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Comments on: Firefox 3? Not yet

With the early release of Mozilla Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1, the official version 3.0 can't be far away. If it's not going to change much from now until then, why not upgrade now? Peter Butler weighs the pros and cons and sticks with version 2.

Add a Comment (Log in or register) Showing 1 of 2 pages (31 Comments)


by x33a May 20, 2008 7:05 PM PDT: nice article. i am using ff3 rc1 right now, and it does seem to be faster than ff2. but as you said, there is little gain in terms of memory.and my fav addons like aios, tmp, and febe aren't compatible yet, but good thing is that noscript and abp are working.

and, as i am using the portable version of rc1, i haven't faced any conflicts between ff2 and rc1.; Like this Reply to this comment


by x33a May 20, 2008 7:06 PM PDT: nice article. i am using ff3 rc1 right now, and it does seem to be faster than ff2. but as you said, there is little gain in terms of memory.and my fav addons like aios, tmp, and febe aren't compatible yet, but good thing is that noscript and abp are working.

and, as i am using the portable version of rc1, i haven't faced any conflicts between ff2 and rc1.; Like this Reply to this comment


by rdr2go May 20, 2008 8:18 PM PDT: I used it for a day, and liked it-speed and feel and layout good, predictive input in address bar nice. But bookmarks needs some work!! Its harder to save new ones and it lost a bunch of my favorite folders-somewhat arbitrarily. Just a few of my regulars, not sure how many, I just went looking for a couple I use a lot and they weren't there. I panicked because I need those, and removed 3 and reinstalled 2 and they were back. Whew. Would maybe have been ok, if foxmarks worked with 3, but it doesn't.; Like this Reply to this comment


by tomemiprozac May 20, 2008 8:26 PM PDT: i upgraded to ff3 rc1, and you're right, it loads faster than ff2. browsing wise, there doesn't seem to be a significant difference. i wouldn't be sure though since i don't use gmail. youtube on the other hand renders slightly faster, so that's good. as for the add ons, most of what i'm using are compatible.. (yay for me) except for the all important real download/recording manager!!! :(; Like this Reply to this comment


by johnnyzero May 20, 2008 9:02 PM PDT: Installed FF3 rc1 after using the last few FF3 beta's for a couple months.

Loads slightly faster, seems a little peppier, some UI refinements.

rc1 does seem slightly less stable than the beta's - I've had a few crashes, whereas beta's 4 & 5 were rock-solid.

I've also experienced a few site-specific HTML/CSS rendering problems with rc1.; Like this Reply to this comment


by mkosma May 20, 2008 9:12 PM PDT: Peter - Tab Mix Plus is working fine for me under RC1. You just need version 0.3.6.1.080416.

download: http://tmp.garyr.net/tab_mix_plus-dev-build.xpi
discussion: http://tmp.garyr.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7031; Like this Reply to this comment


by angrykeyboarder May 20, 2008 9:25 PM PDT: I'm not seeing the slowness that I saw w/Firefox 2. with 20 tabs loaded (and 1 on digg.com and another on gmail). Frankly I thought the speed increase was due to better memory management.; Like this Reply to this comment


by javieremo May 20, 2008 9:34 PM PDT: I always test the latest version of firefox with Nightly Tester Tools. It's an extension that overrides the compatibility check of your extensions collection.

Al-in-one sidebar is also essential to me.; Like this Reply to this comment


by pampz May 20, 2008 9:36 PM PDT: nice article and working is fine very fast.; Like this Reply to this comment


by vigneshhvac May 20, 2008 9:40 PM PDT: like; Like this Reply to this comment


by rsacks May 20, 2008 9:44 PM PDT: You can use many extensions now with a minor hack. Download the extension xpi file. (An xpi file is really a zip file) Open the xpi file using a zip utility, such as 7zip. Right click install.rdf. Select edit. This will open a text editor. Search for maxversion. Change maxversion for Firefox to 3.0rc1. Close the text editor. Close the archive (the xpi file). When prompted select update the archive. Drag the xpi icon into firefox and install.

This should work for almost all extensions that work in Firefox 3 beta and many that work in Firefox 2.; Like this Reply to this comment

by rsacks May 20, 2008 9:46 PM PDT

You can use many extensions now with a minor hack. Download the extension xpi file. (An xpi file is really a zip file) Open the xpi file using a zip utility, such as 7zip. Right click install.rdf. Select edit. This will open a text editor. Search for maxversion. Change maxversion for Firefox to 3.0rc1. Close the text editor. Close the archive (the xpi file). When prompted select update the archive. Drag the xpi icon into firefox and install.

This should work for almost all extensions that work in Firefox 3 beta and many that work in Firefox 2.

Like this Reply to this comment


by actualtiger May 23, 2008 2:06 AM PDT: I looked at Fx3RC1 and used it for a while but like so many of us there are some extensions I can't live without (AIOS, TPM, Roboform being 3 of the major ones), but your tip has gone into quicknote & a postit as there are bound to be some laggards; Like this


by Mgd4M May 21, 2008 1:10 AM PDT: I'm happy to hear that
I like fire fox too much; Like this Reply to this comment


by emacee1701 May 21, 2008 3:36 AM PDT: The "build version" of Tab Mix Plus works with Firefox 3rc1. I've been using it since Beta4 without any problems. It's available here:
http://tmp.garyr.net/dev-builds/tab_mix_plus-0.3.6.1.080416.xpi; Like this Reply to this comment


by dburr13 May 21, 2008 4:48 AM PDT: I've been using FF3 on my laptop since Beta 4...and have noticed a significant improvement in memory management...FF no longer crashes on me because it has consumed all my memory...That was a big problem on the lappy with FF2...

FF3 is noticeably faster on all the sites i visit...In short i'm very pleased with the new Firefox...

btw...more of my favorite extensions and themes are updating every day...In fact my essential extensions are already back.; Like this Reply to this comment


by samir4ever May 21, 2008 6:26 AM PDT: it is very nice; Like this Reply to this comment


by saayna May 21, 2008 7:15 AM PDT: Like this Reply to this comment


by Arthur E. Lemay May 21, 2008 7:21 AM PDT: It is way too buggy for general use, even as a release candidate.

I am a developer and it breaks all my sites because (I think) the Javascript is not handled correctly, but then again, some of my pages have thousands of lines of Javascript, but they work with IE6, IE7, Firefox 2.0.0.10 through 14, and with Safari on the MAC.

And Real Player, one of the most popular add-ons is not supported. This must be fixed.; Like this Reply to this comment


by kanagarajan May 21, 2008 7:38 AM PDT: firefox it is a nice browser which i am using for a long time. just i am trying firefox 3.; Like this Reply to this comment


by tiotaco May 21, 2008 7:45 AM PDT: I'm in my 3rd day with no problems, and enjoying the greater speed.; Like this Reply to this comment