Firefox

Bookmarks are definitely one of the most widely used features of the modern browsers. You can use them to remember a page you just found, or to create a list of pages that you might want to read later or simply create bookmarks for easy access to pages that you visit often.

Whatever be the case, here are some tips and tricks that you can use for being more productive with bookmarks in the Chrome web browser. As you might be aware, Google Chrome updates automatically without your permission or intervention. This ensures that you have the latest version of Google Chrome on your computer, which is good. The thing though, is that Chrome doesn’t display a ‘What’s new’ page like the one you see when you update Firefox.

So a lot of things go unnoticed. Chrome Bookmark Manager is now a part of Google Chrome as a result of one such update. Not many people know about it or use it, unless they have been exploring the Tools menu lately.

Click the Wrench icon and then Bookmark Manager to bring it up. The Bookmark Manager will allow you to Add, Edit, Delete and Organize your bookmarks into folders. You can also export or import bookmarks in Chrome using the Bookmark Manager. There are no tags or keywords as you would find in Firefox’s Bookmark Manager, but we will address this shortcoming in a moment.

Add keywords to bookmarks

This has to be one of the greatest time savers and coolest feature of modern browsers. Type ‘mail’ and you are taken to your preferred email service, type ‘muo’ followed by a phrase and you are able to search MakeUseOf for that phrase. Awesome! The bookmark manager lets you do that in Firefox, in Chrome things are a little different. We use the Manage search engines functionality to achieve what we want. Intended for customizing search engines that Chrome knows of, you can use it to create keywords for bookmarks, just as well. The only caveat is that you need to copy and paste the URL yourself if you decide to create one from scratch which you have to if not using one of the already known search engines.

• Click on Tools menu and then Options, within the Basic tab click on Manage next to Search Engines.
• Click on the Add button and key in the necessary details (I use Gmail as an example, obviously this makes more sense for longer URLs)

Now you can simply enter the keyword in the address bar to open the URL.

Use folders to create quick launch sets in the bookmarks bar

I like to open up a couple of news site in the morning, the first time I am at a computer. Then in my spare time, it’s Facebook, Twitter and Orkut, then there is another set when I am researching stories. Instead of keying in the URLs day in day out, or clicking on multiple bookmarks to open them, I group them into folders on the bookmarks bar and then I can open them all at once or access any one individually.

You can create folders using the Bookmark Manager or right-click on the bookmarks bar and then drag the relevant bookmarks into the folder. Once organized, you can right-click on the folder to launch all the bookmarks it houses with a single click.

Sync your bookmarks

Bookmarks sync is almost rudimentary and a must have these days. Chrome offers build in synchronization for your bookmarks, preferences, themes and/or passwords and form autofill information. All you need is a Google account. Click on the Tools icon and then click Set Up Sync. Choose what you would like to sync, hook up your Google account and you are good to go. If you happen to use Chrome on any other computer, just hook up that instance of chrome to sync with the same Google account and you should be able to use your bookmarks, themes and preferences from the other instance.

Do you know of any other cool tricks or extensions that you can use with bookmarks in Chrome? We would love to hear about them in comments.

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If you install a Google software that lets you perform searches, you'll notice that Google search URLs include a new parameter called RLZ, which has a cryptic value. Google has open-sourced the RLZ library and we can now decrypt the value sent to Google every time you search.


"Client applications with the RLZ library can use explicit cohort tagging to manage promotion analysis. A client application with a particular tag can transmit that tag as it chooses for payments and analysis purposes. As an example, the RLZ parameter "rlz=1T4ABCD_enUS202" indicates the client application is Toolbar version 4, distributed with Abcd software bundle, English version, to a US user in December 2006. This empowers computation of metrics broken down into useful dimensions," explains Google.

"T4" is a codename for Google Toolbar 4 for Internet Explorer, but Google uses many other values: "C" for Google Chrome, "D" for Google Desktop, "B" for Google Toolbar for Firefox, "U" for Google Pack. "ADBR" is a code that identifies the distribution channel. "This correlates to how the user got the software (ie. they downloaded it by itself vs. it came pre-installed on their new computer vs. it came with a partner's software)." "c" is a value that tells Google if someone was already a Google user.

The library sends Google two other interesting values: install cohort (the country and week of the user's installation event) and first search cohort (the country and week of the user's first Google search). The week is measured as the number of weeks since Feb 3, 2003. For this example, "US239" informs Google that the user performed a search from the US in September 2007.

