Firefox 3.6

Last updated
Mozilla Firefox 3.6
Developer(s) Mozilla Corporation
Mozilla Foundation
Initial releaseJanuary 21, 2010 (2010-01-21)
Final release
3.6.28 [1] (March 13, 2012;11 years ago (2012-03-13))
Preview release None [±]
Written in C++, XUL, XBL, JavaScript, [2] CSS [3]
Engine Gecko
Operating system Windows
Mac OS X
Linux
BSD
Solaris
OpenSolaris
Platform Cross-platform
Size 9.8 MB (Linux)
18.7 MB (Mac OS X)
8.2 MB (Windows)
(all archived)
Available in 75 languages
Type Web browser
FTP client
Gopher client
License MPL/GNU GPL/GNU LGPL/about:rights
Website www.mozilla.com/firefox/3.6

Mozilla Firefox 3.6 is a version of the Firefox web browser released in January 2010. The release's main improvement over Firefox 3.5 is improved performance (due to further speed improvements in the TraceMonkey JavaScript engine). It uses the Gecko 1.9.2 engine (compared to 1.9.1 in Fx 3.5), which improves compliance with web standards. It was codenamed Namoroka . [4] In this version, support for X BitMap images was dropped.

Contents

This release marked the beginning of a new development cycle for Firefox. As well as receiving major updates, the browser also received minor updates with new features. This was to allow users to receive new features more quickly and the dawn of a new roadmap that reflected these changes. [5]

It was superseded by Firefox 4, released the next year, although Fx 3.6 had a prolonged period of use and version 4 had noted user interface changes. Firefox 3.6 is the last major version of an official Firefox release to run on PowerPC-based Macintoshes (see TenFourFox for a much-more-recent version of Firefox for PowerPC-based computers running Mac OS X). Soon after 4, much less weight was given to major version numbers, with 6 numbers used by September of that year (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) compared to 3 in nearly a decade of Firefox development (1, 2 and 3).

Firefox versions 4 through 9 had all reached end-of-life status while Mozilla continued supporting Firefox 3.6 with security updates. Coinciding with a proposal to cater to Enterprise users with optional Extended Support Releases beginning in 2012 based upon Firefox 10, Mozilla discontinued support for Firefox 3.6 on April 24, 2012 [6] [7] with automatic update to Firefox 12 pushed out to compatible devices by June 2012. [8]

Development

Development for this version started on December 1, 2008. [9] The first alpha of version 3.6 was released on August 7, 2009. [10] The first beta version was released on October 30, [11] followed by Beta 2 on November 10, Beta 3 on November 17, Beta 4 on November 26, and Beta 5 on December 17. [12] Release Candidate 1 was released on January 8, 2010, followed by Release Candidate 2 on January 17. [13] The final version was released on January 21, 2010.

Minor releases

Firefox logo, 2019.svg
Market share overview
According to StatCounter data
November 2023 [14]
This box:
Browser % of Fx % of total
Firefox 1 ——
Firefox 2 ——
Firefox 3 ——
Firefox 4 ——
Firefox 5–9 ——
Firefox 10–16 1.54%0.05%
Firefox 17–23 ——
Firefox 24–30 ——
Firefox 31–37 ——
Firefox 38–44 ——
Firefox 45–51 1.24%0.04%
Firefox 52–59 3.40%0.11%
Firefox 60–67 ——
Firefox 68–77 0.31%0.01%
Firefox 78–90 0.93%0.03%
Firefox 91–101 0.62%0.02%
Firefox 102–114 3.40%0.11%
Firefox 115 and 115 ESR 12.04%0.39%
Firefox 116 0.62%0.02%
Firefox 117 0.62%0.02%
Firefox 118 4.63%0.15%
Firefox 119 49.38%1.60%
Firefox 120 12.35%0.40%
Firefox 121 ——
All variants [15] 100%3.24%

Firefox 3.6.2 was released on March 23, 2010, [16] followed by version 3.6.3 on April 1 [17] which closed some bugs in the ASLR and DEP handling found at the Pwn2Own contest 2010.

