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Seth Weintraub

Apple versus Google

Firefox 3.5. Don't update yet if you use Google Gears

17 comments

TAGS:Firefox, Google Gears
IT TOPICS:Mobile & Wireless, Personal Technology, SaaS & Cloud Computing

Firefox is my default browser. I have all of my bookmarks in Firefox and a set of plugs that I don't think I could do without. That being said, other browsers, specifically Safari and Chrome are becoming more and more appealing.

Firefox 3.5 final was released yesterday and a lot has changed. The browser is certainly faster, it has private browsing (sometimes referred to as porn mode) and a bunch of other niceties. Check Preston Gralla's review for the details.

One thing that isn't ready for primetime, however, is its Google Gears support. As a lot of people probably do, I use Gears to cache my corporate Gmail/Calendar/Docs for offline viewing. As of this writing Gears hasn't been updated to work with Firefox 3.5.

Until Google updates Gears, I'll be stuck without offline access to my Google corporate data. Or, conveniently, I can now use Google Chrome to cache my Google Apps.

What's the holdup on Gears for Firefox - the beta has been out for months? Perhaps Google is getting an evil streak.

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It's here!

Submitted by Ivan Lanin on July 6, 2009 - 3:07 P.M.

Geza Kovaks has built some xpis for FF 3.5

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A bunch of Gears builds for

Submitted by Dan Creswell on July 5, 2009 - 8:07 A.M.

A bunch of Gears builds for Firefox 3.5 can be found here:

http://ow.ly/15GPOw

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waaaaaaaaay too many

Submitted by Anonymous on July 4, 2009 - 10:52 A.M.

waaaaaaaaay too many conspiracy theorists here.

hundreds of trillions of lines of code out there still in use and all those panic buttons instantly slammed when google doesnt toe the line.

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Well, for one thing this

Submitted by rolf on July 4, 2009 - 9:04 A.M.

Well, for one thing this will teach Firefox developers a lesson about constantly breaking addon compatibility.

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That`s it...

Submitted by João Wendel on July 3, 2009 - 10:38 A.M.

"Or, conveniently, I can now use Google Chrome to cache my Google Apps."

And what do you think that google wants with this delay to release a new version of gears?

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Gears and firefox 3.5

Submitted by Anonymous on July 2, 2009 - 2:25 A.M.

Re : Google gears

From http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/06/30/firefox-35-takes-you-back-to-a-time-before-browser-add-ons/

Update: "Mozilla(TM)s add-ons director, Mike Nguyen, emailed [Ha] to say that Google had a version of Gears ready that was compatible with Firefox 3.5, but it was delayed due to some elast-minute bugs. There should be a new version out next week, he said "

Never ascribe to malice that which can be ascribed to incompetence .....

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Incompetence?

Submitted by Mark Lowne on July 3, 2009 - 3:45 P.M.

Incompetence, perhaps. Perhaps some subtly increasing carelessness (if not funding cut, yet) for the losing horse. One week should be enough to get some more (especially in the corporate area) converts to Chrome. As much as I love FF, I can now see how 3.5 isn't nearly enough to save it.

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It's not like the new version of Firefox

Submitted by Anonymous on July 1, 2009 - 10:24 P.M.

took Google by surprise, is it? The new Firefox has been in beta for a long time followed by two release candidates so Google has no excuse here for not testing their product with the new version of FF. Unless maybe Google knows what they're doing here...

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Its sad that people are

Submitted by Alex on July 1, 2009 - 8:11 P.M.

Its sad that people are always out to find the worst in others. Firefox releases new version and Gears does not work on it and its Google's problem. Its Google's responsibility to make sure that its products work on all browsers even the ones that have not even been released. Isn't that asking a little too much ? If Google had changed Gears to not work on Firefox.. yes that would deserve this kind of scrutiny but Google is no Microsoft. Give them time and if they say don't do it in 6 months, blame them.

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FF 3.5 has been in

Submitted by Matt on July 2, 2009 - 3:58 P.M.

FF 3.5 has been in alpha/beta/RC for quite some time now. It's not like it was a super-secret development, and nobody knew about it... especially when major funding for the Mozilla project comes from Google. It would be nice if Google released the new version to coincide with the new FF release, but they found a bug and are correcting that bug.

And, if you develop software that interacts with web-browsers, and a new version of a supported web-browser comes out, then yes - it is your responsibility as a software developer to ensure compatibility.

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