It's interesting to notice that Google measures the success of a campaign that promotes Google Toolbar, Google Chrome or other Google software by counting the number of Google searches.

Shared by Kevin Marks
Nicely put Jeremy. The fallback model that html5 has specified is forcing us to prefer flash. Probably not what Mozilla intended

You may have noticed a lot of HTML5 vs. Flash talk lately. Substitute HTML5 for HTML5 video.

Frankly, I’m a little baffled by this supposed dichotomy because you don’t have to choose. The way that video works, according to the spec, is for fallback content to be placed between the opening and closing<video> tags. So you can go ahead and use object or embed or whatever you need to put your Flash video in your markup. Browsers that understand the video element will use that while less capable browsers will play the Flash movie in the object element (and because of the way the object element works, you can put yet another layer of fallback content between the opening and closing <object> tags).

It’s the same with audio. So, on Huffduffer, for example, I can wrap <audio> tags around the object element that embeds the Flash player:

<audio controls src="file.mp3">
 <object data="flashplayer.swf?audio=file.mp3">
  <param name="movie" value="flashplayer.swf?audio=file.mp3">
  <a href="file.mp3">ah, just download it</a>
 </object>
</audio>

But there’s a problem. Firefox understands the audio element but refuses to implement support for MP3 as long as it is patent-encumbered. Firefox users don’t get the fallback content (because the browser does support audio) but they don’t get the MP3 either. They get a broken icon.

So it’s safer to just use the Flash player, right? There’s a problem with that too. Mobile Safari doesn’t support Flash …but it does support the audio element. How can I serve up Flash to desktop browsers and HTML5 audio to the iPhone and iPad without going down the dark path of browser sniffing?

Easy. Just flip the order of what constitutes fallback content:

<object data="flashplayer.swf?audio=file.mp3">
 <param name="movie" value="flashplayer.swf?audio=file.mp3">
  <audio controls src="file.mp3">
   <a href="file.mp3">ah, just download it</a>
  </audio>
</object>

That works in Firefox—and any other browser with Flash installed—and it also works on the i(Pad|Phone|Pod).

---

Tagged with html5 flash huffduffer audio

Mozilla Bringing Firefox to the iPhone With "Get Up and Go" Browsing —

Mozilla is following in Opera's footsteps by porting an AppStore friendly version of their browser over to the iPhone with their upcoming free app Firefox Home. Due to Apple's restrictions the app will not offer a full fledged browser experience and thus you will not be able to simply navigate to any website. Instead, users will be able to sync their browsing history, bookmarks and open tabs onto their iPhone using Mozilla's encrypted Firefox Sync technology.

Sponsor

As shown in the early demo video embedded below, users will be able to search their history, browse their bookmarks or load the tabs they left open on their desktop - all with the handy Awesome Bar functionality which allows for minimal typing. Mozilla says this is useful for "get up and go" situations, such as pulling up a ticket confirmation at the airport, or remembering directions to a restaurant you looked up on your desktop.

"Firefox Home for iPhone is part of a broader Mozilla effort to provide a more personal Web experience with more user control," the company said in a blog post Wednesday night. "For devices or platforms where we're unable to provide the 'full' Firefox browser (either technically or due to policy), we aim to provide users with 'on the go' instant access to their personal Firefox history, bookmarks and open tabs on their iPhones, giving them another reason to keep loving Firefox on their desktops."

Fans of Firefox with iPhones may be disappointed they aren't getting a full browser on their device like Android, Windows Mobile and Maemo users, but this app is still pretty useful with over-the-air syncing. The inability to browse at will may turn some off, and it remains to be seen how well the Firefox Sync technology works, but this could be an interesting spin on mobile browsing from Mozilla.

Discuss

Google Chrome has had a big impact on the browser market since its release in September 2008. The latest report from NetMarketShare puts Chrome at 6.73% market share, ahead of Safari on 4.72% and behind only IE (59.95%) and Firefox (24.59%).

What's more interesting about Chrome is the activity it's enjoying from early adopters and geeks. Our own browser statistics at ReadWriteWeb show that Chrome was used by 17.89% of our readers in April, putting it behind only Firefox (38.95%) and IE (24.76%). Further, our figures show a very clear movement from Firefox to Chrome over the past year. Chrome has gained nearly 11% over the past year, whereas Firefox has lost over 15%.

