Mozilla Firefox

Firefox 12 on Windows 7
Developer(s)	Mozilla Corporation Mozilla Foundation
Initial release	November 9, 2004; 7 years ago  (2004-11-09)
Stable release	12.0  (April 24, 2012; 2 months ago  (2012-04-24))[1] [+/−]
Preview release	13.0 Beta 7  (June 1, 2012; 25 days ago  (2012-06-01))[2] [+/−]
Written in	C/C++, JavaScript,[3] CSS,[4][5] XUL, XBL
Operating system	Microsoft Windows Mac OS X Linux
Engine	Gecko
Size	15 MB – Windows[6] 31 MB – Mac OS X[6] 17 MB – Linux[6] 75 MB – source code[6]
Available in	86 locales (78 languages)[7]
Development status	Active
Type	Web browser
License	MPL, GNU GPL or GNU LGPL[8]
Website	www.mozilla.org/firefox

(category)
Contents
Firefox 5 and higher Firefox 4 Firefox 3 · 3.5 · 3.6 Firefox 2 Firefox 1.5 History of Firefox Features of Firefox Gecko Add-ons Extensions Firefox market adoption
Origins and lineage
Netscape Navigator Mozilla Foundation Mozilla Suite
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Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source^[9] web browser developed for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux coordinated by Mozilla Corporation and Mozilla Foundation. Firefox uses the Gecko layout engine to render web pages, which implements current and anticipated web standards.^[10] As of May 2012^[update], Firefox has approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers, making it the third most widely used web browser.^[11][12][13] The browser has had particular success in Indonesia, Germany and Poland, where it is the most popular browser with 67%,^[14] 50%^[15] and 44%^[16] of the market share respectively.

History[link]

The Firefox project began as an experimental branch of the Mozilla project by Dave Hyatt, Joe Hewitt and Blake Ross. They believed the commercial requirements of Netscape's sponsorship and developer-driven feature creep compromised the utility of the Mozilla browser.^[17] To combat what they saw as the Mozilla Suite's software bloat, they created a stand-alone browser, with which they intended to replace the Mozilla Suite. On April 3, 2003, the Mozilla Organization announced that they planned to change their focus from the Mozilla Suite to Firefox and Thunderbird.^[18]

The Firefox project has undergone several name changes. Originally titled Phoenix, it was renamed because of trademark problems with Phoenix Technologies. The replacement name, Firebird, provoked an intense response from the Firebird free database software project.^[19][20][21] In response, the Mozilla Foundation stated that the browser should always bear the name Mozilla Firebird to avoid confusion with the database software. After further pressure from the database server's development community, on February 9, 2004, Mozilla Firebird became Mozilla Firefox,^[22] often referred to as simply Firefox. Mozilla prefers that Firefox be abbreviated as Fx or fx, though it is often abbreviated as FF.^[23] The Firefox project went through many versions before version 1.0 was released on November 9, 2004.

Features[link]

Features include tabbed browsing, spell checking, incremental find, live bookmarking, smart bookmarks, a download manager, private browsing, location-aware browsing (also known as "geolocation") based on a Google service^[24] and an integrated search system that uses Google by default in most localizations. Functions can be added through extensions, created by third-party developers,^[25] of which there is a wide selection, a feature that has attracted many of Firefox's users.

Additionally, Firefox provides an environment for web developers in which they can use built-in tools, such as the Error Console or the DOM Inspector, or extensions, such as Firebug.

Standards[link]

The results of the Acid3 test (as of September 2011) on Firefox 7.0

Firefox implements many web standards, including HTML4 (partial HTML5), XML, XHTML, MathML, SVG 1.1 (partial),^[26] CSS (with extensions),^[27] ECMAScript (JavaScript), DOM, XSLT, XPath, and APNG (Animated PNG) images with alpha transparency.^[28] Firefox also implements standards proposals created by the WHATWG such as client-side storage,^[29][30] and canvas element.^[31]

Firefox has passed the Acid2 standards-compliance test since version 3.0^[32]. Mozilla had originally stated that they did not intend for Firefox to pass the Acid3 test fully because they believed that the SVG fonts part of the test had become outdated and irrelevant, due to WOFF being agreed upon as a standard by all major browser makers.^[33] Because the SVG font tests were removed from the Acid3 test in September 2011, Firefox 4 and greater scored 100/100.^[34][35]

Firefox also implements^[36] a proprietary protocol^[37] from Google called "safebrowsing" (used to exchange data related with "phishing and malware protection").

