I didn't know what went wrong in their meetings, but not focusing on speed definitely was one of the worst decisions, they could have made. I hope they don't continue making big mistakes like that.
Sadly I think the world of Javascript debugging still has some way to go...
"introduced a significantly improved about:memory page with buttons that can manually trigger garbage collection (GC) and cycle collection (CC)... hitting these buttons repeatedly — or by hitting “Minimize memory usage”, which triggers both processes three times in a row — you can reduce Firefox 6′s memory footprint significantly."
Really? Really, guys? That is a wincingly strong code smell. Why is it necessary to press the button more than once? Why is it necessary to press the button at all? I appreciate that it's hard to get all of this working correctly, but that's a clunker of a design - it tells me that this feature does not actually work, but instead kinda-sorta-maybe works. Something like that should, pardon the cliché, Just Work - it is way out of the scope of things you should have to care about while browsing.
The problem with GCs is not that they don't actually work, it's that they are suited to a specific task. If the user is surfing the web and constantly opening/reloading pages, then GC will be ok. However, if you close most of your tabs and only leave a few open, then you might have to tell the computer that you won't be needing more memory soon and that it's welcome to free as much VM as possible. That's what those buttons are for.
In any case, whatever we call as-yet-unreleased features, my views on turning HN into a running commentary on the dev process for submitters' pet projects stand.
I'm glad they're focusing on memory. Better late than never but I see frequent claims similar to these that Chrome isn't that much better or might have a slight advantage which we will catch up soon, blah blah blah.
C'mon guys. When's the last time Firefox put Chrome on the offensive. Playing catchup leaves you several steps behind. When FF7 rolls out next month or whenever this new release cycle comes Chrome might be even faster and snappier.
I still remember when I switched from IE to FF. It was faster, lighter and had more innovative features. Suddenly the web got more exciting. It's the same feeling I had using Chrome only they never dipped below that initial experience.
FF right now is like Elvis' jumpsuit era. Out of shape, lost, struggling with identity, and now about to go on Celebrity Fit Club.
FF is still my primary browser but only for the extensions.
Panorama and GPU acceleration for Firefox 4 come to mind.
This kind of summary is potentially misleading. It isn't like there is a preplanned 'theme' for each release, or that everybody focuses on one thing each time then switches to something else.
Mozilla constantly focuses on several things at once. So there are memory improvements in FF5 and FF6, not just FF7. It isn't as if until FF7 no one cared about memory, which the summary almost implies. (But, it's possible the memory improvements in FF7 are turning out to be bigger than previous ones.)
I realize the article was just doing a quick summary and there's nothing wrong with that. Just wanted to post this comment to avoid possible misunderstandings.
