Mozilla Firefox 3.6: download now! Performance, personæ, oh my...

It's time to download Firefox 3.6. Just released by those ever-so-nice people at Mozilla, it improves performance, checks your addons, boosts stability, and adds a nifty 'persona' feature. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers shovel the bits.

By Richi Jennings. January 22, 2010.

Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention First-Person Tetris...
 
 
Jay Hathaway breathlessly brings browser bumf:

It's finally official! Mere days after it hit Release Candidate 2, the finished version of Firefox 3.6 comes out tomorrow. ... The timing of this release is perfect, since IE is currently shedding users thanks to its role in China's attack on Google.
...
If Firefox is going to take a bite out of IE and hold off the WebKit contenders like Chrome and Safari, now's the time to do it. So, along comes Firefox 3.6, marketing itself as the best choice for security and stability ... looks like a good sales pitch to me, even if you're not in love with add-ons.

Paul Taylor agrees:

Nice timing from the folks over at the Mozilla Foundation. As calls to ditch [IE] in the wake of the Chinese hack attack on Google reverberate around the internet, the open source project has released a new version. ... Its developers also claim that Firefox 3.6 is significantly more stable than its predecessor and that it is less prone to crashes caused by third party software.
...
According to Net Applications, Firefox continued to take marketshare from IE last year, ending December with 24.61 per cent of the browser market compared to IE’s 62.69 per cent. While Apple’s Safari has also been gaining, Google’s Chrome browser is growing fastest and accounted for 4.63 per cent of the market in December compared to 4.46 per cent for Safari..

Harry McCracken notes the passing, for many, of the 'alternative browser' moniker:

The concept of “alternative browser” is stale–for one thing, on many sites, ... Firefox is the most popular browser.
...
Mozilla is claiming a 20 percent speed increase (including faster startup and JavaScript improvements) and more stability. ... There’s also stuff that–for now–is mostly of interest to developers and those who love bleeding-edge Web technologies. ... Should you get Firefox 3.6? Yes, if you’re a Firefox fan–once you’ve verified that your favorite plug-ins are available for it. And if you’re an ex-Firefox user who’s drifted off to another browser over speed or stability issues, it’s also worth a look.

Mozilla's Melissa Shapiro shelebrates:

Firefox 3.6 is more than 20 percent faster than Firefox 3.5 and includes extensive under the hood work to improve performance for everyday Web tasks. ... [It] was built by Mozilla’s global community of passionate contributors, including thousands of experienced developers, security experts, localization and support communities, and hundreds of thousands of active testers.
...
Firefox 3.6 is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in more than 70 languages – more platforms and languages than any other browser! You can download Firefox 3.6 at www.firefox.com.

And Ryan Naraine talks security:

Building on the browser's ability to check for updates to Adobe Flash Player, Mozilla has now fitted a plug-in checker that scans the machine for insecure plug-ins that are installed. If an outdated plug-in is found, the browser will now prompt the user to apply the patch via a one-click interface. ... Plug-ins are different from add-ons or extensions. Many software products add plug-ins to Firefox without the user's knowledge or consent and these are rarely patched by the end-user.
...
The second major security improvement in Firefox 3.6 is a behind-the-scenes tweak to lock out rogue Firefox add-ons.  The feature is called Component Directory Lockdown, blocks browser add-ons from loading in the browser’s application components directory, a move that effectivly stops developers and software vendors from silently installing Firefox add-ons.

Meanwhile, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is predictably fanboi-ish:

Yes, Linux is safer by far than Windows, but shifting operating systems is a big deal. It's not for everyone, and for a company, it requires both planning and training. But changing Web browsers is as easy as changing your pants. ... You can download Firefox 3.6, install it, transfer all your IE bookmarks and settings, and be back on the Web in less than five minutes.
...
What do you have to lose? Nothing but a lot of security headaches. ... Dump IE and replace it with Firefox.

But Preston Gralla hits the 'grumpy' button:

Looking to upgrade to Firefox 3.6? On Windows and the Mac, you don't need to do much more than download a file, perform a few clicks, and you're done. But for the moment, if you want to upgrade it on Linux, you'll be in a world of pain unless you're a very experienced Linux user. It's one more piece of evidence that Linux needs plenty of help if it wants to crack the mass market.

So what's your take?
Get involved: leave a comment.
 
 
And finally...

• First Person Tetris
  [hat tip: Visa-Valtteri Pimiä]

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him as @richi on Twitter, or richij on FriendFeed, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itblogwatch@richij.com.

 
 
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