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Mozilla Stops Firefox 64-bit Development
Posted by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 11/23/2012 08:30 AM | 26 comment(s) ]
Weird, It looks like Mozilla has given up on developing Firefox 64-bit and it seems the decision is final.Citing reasons that Firefox 64-bit is a "constant source of misunderstanding and frustration," the engineer wrote that the builds often crash, many plugins are not available in 64-bit versions, and hangs are more common due to a lack of coding which causes plugins to function incorrectly.
Mozilla engineering manager Benjamin Smedberg has asked developers to stop nightly builds forFirefox versions optimized to run on 64-bit versions of Windows.
A developer thread posted on the Google Groupsmozilla.dev.planning discussion board, titled "Turning off win64 builds" by Smedberg proposed the move.
Claiming that 64-bit Firefox is a "constant source of misunderstanding and frustration," the engineer wrote that the builds often crash, many plugins are not available in 64-bit versions, and hangs are more common due to a lack of coding which causes plugins to function incorrectly. In addition, Smedberg argues that this causes users to feel "second class," and crash reports between 32-bit and 64-bit versions are difficult to distinguish between for the stability team.
Users can still run 32-bit Firefox on 64-bit Windows.
Although originally willing to shelve the idea for a time if it proved controversial, Smedberg later, well, shelved that idea:
Thank you to everyone who participated in this thread. Given the existing information, I have decided to proceed with disabling windows 64-bit nightly and hourly builds. Please let us consider this discussion closed unless there is critical new information which needs to be presented.
The engineer then posted a thread titled "Disable windows 64 builds" on Bugzilla, asking developers to "stop building windows [sic] 64 builds and tests." These include the order to stop building Windows 64-bit nightly builds and repatriate existing Windows 64-bit nightly users onto Windows 32-bit builds using a custom update.
In order to stave off argument, even though one participant suggested that 50 percent of nightly testers were using the system, perhaps as an official 64-bit version of Firefox for Windows has never been released, Smedberg said it was "not the place to argue about this decision, which has already been made."
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Mozilla released Firefox 6
(.)(.)
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#4461165 Posted on: 11/23/2012 08:47 AM
Well maybe they should just focus on one browser at a time instead of the many variations that they have. eg: Aurora, Waterfox etc.
Well maybe they should just focus on one browser at a time instead of the many variations that they have. eg: Aurora, Waterfox etc.
Mikedogg
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#4461172 Posted on: 11/23/2012 08:54 AM
Waterfox is being developed independently, same source code, different development.
I think.
Waterfox is being developed independently, same source code, different development.
I think.
(.)(.)
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#4461176 Posted on: 11/23/2012 09:04 AM
Ah, cool. My bad.
Ah, cool. My bad.
Darren Hodgson
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#4461178 Posted on: 11/23/2012 09:05 AM
That is a bit lame really considering that 64-bit operating systems have been around for years now.
True, not that many games and applications are coded as 64-bit either but Internet Explorer and Opera are so it just highlights a weakness in Firefox IMO. Personally, I think the quality of Firefox itself has dropped somewhat since they switched to monthly release cycles. I now find more incompatibility issues and glitches than with any other browser, including Internet Explorer.
That is a bit lame really considering that 64-bit operating systems have been around for years now.
True, not that many games and applications are coded as 64-bit either but Internet Explorer and Opera are so it just highlights a weakness in Firefox IMO. Personally, I think the quality of Firefox itself has dropped somewhat since they switched to monthly release cycles. I now find more incompatibility issues and glitches than with any other browser, including Internet Explorer.
(.)(.)
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#4461181 Posted on: 11/23/2012 09:09 AM
True that, the amount of time FF freezes when i go to download something is a joke, and those muppets at Adobe need to sort out their flashplayer.
Why unless Muppet's has a capital M and a ' is it considered a spelling error
True that, the amount of time FF freezes when i go to download something is a joke, and those muppets at Adobe need to sort out their flashplayer.
Why unless Muppet's has a capital M and a ' is it considered a spelling error
Mikedogg
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#4461182 Posted on: 11/23/2012 09:09 AM
Just a bit of speculation here: but does anyone else think the "tablet genera" is responsible for this?
I haven't had that much experience with tablets but do they even do x64?
Just a bit of speculation here: but does anyone else think the "tablet genera" is responsible for this?
I haven't had that much experience with tablets but do they even do x64?
(.)(.)
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#4461184 Posted on: 11/23/2012 09:12 AM
I dont know but imo tablets and the mobile sector have seen more change/improvements then any other tech of late, so yeah. Lost my trail of thought.
I dont know but imo tablets and the mobile sector have seen more change/improvements then any other tech of late, so yeah. Lost my trail of thought.
JohnMaclane
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#4461192 Posted on: 11/23/2012 09:28 AM
Just a bit of speculation here: but does anyone else think the "tablet genera" is responsible for this?
I haven't had that much experience with tablets but do they even do x64?
They don't, ARM has just recently been talking about developing a 64-bit series of processors.
The point however is that 64-bit is not a do or die feature of a browser, not that I use firefox prefer chrome for its clean interface.
Just a bit of speculation here: but does anyone else think the "tablet genera" is responsible for this?
I haven't had that much experience with tablets but do they even do x64?
They don't, ARM has just recently been talking about developing a 64-bit series of processors.
