Firefox is not responsible for any add-ons updates. It's up to individual add-on developers to update their add-ons to make it compatible with FF 4. These developers have lots of time to update them before FF 4 became available to the public. If the developers decide not to update their add-ons, there's nothing Mozilla can do about that. But sooner or later, you'll find them to be updated, or you can find some alternatives which will work with FF 4. For example, I have Color Tabs and 1-Click Weather which were not compatible with FF 4, but after a day or so, I found the updated versions and now they are working perfectly with FF 4. You just have to be patient.

Yes, I appreciate that; it takes time for plug-ins and add-ons to come along.

However, more importantly, FF4 has been under beta testing for a long time now and some of the issues about the basic functioning of FF4 core engine and user interface have been missed. Some other basic features have been omitted, more in the name of 'progress' than over concerns of obsolescence. It ain't faster that FF3.6 it is slower, and still it offers little more real front-end functionality than FF3.6. It seems like change for change's sake. The because the supposed benefits are outweighed by a series of very apparent minor niggles that could have easily been fixed with a little more time and effort. There may have been a lot of work at the 'back-end' overcoming vulnerabilities, etc, but the user interface is what users see and, ahem, 'use'.

But the most crucial issue is that, whatever the 'issues' are with FF4, the ability to successfully roll back to a previous version appears to be lacking. Any roll-out of a new version should be accompanied by a satisfactory, effective, trouble-free roll-back.

I don't like it, I don't want it anymore but I am now lumbered with it unless I really do start tinkering with files and profiles and so forth. I ain't no computer dummy, I could sort it all out if I put my mind to it. However I have already wasted too many precious hours trying to fix problems. Someone with less knowledge and ability than us will just have to put up and shut up . . .

So I'll shut up and switch to IE8~9 until I see FF4.6 come along with a better feature-set more intelligently implemented.

Thanks for the response: rant over ;-)

You can get Firefox 3.6.16 here:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html

Re-installing FF3.6 loses bookmarks and other personal settings. The only way to successfully roll back seems to be to save certain files, delete others and cast invocations and spells before uninstalling FF4. Then it is claimed that when downloading FF3.6 everythhing is installed 'hunky-dory'. I am not convinced, I tried it, it is confusing and only partly successful.

I am not prepared to take the chance that this will work, unless there is clearer guidance. Most instructions about simply uninstalling FF4 beta do not provide clear and concise information.

Also, the information on how to successfully roll back is scattered and there are apparently others, like me, who tried it once only to encounter problems. Rolling forwards again to FF4 recovered bookmarks and setting (fortunately), but at a cost of several hours work and frayed nerves.

This is unacceptable. As I said before "Any roll-out of a new version should be accompanied by a satisfactory, effective, trouble-free roll-back ".

Thanks for telling me how I can roll this back. This new approach to FF with version 4 is one of the most poorly planned designs I have seen in many years. The interface change is completely undesirable. If this is how FF will be moving forward, the I will need to seek another browser. It is quite clear that either someone was asleep at the wheel, or an inexperienced developer somehow got into the mix. Hopefully this will reach the ears of some of the more seasoned developers.

To be fair - I have been using FF4 for a while now and have eventually worked out how to do most things. Initially, many features seem to be more opaque than in earlier versions and the help system is less clear in places. However, most of what I need is indeed available, even if renamed, relocated and sometimes counter-intuitive.