Sponsor

IE has stayed stable on our site over the past year, registering no change from its 24% in April 2009. Take a look at our comparison stats, via Google Analytics:

Source: ReadWriteWeb

I can also tell you that many of ReadWriteWeb's staff now use Chrome. I myself made the switch as soon as a (relatively) stable Mac version became available in 2009, primarily because I had been experiencing slowness and crashes in Firefox for months prior. I've never looked back - sorry Mozilla. Chrome is fast, hardly ever crashes and can handle multiple tabs with ease. It does the job. The only thing I still use Firefox for is, ironically, offline Gmail! That's because on a Mac, Google Gears is only available on Firefox and Safari - not Chrome.

Before I get assailed by Firefox fans in the comments, granted the much larger NetMarketShare stats show a couple of percentage points of growth for Firefox over the past year. They also show IE losing over 8% share and Chrome gaining over 4%.

Source: NetMarketShare

However, even NetMarketShare's stats show that Firefox's real battle is not with Microsoft's IE anymore (whose downward slide is inevitable and long overdue), but with Google's Chrome.

It's not just on the statistics and performance fronts either. Google is now directly attacking Firefox's main strength from a developer point of view: its ecosystem of add-ons. At the Google I/O event earlier this month, Google announced an application store to help with discovery and sales of Web applications. Some startups have already moved focus from the add-on model to a web site or app (e.g. GetGlue), so Google's App Store will only accelerate this.

Yesterday we reported that the beta tag for Google's Chrome browser has been removed for the Mac and Linux versions. Is that also a sign that the gloves are now off too? Chrome is now a 'serious' browser, no beta tags and all OS's covered with stable versions.

Overall I can't help but think that Chrome is really hitting at the heart of Firefox nowadays. The early adopter and geeky readership of ReadWriteWeb - bless you all - is often a forerunner of future mainstream trends. And our stats clearly show our readers are moving away from Firefox and largely onto Chrome. How long before the mainstream follows?

Discuss

In October 2009, Mozilla’s outgoing CEO John Lilly told me that Mozilla was working on a new iPhone app which it would release in next few weeks. Weeks turned into months, but Mozilla is finally getting ready to release Firefox Home, which as predicted was based on a Mozilla Labs project called Weave. Since then, the project has been renamed, Firefox Sync and include the Firefox “Awesome Bar.” In a blog post, Mozilla spokesperson writes:

The app is called Firefox Home, and it gives iPhone users instant access to their Firefox browsing history, bookmarks and the set of tabs from their most recent browser session. What’s more, it provides Firefox “Awesome Bar” capability that enables people to get to their favorite web sites with minimal typing. Firefox Home provides an amazing “get up and go” experience. It’s encrypted end-to-end. It’s your home on the Web, wherever you are. And, of course, it’s free. Firefox Home for iPhone is part of a broader Mozilla effort to provide a more personal Web experience with more user control. For devices or platforms where we’re unable to provide the “full” Firefox browser (either technically or due to policy), we aim to provide users with “on the go” instant access to their personal Firefox history, bookmarks and open tabs on their iPhones, giving them another reason to keep loving Firefox on their desktops.

I don’t know about you, but I am actually super excited to try out this app as soon as it become available on the iPhone store.

---

Filed under: Internet, Security, Browsers

By now, all but the most geriatric Web users know about phishing. Usually it takes the form of a seemingly-official email from a bank or other money-related Web service. Most of the time these attacks are painfully obvious -- but what if you removed the email attack vector? What if you removed those daft give-away URLs? What if the phishing attack was pure, seemingly-benign JavaScript that's invisible to all but the most judicious of Web users?

That's exactly what 'tabjacking' does. Open Aza Raskin's proof of concept in a new tab. Admire the sample code. Now, change tabs, wait five seconds, and then watch in horror as his site seemingly becomes GMail.

Malicious JavaScript injection isn't a new thing -- and this particular exploit only works in Firefox (and partially in Chrome) -- but you have to admit it's pretty damn scary. It's certainly only a matter of time until workarounds are found for the other browsers -- and the implications when combined with targeting 'hacks' such as CSS history mining are petrifying.

You wouldn't have to hack the site to inject the JavaScript either: an add-on or extension would work just as well...

If you're like me, I always check the address bar before typing a sensitive password. I'm not actually sure what I'll do, now that tabjacking code is in the wild.

As Aza says, it's high time we move to browser-based authentication solutions like the Firefox Account Manager.