Security[link]

This section's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help improve the article by updating it. There may be additional information on the talk page. (April 2012)

Firefox uses a sandbox security model,^[38] and limits scripts from accessing data from other web sites based on the same origin policy.^[39] It uses SSL/TLS to protect communications with web servers using strong cryptography when using the HTTPS protocol.^[40] It also provides support for web applications to use smartcards for authentication purposes.^[41]

The Mozilla Foundation offers a "bug bounty" (up to 3000 USD cash reward and a Mozilla T-shirt) to researchers who discover severe security holes in Firefox.^[42] Official guidelines for handling security vulnerabilities discourage early disclosure of vulnerabilities so as not to give potential attackers an advantage in creating exploits.^[43]

Because Firefox generally has fewer publicly known unpatched security vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer (see Comparison of web browsers), improved security is often cited as a reason to switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox.^{[44][45][46][47]} The Washington Post reports that exploit code for known, critical unpatched security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer was available for 284 days in 2006. In comparison, exploit code for known, critical security vulnerabilities in Firefox was available for 9 days before Mozilla issued a patch to remedy the problem.^[48]

A 2006 Symantec study showed that, although Firefox had surpassed other browsers in the number of vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities that year through September, these vulnerabilities were patched far more quickly than those found in other browsers – Firefox's vulnerabilities were fixed on average one day after the exploit code was made available, as compared to nine days for Internet Explorer.^[49] Symantec later clarified their statement, saying that Firefox still had fewer security vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer, as counted by security researchers.^[50]

InfoWorld has cited security experts saying that as Firefox becomes more popular, more vulnerabilities will be found,^[51] a claim that Mitchell Baker, president of the Mozilla Foundation, has denied: "There is this idea that market share alone will make you have more vulnerabilities. It is not relational at all."^[52]

In October 2009, Microsoft's security engineers acknowledged that Firefox was vulnerable since February of that year due to a .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 Windows update that silently installed a buggy 'Windows Presentation Foundation' plug-in into Firefox.^[53] This vulnerability has since been patched by Microsoft.^[54]

As of February 11, 2011, Firefox 3.6 had no (known) unpatched security vulnerabilities according to Secunia.^[55] Internet Explorer 8 had five unpatched security vulnerabilities, the worst being rated "Less Critical" by Secunia.^[56]

All patched vulnerabilities of Mozilla products are publicly listed.^[57]

Telemetry[link]

When Firefox is upgraded to version 7.0, an information bar will appear asking users whether they would like to send performance statistics (also known as “telemetry”) to Mozilla. According to Mozilla's privacy policy,^[58] these statistics are stored only in aggregate format, and the only personally-identifiable information transmitted is the user's IP address.

Localizations[link]

Firefox is a heavily localized web browser. The first official release in November 2004 was available in 24 different languages and for 28 locales, including British English/American English, European Spanish/Argentine Spanish and Chinese in Traditional Chinese characters/Simplified Chinese characters.^[59] Currently supported versions 10.0.4 and 12.0 are available for 85 locales (77 languages)^[60] and 86 locales (78 languages)^[7] respectively.

Licensing[link]

Firefox source code is free software. Most of it is tri-licensed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL), the GNU General Public License (GPL) and the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).^[8] These licenses permit anyone to view, modify, and/or redistribute the source code, and several publicly released applications have been built on it; for example, Netscape, Flock, Miro, Iceweasel, and Songbird make use of code from Firefox.

