Mozilla Firefox 34.0.5 is released from the Beta and nightly channel on December 01 -
Note to users that in this phase, Mozilla are making significant changes as Yahoo now is Mozilla's cash-cow.
The default search engine for North America is now Yahoo although there are options to manage search engines.
Release Notes:
=========
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/34.0.5/releasenotes/
Download in your lingo:
===============
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/
If Firefox is not your Default Browser - note the new more aggressive settings wanting to be your default Browser.
Govern all of the changes carefully every release for cosmetic and UI changes.
It would seem you can no longer remove a search engine per this Mozilla KB:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/search-bar-add-change-manage-search-engines-firefox
They are now "baked" into the Browser - you may only deselect the search engine, you may not remove it. Some Privacy advocates will not be pleased with these changes. This goes to what I said already in this thread - listen for signal to noise for feedback on Forums such as this in lieu of "auto-majically" updating the software.
Seems like I'm downloading a new version every few days.
Between MS, Adobe, and FF, It seems as if I'm working for the computer instead of it working for me......
It's getting tedious...
Are there any security related trade-offs, if you use the ESR version?
That is why I switched to Pale Moon, Pete. I got sick of the rapid release schedule and the nonsense changes for the sake of change, which, IMO, did not improve the browser.
As to the ESR version, it receives the needed security updates.
Thanks to you fine folks here at Landzdown, I've been using Pale Moon for quite some time now, and I really like it. I also keep Firefox and IE installed, just because. It's interesting that Firefox now wants to force the use of Yahoo. I actually use Yahoo as my home page, so it doesn't really bother me, yet I thought that Firefox was supposed to represent radical independence. Oh well, money talks, I suppose.
Corrine, what does the acronym "ESR" stand for?
ESR = Extended Support Release. That would be the release that most businesses who use the software would have installed.
I imagine a "Clean" installation might have been different but...
My default search engine did not change (still Google).
The search engines that I had deleted remained deleted (E-bay & Amazon).
BUT.. They made it a lot easier to run an individual search with a different engine. Yahoo was actually "second in line" after Wikipedia.
BTW: The "Flashblock" add-on is not compatible with this version.
Disclaimer: I'm using "Classic Theme Restorer", YMMV.
Quote from: Pete! on December 02, 2014, 03:49:23 PM
I imagine a "Clean" installation might have been different but...
My default search engine did not change (still Google).
The search engines that I had deleted remained deleted (E-bay & Amazon).
Same here, default search didn't change. I had previously deleted Yahoo, and it did not return.
At New Search Strategy for Firefox: Promoting Choice & Innovation (https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/11/19/promoting-choice-and-innovation-on-the-web/#more-8413) is is included that Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Amazon, Twitter and Wikipedia continue to be built-in as alternate search options. (Don't be fooled by the "new strategy" words. The more realistic true reason for the change is likely Mozilla reports flat revenue from Google-Firefox search deal (http://www.computerworld.com/article/2850881/mozilla-reports-flat-revenue-from-google-firefox-search-deal.html).)
See also:
Yahoo usurps Google in Firefox search deal (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/20/us-yahoo-firefox-idUSKCN0J32HP20141120)
Mozilla remembers 2013. Y'know, back when it still gobbled at the Google money-trough (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/21/mozilla_2013_annual_report/)
Martin Brinkmann writes Firefox 34 feels rushed (http://www.ghacks.net/2014/12/02/firefox-34-feels-rushed/)
He is correct. It is way past time that Mozilla stopped playing silly games and went back to providing a good alternate browser.
If they want to set Yahoo as the default search, it is not that big a deal to me as long as I can select my own choice for the default and can turn off anything I don't want. And so far you can. I removed Bing some time ago, and they didn't add it back, so thats good too.
But I agree that too many of the changes don't add easier or greater functionality, just moving things around and many time removing choices.