 will also include several new features and some that were bumped from Firefox 2, such as the overhauled Places system for storing bookmarks and history in an SQLite backend.[20] Due to Microsoft's decision to end support for Windows 98 and Windows Me on July 11 2006, and because Cairo does not support Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows NT 4.0, Firefox 3 will not run on those operating systems.[21][22] Unlike previous versions, Firefox 3 on Mac OS X will use a Cocoa widget implementation.[23]
The development team is also asking that Firefox users submit feature requests that they wish to be included in Firefox 3.[24]
Version 4.0
On October 13 2006, Brendan Eich, Mozilla's Chief Technology Officer, wrote about the plans for Mozilla 2.0, the platform on which Firefox 4 is likely to be based. These changes include improving and removing XPCOM APIs, switching to standard C++ features, just-in-time compilation with JavaScript 2 (known as the Tamarin project), and tool-time and runtime security checks.[25][26]
Features
The developers of Firefox aim to produce a browser that "just works" for most casual users. User-created extensions and plugins can be installed to integrate with Firefox giving a wide range of choice for the end-user. The main features included with Firefox are tabbed browsing, incremental find, live bookmarking, a customizable download manager and a built-in Search toolbar. The user can customize their version of Firefox with downloadable extensions, a variety of different themes and skins, and many advanced preferences that are accessible via the [about:config about:config] page.
Mozilla Firefox supports many software standards, including, but not restricted to: HTML, XML, XHTML, CSS, ECMAScript (JavaScript), DOM, MathML, DTD, XSL, SVG, XPath and PNG images with alpha transparency. Firefox release builds do not yet pass the Acid2 standards-compliance test. There are developmental versions of Firefox that currently pass the Acid2 test, and Firefox 3 is expected to pass Acid2.[27]
Mozilla Firefox is a multi-platform browser, providing support for various versions of Microsoft Windows, including 98, 98SE, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, and Server 2003. It also runs on Mac OS X, and on Linux-based operating systems using the X Window System. Although not officially released for certain operating systems, the freely available source code works for many other operating systems, including but not restricted to: FreeBSD [28], OS/2, Solaris, SkyOS, BeOS and more recently, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.[29]
Firefox also provides an environment for web developers in which they can use built-in tools or extensions. These include the built-in JavaScript Console, and the DOM Inspector, Venkman JavaScript debugger, and the Web Developer [30] extensions.
The fact that Firefox has fewer and less severe publicly known unpatched security vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer (see Comparison of web browsers) is often cited as a reason to switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox for improved security.[31][32][33][34] A 2006 Symantec study showed that Firefox had surpassed Internet Explorer in the number of vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities that year through to September, though these were patched more quickly than vulnerabilities found in other browsers.[35] Symantec later clarified their statement, saying that Firefox still had fewer security vulnerabilities, as counted by security researchers.[36]
Firefox uses SSL/TLS to protect communications with web servers using strong cryptography when using the HTTPS protocol.[37] It also supports smartcards for secure login to web servers. It uses a sandbox security model and the developers use a "bug bounty" scheme, for finding fixes for some security and feature additions.
Performance
Internet Week ran an article in which many readers reported high memory usage in Firefox 1.5.[38] Mozilla developers said the higher memory use of Firefox 1.5 is sometimes at least partially an effect of the new fast backwards and forwards (FastBack) feature.[39] Other known causes of memory problems are misbehaving extensions, such as Google Toolbar and some old versions of Adblock [40] or plug-ins, such as older versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader[41]. When PC Magazine compared memory usage of Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer, they found that Firefox seemed to use only about as much memory as the other browsers.[42] Tests performed by PC World and Zimbra indicate that Firefox 2 uses less memory than Internet Explorer 7.[43][44]
Softpedia notes that Firefox takes longer to start up than other browsers[45] and browser speed tests confirm this to be the case.[46] IE also launches slightly faster than Firefox on Microsoft Windows since many of its components are built into Windows and are loaded during system startup.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
Licensing
Firefox is an open-source application, tri-licensed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL), GNU General Public License (GPL), and the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). The licenses permit anyone to view the source code, as well as modifying and redistributing it (though with trademark restrictions). Netscape and Flock are examples of software based on Firefox code.
