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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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 TECH REVIEW 
20

Firefox Loses Some of Its Edge: Mossberg

It's not the fastest browser anymore

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(Newser) – Mozilla's Firefox is still good, but it doesn't stand out as much as it used to, Walter S. Mossberg writes in the Wall Street Journal. The latest edition of the web browser, version 3.5, works well on both PCs and Macs, but "Firefox has lost its traditionally biggest advantage: greater speed than its rivals." In tests, Mossberg found that it often lagged behind Safari 4.02 and Chrome 2.0.

Second, the new Firefox doesn't include many new features, and "some of them are merely catch-ups to those introduced earlier by Microsoft and Apple." Private browsing mode, for instance, lets you surf the web without leaving tracks—a feature Safari and market leader Internet Explorer already have. Other additions: Firefox 3.5 lets you "forget” any page you've visited, "wiping out all traces you’ve been there," and recovers open tabs if you crash.

Screenshot-????????? Mozilla Firefox
Screenshot-????????? Mozilla Firefox   (©phisite)
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20 comments
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Timinator2K
Jul 16, 09 10:15 AM CDT
Yeah, I hate waiting for FF3.5 so, until it shows up, I launch Chrome and there it is. Reply
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-5
IN RESPONSE:
2-bits
Jul 16, 09 10:28 AM CDT
You won't have to wait long, 3.5 was released June 30th.
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+3
IN RESPONSE:
2-bits
Jul 16, 09 10:29 AM CDT
Okay, I misread that comment, ha ha.
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+2
ReadLessKnowMore
Jul 16, 09 10:27 AM CDT
I've noticed even Opera to be a little faster. Reply
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-3
IN RESPONSE:
Ioptout
Jul 16, 09 10:49 AM CDT
Opera is faster by a significant amount however, Firefox you can save more time by the obvious better tabbing function. For instance, if I am on the homepage of newser I can open all of the articles I want to read by right-clicking and it won't switch my page. It's isn't convenient for Opera to make me switch my page when I am trying to open a new page. Each time, when I want to open 25 pages from a home page, I know it will be far to frustrating in Opera. ---- I end up saving more time in Firefox in the long run.
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+2

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