Tabjacking: a new and ingenious phishing attack originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 25 May 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Phishing - Aza Raskin - Download Squad - JavaScript - Uniform Resource Locator

Google Chrome for Mac and Linux Is Out of Beta —

I’ve been running WebKit nightly builds of Safari as my daily browser, but Chrome is good. I’m going to give it another go.

Safari really needs an option to automatically reopen pages that were left open. It’s crazy that Safari still defaults to the same poorly-chosen behavior of Mosaic from 1993 — where quitting the app implies closing and forgetting all open browser windows. The other big thing that’s missing (compared to both Chrome and Firefox) is a proper extension API.

Back here, I touched on the fact that Windows 7 XP mode for Windows 7 is now available to registered users and no longer requires hardware (CPU visualization) support ... but does require 'reasonable' system resources.

There are some excellent features with this implementation, specifically the ability to launch and run programs in an XP based window and / or full screen directly from the Windows 7 start menu without any coding.

Literally an instant virtual desktop which absolutely comes in handy.

In essence, Microsoft is giving Windows 7 users a copy of Virtual PC 2007 and a copy of Windows XP Professional.

But .... and this can't be by design ???!! ....

The copy of XP provided is original and 'virgin' .. meaning .... if you go to Windows Update from within the XP window (screen), you're going to find over 50 updates (Yes, you read that right). Depending on your broadband speed and the amount of ram your system has allocated to the virtual machine (by default), you may be in for a few hours of updating.

Somehow this doesn't seem realistic, especially since many sites (Hulu, Google Reader ....) no longer support IE6 with more being added each day.

Despite the fact that tens of thousands of corporate embedded PCs are still running IE6 (Yes, you read that right), the old browser is, for most uses, is dead out of the box.  Microsoft would most likely agree.

I went through the curve.  One of the 'suggested' updates is IE8 and you can add Firefox or Chrome with no problem. I'm even launching a copy of Ubuntu 10.04 for Windows using it :)

The bottom line.  If you have the ram and a relatively recent CPU ... it's worth the install but go through the updates first ...

Those hackers.  They’re just getting smarter all the time.  Aza Raskin, the creative lead for Firefox, gives us the latest version of “trickier than you”.

Have you ever had a few tabs open in your Firefox, went away for a bit and then forgotten what you were looking at in the first place?  This is exactly what Raskin is showing as a target scenario.

Let’s say you’re browsing a few channels here on TNW, and you look up to realize that a tab is open to your Gmail.  So, of course you’re going to click the tab and login, then be taken directly to your gmail account.  No harm done, eh?

Right.  Except that you just gave your login information to a phisher.

The idea lies in a very simple Javascript that pays attention to what you’re watching.  If you click off of a tab (or into another program) for a mere 5 seconds, the script goes into action and refreshes that hidden tab to a screen that looks identical to the Gmail login.  So you unwittingly enter your information and are then taken into your Gmail, because you never logged out to begin with.

Raskin goes on to explain how a simple sniffer of CSS files can show off a breadcrumb trail of where you’ve visited, such as Twitter, your bank or otherwise.  Dangerous ground, to say the least.

Google is chiming in about the situation, as Aza has been having a discussion over Twitter with Matt Cutts, Google’s webspam guru.

Clearly Googlers recognize the value in understanding how white-hat hacking works.  According to Cutts:

the next step would be to only bait-and-switch the page/favicon if you could detect that more than >N browser tabs were open..

Though you can rest easy…for now.  Raskin replies that he’s not certain how he’d go about implementing Cutts’ idea, expounding by saying that

I can’t think of anyway to detect the number of tabs currently open — although perhaps heuristically. Good call, though.

Do yourselves a favor, folks.  Make certain that you’re using a browser that diligently looks for and warns you about phishing attacks.  Then take your security one step further by using antivirus and anti-malware software.  By now, it should go without saying.

If you want to try WebM, the open video format released by Google, you first need a browser that supports it. For now, WebM is not supported in a stable version of a browser, but you can install a Firefox nightly build or an Opera build. I download Opera 10.54, which is more stable than the nightly builds of Firefox.

After installing the browser, go to YouTube's HTML5 experiment and click on "join HTML5 beta". To find videos that are available in the WebM format, use YouTube's search feature and append &webm=1 to the URL, like this: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=web&webm=1.

Click on a video and you'll notice that YouTube no longer uses Flash or H.264. There's even a messages that makes the video player more cluttered: "HTML5 * WEBM".


