News Firefox 3 to be faster than the competition

[Tim S]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/03..._competition/1

Firefox 3.0 beta 4 simultaneously shows jumps in Java performance, while lowering its memory footprint.

[cjoyce1980]

about time too! firefox 2 is a mess

[The Chugnut]

Originally Posted by cjoyce1980

about time too! firefox 2 is a mess

Define "mess."

I think we're using two different programs here.

[ChromeX]

Originally Posted by The Chugnut

Define "mess."

I think we're using two different programs here.

Yeah i've had no problems at all with FF2

[The Chugnut]

Unless that was clever use of sarcasm that somehow went straight over my head. I would feel ashamed. :O

[Firehed]

Originally Posted by The Chugnut

Define "mess."

I think we're using two different programs here.

Everyone's had really mixed experiences with it. Sometimes it would crash all the time for me, and sometimes it ran perfectly for the longest time. For a beta, FF3 seems in very good shape other than my extensions being incompatible.

I never pay attention to memory use though - there are so many factors that go into it, not least of which being how much RAM the system has. All of the systems I use day-to-day now have 4GB, so 150-250MB out of there is not only a fairly small percent, but it wouldn't be used in any other way so if it can speed up the browser then so much the better.

[Kode]

firefox 2 isnt great for memory usage, thats probably what he meant.

Im a PHP Web Developer, and use firefox to develop, as well as any other websites i have open at any one time, before a couple of weeks ago this machine only had 512mb in it, and would frequently freeze as the system was using 600-800mb (plenty of paging going on) with firefox taking up between 300-500mb, its now got 1.2GB in it and is much happier, but firefox is still almost always the number 1 user of memory, at the moment i only have 2 instances open, one with 2 tabs, and one with 6 tabs and its using 146mb, only program beating it is photoshop which is consuming 170mb

[TreeDude]

I have not had a memory issue with FF since version 1.5. FF2 has been great for me. It does use a bit more memory that I would like, but it has been rock solid for me since it came out. I am now using FF3 b4 though. The first 2 betas crashed pretty often, but beta 3 and 4 have been very solid. I am however getting the Vista styled buttons in XP, not sure if that is a bug though.

[HourBeforeDawn]

Personally I prefer FF2 to FF3 but Im sure it will get better also why did they drop the back and forward nav buttons, granted you can just use your keyboard to do this but still wondering or am I over looking it completely?

[Brett89]

I love firefox 3, i'm using it on all my computers, fast. The redesigned UI is different, but now I'm used to it.

[UncertainGod]

If you think FF2 or 3 uses to much memory just set the memory capacity for your machine;

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.cache.memory.capacity

[wuyanxu]

Originally Posted by Firehed

I never pay attention to memory use though - there are so many factors that go into it, not least of which being how much RAM the system has. All of the systems I use day-to-day now have 4GB, so 150-250MB out of there is not only a fairly small percent, but it wouldn't be used in any other way so if it can speed up the browser then so much the better.

yeah, with 4GB, even if Firefox takes up 1GB of space, and Vista takes up 2GB, i've still got 1GB free for even the most demanding game. (Crysis use typically at 1GB, at most, is Dx9 mode, uses 1.5GB)

how's reliability of Beta 3?? shall i upgrade or wait until it's released?

[Nexxo]

I have always used IE as it is good enough (if it ain't broke, don't fix it), but FF3 Beta 4 is admirably fast when dealing with Java-based page-apps like Gmail. I may be tempted to convert.

[naokaji]

Originally Posted by Nexxo

I have always used IE as it is good enough (if it ain't broke, don't fix it), but FF3 Beta 4 is admirably fast when dealing with Java-based page-apps like Gmail. I may be tempted to convert.

Come to the dark side and give opera a try, we have a cookies.

[Solidus]

I do prefer firefox over internet explorer definately but it has issues. It has crashed numerous times on websites and wont respond - The nvidia website is one i can recall from the top of my head and restarting the explorer or computer didnt fix it either.
I have both explorers - Internet and firefox installed and i use internet explorer only when firefox screws up a page which happens often enough for me to warrant to keep it.

Im looking forward to FF3 however and hope these issues dissappear!

[phuzz]

Been running FF3 since B1 (mind you, I started using Phoenix at 0.6 as my daily browser so...) an loving it, the only downside for me has been the lack of plug in support (Google Browser Sync I'm looking at you!). The speed is there, it's stable (for me at least on XP and Vista), and the new Places features are nice.

Wish they hadn't stuck those bloody vista buttons on it in B4 though

[Cupboard]

I have a strange problem with Firefox that causes music from Foobar to sometimes jutter. A quick restart of FF sorts it out and it only occurs when I have had lots of tabs open for ages (like around 20). It is still a bit worrying though. It never uses more than 300MB of RAM though.

[Hamish]

FF2 never crashes on me but it does do some weird **** sometimes
sometimes it likes to think i've got a US keyboard layout all of a sudden, which isquite annoying

however decided to try ff3 b4 and see if enough of my extensions work on it yet, turns out they do
and woah, it really is a lot faster
its actually noticeable, maybe my ff2 was just really bogged down or something but do want!

[UncertainGod]

Originally Posted by phuzz

Wish they hadn't stuck those bloody vista buttons on it in B4 though

The new rss Icons are awful to look at, I wonder if there is a 'classic' theme available yet...

[Anakha]

I'm sitting here using the FF nightlies (Updated each night with the very bleedingest version). It's just getting better and better, IMHO.