In the past, Firefox was licensed solely under the MPL.[47] The Free Software Foundation (FSF) criticizes the MPL for being weak copyleft; the license permits, in limited ways, proprietary, derivative works. Code under the MPL also cannot be legally linked with code under the GPL or the LGPL.[48][49] To address these concerns, Mozilla tri-licensed Firefox under the MPL, GPL, and LGPL, which permits developers to use whichever license they wish in creating derivative works. The effect of the tri-licensing is that developers can legally link Firefox code with GPL or LGPL code, but still allows them to create proprietary, derivative works (though not both at once). [47]
The FSF considers the official Firefox binaries released by Mozilla to not be free software because they include the proprietary crash reporter Talkback, have trademark restrictions on the Firefox name and artwork, and force the user to accept a clickwrap agreement (the latter only applies to the Windows version).[50] Google and Mozilla developers are working on Airbag, an open-source replacement for Talkback, that will allow official Firefox builds to be entirely free of proprietary software.[51]
In September 2006, Mozilla requested Debian not to use the official Firefox name for its own patched version. Mozilla requires that distribution of builds called "Firefox" include the official artwork and that any changes made to the Firefox code required approval by Mozilla. Since the official artwork is trademarked and copyrighted, thus going against the Debian Free Software Guidelines, and since Debian didn't want to go through Mozilla to make changes, Debian decided to fork Firefox into IceWeasel.[52]
Market adoption


- Statistics reference: Usage share of web browsers
Web-surfers have adopted Firefox rapidly, despite the dominance of Internet Explorer in the browser market. Internet Explorer has seen a steady decline of its usage share since Firefox's release. According to several sources (as listed in statistics reference), by July 2006, Firefox had around 12% of global usage share.
Europe, according to a study released by the firm XiTi on 2006-06-16, generally had higher percentages of Firefox use, with an average of 20%.[53]
Download count
Downloads have continued at a steady rate since Firefox 1.0 was released in November 2004. No other Mozilla Foundation product has experienced such growth.[54]
| Date | Number of days | Downloads (millions) | Download Rate (thousands/day) |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 10 2004 | 1 | 1[55] | 1000 |
| February 16 2005 | 99 | 25[56] | 253 |
| April 29 2005 | 171 | 50[57] | 292 |
| July 26 2005 | 259 | 75[58] | 290 |
| October 19 2005 | 344 | 100[59] | 291 |
| March 3 2006 | 479 | 150[60] | 313 |
| July 31 2006 | 629 | 200[61] | 318 |
| November 11 2006 | 732 | 250[62] | 342 |
These numbers[63] do not include downloads using software updates or from third-party websites. They do not repr
- ^ "Firefox 124.0.2, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes". 2 April 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Firefox ESR 115.9.1, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes". 22 March 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ "Index of /pub/firefox/releases/125.0b9/". 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
- ^ "Firefox Nightly 126.0a1, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes". 18 March 2024. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
- ^ "Mozilla contributors list". Mozilla.org. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
- ^ Firefox FAQ. mozilla.org.
- ^ Hesseldahl, Arik (September 29 2004). "Better Browser Now The Best". Forbes. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Mossberg, Walter S. (September 16 2004). "How to Protect Yourself From Vandals, Viruses If You Use Windows". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) "I suggest dumping Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser, which has a history of security breaches. I recommend instead Mozilla Firefox, which is free at www.mozilla.org. It's not only more secure but also more modern and advanced, with tabbed browsing, which allows multiple pages to be open on one screen, and a better pop-up ad blocker than the belated one Microsoft recently added to IE." - ^ Stross, Randall (December 19 2004). "The Fox Is in Microsoft's Henhouse (and Salivating)". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) "With Firefox, open-source software moves from back-office obscurity to your home, and to your parents', too. (Your children in college are already using it.)" - ^ Over 2 Million People Using Firefox 2 in the First 24 Hours
- ^ "Global usage share Mozilla Firefox has increased according to OneStat.com". OneStat.com. 2006-07-09. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "mozilla development roadmap". Retrieved 2006-10-08.