YouTube converted a small percentage of videos to WebM. A search for [web] returns 4,610 WebM videos, while millions of other videos aren't available yet in this format. Check Opera's blog post for more information about the WebM format, embedding WebM videos and more examples of WebM videos.

Some people complained about my graphic in the previous post so I've tried again. I hope it's clearer than the last one.

And some other folks have asked more about the holiday dip for Firefox so I'll take a second to offer my best explanation for this and why Chrome doesn't see it.

Firefox has nearly 400 million users this month. That's a lot of people and it includes hundreds of millions of "regular people" who don't live their entire lives online. During the winter holidays there are a few weeks around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years where these "regular people" abandon their computers and spend time with friends and family doing things like shopping and eating and having fun.

When Firefox was still an "alternative" browser with just a few tens of millions of users, a much larger percentage of them were "power users" like you and me who live our lives online and so this drop-off was a lot less recognizable and more localized to the actual holiday days (even a geek has to go out with friends on new years eve, right?)

Chrome is still dominated by the early adopter, power user crowd that spends more time online than offline and that accounts both for the disproportionately large usage:users ratio as well as the lack of a significant dip during times with regular people do leave their computers.

That's my take on it.

Mozilla is rebranding its Weave Sync feature, which keeps your bookmarks, history and other Firefox data in sync across computers. As of version 1.3, Weave will be now be known as Firefox Sync.

The name change is intended to help less tech-savvy users understand what Weave does — namely, sync Firefox.

However, because Weave also works (somewhat) with SeaMonkey and Thunderbird, the name Firefox Sync may end up confusing some users. So far no word on whether there will be a Thunderbird Sync or SeaMonkey Sync.

Firefox developer Tony Chung announced the name change and the release of Firefox Sync version 1.3 (still in beta) on his blog.

The new version of the add-on isn’t just a rebranding, there are also quite a few new features coming to the add-on formerly know as Weave. The new Firefox Sync 1.3 features a new user interface, better response times during syncing, a backup feature for your bookmarks before the first sync and better support for Fennec, the mobile version of Firefox. Complete release notes with all of the changes in this version can be found on the Mozilla site.

Chung says that a final version of Firefox Sync will available later this month, though don’t expect to see the rebranded add-on joining Firefox proper for some time. According to Chung, the version of Weave that currently ships with Firefox 3.6 won’t be updated until the new Firefox Sync hits 2.0 (we assume it will probably do so before Firefox 4.0 ships later this year).

In the mean time if you’d like to test out the latest version of Firefox Sync, head over to the Mozilla Labs page (which still refers to the add-on as Weave) and look for the link to the “experimental” version in the green bar. As always, we recommend upgrading all instances of Firefox Sync before actually syncing your data.

See Also:

• Xmarks Syncs Open Tabs Across Browsers, iPhone
• Mozilla Gets Ready to Weave Syncing Into Firefox
• Weave Adds Personas to its Bag of Firefox Syncing Tricks
• Weave May Let You Keep Firefox and Your iPhone in Sync

Quora is a great place to find answers about products from prominent people involved with them. It’s also a great place for those prominent people to disagree, publicly. That’s what’s happening right now in a thread about the future of Firefox.

Someone posted the following question to Quora recently: Will Firefox have double-digit market share in 3 to 5 years? Straightforward enough. Yes, says (outgoing) Mozilla CEO John Lilly. No, says Firefox co-founder Blake Ross. So far, Ross is winning the argument, according to the votes from Quora users.

Here’s what Ross had to say:

I’m pretty skeptical. I think the Mozilla Organization has gradually reverted back to its old ways of being too timid, passive and consensus-driven to release breakthrough products quickly.

Lilly, meanwhile, offered up this:

I’m hardly an unbiased observer, but am confident that it will. Product is getting better all the time, and especially with 4.0 approaching in the fall. We’ve got 400M users and are growing that number. And we have a huge community of committed people around the world working on making it better. It’s more competitive than ever, but I feel pretty good about our chances, not only on the desktop, but also on Android, which is already looking good.

Ross, who is currently a Director of Product at Facebook (coincidentally working on a Quora competitor), has an argument that seems inline with his Facebook colleague (and former Parakey co-founder) Joe Hewitt. That is, governing bodies (in this case, Mozilla — in Hewitt’s case, W3C) are slowing down the development process on the web, and making it harder to innovate. Both Ross and Hewitt have a long history in the space, as both worked on Netscape, before moving on to create Firefox.

