What is going on with the explosion of versions and redesigns?
Why is FF now coming out with new versions monthly and massive redesigns god knows how often? A version used to last a year or two and now it's a month at the most if I'm not mistaken. Maybe no-one's noticed but that's not how other software works. Seems to me like something with so many problems shouldn't be released in the first place.
Modified by arminius1
All Replies (6)
Firefox redesign for some reason
You can Restore to Firefox Classic theme
Firefox has been on a Rapid Release schedule for a few years now, starting with Firefox 6 in Aug 2011.
Yes but I asked why. What makes FF different from pretty much every other program out there? - at least, the couple dozen I use.
Note that another popular browser like Google Chrome behaves in the same way and even needs an update if one of its built-in plugins like Flash need an update. Firefox allows easily to set a lot of options including the update behavior, but in other programs this can be a fixed setting and not easy to modify or you may not even notice this like you do in Firefox.
Having an up-to-date browser that has all the security patches to exposed security flaws is important to minimize the security risks. Big appearance changes like recently with the Australis appearance do not happen that often, but this redesign hasn't finished yet and you will notice more changes in upcoming Firefox releases.
Modified by cor-el
You're mistaken, other browser vendors like Google have the same six week release model. Due to the constant evolution of the web with new web standards and the disclosure of security vulnerabilities and exploits frequent releases are a necessity in this kind of environment. The last major redesign before Firefox 29 has been years ago though...
A bit of searching turns up very large numbers of users who despise the redesigns. I wanted to point this out since the respondents don't seem aware of this.