Things on the Internet happen fast. The web is constantly expanding, evolving, and becoming capable of new and amazing things. Our web browser is literally our window into that ever expanding world and the browser’s capabilities – and maybe even more importantly, it’s limitations – define our experience. So it should come as no surprise that all the major browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and even Microsoft’s Internet Explorer are adopting or have already adopted a faster cycle of updates and new releases for their browser software.
So why is this post just about Firefox?
Because their change from an intentionally slow or at least slower release cycle (about a year between major releases) to a rapid release cycle (6 weeks between releases) is the only one causing significant ripples in certain technology communities. Chrome has always had a rapid release cycle for their updates and inversely Internet Explorer has been so notoriously slow in releasing new versions of their browser that even a faster pace for them is still slow when compared to Chrome (and now Firefox).
The loudest complaints seem to be coming from enterprise IT professionals who see this newly mandated rapid release cycle for Firefox as a serious impediment to maintaining security on the networks they’re responsible for. But they’re not the only ones complaining. There’s also considerable unrest from developers who build add-ons for Firefox that are now finding compatibility issues too difficult to keep up with. Likewise, users of Firefox are experiencing frustration due to constant updates from either Firefox or the developers of the add-ons they have installed. Or, their favorite add-ons simply stop working because of incompatibility issues between old and new versions.
In a seriously reduced and simplistic version of browser history you might read the current drama like this:
First, there was Internet Explorer and everyone in the world used it almost exclusively, including businesses, because it came as the default web browser on PC’s. Eventually some other browser options came along and Mozilla Firefox was arguably one of the best alternatives. Many businesses switched from Internet Explorer to Firefox, or allowed their employees to. At that time, Firefox provided a great alternative and they rolled out their updates and new releases at a pace which allowed many IT departments to keep up with security maintenance and developers to keep their add-ons compatible. This resulted in Firefox becoming popular with both business and personal users.
Then came Google Chrome. They adopted a philosophy of speed and wanted their browser to constantly be in a state of improvement – so they released updates and new versions of their software in what’s called a rapid release cycle, or simply put, very, very fast. Consequently, they started out a little lean and a little buggy but quickly fixed those problems and became one of the “big three” in what many call The Browser Wars.
This philosophy of rapid release cycles that worked so well for Google seemed, to the other major players, to have some merit. After all, if the web is changing shouldn’t the browser be changing to? And if the web is changing fast, shouldn’t the browser do likewise? It would seem that now Mozilla, the creators of Firefox, think so too. And they feel strongly enough about this decision to take the current heat from their critics.
Mitchell Baker, Chair of the Mozilla Foundation, said recently on her blog, “If we want the browser to be the interface for the Internet, we need to make it more like the Internet [read: fast]. That means delivering capabilities when they are ready.” Not a year after they have been developed, as she says earlier in that post had sometimes been the case. She continues by saying if they refuse to adapt and update often then “the browser becomes a limiting factor in what the Internet can do.”
So like it or not, Firefox’ rapid release cycle is here to stay. Chances are you fall into one of the three groups listed below. Check out how this decision affects you and what Firefox is doing to meet your needs.
Enterprise IT Professionals
Mozilla has not been deaf to the complaints of enterprise IT professionals and has in fact released a proposal for an Extended Support Release (ESR) to be made available to enterprise users.
Here is the proposal description as published on MozillaWiki:
Mozilla will offer an Extended Support Release (ESR) based on official releases of Desktop Firefox. Releases will be maintained for seven release cycles (42 weeks), with point releases coinciding with regular Firefox releases.
To permit organizations sufficient time for testing and certification, the ESR will have a two cycle (12 week) overlap between the time of a new release and the end-of-life of the previous release. This will allow organizations to qualify and test against Aurora and Beta builds for twelve weeks leading up to the ESR, and an additional 12 weeks to certify and transition to a new ESR.
Maintenance of each ESR, through point releases, would be limited to high-risk/impact security vulnerabilities and would also include chemspills (off-schedule releases that address live security vulnerabilities). Backports of any functional enhancements and/or stability fixes would not be in scope. At the end of the 30-week support tail the release will be end-of-lifed in conjunction with an updated ESR being offered.
Mozilla will continue to collect additional information on deployment of Firefox in managed environments, and will work with community groups to facilitate adoption of the official releases of Firefox in those environments. Based on the data collected and adoption of the new release process over the course of maintaining the ESR, Mozilla would announce the continuation or impending end-of-life of the program. The initial proposal would be to support a minimum of two ESR releases.
The Development Community
In versions Firefox 4 and later, there are 600 Million add-ons used daily. That number is pretty staggering and even if you’re not a developer yourself, I’m sure you can understand that there are certain challenges that arise when trying to keep 600 Million little programs working together smoothly. Before the recent change of pace this was difficult, but it only happened once a year or so and Mozilla was able to give developers a heads up on what was changing in the new release in time for them to make the necessary changes to their add-ons in order to keep them compatible. Now, with the release cycle so rapid there’s no time to give that crucial heads up and some add-on authors are being left in the dust.
However, just like with the enterprise IT folks, Mozilla is working to meet the needs of this community too. Justin Scott, Leader of the Add-ons Team at Mozilla, recently wrote a detailed blog post describing the challenges the new rapid release cycle has caused and what they’re doing about it.
His full post is well worth a read but the very short answer to “How does Mozilla plan on helping its developer community?” is this three part plan:
- Firefox developers should consider the add-on compatibility impact of every change they make.
- Firefox developers should follow a compatibility notification process to ensure we communicate changes to add-on developers.
- AMO (addons.mozilla.org) will scan hosted add-ons for issues with the new Firefox version and automatically bump their compatibility if none are found.
At the moment, there is an Add-on Compatibility Reporter that helps users notify Mozilla when add-ons are not working.
The Average User
The main complaint from the average user is that their favorite add-ons no longer work and that the updates are driving them insane. Mozilla’s answer to this is that they’re continuing to work with their developer community to smooth the process of updating by maintaining compatibility between releases. They’re also working on silent updates.
Final Thought
With all this focusing on complaints and/or the negative results of this decision by Mozilla it would seem appropriate to close by taking a look to see if this change has resulted in anything positive. According to this post on lifehacker, Firefox 7 has become the second fastest performing browser behind Opera and the fastest out of “the big three”. Other reports also brag of increased security in the form of 11 critical bug fixes. So yes, rest easy Internet, turns out they do know what they’re doing.
About the Author:
Patrick Murphy is the founder and CEO of BrandThunder (BT). With its extreme makeovers for Internet browsers, BT creates persistent engagement between major brands and their online consumers. You can view their theme gallery with Firefox, Chrome and IE browser themes. BT’s new platform, BT:Engage gives everyone the tools to build and share their own browser themes.
Patrick Murphy in Business on October 17
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