Having only just sat at Starbucks to do some programming and cleaning out my desktop (I let far too many files accumulate) I accessed the free WiFi and launched Firefox only to see the above dialog presenting me with a NoScript update. Problem is, I’m connected to the WiFi hotspot but not to the open internet! Spooked out stuff.
Hasn’t yet been officially announced, but is already available from the Mozilla Firefox FTP servers.
This picture was originally from my blog post about Monnie’s MonnieCakes.com (which I couldn’t go to because I had an exam the next day and had to study, ugh!), but it demonstrates how I use tab thingys. It’ll make sense after you read this post, trust me. I hope :).
Hehe Safari 4.0.4… I suppose if it doesn’t download properly you get a 404 error? HA!
Moving on, I just finished downloading the new Safari 4.0.4 release. Reviewed in one sentence: its one slick, fast browser. As I said on MacRumors though (and was promptly ignored) there’s still one huge reason why I can’t use it.
As I said with the Ghostery Firefox extension back in May (Ghostery Mozilla Firefox extension review), it bowls me over when I go to some sites to see just how much sneaky crap is going on behind the scenes, and how most people simply have no idea. With NoScript, I’m starting to see the same thing, and it’s rapidly getting much worse.
With Mozilla’s recent blocking of Microsoft’s vulnerable .NET plugin for Firefox on Windows I’ve mostly read positive comments from people on blogs, news sites, Twitter and so forth, but there are a few who it seems the move has rubbed the wrong way.
Whenever Mozilla has released an update for the Firefox 3.0 series recently they’ve advised us on the Welcome screen and in popups that we should consider moving up to the Firefox 3.5 series, but as far as I know the welcome screen for their latest Firefox 3.0.14 update is the first where they imply sticking with the 3.0 series may be a security risk.
The University of South Australia which I am attending for university (surprising though it may seem) recently updated their MyUniSA student home page with more information and swishier graphics. So far I’m liking it to the extent that it’s good to have something new to look at after seeing the same thing for ages, and I like being able to define my own links and see the weather on the sidebar.
Unfortunately they’re still using the dreadful Outlook Web Access interface for email which only works in it’s enhanced mode in Internet Explorer 6 (ugh, don’t get me started!) and granted I’m sure very few of their users use Opera but the menubar looks a bit messed up even in version 10. The latter I can live with, but they really, really, REALLY need to ditch Outlook Web Access.
Nicole Loux on the Mozilla blog announced today a series of security fixes for Firefox which are now available for download, bringing their two current supported streams up to 3.5.3 and 3.0.14. If you use Firefox, you’ll want to update yourself ASASP [sic].
Perhaps even bigger news (and I can’t find the gosh darn link where I read this) is Mozilla might be officially retiring support for the Firefox 3.0.x series 30 days. For those of us holding back on upgrading to 3.5.x due to severe stability problems, we knew this day would come, but nonetheless it is disconcerting. As soon as I find out where I read this I’ll post the link.
I’ll be upgrading my machines to 3.0.14 and will continue to use it for as long as it’s supported. I’m hoping by the time it comes to upgrade to the 3.5.x series it’ll be more usable. If not, I might have to start looking for alternatives to my privacy and security plugins on other browsers. Might end up going back to zippy Camino on the Mac, not sure about FreeBSD and Debian.
Decided to try Firefox 3.5.2 again now that I formatted and installed Snow Leopard fresh on my machine. Took even less time to crash this time. Back to 3.0.13 again.
The problem is Firefox is often shown as the poster child for the free and open source software movement and an alternative to unstable, slow and expensive software with vendor lockin. They’re not doing the cause much good with these repeated problems.
It’s affecting lots and lots of people on Windows, Mac and *nix, but fortunately it’s not affecting everybody who uses it.
I'm Ruben Schade, welcome to my labour of love mix of tech, anime, thoughts and nonsense from Singapore and Australia. Thanks for stopping by.
I'm also on Twitter, Flickr, Google Reader and lots more places.