The Firefox developers created a new feature called Lorentz. It is named after the Lorentz National Park. A preview version of Lorentz, Firefox 3.6.3plugin1, was made available on April 8, 2010. [18] Betas of Firefox 3.6.4 were made available starting on April 20, 2010. Firefox 3.6.4 was released on June 22, 2010. [19] [20] The Windows and Linux versions incorporate out-of-process plug-ins (OOPP), which isolates execution of plug-ins (Adobe Flash, Apple QuickTime and Microsoft Silverlight by default) into a separate process. [5] [21] This significantly reduces the number of Firefox crashes experienced by users who are watching online videos or playing games; [22] the user can simply refresh the page to continue. Mozilla states that 30% of browser crashes are caused by third-party plugins. [23]

Support for other plug-ins by default in OOPP and on the Mac OS X platform became available in Firefox 4. [24]

Firefox 3.6.6 lengthens the amount of time a plug-in is allowed to be unresponsive to the point before the plug-in quits. [25]

Firefox 3.6.7 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [26]

Firefox 3.6.8 was a security update that was released a mere three days after 3.6.7, to fix another security fault. [27]

Firefox 3.6.9, in addition to fixing security and stability issues, introduced support for the X-FRAME-OPTIONS HTTP response header to help prevent clickjacking. [28]

Firefox 3.6.10 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [29]

Firefox 3.6.11 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [30]

Firefox 3.6.12 was a security update that fixed a critical security issue. [31]

Firefox 3.6.13 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [32]

Firefox 3.6.14 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [33]

Firefox 3.6.15 was a stability update that fixed a Java applets issue. [34]

Firefox 3.6.16 was a security update that blacklisted a few invalid HTTPS certificates. [35]

Firefox 3.6.17 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [36]

Firefox 3.6.18 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [37]

Firefox 3.6.19 was a stability update that fixed several issues. [38]

Firefox 3.6.20 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [39]

Firefox 3.6.21 was a security update that blacklisted a compromised HTTPS certificate. [40]

Firefox 3.6.22 was a security update that revoked the SSL certificates for "Staten der Nederlanden" due to fraudulent SSL certificate issuance, as well as fixing an error with .gov.uk domain names. [41]

Firefox 3.6.23 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [42]

Firefox 3.6.24 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [43]

Firefox 3.6.25 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [44]

Firefox 3.6.26 was a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [45]

Firefox 3.6.27 was a security update that fixed several issues. [46]

Firefox 3.6.28 is a security and stability update that fixed several issues. [47]

Features

New features for Firefox 3.6 include

End of life

Mozilla discontinued support for Firefox 3.6 on April 24, 2012, [6] [7] which at over 27 months of support made it the longest supported version of Firefox, even longer than Firefox 2 which had over 26 months of total support itself. The underlying Gecko 1.9.2 engine continued to be used, with updates, in Camino.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefox</span> Free and open-source web browser by Mozilla

Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and anticipated web standards. In November 2017, Firefox began incorporating new technology under the code name "Quantum" to promote parallelism and a more intuitive user interface. Firefox is available for Windows 10 or later versions, macOS, and Linux. Its unofficial ports are available for various Unix and Unix-like operating systems, including FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, illumos, and Solaris Unix. It is also available for Android and iOS. However, as with all other iOS web browsers, the iOS version uses the WebKit layout engine instead of Gecko due to platform requirements. An optimized version is also available on the Amazon Fire TV as one of the two main browsers available with Amazon's Silk Browser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mozilla Thunderbird</span> Free and open-source email client by Mozilla

Mozilla Thunderbird is a free and open-source email client software which also functions as a full personal information manager with a calendar and contactbook, as well as an RSS feed reader, chat client (IRC/XMPP/Matrix), and news client. Available cross-platform, it is operated by the Mozilla Foundation's subsidiary MZLA Technologies Corporation. Thunderbird is an independent, community-driven project that is managed and overseen by the Thunderbird Council, which is elected by the Thunderbird Community. The project strategy was originally modeled after that of Mozilla's Firefox web browser and is an interface built on top of that web browser.

This is a comparison of both historical and current web browsers based on developer, engine, platform(s), releases, license, and cost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Desktop</span> Computer program

Google Desktop was a computer program with desktop search capabilities, created by Google for Linux, Apple Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows systems. It allowed text searches of a user's email messages, computer files, music, photos, chats, Web pages viewed, and the ability to display "Google Gadgets" on the user's desktop in a Sidebar.