Clearly, both are annoyed at what has happened to their former renegade web browser. Firefox came around at a time when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer had complete control of the market, with over 90% share. Over the past 5+ years, IE’s share has dropped to below 60%, thanks largely to Firefox which now stands between 25%-30% of the market. But, by many accounts, Firefox is no longer considered to be the light, open alternative it once was. That includes the person who asked the question on Quora, who put in the description: “Seems like they are going to start to see massive erosion in share as Chrome/Safari and IE9 continue pushing forward.“

Certainly, Google Chrome is now growing at a much faster pace than Firefox is. Apple’s Safari, meanwhile, has seen slower, but steady growth over the past few years. Both of those browsers are based on the WebKit engine, which seems to be the layout engine of choice these days. Firefox doesn’t use WebKit. Instead, it relies on Mozilla’s Gecko engine.

Lilly is right when he implies that the key to this argument may well be in the mobile space. The problem there is that the WebKit browsers are starting to dominate thanks to the popularity of Google’s Android platform, and Apple’s iPhone (and BlackBerry will soon have a WebKit browser as well). An early build of Firefox for Android is out in the wild, but it will take something really impressive for people to use it instead of Android’s built-in WebKit browser. Apple, meanwhile, has started to let on alternative browsers as well — notably, Opera. But again, it will be hard for any browser to beat the tightly integrated built-in browsers (and who knows if Apple would even let a mobile version of Firefox in the App Store).

Some at Google disagree with Hewitt’s assessment of the slow-moving web. But again, that’s at Google, where they do seem to be pushing things faster than Mozilla currently is. Can Hewitt’s and now Ross’ criticism shake them out of the malaise?

Earlier today at Google I/O, the company announced that its web browser, Chrome, was now 70 million users strong. That’s a big number, and up more than 100% in the past year. But wait a second, let’s get some perspective. Enter, Mozilla’s Asa Dotzler.

As he points out on his blog this evening, while Chrome may be at 70 million active users, Firefox is at nearly 370 million active users. And while Chrome grew by 40 million users in the past year, Firefox gained over 100 million new users in the same span — yes, more users than Chrome has total. He also made a nice chart to underscore his point.

This also ties into the news from yesterday that Firefox co-founder Blake Ross thinks Firefox may be headed towards a massive decline over the next 3 to 5 years. His reasoning behind this is that Mozilla is too timid and beauracratic in handling the browser. Meanwhile, upstarts like Chrome are surging quickly. As Dotzler’s graph shows, Firefox is also still surging quick quickly itself.

The problem for Firefox is that pretty much all of those users are coming from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. That browser just dipped below 60% market share for the first time, but Microsoft seems committed to improving it with the IE9 release and beyond. Even if it’s still not perfect, it’s likely that the rate at which Firefox will be able to pull users from Internet Explorer will decrease. Firefox doesn’t appear to be pulling users from the other browsers (as they’re not declining), so their only other hope would be to get new people to start using the web (with Firefox, of course).

One big question over the next few years will be if Chrome is able to pull users from Firefox and IE faster than Firefox can pull new users from IE alone? The other big question will be how quickly the browsers on mobile platforms (including tablets) grow? As we’ve seen first-hand, the growth is already happening fast. Others are seeing it too.

Something else interesting in Dotzler’s graph: apparently, 10 million or so active Firefox users just stop using the browser during the holidays. Dotzler says this is normal given the time of year, but Chrome has no such dip.

Potentially big news in the world of open source software, friends. Apparently Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distribution, is considering dropping Firefox for Chrome. Well, maybe for Chrome, or maybe for Chromium, the open source project that Chrome is based upon. Therein lies the rub, I do believe. What's going on is that Ubergizmo, a fine site, hears that Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu) is considering adding Chrome (or Chromium—more on that in a second) to Ubuntu Linux Netbook Remix, the next big release of which is due this autumn. What a terribly constructed sentence. Exactly why they'd replace Firefox with Chrome or Chromium isn't known, but presumably they feel that the new browser on the block performs better on the average netbook than Firefox. No one would be inaccurate in calling Firefox a bit of a memory hog at times. I wouldn't touch a netbook with a 10-foot pole—netbooks may also be dying, so this may all be moot sooner rather than later—so I have no idea if that's true or not, that Chrome or Chromium out-performs Firefox on netbooks. I have no horse in that race, as it were.