News Analysis: Mozilla has launched Firefox 5, the first in its rapid-release development cycle, and it delivers several things that users should know about as they decide whether to download it and try it out.
Mozilla
has launched Firefox 5, the first release in its new plan to launch new
versions of its browser several weeks apart.
Firefox
5 comes off the major success of Firefox 4 that
delivered a host of important updates to the Firefox ecosystem and helped
cement Mozilla's browser as a go-to platform for many people around the globe.
However, the browser is facing stiff competition from Google's Chrome, Apple's
Safari and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Furthermore, Firefox 5 is arriving at
a time when its chances of great success are slimmer than ever before.
But
that doesn't mean it will fail. At this point, there's no telling what kind of future
Firefox 5 has. The only thing that is known is if users see value in the
browser, they'll download it; if they don't, they won't.
The
following items will help make that decision more easily.
Read
on to find out what everyone should know about Firefox 5:
1. It'll be updated quickly
With
the launch of Firefox 5, Mozilla has implemented its new rapid-release development
cycle. The idea behind it is for the organization to release new versions of
Firefox several weeks apart to get updates into users' hands faster than ever.
Though some are keen on the idea, others are concerned that Mozilla won't
support previous versions long enough. Realizing that, it's incumbent upon Web
users to keep in mind that Firefox 5 will be overshadowed in several weeks.
2. It has no major improvements
One
of the biggest surprises about Firefox 5 is that it doesn't come with major improvements.
Instead, the browser brings a host of small updates that should make it run a
bit smoother than Firefox 4. Whether or not it's a bad thing that Firefox 5
doesn't come with major updates is up for debate. But it
might make some folks who skipped Firefox 4 question whether or not a jump
to Firefox 5 is worth it.
3. It addresses many bugs
According
to Mozilla, Firefox 5 has more than 1,000 improvements. However, the vast
majority of those are bug fixes. With Firefox 5, users will find bug fixes
related to crashes, fonts and other small issues people were experiencing with
Firefox 4. But keep in mind that all those updates should make Firefox 5 more
stable than its predecessor.
4. It's slower than counterparts
According
to reviews across the Web, Firefox 5 is slower than Google Chrome. Though I
didn't use benchmarking software and only compared load times for different Websites,
I witnessed the same speed issues with Firefox 5. Of course, just because it's
slower than Chrome doesn't mean Firefox 5 isn't fast-it is. But those looking
for the fastest browsing experience today will find that from Google, not
Mozilla.
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