In the past, Firefox was licensed solely under the MPL,^[61] which the FSF (Free Software Foundation) criticizes for being weak copyleft; the license permits, in limited ways, proprietary derivative works. Additionally, code only licensed under the MPL cannot legally be linked with code under the GPL.^[62][63] To address these concerns, Mozilla re-licensed most of Firefox under the tri-license scheme of MPL, GPL, or LGPL. Since the re-licensing, developers have been free to choose the license under which they will receive most of the code, to suit their intended use: GPL or LGPL linking and derivative works when one of those licenses is chosen, or MPL use (including the possibility of proprietary derivative works) if they choose the MPL.^[61]

Trademark and logo[link]

The name "Mozilla Firefox" is a registered trademark; along with the official Firefox logo, it may only be used under certain terms and conditions. Anyone may redistribute the official binaries in unmodified form and use the Firefox name and branding for such distribution, but restrictions are placed on distributions which modify the underlying source code.^[64] The name "Firefox" derives from a nickname of the red panda.^[65]

Mozilla has placed the Firefox logo files under open-source licenses,^[66][67] but its trademark guidelines do not allow displaying altered^[68] or similar logos^[69] in contexts where trademark law applies.

There has been some controversy over the Mozilla Foundation's intentions in stopping certain open source distributions from using the "Firefox" trademark.^[9] Mozilla Foundation Chairperson Mitchell Baker explained in an interview in 2007 that distributions could freely use the Firefox trademark if they did not modify source-code, and that the Mozilla Foundation's only concern was with users getting a consistent experience when they used "Firefox".^[70]

To allow distributions of the code without using the official branding, the Firefox source code contains a "branding switch". This switch allows the code to be compiled without the official logo and name, for example to produce a derivative work unencumbered by restrictions on the Firefox trademark (this is also often used for alphas of future Firefox versions). In the unbranded compilation the trademarked logo and name are replaced with a freely distributable generic globe logo and the name of the release series from which the modified version was derived.

Distributing modified versions of Firefox under the "Firefox" name requires explicit approval from Mozilla for the changes made to the underlying code, and requires the use of all of the official branding. For example, it is not permissible to use the name "Firefox" without also using the official logo. When the Debian project decided to stop using the official Firefox logo in 2006 (because Mozilla's copyright restrictions at the time were incompatible with Debian's guidelines), they were told by a representative of the Mozilla Foundation that this was not acceptable, and were asked either to comply with the published trademark guidelines or cease using the "Firefox" name in their distribution.^[71] Ultimately, Debian switched to branding their modified version of Firefox "Iceweasel", along with other Mozilla software.

Branding and visual identity[link]

Early Firebird and Phoenix releases of Firefox were considered to have had reasonable visual designs, but were not up to the same standards as many professionally released software packages. In October 2003, professional interface designer Steven Garrity wrote an article covering everything he considered to be wrong with Mozilla's visual identity.^[72] The page received a great deal of attention; the majority of criticism leveled at the article fell along the lines of "where's the patch?"^{[citation needed]}

Blue globe artwork is distributed with Firefox source code, and is explicitly not protected as a trademark^[73]

Shortly afterwards, Garrity was invited by the Mozilla Foundation to head up the new visual identity team. The release of Firefox 0.8 in February 2004 saw the introduction of the new branding efforts, including new icon designs by silverorange, a group of web developers with a long-standing relationship with Mozilla, with final renderings by Jon Hicks, who had previously worked on Camino.^[74][75] The logo was later revised and updated, fixing several flaws found when it was enlarged.^[76]

The animal shown in the logo is a stylized fox, although "firefox" is considered to be a common name for the red panda. The panda, according to Hicks, "didn't really conjure up the right imagery" and wasn't widely known.^[75] The logo was chosen to make an impression while not shouting out with overdone artwork. It had to stand out in the user's mind, be easy for others to remember, and stand out without causing too much distraction when seen among other icons.

