Firefox has come a long way since its earliest days, but the newest Firefox – Firefox 20 – brings in quite a bit in the way of new features for its users. Improvements in privacy, including some that have been requested specifically for years, are set to make a return with the newest version.
It may be a surprise to some to hear that Firefox has been getting a request for one particular feature for years, and more so to hear that Mozilla has only just now put that feature in place. But based on current reports, that's just what went on in this case. Back in 2008, Firefox 3.1 launched with a Private Mode feature for browsing in which cookie data and user history wasn't stored after the browser shut down.
But since 2008, a bug has been reported in regard to Private Mode, which has now reportedly been fixed.
Previous versions of Firefox did allow for private browsing, but only by opening a new browser window that replaced the non-private browser opened previously. This made it impossible to have a private browsing session and a non-private browsing session operating at the same time – a problem set to be fixed with the new Firefox 20.
It's not just about privacy, though, as Mozilla is also bringing in a new Download Manager function, replacing the separate window with a new downloads panel in the browser toolbar, meaning users can monitor downloads from the browser window currently operating, instead of checking a new window.
Start-up time has been improved fully 10 percent under the new version, according to reports, and developers get some exciting new tools in the bargain, including the getUserMedia component, which may be one of the biggest parts of the new Firefox.
With getUserMedia, developers now have access to the first API component that allows for Web-based real-time communications (WebRTC) functionality. WebRTC is widely regarded as something that will likely change the makeup of communications itself once it gets up and running to its fullest, as it will allow for things like voice and video chat, as well as file sharing, from within a browser window – as opposed to running a completely different application.
But there are other pieces of WebRTC involved in Firefox 20 that will be behind a configuration presence rather than started by default, like PeerConnection and DataChannels. A future release will reportedly activate these by default.
That's quite a bit of material coming in all at once. Improvements to privacy, to performance, and even to the next generation of communications are all from one browser update.
Mozilla's Firefox has really come a long way, and where it will go from here is a topic that beggars the imagination. With WebRTC looking to make impressive gains, and browsing slated for more privacy than it's had in some time, there are plenty of reasons to pursue the upgrade.
Edited by
Braden Becker
