| Firefox 40 For Windows 10 & For Devs - Update |
| Written by Ian Elliot | |||
| Saturday, 15 August 2015 | |||
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One feature of the recently released Firefox 40, which was supposed to make Firefox easier to install and use on Windows 10, didn't work. Mozilla has now released Firefox 40.0.2, that fixes the problem together with couple of other bugs affecting Firefox on Windows. When Windows 10 launched at the end of July, Mozilla's CEO Chris Beard complained publicly about the way in which Microsoft made it more difficult for users to replace its default browser, Edge. Now with Firefox 40, Mozilla has introduced what it describes as "a fresh new look".
This screen, which is displayed when you download Firefox 40, outlines a streamlined way to make Firefox the default browser in Windows 10 in just three steps. The way it is intended to work is that clicking the Let's do it button opens this System Settings tab:
Then all you have to do is scroll down to find Web browsers, click on the Add button to choose a default and select Firefox. Unfortunately this currently didn't initially work in this way. Instead you were left stranded on a page where inexperienced users will be left wondering what to do. When we first reported this we wrote: Hopefully this will soon be rectified and perform as planned. Mozilla must have been paying attention to user feedback and in the latest release, Firefox 40.0.2, clicking the Let's do it button does make it easy to make Firefox the default browser. The other headline feature for Firefox is making add-ons safer by insisting they are certified. This is something we reported on in February when Mozilla announced that in future Firefox extensions will have to be signed by Mozilla. See Firefox Gets A Walled Garden for why we at I Programmer don't welcome this change. Firefox 40 sees the first step towards its implementation with warnings about extensions that are not signed by Mozilla will display a warning. The plan is that in Firefox 42, Firefox will not allow unsigned extensions to be installed, with no override although in the next stable version, Firefox 41, will have a preference to allow signature enforcement to be disabled.
Extensions are assuming a more important role in Firefox as part of its recently announced "Go Faster" strategy. This is a move towards a continuous delivery model for how Firefox for the desktop is shipped using the add-ons mechanism, which is intended to shorten the time it takes to validate ideas using user feedback and deliver features to users. The new approach involves allowing end users to opt-in to trial experimental features that will enable developers to validate their ideas before they are shipped to all users. This combined with controlled roll-out to test features on a subset of users and using phased rollouts to make sure services scale should enable Mozilla to fix problems in a feature early. The main developer-related features in Firefox 40 are:
Follow the links to learn more about each of them on Firefox Developer Tools.
More InformationFirefox Brings Fresh new Look to Windows 10 and Makes Add-ons Safer Related ArticlesIs Windows 10 Playing Fair - Mozilla Thinks Not
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 15 August 2015 ) |
