Firefox Is DEAD! (Killed By Microsoft?)
 

Well, I tried Firefox 4, and it really tanks. With each new version, less and less extensions will work anymore. I wonder who the people are who are making the decisions to program out all of the usability of the extensions. The only extension on my installation that I could see and use was NoScript. Gone was Video Downloads, Download Statusbar, the weather, and all the rest. Since extensions where one of the big things that always made Firefox so much better than IE, I'm guessing Satan took over the design of Firefox. I say Satan because I can't imagine any system designer being bone headed enough to do something like that, and still be an I.T. person. So there has to be something evil going on here.

Seriously, what were those people thinking? And what do you think about version 4? I'm going back to 3.5.

Firefox 4
 

I'm jumping back also
I thought Version 5 Beta would fix it, but it took out LastPass. Not Acceptable.
I'm fine with SeaMonkey, but the Kid & I share a machine & he uses extensions that aren't available for it.
Going Back to 3.6.17

I'm using Download Statusbar on Firefox 6 (Aurora) without any issues.

You can install an add-on called Add-on Compatibility Reporter that will allow you to install other add-ons that are not "officially" compatible with your version of Firefox. Of course not all will be compatible, but about 75% of my unsupported add-ons worked fine.

Also, I think the newer versions of Firefox, especially 6, are quite a bit better (speedier and uses less RAM) than the 3.x series.

The most people that write extensions are not paid programmers. So they do it in their spare time, and sometimes need some time to adapt it to a new version. I wouldn't even think about complaining that an extension isn't working in a beta version.
Just give them some time or, if you need it really, may be donate to the developers?

Huh?
In FF 4.0, I just clicked Tools -> Add-ons, and entered "download" in the search box.

I got 466 results!

There's gobs and gobs of good extensions. (Personally, I just can't imagine surfing without Adblock Plus.)

All the extensions that I have work with FF 4.0 or there exist equivalent extensions to replace them.

The bigger problem is that they keep changing the UI to make it more different and less usable, IMO.

It's true I don't like where FF is heading, but maybe someone will fork it and it will be saved.

I agree that Firefox 4 is a huge step back from v3 (and I wonder what will Firefox 5 be...). You can use SeaMonkey as a classical Mozilla and Midori wich seems to become better and better from version to version.

I forgot to mention that I appreciate Firefox 4.0.
I think it's a minor improvement on a great browser.

i've never trie download statusbar, but i do have forecastfox working as well as firebug with firefox 4, yeah you have to turn on the 'add-on bar' tool bar to see the output

with new versions of software, change is inevitable, if you aren't paying for it or contributing to it, then don't complain it isn't what you want, we can't always get everything we want ya know.

why not ?

Since Firefox 2.0 I have only lost 1 extension that I couldn't find a replacement for.
Personally I think Firefox rocks nothing else compares.

My Firefox Information

Last updated: Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:40:59 GMT
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:2.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0.1

Extensions (enabled: 17, disabled: 3; total: 20)

• Adblock Plus 1.3.8
• BeeFree 2.1.34 [disabled]
• BetterPrivacy 1.51
• ChatZilla 0.9.87 [disabled]
• CoLT 2.5.1
• FlashGot 1.3.0.1
• Google Toolbar for Firefox 7.1.20110512L [disabled]
• HTTPS Finder 0.69
• HTTPS-Everywhere 0.9.7
• InfoLister 0.10.4a1
• Konquefox 1.7.5
• MafiaaFire Redirector 0.6b
• Movable Firefox Button 1.3
• Nightly Tester Tools 3.1.7
• NoScript 2.1.1.2rc1
• OptimizeGoogle 0.78.2
• Oxygen KDE Options 3.1
• PDF Download 3.0.0.2
• Stylish 1.1.2
• Torbutton 1.3.3-alpha

Themes (3)

• Default
• Firefox B [selected]
• Oxygen KDE [selected]

Plugins

• Adobe Reader 9.4
• DivX Browser Plug-In
• Google Talk Plugin
• Google Talk Plugin Video Accelerator
• Helix DNA Plugin: RealPlayer G2 Plug-In Compatible
• Java(TM) Plug-in 1.6.0_26
• mplayerplug-in is now gecko-mediaplayer 0.9.9.2
• OpenOffice.org Plug-in
• QuickTime Plug-in 7.6.4
• RealPlayer 9
• Shockwave Flash
• Windows Media Player Plug-in

Screenshot of Firefox 4.0.1 , if I want to play with the Beta I will run Iceweasel 5.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/87/snapshot5k.png/

@mvanwey: I tried Sea Monkey, but didn't really like it. I don't remember what bothered me. Nice to know that version 5 is problematic.

@speck: I usually unzip the extension that quits working, edit the install.rdf file to make it version compatible, re-zip into the .xpi file, and that solves the issue. However, I wasn't as clear as I should have been. When I said FF4 wouldn't deal w/my choice of extensions, I meant that they took the statusbar away, all the other "real estate" in FF 3 and below, and that keeps the extensions from being visible - or at least where I like them. The problem is, FF4 is a la Microsoft, that is, after a version is successful, change the look around so users will be scratching their heads trying to figure out how to use it. I'm tired of having to learn a new version of software as if it's a completely new type of software. It's like buying a new car, and the steering wheel is in a different location each time. Sometimes on the roof, sometimes in the truck, sometimes under the hood, but each time, you have to re-learn how to drive. CRAZY!

@TobiSGD: I totally understand that, and that's why I edit the install.rdf as mentioned above, but I don't fault them at all. It's like I was telling speck. Who wants to learn to drive all over again each time they get a new car?
@KenJackson: I didn't say there were NO extensions, I said they don't work anymore. Meaning, they need the install.rdf edited so they will be version acceptable. Or that they are no longer visible because FF4 took all the statusbar, etc away.

@H_TeXMeX_H:
This is what I meant, but I couldn't figure out how to say it! I agree 100%. If you understand everything, you must be God.

@Mr. Alex: I have not heard of Midori (except for the Japanese liquor), I'll have to try it.

@frieza: True, I shouldn't complain. I really was just looking for opinions and to see if other people didn't like where it was going. I really wish I had the programmer type mind and the time to learn a language so I could make it like I want. Unfortunately, I simply can't invest that kind of time into learning C++, Java, etc. Thanks 4 your perspective.

@craigevil: Again, sorry that my message was not clear. I can make almost all the extensions I like to load in FF4, but if I can't see them b/c the GUI has all those other info areas removed, it drives me nuts.

Thanks to all who answered.

Sorry, but serious? If you don't contribute, at least with your opinion, how should the developers know?

Come on. You can just right click somewhere in the button-bar. Then 'customize' and you can see the statusbar and pull the buttons you had placed there somewhere else. Also you can make new button bars and so on. Too many status bars are annoying and steal space for the content, that's why they removed it.

btw. it seems Firefox 5 is final now. It's far from being dead.

I don't really understand why they keep breaking all the extensions. I'm sure there's more going on then I can see, but even simple extensions like cs lite have been broken by ff4.