The Firefox icon is a trademark used to designate the official Mozilla build of the Firefox software and builds of official distribution partners.^[77] For this reason, Debian and other software distributors who distribute patched or modified versions of Firefox do not use the icon. The crash reporting service was initially closed source, but switched with version 3 from a program called Talkback to the open source BreakPad & Socorro. Other logos are also used for specific versions of the software or its derivatives:

• 

  The current Aurora logo (alpha/pre-beta)

• 

  The current "nightly" logo (experimental/pre-alpha)

• 

  Minefield logo (former name for "nightly" Firefox)

Promotion[link]

The rapid adoption of Firefox, 100 million downloads in its first year of availability,^[78] followed a series of aggressive marketing campaigns starting in 2004 with a series of events Blake Ross and Asa Dotzler called "marketing weeks".^[79]

On September 12, 2004,^[80] a marketing portal dubbed "Spread Firefox" (SFX) debuted along with the Firefox Preview Release, creating a centralized space for the discussion of various marketing techniques. A two-page ad in the December 16 edition of the New York Times, placed by Mozilla Foundation in coordination with Spread Firefox, featured the names of the thousands of people worldwide who contributed to the Mozilla Foundation's fundraising campaign to support the launch of the Firefox 1.0 web browser.^[81] SFX portal enhanced the "Get Firefox" button program, giving users "referrer points" as an incentive. The site lists the top 250 referrers. From time to time, the SFX team or SFX members launch marketing events organized at the Spread Firefox website. As a part of the Spread Firefox campaign, there was an attempt to break the world download record with the release of Firefox 3.^[82]

The "World Firefox Day" campaign started on July 15, 2006,^[83] the third anniversary of the founding of the Mozilla Foundation,^[84] and ran until September 15, 2006.^[85] Participants registered themselves and a friend on the website for nomination to have their names displayed on the Firefox Friends Wall, a digital wall that will be displayed at the headquarters of the Mozilla Foundation.

In December 2007, Mozilla launched Live Chat, a service allowing users to seek technical support from volunteers. Because Live chat is kept running by volunteers, it is only available when they are online.^[86]

On February 21, 2008 in honor of reaching 500 million downloads, the Firefox community celebrated by visiting FreeRice to earn 500 million grains of rice.^[87]

Some of Firefox's contributors made a crop circle of the Firefox logo in an oat field near Amity, Oregon, near the intersection of Lafayette Highway and Walnut Hill Road.^[88]

In February 2011, Mozilla announced that it would be retiring Spread Firefox (SFX). Three months later, in May 2011, Mozilla officially closed Spread Firefox. Mozilla wrote that "there are currently plans to create a new iteration of this website [Spread Firefox] at a later date."^[89]

Reception[link]

Usage share of web browsers (March 2012 – StatCounter)

Usage share of web browsers according to StatCounter.

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Forbes.com called Firefox the best browser in a 2004 commentary piece,^[90] and PC World named Firefox "Product of the Year" in 2005 on their "100 Best Products of 2005" list.^[91] After the release of Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 7 in 2006, PC World reviewed both and declared that Firefox was the better browser.^[92] Which? Magazine named Firefox its "Best Buy" web browser.^[93] In 2008, CNET compared Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer in their "Battle of the Browsers" in terms of performance, security, and features, where Firefox was selected as a favorite.^[94] In February 2012, Tom's Hardware compared Safari 5.1.2, Google Chrome 17, Mozilla Firefox 10, Opera 11.61 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 on both Ubuntu 11.10 and Windows 7 OS (Internet Explorer & Safari excluded from Ubuntu because of OS availability) in a "Web Browser Grand Prix". They concluded, that based on performance, Chrome 17 was selected as their favorite on the Ubuntu OS – but they also concluded that on Windows OS, Firefox 10 was their favorite.^[95]

Performance[link]

In December 2005, Internet Week ran an article in which many readers reported high memory usage in Firefox 1.5.^[96] Mozilla developers said that the higher memory use of Firefox 1.5 was at least partially due to the new fast backwards-and-forwards (FastBack) feature.^[97] Other known causes of memory problems were malfunctioning extensions such as Google Toolbar and some older versions of Adblock,^[98] or plug-ins, such as older versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader.^[99] When PC Magazine compared memory usage of Firefox 2, Opera 9, and Internet Explorer 7, they found that Firefox used approximately as much memory as the other two browsers.^[100]

Softpedia noted that Firefox 1.5 took longer to start up than other browsers,^[101] which was confirmed by further speed tests.^[102] IE 6 launched more swiftly than Firefox 1.5 on Windows XP since many of its components were built into the OS and loaded during system startup. As a workaround for the issue, a preloader application was created that loaded components of Firefox on startup, similar to Internet Explorer.^[103] A Windows Vista feature called SuperFetch performs a similar task of preloading Firefox if it is used often enough.

