Firefox Upgrade!!!

I don’t know, it seems difficult to get excited about a new browser upgrade, but this one just seems to be different as I find myself waiting with baited breathe for this release.  Well, the wait is over as Mozilla announced the release date for it’s new Firefox 3.5 browser (code named “Shiretoko”), and the day has finally come…..tomorrow morning Pacific Time you will be able to install this new browser upgrade.  The enhancements to this browser just get me thinking about where we are going.  An upgrade like Private Browsing (sometimes called “porn mode”) which does not save any browsing history, cookies, etc., and keeps your browsing private is not new as the other major browsers like IE8, and Google Chrome already have this capability.  Firefox 3.5’s enhanced JavaScript rendering, using a new engine called “TraceMonkey” should majorly enhance the browser’s speed.  But probably the thing that I am most interested in seeing is Firefox 3.5’s ability to use the new HTML5 audio and video tags, which will, once the HTML5 tags are incorporated into websites, enable video and audio to be placed in the body of the page, thus not having the dedicated little box on the left or right where the video is played.  HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language) is the ‘language’ that is used to create web pages. I think this is going to make innovative and interesting web pages “come to life”.  Being able to put video and audio directly in the body of the page is going to be something to see, with the potential of making web pages that are more interactive.  When I say embedding them into the body of the page, it is kind of like comparing a picture in an email that is seen in the message, as opposed to being shown at the bottom of the page as an attachment.

Originally the new version was going to be called Firefox 3.1 (current version is 3.0) but according to Mike Shaver, Mozilla Corp.’s VP of Engineering…..”The increase in scope represented by TraceMonkey and Private Browsing, plus the sheer volume of work that’s gone into everything from video and layout to Places and the plug-in service, make it a larger increment than we believe is reasonable to label .1″.

According to Net Applications, a browser usage company, Firefox now touts a 22.5% market share of browser use.  Lead by IE, Firefox comes in the second spot, followed by Google Chrome, Apple’s Safari, and Opera.  Having this large a market share may cause a huge volume of upgrades on the 30th of June.  This could very well slow or crash their server, as it did in June of 2008, when the 3.0 upgrade was instituted so expect delays if you plan on “standing in line” to get this new update when it first is released.

To see the Top 10 enhancements to this browser, check out Lifehacker.com’s article HERE!!!

If you are currently not using Firefox and want to see what the fuss is all about, you can get it HERE (free of course)!!!

If you are a current Firefox user, the update will eventually come through automatically, but if you want to be first in line, just click on the “Help” option in the toolbar and select “Check for Updates”.  You know I will “Be In Line”!!!!

Let me know your thoughts…..