Mozilla Firefox has features that allow it to be distinguished from other web browsers, such as Chrome and Internet Explorer.

Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) is a deprecated application programming interface (API) for web browser plugins, initially developed for Netscape Navigator 2.0 in 1995 and subsequently adopted by other browsers.

Add-on is the Mozilla term for software modules that can be added to the Firefox web browser and related applications. Mozilla hosts them on its official add-on website.

A browser extension is a software module for customizing a web browser. Browsers typically allow users to install a variety of extensions, including user interface modifications, cookie management, ad blocking, and the custom scripting and styling of web pages.

A local shared object (LSO), commonly called a Flash cookie, is a piece of data that websites that use Adobe Flash may store on a user's computer. Local shared objects have been used by all versions of Flash Player since version 6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefox 3.0</span> Web Browser

Mozilla Firefox 3.0 is a version of the Firefox web browser released on June 17, 2008, by the Mozilla Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zotero</span> Open-source reference management software

Zotero is a free and open-source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials, such as PDF files. Features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes, and bibliographies, an integrated PDF reader and note editor, as well as integration with the word processors Microsoft Word, LibreOffice Writer, and Google Docs. It was originally created at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and, as of 2021, is developed by the non-profit Corporation for Digital Scholarship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft Silverlight</span> Application framework for writing and running rich Internet applications

Microsoft Silverlight is a discontinued application framework designed for writing and running rich internet applications, similar to Adobe's runtime, Adobe Flash. While early versions of Silverlight focused on streaming media, later versions supported multimedia, graphics, and animation, and gave support to developers for CLI languages and development tools. Silverlight was one of the two application development platforms for Windows Phone, but web pages using Silverlight did not run on the Windows Phone or Windows Mobile versions of Internet Explorer, as there was no Silverlight plugin for Internet Explorer on those platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MicroB</span>

MicroB was a mobile web browser developed by Nokia for use in smartphones and mobile devices that run the Maemo operating system. The browser is Mozilla-based and uses the Gecko layout engine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefox 4</span> Firefox browser released in 2011

Mozilla Firefox 4 is a version of the Firefox web browser, released on March 22, 2011. The first beta was made available on July 6, 2010; Release Candidate 2 was released on March 18, 2011. It was codenamed Tumucumaque, and was Firefox's last large release cycle. The Mozilla team planned smaller and quicker releases following other browser vendors. The primary goals for this version included improvements in performance, standards support, and user interface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefox 2</span> 2006 web browser

Mozilla Firefox 2 is a version of Firefox, a web browser released on October 24, 2006 by the Mozilla Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefox for Android</span> Android web browser by Mozilla

Firefox for Android is a web browser developed by Mozilla for Android smartphones and tablet computers. As with its desktop version, it uses the Gecko layout engine, and supports features such as synchronization with Firefox Sync, and add-ons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Chrome</span> Web browser developed by Google

Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, and also for Android, where it is the default browser. The browser is also the main component of ChromeOS, where it serves as the platform for web applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefox 3.5</span> Firefox web browser version

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 is a version of the Firefox web browser released in June 2009, adding a variety of new features to Firefox. Version 3.5 was touted as being twice as fast as 3.0. It includes private browsing, has tear-off tabs, and uses the Gecko 1.9.1 engine. It was codenamed Shiretoko during development, and was initially numbered Firefox 3.1 before Mozilla developers decided to change the version to 3.5, to reflect the inclusion of a significantly greater scope of changes than were originally planned. It is the last major version to support X BitMap images.

Firefox was created by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross as an experimental branch of the Mozilla browser, first released as Firefox 1.0 on November 9, 2004. Starting with version 5.0, a rapid release cycle was put into effect, resulting in a new major version release every six weeks. This was gradually accelerated further in late 2019, so that new major releases occur on four-week cycles starting in 2020.

The project that became Firefox today began as an experimental branch of the Mozilla Suite called m/b. Firefox retains the cross-platform nature of the original Mozilla browser, using the XUL user interface markup language. The use of XUL makes it possible to extend the browser's capabilities through the use of extensions and themes. The development and installation processes of these add-ons raised security concerns, and with the release of Firefox 0.9, the Mozilla Foundation opened a Mozilla Update website containing "approved" themes and extensions. The use of XUL sets Firefox apart from other browsers, including other projects based on Mozilla's Gecko layout engine and most other browsers, which use interfaces native to their respective platforms. Many of these projects started before Firefox, and probably served as inspiration.