Tests performed by PC World and Zimbra in 2006 indicated that Firefox 2 used less memory than Internet Explorer 7.^[92][104] Firefox 3 used less memory than Internet Explorer 7, Opera 9.50 Beta, Safari 3.1 Beta, and Firefox 2 in tests performed by Mozilla, CyberNet, and The Browser World.^{[105][106][107]} In mid 2009, Betanews benchmarked Firefox 3.5 and declared that it performed "nearly ten times better on XP than Microsoft Internet Explorer 7".^[108]

Market Share Overview According to StatCounter data May 2012[109]
Browser	% of Fx	% of Total
Firefox 1	0.08%	0.02%
Firefox 1.5	0.04%	0.01%
Firefox 2	0.31%	0.08%
Firefox 3	1.21%	0.31%
Firefox 3.5	1.53%	0.39%
Firefox 3.6	8.18%	2.09%
Firefox 4	1.88%	0.48%
Firefox 5	1.88%	0.48%
Firefox 6	1.76%	0.45%
Firefox 7	1.37%	0.35%
Firefox 8	2.35%	0.60%
Firefox 9	3.41%	0.87%
Firefox 10	3.84%	0.98%
Firefox 11	10.88%	2.78%
Firefox 12	59.37%	15.17%
Firefox 13	1.76%	0.45%
Firefox 14	0.20%	0.05%
Firefox 15	0.04%	0.01%
All variants[110]	100%	25.55%
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In January 2010, Lifehacker compared the performance of Firefox 3.5, Firefox 3.6, Google Chrome 4 (stable and Dev versions), Safari 4, and Opera (10.1 stable and 10.5 pre-alpha versions). Lifehacker timed how long browsers took to start and reach a page (both right after boot-up and after running at least once already), timed how long browsers took to load nine tabs at once, tested JavaScript speeds using Mozilla's Dromaeo online suite (which implements Apple's SunSpider and Google's V8 tests) and measured memory usage using Windows 7's process manager. They concluded that Firefox 3.5 and 3.6 were the fifth and sixth fastest browsers respectively on startup, 3.5 was third and 3.6 was sixth fastest to load nine tabs at once, 3.5 was sixth and 3.6 was fifth fastest on the JavaScript tests. They also concluded that Firefox 3.6 was the most efficient with memory usage followed by Firefox 3.5^[111].

In February 2012, Tom's Hardware performance tested Chrome 17, Firefox 10, Internet Explorer 9, Opera 11.61, and Safari 5.1.2 on Windows 7. Tom's Hardware summarized their tests into four categories: Performance, Efficiency, Reliability, and Conformance. In the performance category they tested HTML 5, Java, Javascript, DOM, CSS 3, Flash, Silverlight, and WebGL – they also tested start up time and page load time. The performance tests showed that Firefox was either "acceptable" or "strong" in most categories, winning three categories (HTML5, HTML5 Hardware acceleration, and Java) only finishing "weak" in CSS performance. In the efficiency tests, Tom's Hardware tested memory usage and management. In this category, it determined that Firefox was only "acceptable" at performing light memory usage, while it was "strong" at performing heavy memory usage. In the reliability category, Firefox performed a "strong" amount of proper page loads. In the final category, conformance, it was determined that Firefox had "strong" conformance for Javascript and HTML5. In conclusion, Tom's Hardware determined that Firefox was the best browser for Windows 7 OS, but that it only narrowly beat out Google Chrome.^[112]

Market adoption[link]

Downloads have continued at an increasing rate since Firefox 1.0 was released in November 2004, and as of July 31, 2009 Firefox has been downloaded over one billion times.^[113] This number does not include downloads using software updates or those from third-party websites.^[114] They do not represent a user count, as one download may be installed on many machines, one person may download the software multiple times, or the software may be obtained from a third party. According to Mozilla, Firefox had more than 400 million users as of November 2010^[update].^[115]

In July 2010, all IBM employees (about 400,000) were asked to use Firefox as their default browser.^[116]

