Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

The most popular open source web browser, Firefox, looks to have a bit of a change of plans.  Mozilla had originally intended to release the next major update, Firefox 3.6 before the end of 2009, and now it looks like that won’t be happening.  The delay in 3.6 seems to have also pushed back the next major update, Firefox 4.0.

Firefox 3.6 is currently in the final stages of beta, and is scheduled now to be released in the first quarter of 2010.  That short delay is pushing the next big update, 4.0 into late 2010 or early 2011.  Firefox 4.0 will move the browser to being more like Chrome.  The interface as of now is on track to be changed to mimic that of Google’s browser.  It wil also feature an update to the Gecko rendering engine that will bring greater HTML5 and CSS3 support.  Jetpack and possibly Weave will also be built into Firefox 4.0, as well as a new project called Electrolysis.  Electrolysis will give each aspect of the browser a different process, making it so individual tabs will not crash the browser just like Chrome.

With the introduction of Chrome, and the steps Mozilla is taking for Firefox 4.0, the new browser wars look to be quite exciting.  Google seems to be pushing the others into doing improving their browsers in a variety of ways.  Multiple processes for multiple tabs can be a great idea so you don’t lose anything inside a tab that isn’t causing the problem.  Hopefully Apple and Microsoft can update their browsers in much the same way and provide browsers that are as nice as Firefox 4.0 could be and Chrome is.

Read [WebMonkey]