Mozilla Firefox 1.5 Final Released!

That's right, folks. Mozilla Firefox 1.5 is finally released!

Basic new features are (as given by MozillaZine): "Firefox 1.5 introduces several new features, including an improved software update system, faster Back / Forward page navigation, a new options to clear private browsing data, drag-and-drop reordering of browser tabs, a redesigned Options/Preferences window and more robust popup blocking. Standards support is also improved, with support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), JavaScript 1.6 and additional CSS properties. Accessibility is much improved (including new DHTML accessibility features), security has been enhanced and Mac OS X support has also been improved."

For more detailed and completed list of bug fixes and features, read the Burning Edge's List.

FYI: For anyone who already using Firefox 1.5 RC3, you don't need to update since RC3 is now final version.

Canvascape

As reported by Slashdot: "Benjamin Joffe has developed Canvascape - "3D Walker", a simple javascript browser based 3D first person game engine that shows off the capabilities of the Canvas tag found in Firefox, Safari and Opera."

It worked beautifully in Firefox 1.5 RC3, but painfully in Safari and Opera 9.0 Preview (because those two browsers are just getting started with canvas). I think this is a great way to show off what Mozilla Firefox 1.5's new canvas tag feature can do. Plus, it also show off what canvas can do as multimedia applications. It can provide interactive graphics without the need of using resource-heavy flash.

I see great potential for canvas.

Microsoft: Free Softwares Are Anti-Commercial

Recently, Microsoft admitted that they successfully attempted to remove references of free softwares from an U.N document, known as Vienna Conclusions (2.8 MB PDF). The document, presented at last week's UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) conference, discussed about issues around Information Technology and creativity.

In original document, it stated:

Increasingly, revenue is generated not by selling content and digital works, as they can be freely distributed at almost no cost, but by offering services on top of them. The success of the free software model is one example...

But after Microsoft's request, the statement been changed to:

Increasingly, revenue is generated by offering services on top of contents...

The reason why Microsoft asked? Their answer is:

While we largely agree on the point that more choices should be given to creators and users (and the subsequent conclusions on Creative Commons or Wikipedia) we explicitly disagree on the notion that "increasingly, revenue is generated not by selling content and digital works, as they can be freely distributed at almost no cost, but by offering services on top of them. The success of the Free Software Model is one example" and propose to delete this text part completely, as it contains only an one-sided perspective on the ICT industry. The rationale for this is, that the aim of free software is not to enable a healthy business on software but rather to make it even impossible to make any income on software as a commercial product.

Basically, Microsoft just plainly said that all free softwares are anti-commercial and bad for businesses. But many developers today know this statement is false since there are several successful free softwares that actually make profits for the companies who made them. For example, Red Hat is a for-profit company that developed free softwares (Linux, etc.) and still maintains to bring in profit by offering services on top of those free softwares (as stated by the original document).

It saddens me to see Microsoft propaganda influenced the decision of supposedly-impartial international body. Well, just like what FSFE president Georg Greve said... "Just another monopolist trying to uphold their monopoly by preventing freedom of markets -- which is what Free Software really aims at."

Reducing Firefox's Memory Use?

Federico Mena Quintero proposed a proof-of-concept to reduce Mozilla's memory usage (Firefox is based on Mozilla codes). He used XFree86 on Linux to prove it is possible to reduce Mozilla's memory usage by factor of 5.5.

His method of reducing memory usage is done by dealing with how Mozilla handle images in cache. Right now, both Mozilla and Firefox handle images by uncompressing them and storing them in cache for every open tab. It is designed to give boost to performance (but at the expense of memory). So Quintero proposed to uncompress images and store them in cache, ONLY when the user is looking at the images. Meaning, he proposed to delete uncompressed images and uncompress new images in cache as soon the user scroll away from old images toward new images.

For example, supposed you are looking at a page with 3 large images, and your screen is only big enough for one image at a time. You are looking at image A which is an uncompressed image in your cache. Then you scroll down toward image B. While you are scrolling down, Mozilla will delete uncompressed copy of image A, then uncompress image B for viewing. Then you scroll down even further down to image C. While you are scrolling down, Mozilla will delete uncompressed copy of image B, then uncompress image C. The process are the same when scrolling back up too.

This method successfully reduced memory usage that now (modified) Mozilla doesn't have to keep ALL uncompressed images in cache. Just keep the ones that you are looking at.

However, there are performance hits. Everything you scroll to another image, Mozilla would have to go through uncompressing, painting and deleting processes all over again. Quintero admitted that "Scrolling is a bit jerky if you yank the scrollbar's thumb up and down very quickly. The jerkiness is barely noticeable if you use the scroll wheel or the scrollbar's arrows at about the same rate as you would use while reading a web page."

Unfortunely, some people don't scroll as slow as they read. Sometime I scrolled down really fast just to see what's near the bottom or looking for specific sections (like in Wikipedia or News articles.) So using Quintero's method, it could be painful scrolling down if you scroll down fast or doesn't have fast computer.

But still, it is an interesting read. I am glad to see someone trying to solve Firefox's and Mozilla's memory leak.

Mozilla Firefox Release Candidate 3

Mozilla Firefox Release Candidate 3 is out! It should be ready for software update system. To manually update, go to Help > Check for Updates..., or you rather to wait a day or two for automatic update.

For those who do not have Mozilla Firefox 1.5, get it here. Remember this is not FINAL version, just a release candidate.

Release Note

Windows Genuine Advantage on Firefox

A while ago, if an user want to download a Microsoft product like Microsoft AntiSpyware, they have to pass the "Windows Genuine Advantage" test to prove that they are using a vaild Windows Operating System. It is one of Microsoft's latest attempts to fight Windows privacy. However, the only problem was, to pass the Windows Genuine Advantage test, the users must use Internet Explorer in order to accept Active X control.

Now, not anymore. The Internet Explorer team recently released an Firefox plugin that allow users to use Firefox to pass Windows Genuine Advantage test and download Microsoft products.

Quote from IEBlog:

I talked with Brad Graziadio, the guy who runs the Windows Genuine Advantage team, and he walked me through customer feedback. Basically, customers said “We want to make sure our PCs are running genuine Windows and have access to all the content on the Microsoft Download Center; the experience when we’re running a Mozilla browser is not great. Do something about it.” Brad’s team did. I think that’s a good thing for customers.

It is smart move for Microsoft to start supporting Mozilla Firefox. This is not the first time Microsoft supported Mozilla Firefox. Eariler, they supported Mozilla Firefox for Windows Live beta site.

Back in Action

Sorry guys, been a while since I post anything. I have been terrible busy with many stuffs. Now I'm back in action.