Firefox was the second-most used web browser until December 2011, when Google Chrome surpassed it.^[117]

As of May 2012^[update], Firefox was the third most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers.^[11][12][13] According to StatCounter, Firefox usage peaked in November 2009 and usage share would remain stagnant until October 2010 when it lost market share, a trend that would continue for over a year. Its first consistent gains in usage share since September 2010 occurred in February and March 2012 before making minor loses in April 2012.^[12]

Release history[link]

Other versions[link]

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Firefox for mobile[link]

Firefox for mobile 10 on Android

Firefox for mobile, codenamed Fennec, is a web browser for smaller non-PC devices, mobile phones and PDAs. It was first released for the Nokia Maemo operating system (specifically the Nokia N900) on January 28, 2010.^[169] Version 4 for Android and Maemo was released on March 29, 2011.^[170] The browser's version number was bumped from version 2 to version 4 to synchronize with all future desktop releases of Firefox since the rendering engines used in both browsers are the same.^[171] Version 7 was the last release for Maemo on the N900.^[172] The user interface is completely redesigned and optimized for small screens, the controls are hidden away so that only the web content is shown on screen, and it uses touchscreen interaction methods. It includes the Awesomebar, tabbed browsing, Add-on support, password manager, location-aware browsing, and the ability to synchronize with the user's computer Firefox browser using Firefox Sync.^[173]

Extended Support Release[link]

Firefox ESR is a version of Firefox for organizations and other adopters who need extended support for mass deployments.^[174] Unlike the regular ("rapid") releases, the ESR will be updated with new features and performance enhancements annually, receiving regular security updates during the year.^[175]

64-bit builds[link]

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64-bit nightly builds for Windows are available,^[176] but due to incompatibilities, including with popular plugins, official 64-bit releases are not provided.^[177]

Waterfox^[178] and Palemoon^[179] are unaffiliated projects that provide unofficial 64bit builds.

The official releases of Firefox for OS X are universal builds that include both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the browser in one package.^[180] A typical browsing session uses a combination of the 64-bit browser process and a 32-bit plugin process, because some popular plugins still are 32-bit.

For Linux, vendor-backed, performance optimized, stable 64-bit builds exist (such as for Novell-Suse Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Ubuntu), in addition to the nightly builds.

Unofficial ports[link]

Ports have been developed for other platforms, including RISC OS.^{[181][182][183]} The last version of Firefox released for RISC OS on the website RISCOS was version 2.0.^[184]

There is a portable edition of Firefox for Windows, which can be used from a USB Flash drive. This particular distribution makes it possible to run Firefox (and many of its extensions) on corporate/government networks in lieu of the default browser. This can be especially helpful for any user who does not possess administrative rights on the system being used.^{[citation needed]}

Older operating systems[link]

Firefox 1.5.0.12 is the last version to work on Windows 95 and Firefox 2.0.0.20 is the last version to work on Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows NT 4.0. Although not officially supported, a utility called KernelEx can run Firefox 3.x versions on Windows 98 and Windows Me. These versions/lines are no longer supported by Mozilla.^{[clarification needed]}

Firefox 3.5.9 is the last version to work on HP-UX 11i, as packaged by Hewlett-Packard.^[185]

Firefox 3.6.28 is the last version to work on Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), as well as PowerPC Macs running Mac OS X 10.5.^[186][187] Officially released versions numbered 4.0 and higher do not work (although some unofficial builds such as TenFourFox based upon the newer versions do work, requiring varying degrees of patches). Firefox 3.6.x reached end of life on April 24, 2012.^[188]

Firefox 12.0 is the last version to support Windows 2000, Windows XP RTM (no Service Pack installed) and Windows XP SP1. Windows XP SP2 and above is now the minimum requirement for Firefox 13.0 and above.^[189]

System requirements[link]

Browsers compiled from Firefox source code may run on various operating systems; however, officially distributed binaries are meant for the following: Microsoft Windows (2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista or 7), Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6 and Linux (with the following libraries installed: GTK+ 2.10 or higher, GLib 2.12 or higher, Pango 1.14 or higher, X.Org 1.0 or higher (1.7 or higher is recommended), libstdc++ 4.3 or higher).^[190]