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.

there is always "Seamonkey 2.0.14"
I have been using it since i was beta testing "nightly builds" for 0.6 or 0.8 .That was YEARS ago ,and i still use it .

well yes, extensions are handled by an API of some sorts, with each new version the API changes slightly, thus breaking compatibility. It's called progress, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs ya know.

Yes, I'm serious. However, he didn't mention contributing your opinion ... which you obviously would have to do, otherwise they wouldn't know. I can have an opinion and tell them the opinion, but not directly contribute to development. Otherwise, only devs would have an opinion, and probably they would be completely detached from their user base ... and they browser would soon fail, which may happen.

Only if I were also indestructible and immortal ... neither of which are possible anyway.

I've updated most of the PCs running 3.6x to V4 & am quite happy with my extensions.
But, what I can't fathom, is why the sudden rush thru V4 - V5 - V6 all in this year ?.

any one know, just what the reasoning behind this, is ?.
( if it's just to keep up the numbering aka - with IE10 - then why bother )

@almatic: I know they were trying to increase space for content. But there's a better way: save money for a bigger monitor. I just tried FF5 in WinXP, and there is no right clicking the button bar and adding a statusbar at the bottom. Sorry, FF 3.5 or 3.6 are still better.

As for me, I'd use Opera and be done with it.

(Do you remember when a web browser program could launch in under one second?)

By the way, firefox extensions are pretty much Javascript and HTML, so if one breaks for ya, well, just roll up your sleeves and fix it.

I think Microsoft deserves a lot of blame for many things, but I'm having difficulty extending the blame for Firefox's shortcomings to them. Grief! Even the title of this thread includes "(Killed By Microsoft?)".

However, since the thread disparages Firefox, I will give you the pleasure of hearing of my recent relevant experience. I am in the habit of opening ten or twenty tabs in Firefox and leaving them open till I get around to them--sometimes for weeks. A couple days ago I came back and tried to continue reading, but Firefox 4.0.1 seemed to be in a timewarp. I'd click on a tab and 30 to 50 seconds later it would come forward. I'd click the x to close it and many seconds later it would go away.

Worse, this condition happened simultaneously on two different machines, one running Fedora 15, and the other running Arch.

Fortunately, the Arch repositories already had Firefox 5.0 ready, so I installed it. Though I'm still running 4.0.1 on my Fedora machine--and dreading that happening again.

@sundialsvcs: Yes, those were the days when browsers loaded in < 1 second.

@DJ Shaji: Well, that might be easy for you to rewrite a program, but I'm not the programmer type, and unfortunately, I don't have the extra time to learn it.

@KenJackson: I'm not really trying to bash (pun intended for Linux/Unix users), but sometimes I wonder what these people are thinking when they try to make it "new and improved". Sometimes, improved is better if you don't see it. This thread is mainly to see what people are thinking.

LOL, fixing Pentadactyl
 

It's the first time I've ever heard of someone taking one of those XPI files apart and basically thwarting the compatibility check of Firefox. Today, I ran the system updater and it installed Firefox 5.0. I scratched my head and tried the launch it, only to discover that one of my favorite extensions, Pentadactyl, was no longer compatible. I had to go all day depending on the mouse to get around! Now, after beating around the bush for a few hours, I find the solution right here in this thread. Pentadactyl now works again, but with the seemingly great advances Mozilla is making, I can't help but wonder why Firefox doesn't already have something like Pentadactyl built-in.

For those who don't know, the extension I'm talking about enables Vi-like keybindings in Firefox. Personally, I don't use Vi or Vim, but I like opening new windows and tabs with a single key press. It's especially useful on netbooks. However, the extension is a bit bloated for what it's supposed to do, even going so far as to implement Vi-style marks, macros, and buffers. If they're going to modify the UI so much to favor it (tabs on top, hiding address bar, etc) why hasn't Mozilla come up with something similar? Personally, I don't like where Firefox is going. I hope they undo some of the changes they made to the UI, or at least give users the option of emulating previous UI elements without requiring an extension.

I've gone back to using Seamonkey. 2.1 was just released and while it's based on the same engine as FF 4.0, it has a more conservative UI and a more sane development cycle.

I'm also going to try something completely different and compile "UZBL" tonight heh..

Uzbl was interesting to play with for a while.
A nifty thread on the debian forums about it:
Debian User Forums • View topic - Anyone tried Uzbl? : http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.p...158&hilit=uzbl

I don't see what all the fuss is about extensions have been breaking since Firefox first had them. With every update they break or just get forgotten by their author. The UI hasn't really changed, the taskbar is still there, the menu bar etc.

I think FF3 was just like an enhanced version of Internet explorer. I like the changes they made to FF4. Theres a lot more room for the website.

you say that but your thread title seems to be presenting an opinion rather then asking for them.

It's not by Mozilla, but Uzbl seems perfect for what you're describing.

The main reason I don't use it that often is that it's still unstable and seems to reliaby crash every time when visiting certain sites.

I tried it, and you're right LOL :banghead:

You know, even though I got pentadactyl working again, I can't help but notice that Firefox takes up nearly double the RAM while using it. Since I'm in college for web programming anyway, maybe I can make a similar extension that only implements the keybindings part. Then, I can put a bogus max version in the XPI file to make it compatible with all future versions of Firefox and Seamonkey!

I admit I was tired and aggrevated when I came up w/that title. And tonight, I can't spell either.