MetaChat - Why do the smart folks at Mozilla do this?

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29 March 2009

Why do the smart folks at Mozilla do this? →[More:] Every few months I will see this note that Firefox has been updated. When I restart, all my add-ons are found to be incompatible and I have to wait a couple of weeks before the developers write an update.

Why? I thought the folks at Mozilla would be savvy enough to release a new version to all the add-on developers, give them time to write an upgrade, and then release it to the rest of us?

None of these small updates seem vital enough that end users must have right away but they break almost every single add-on.

anyone else wonder the same thing?

post by: special-k at: 19:56 | 14 comments

I don't have an answer to your question but if you want to keep using your add-ons after an incompatible upgrade, install the "nightly tester tools" add-on. It'll let you force install your add-ons which in my experience almost always then work.

posted by octothorpe 29 March | 20:01

Heck, I was still waiting for some add-ons to be updated for use with the last version. Oh well, I guess I will just give up on add-ons altogether.

posted by Ardiril 29 March | 20:23

To me, Firefox without my extensions would not be worth using!

I think the reason Mozilla doesn't sit on their updates is because they often involve security enhancements. To delay release could be risky for users (and by extension for Mozilla.)

I don't find my extensions ever become incompatible, though. Maybe there are more popular/better extensions for the things you're trying to accomplish with your current choices?

posted by loiseau 29 March | 20:45

I don't have this problem anymore. Maybe you just need better add-ons.

posted by Eideteker 29 March | 21:05

They actually have advance betas available for a long time before they go live with the upgrades. Sometimes for months. For instance, I'm currently typing this on an advance beta of FF for Macs that incorporates multi-touch gestures for navigating. I've been using it for months, and I guarantee you there will be extensions that still aren't current when they go live with it. It's not Mozilla's fault if your favorite extension isn't ready for upgrade.

posted by middleclasstool 29 March | 22:26

Yeah, since I started sticking to a minimum set of well-maintained extensions (for me, it's Adblock Plus, Noscript, Greasemonkey and Compact Menu), I don't seem to have this problem as much, for what that's worth.

posted by box 29 March | 22:47

I refuse to update because my add-ons make Mozilla for me. I don't use Mozilla for all the time surfing, only some websites.

posted by dabitch 30 March | 07:00

It's not Mozilla's job to worry about what third-party developers do. Like loiseau said, it's Mozilla's job to worry about security, and get the updates out quickly. The developers can catch up when the dust settles.

posted by gc 30 March | 10:56

There's definitely a balance to be struck between compatibility and security.

When FF3 was released, I had to regression test all my add-ons, and still even as of today, enough are broken that I will not upgrade.

posted by NucleophilicAttack 30 March | 12:11

Ah, for crying out loud, couldn't they have at least autoloaded Adobe Reader? The thing is, I was sure that I had checked the option to prevent Firefox from updating.

posted by Ardiril 30 March | 14:37

Oh, great. Can't read pdf's at all now. Back to IE...

posted by Ardiril 30 March | 14:43

After a little fishing around, I got this message from the latest version of Adobe Reader: "Not compatible with Firefox 3.0.8."

posted by Ardiril 30 March | 14:57

Ardiril, why aren't you using Foxit Reader? It's far, far less bloaty than Adobe Reader. Loads .pdfs in a second.

posted by essexjan 30 March | 15:27

Oh, and it's free, despite what the website might suggest.

posted by essexjan 30 March | 15:28

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