The point however is that 64-bit is not a do or die feature of a browser, not that I use firefox prefer chrome for its clean interface.
chanw4
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#4461194 Posted on: 11/23/2012 09:33 AM
Just a bit of speculation here: but does anyone else think the "tablet genera" is responsible for this?
I haven't had that much experience with tablets but do they even do x64?
They don't and it doesn't matter. This just shows the firefox developers are not able to produce a working 64bit browser.
Just a bit of speculation here: but does anyone else think the "tablet genera" is responsible for this?
I haven't had that much experience with tablets but do they even do x64?
They don't and it doesn't matter. This just shows the firefox developers are not able to produce a working 64bit browser.
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#4461213 Posted on: 11/23/2012 10:22 AM
Just a bit of speculation here: but does anyone else think the "tablet genera" is responsible for this?
I haven't had that much experience with tablets but do they even do x64?
Wouldn't even make a difference if they were 64 bit, they're mostly ARM based, not x86.
There's like one x86 Atom (Android) phone I've heard of and no tablets. Who knows, in 2 years from now when I'm phablet hunting maybe AMD or Intel will have a decent x86 based one available. Assuming AMD don't decide to quadruple the salaries of their CEOs while firing another 40% of their workforce.
Just a bit of speculation here: but does anyone else think the "tablet genera" is responsible for this?
I haven't had that much experience with tablets but do they even do x64?
Wouldn't even make a difference if they were 64 bit, they're mostly ARM based, not x86.
There's like one x86 Atom (Android) phone I've heard of and no tablets. Who knows, in 2 years from now when I'm phablet hunting maybe AMD or Intel will have a decent x86 based one available. Assuming AMD don't decide to quadruple the salaries of their CEOs while firing another 40% of their workforce.
thatguy91
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#4461237 Posted on: 11/23/2012 11:02 AM
What reason is there not to run x64 Firefox these days? You have x64 Flash, which not having it was the main downside of x64 Firefox previously.
I use a developer preview available here:
http://fbuild.com/
(the one at the very top). Just because I can
. I'm guessing that particular build will cease to exist...
Despite the reasons given, it is much more likely the reasoning for shelving the x64 version is because of the preference of the developers. Some plugins may not work, but these plugins probably aren't in widespread use. Personally I use a persona (which are compatible with x64 Firefox), although the minimise etc buttons look ugly in it because they're the standard Windows ones, which look great in Windows 7, and both Noia buttons and Noia Scrollbars which also work for Firefox x64.
Also the x64 versions are all pre-release versions, so it make sense that there are more reported issues with them!
What reason is there not to run x64 Firefox these days? You have x64 Flash, which not having it was the main downside of x64 Firefox previously.
I use a developer preview available here:
http://fbuild.com/
(the one at the very top). Just because I can
. I'm guessing that particular build will cease to exist...
Despite the reasons given, it is much more likely the reasoning for shelving the x64 version is because of the preference of the developers. Some plugins may not work, but these plugins probably aren't in widespread use. Personally I use a persona (which are compatible with x64 Firefox), although the minimise etc buttons look ugly in it because they're the standard Windows ones, which look great in Windows 7, and both Noia buttons and Noia Scrollbars which also work for Firefox x64.
Also the x64 versions are all pre-release versions, so it make sense that there are more reported issues with them!
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#4461447 Posted on: 11/23/2012 04:32 PM
Firefox is quickly becoming the new IE, and I don't mean that in a good way. It currently seems to be the one with the most problems, the most arrogant devs, and making all sorts of weird decisions. This includes stuff like sloppy hardware acceleration, refusing to use the new Flash plugin API (which would make everyone's life easier if they did), the version number scheme, and repeatedly stating better CPU and ram usage when I hear there is no difference.
Firefox is quickly becoming the new IE, and I don't mean that in a good way. It currently seems to be the one with the most problems, the most arrogant devs, and making all sorts of weird decisions. This includes stuff like sloppy hardware acceleration, refusing to use the new Flash plugin API (which would make everyone's life easier if they did), the version number scheme, and repeatedly stating better CPU and ram usage when I hear there is no difference.
BLEH!
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#4461472 Posted on: 11/23/2012 05:12 PM
Sticking with FF, probably out of stubborn-ness but mainly due to Adblock, Chrome crashing on me every time I watch a Youtube video, IE being IE and Opera lacking Adblock.
Sticking with FF, probably out of stubborn-ness but mainly due to Adblock, Chrome crashing on me every time I watch a Youtube video, IE being IE and Opera lacking Adblock.
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#4461482 Posted on: 11/23/2012 05:25 PM
you can disable chrome integrated flash so it uses the same one than mozilla (should stop crashing).
And chrome already added a good-way to their plugin API so adblockers can block everything.
Imo with that last thing which was missing for a long time (adblockers worked, but no perfect, many times downloading apps and hiding). Except maybe memory usage but well... i have 8gb
Sticking with FF, probably out of stubborn-ness but mainly due to Adblock, Chrome crashing on me every time I watch a Youtube video, IE being IE and Opera lacking Adblock.
you can disable chrome integrated flash so it uses the same one than mozilla (should stop crashing).
And chrome already added a good-way to their plugin API so adblockers can block everything.
Imo with that last thing which was missing for a long time (adblockers worked, but no perfect, many times downloading apps and hiding). Except maybe memory usage but well... i have 8gb
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Well that's a kick in the nuts!
I wonder if this will include Waterfox.