Mozilla: Some Mac Users Will Not Get Firefox 4 Final
Mozilla program manager Mike Beltzner has noted that the next version of Firefox is not supported by PowerPC computers. The update will not offered automatically to users of PPC Macs, going by Beltzner’s post.
In response to a tester’s acknowledgement that Firefox 4.0 beta 4 build 3 was inoperable on old Powerbooks, Mike Beltzner said “This is known.”
“Bugs are on file, and the update will not be offered to PPC users,” he added.
Beltzner went on to elaborate: “I am gathering data on the number of PPC users we have, but the likely outcome is that we will not be supporting PPC for Firefox 4. More on that as I get the data,” he said.
“We do have tests running on PPC, but nobody seems to be looking at them,” Mike concluded.
It is known that two separate technologies in Firefox 4 are standing in the way of a PowerPC build.
One of them is the OOPP isolated plugin system. This prevents browser extensions from slowing down the browser.
Then there is the just-in-time (JIT) compiler for the new JaegerMonkey JavaScript engine. This is supposed to speed up JavaScript compilation.
Neither of the two standards are being tested with PPC machines in mind.
New additions in Firefox 4 Beta 4 (the latest version available for download), include a new feature that gives users a visual overview of all open tabs. This allows users to sort out their tabs by groups.
Used to be called Tab Candy, the function is now referred to as “Firefox Panorama,” according to developer Aza Raskin, who designed the tool.
An experimental API is also included in the new release. It provides more efficient Javascript animations, Mozilla says.
Additionally, the browser now supports the HTML5 video “buffered” property, while Firefox Sync is now included by default.
Firefox 4 Beta 4 is available in 39 languages, and incorporates all the changes from the previous beta. Softpedia readers can download the latest beta and stable versions of the browser using the link below.
Source:news.softpedia.com