Firefox 3.6.19 released: removes feature!

[Antony]

Mozilla has released Firefox 3.6.19. Unlike previous minor updates, addressing on security issues, it removes certain feature.

Firefox 3.6.19 can be downloaded from this page.

The list of changes as per the Firefox 3.6.19 Release Notes are as follows.

Firefox 3.6.19 fixes the following issues found in previous versions of Firefox 3.6:

* Turned off downloadable font support for users running Mac OS X 10.7 due to an underlying platform bug. We hope to enable them again in the future

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2.19) Gecko/20110707 AlexaToolbar/alxf-2.13 Firefox/3.6.19

[Don_HH2K]

And of course, you (perhaps purposefully) left out the rationale behind disabling that particular feature:

• There is a bug present in the upcoming release of OSX 10.7 that causes Firefox to crash when using downloadable fonts. Downloadable fonts are used widely on the web, so users would have suffered severe crash problems. We alerted Apple to the problem before the release of 10.7 but they did not fix the problem before 10.7 went to final release. We’ve changed the font APIs that we’re using to newer versions which appear to fix the problem. Users on 10.6 and before will continue to use the old APIs to reduce risk. Later versions of Firefox will move all 10.6 and later users to the new APIs.
• Apple recently updated Java on OSX 10.5 and it broke the Java plugin in Firefox. Although the number of people using Firefox on 10.5 is quite small, this update fixes Firefox so that it can load the Java plugin on 10.5.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv:5.0) Gecko/20110624 Firefox/5.0-x64 PaleMoon/5.0-x64

[Antony]

I, once again, received this forced updating window. As we all know, once we received a window like the one below, it means users are in no way of not updating the Firefox. Despite being forced to change the program on a user's computer, many extremists somehow approves such extreme move.


Anyhow, this updating window not just force users to update their browser, it also intentionally misinform users about the true purpose of the update. I marked the section it with red in the screenshot.

There's no security or stability update as the force update window claimed, instead, taking a feature away, according to the blue Details link (in window) I clicked.

So, the new addition to the list of dirty tactics is as following: instead of informing users exactly what users' software would be forced to have a certain feature stripped out, they lied to end-users in that window, hope that many end-users won't be bothered to check the details.

And of course, you (perhaps purposefully) left out the rationale behind disabling that particular feature

And of course, you jumped to accuse me. I faithfully quoted the important section of Release Notes page. That page did not offer any detail except “due to an underlying platform bug” which I did not omit.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2.19) Gecko/20110707 AlexaToolbar/alxf-2.13 Firefox/3.6.19

[Fulvio]

Antony,
you got the "forced" update, because you let it do it. I have, always, unchecked the box for Firefox, to check for updates, and, unless I go look for updates, I would never know that there is one.
And, it appears that you have not read or understood Don's post.
And, what about your post on Firefox 5?. Is there not any similarity.
When I went to check if Firefox 5 had any updates, it told me that the update would be to 6 beta, which I, already, have. But someone else told me that there was a 5.01, which I got from FileHippo.
The updates are, only, necessary for Macs, and not PC or Linux. When I went to my 3.6.18, I was told that it was up-to-date.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:5.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/5.0.1

[casey1992]

I read somewhere this morning that the Windows and Linux versions of 3.6.19 and 5.01 are identical to 3.6.18 and 5.0. These users wouldn't be offered an automatic update, but if they download a fresh copy, they'd see the new version numbers. That's happened in the past when an update only affected one platform.

I believe that Antony isn't expressing the same level of concern about Firefox 5.01 because the feature wasn't removed. The Firefox 6 API for downloadable font support was incorporated instead. Users of any platform other than Lion will still use the Firefox 5 API.

I think the screen capture that Antony posted is a flaw in the interface more than it is an attempt to be misleading. There've been versions in the past that have been released to fix bugs rather than security issues. Methinks we see this screen because it's the one that's built in.

Fulvio, would you happen to be using the same profile for Firefox 5 (release) and Firefox 6 (beta)? Maybe that's causing confusion. If you're running the release, you should be getting release updates; if you're running the beta, you should be getting Beta updates.

I use the same profile for Aurora, Beta, and the release, and I get the updates for the version that I happen to be running. Note that I don't "recommend" running more than one version of Firefox on the same profile. It's more like I "admit to" doing it. If something strange happens to my profile, I revert to a Time Machine backup rather than attempting to investigate what might have happened.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; rv:6.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/6.0

[Fulvio]

Casey,
I learned longv ago that using the same profile for two different versions is, potentially, disastrous.
I have four Firefox versions on my XP computer. Except for Firefox 5 portable, which comes with a different configuration, 3.6.18, 5.0.1 and 6 b1 are used with different profiles.
But it is interesting to see this in the Firefox Portable page:

For the confused, the 5.0.1 release of Firefox is to fix some issues on the Mac version of Firefox. No changes are made on the Windows side other than updating the version number (so it is not being pushed via Firefox's built-in updater... which will only add to the confusion). In the portable release, we've also fixed a bug some users were experiencing on Windows XP when run as admin with specific plugins/extensions.

I had decided to update 5.0 regular, just for the heck of it, and I had to go outside Mozilla to get the update.
And, I will update the portable, but it could be necessary. But, that's an entirely different story.
My point with Antony, was that he was not forced into an update, a fact that he abhors, but he has not taken advantage of the fact that Mozilla gives you a way to opt out. The Options|Advanced|Update come, by default, with a check mark for the program, addons and search engines. I, generally, uncheck the Firefox check, and, as a second check, I select that I am asked what to do. It is amazing that these options were available from day 1, and so many people are surprised when an update has been downloaded.
I am using Firefox 5 portable, and nothing happened, but I will get the update. As for 3.6.19, I don't care.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:5.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/5.0

[Antony]

Antony,
you got the "forced" update, because you let it do it.

That's correct, and also for users who haven't bothered to check those settings, they would be "forced" to update (or in this particularly instance, a feature removed rather).
I tend not to change the default settings.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2.19) Gecko/20110707 AlexaToolbar/alxf-2.13 Firefox/3.6.19

[Fulvio]

I tend not to change the default settings.

Antony,
some settings are a pain, and I, usually, take a walk about the options to see what they have been doing to make the users' life difficult.
I tend to stay logged in site like this, as I am in and out all the time. Firefox 5 logs me off all the time, but it remembers the username/password. I will have to take another look, and see what's different. 3.6.18, and Google Chrome keep me logged in. I don't remember about 4.01. I bet that it is tracking setting! I unchecked it, and will see, and report.
Not it, nor the permanent private default setting. And, Firefox 5 take a good minute, before it shutsdown.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:5.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/5.0.1