- ^ Mozilla holds 'fire' in naming fight. CNET News.com.
- ^ "FX2 Visual Update". 2006-07-11. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) A page showing the various bits of visual update. - ^ "Firefox2/Features". 2006-07-06. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) A table that lists and links the intended features for Firefox 2. - ^ "Mozilla Cairo Vector Graphics". mozillaZine.. A page describing the future usage of Cairo.
- ^ "Google Groups: mozilla.dev.planning". Retrieved 2006-09-17.
- ^ "Gran Paradiso Alpha 1 available for download".
- ^ "ReleaseRoadmap". 2006-11-08. Retrieved 2006-12-14.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Places". 2006-10-16. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Berger, Adam (2006-06-15). "Firefox 3.0 will not support Windows 98 or ME". gadgetell. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Gecko 1.9 Roadmap". Retrieved 2006-09-17.
- ^ "Mac:Cocoa Widgets". Retrieved 2006-11-13.
- ^ "Firefox/Feature Brainstorming". 2006-10-20. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Eich, Brendan (2006-10-13). "Mozilla 2". Retrieved 2006-09-16.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Eich, Brendan (2006-11-07). "Project Tamarin". Retrieved 2006-11-14.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Firefox Passes Acid2. TechSpot Weblog.
- ^ FreshPorts entry on Firefox. freshports.org.
- ^ Mozilla X64 website
- ^ Web Developer Site
- ^ Time to Dump Internet Explorer. SecurityFocus.
- ^ CNET editors' review for Mozilla Firefox. C|Net Reviews.
- ^ Are the Browser Wars Back?. Slate.
- ^ Switching from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox. mozilla.com.
- ^ Firefox Sports More Bugs, But IE Takes 9 Times Longer To Patch, TechWeb.
- ^ Symantec adjusts browser bug count, InfoWorld
- ^ Privacy & Security Preferences - SSL. mozilla.org.
- ^ Firefox 1.5: Not Ready For Prime Time? InternetWeek.
- ^ Bug 319262 - Significant memory leak. Mozilla.org Bugzilla.
- ^ Problematic Extensions. MozillaZine Knowledge Base
- ^ Acrobat Reader Plug-in information. MozillaZine Knowledge Base
- ^ Which New Browser Is Best: Firefox 2, Internet Explorer 7, or Opera 9?. PC Magazine.
- ^ Review: Radically New IE7 or Updated Mozilla Firefox 2--Which Browser is Better?. PC World.
- ^ IE 7 vs IE 6. Zimbra.
- ^ "Mozilla Firefox Review". Softpedia. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
- ^ HowtoCreate.co.uk Browser Speed Comparisons
- ^ a b Mozilla Foundation MPL Relicensing FAQ [2]
- ^ Richard Stallman. On the Netscape Public License. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/netscape-npl.html
- ^ GNU comments on MPL [3]
- ^ Free Software Directory: Firefox [4]
- ^ Deploying the Airbag. BSBlog (Mozilla developer Benjamin Smedberg's weblog).
- ^ Debian bug report log #354622: "[packages 'firefox' and 'thunderbird'] use Mozilla Firefox trademark without permission" [5]
- ^ Template:PDFlink
- ^ Firefox and more: the graphs (part 1). Asa Dotzler's weblog.
- ^ 1,000,000+ downloads on day 1
- ^ firefox 25,000,000
- ^ celebrating 50 million firefox downloads
- ^ Firefox Exceeds 75 million Downloads
- ^ firefox hits one hundred million downloads
- ^ 150 million and counting!
- ^ Firefox 200 Million Downloads - what it means
- ^ 250000000 downloads!
- ^ http://feeds.spreadfirefox.com/downloads/firefox.xml