References

  1. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.28 Release Notes". website-archive.mozilla.org.
  2. ↑ Inc, Rietta. "Rietta". Rietta. Archived from the original on August 4, 2009.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ↑ Walsh, David (July 10, 2008). "Firefox 3's Internal Rendering CSS".
  4. ↑ "Firefox/Namoroka". Mozilla Wiki. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  5. 1 2 "Firefox 3.6 due this month; next comes 'Lorentz'". CNET. 2010-01-13. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
  6. 1 2 Upcoming Firefox Support Changes, March 23rd, 2012
  7. 1 2 "Extended Support Proposal". Mozilla Wiki. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  8. ↑ "Firefox 3.6 will automatically update to Firefox 12". Mozilla Support. Retrieved 2012-06-07.
  9. ↑ Alfred Kayser (2008-12-01), First step to Firefox 3.2: Alpha 1 is here, Mozilla Links, retrieved 2008-12-01
  10. ↑ "Firefox 3.6 Alpha 1 now available for download". Mozilla Developer Center. 2009-08-07. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  11. ↑ "Firefox Delivery Meetings 2009-11-04 - MozillaWiki". Mozilla. 2009-11-04. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
  12. 1 2 "Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 Release Notes". Mozilla.com. 2009-12-17. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
  13. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate 1 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2010-01-08. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
  14. ↑ "Top 12 Desktop, Mobile, Tablet & Console Browser Versions on Nov 2023". StatCounter Global Stats.
  15. ↑ "Top 9 Desktop, Mobile, Tablet & Console Browsers on Nov 2023". StatCounter Global Stats.
  16. ↑ "Firefox 3.6 Release Notes". Mozilla Foundation. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  17. ↑ "Firefox 3.6 Release Notes". Mozilla Foundation. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  18. ↑ "Firefox 3.6.4 beta available for download and testing". Mozilla. 2010-04-20. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  19. ↑ Tristan (2010-05-21). "Frogs, stability and performance". Archived from the original on 2012-07-23. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
  20. ↑ "Firefox 3.6 Release Notes". Mozilla Foundation. 22 June 2010. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  21. ↑ "Chrome gets updated, Firefox 'Lorentz' enters beta".
  22. ↑ Beltzner, Mike. "Firefox 3.6.4 with Crash Protection Now Available :: The Mozilla Blog". Blog.mozilla.com. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
  23. ↑ "Plugin Checker Launched " Mozilla Webdev". Blog.mozilla.com. 2009-10-13. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
  24. ↑ "Firefox/Crash Protection - MozillaWiki". Wiki.mozilla.org. 2010-07-04. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
  25. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.6 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2010-06-26.
  26. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.7 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2010-07-20.
  27. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.8 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2010-07-20.
  28. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.9 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2010-09-07.
  29. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.10 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2010-09-15.
  30. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.11 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2010-10-19.
  31. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.12 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2010-10-27.
  32. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.13 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2010-12-09.
  33. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.14 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-03-01.
  34. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.15 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-03-04. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14.
  35. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.16 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-03-22.
  36. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.17 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-04-28.
  37. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.18 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-06-21.
  38. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.19 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-07-11.
  39. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.20 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-08-16.
  40. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.21 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-08-31.
  41. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.22 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-09-07.
  42. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.23 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-09-27.
  43. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.24 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-11-08.
  44. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.25 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2011-12-20.
  45. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.26 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2012-01-31.
  46. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.27 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2012-02-17.
  47. ↑ "Mozilla Firefox 3.6.28 Release Notes". Mozilla. 2012-03-13.
  48. ↑ The check is performed not inside an add-ons window (as if similar to usual add-ons), but on the Mozilla site.
  49. ↑ Blizzard, Christopher (2009-10-20). "Web Open Font Format for Firefox 3.6". Hacks.mozilla.org. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  50. ↑ "Using the Java plugin with Firefox". Support.mozilla.com. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.