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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Firefox 8 available NOW!

By | November 7, 2011, 1:57am PST

Summary: Grab Firefox 8 today ahead of the official launch.

Download Firefox 8 today ahead of the official scheduled for November 8.

It’s normal for the new version of Firefox to be available on Mozilla’s FTP server ahead of the official release, and Firefox 8 is no exception.

The download is available here: ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/8.0/

[UPDATE: Link removed at the request of Mozilla because linking 'hurts our FTP servers and affects our ability to release the final version of Firefox on time.']

Windows, Mac and Linux flavors are available.

New features include:

  • Search Twitter messages from the address bar
  • Load tabs on demand at startup
  • Add-ons installed by third party programs are now disabled by default

Downloads here.

BEWARE: This new version might break existing extensions, so download with care if you rely on your browser!

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Mozilla Firefox, Web Browsers, Internet, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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Can run this and old versions as well on Windows and Linux
damian56x Updated - 8th Nov
If you know where to look/what to tweak, then you can run several versions of Firefox stable/beta and Chrome/Chromium (stable/dev/beta) on HDD and their counterparts adapted for portable thumbdrives. I am not keen about Firefox' accelerated development of new versions of their browser, b/c the primary reason that I USE Firefox is the vast variety of extensions developed for it, AND if they aren't compatible, then I have to do w/o them or use them (if available) on various Linux distros with older addon/plugin/extension/theme-compatible versions of Firefox, since I am not nearly as concerned about malware or viruses while browsing the internet.

If the Firefox developers are doing these rapid version updates just to keep up with the "Joneses" IE 8/9..soon 10 and Chrome,14/15/16 ect... just b/c of the NUMBER next to the name of the browser..well...that is just really silly..haha!!

Firefox will ultimately lose more users, IMO, mostly BECAUSE the extension/theme/addon/plugin developers can't keep up with the increasingly rapid CHANGES, and its tweak/modify-ability of the UI and about:config/userchrome.css internals is why most of us liked it, you dummies!!

Hmm...now where did I put my thumbdrive with the MUCH longer-lived versions of the Palemoon, Orca, and Seamonkey browsers in it?
View in thread
0 Votes
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
jeremychappell 7th Nov
It is Beta
0 Votes
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Mine says 8.0 in Help->About
Dietrich T. Schmitz * Your Linux Advocate 7th Nov
@jeremychappell ? Looks like production to me
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
jeremychappell 7th Nov
@Dietrich T. Schmitz * Your Linux Advocate That's not what the blurb says...

At best it's "release candidate". But I do have to wonder about the wisdom of running software BEFORE the official launch.
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Contributr
RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes 7th Nov
@jeremychappell it's not a beta ... Mozilla won't change the first run screen until the official release. This IS the final release.
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
jeremychappell 8th Nov
@Adrian Kingsley-Hughes That isn't what the documents said... I don't like to take unnecessary risks with production systems, just for bragging rights.

YMMV
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
pedro.fortes@... 7th Nov
It seems they have blocked that URL for the time. I get only a screen telling me to wait a little more or use the BETA version.
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
bradavon Updated - 7th Nov
@pedro.fortes@... It's working for me but I'm happy to wait until tomorrow for the official launch. It's only a day difference.

It looks like your browsing is auto-directing to: ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/8.0/win32/en-US/index.html

Instead of:

ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/8.0/win32/en-US
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
CobraA1 7th Nov
"Load tabs on demand at startup"

Not entirely sure what you mean here? Is it on demand, or is it on startup?

"Add-ons installed by third party programs are now disabled by default"

Great, I'm getting sick of Skype reinstalling its addons every time I upgrade X(.
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
bradavon 7th Nov
@CobraA1: Tabs load when clicked on, not when Firefox is first opened.

It means Firefox can be used quicker but you'll only have to wait later when you first click on the tab. I'll be disabling this. I'd rather wait, knowing Firefox is properly ready.

Just disable the Skype add-on or uninstall it? I use Skype and have no Firefox add-on.
0 Votes
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Firefox vs Chrome - Chrome Wins
samzbest@... 7th Nov
I think now that Mozilla Firefox is on the move to release updates every 6 weeks it could gain market traction. What Firefox needs to do is change its designs a bit and make it more lighter
Firefox 8 is good but its no chrome
http://thetechnologycafe.com/firefox-8now-available-for-download/
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
bradavon 7th Nov
@samzbest@... I understand an updated UI is coming in Firefox 9 or 10.
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
VicVicVic Updated - 7th Nov
@bradavon I'm running Firefox 9 (in Aurora channel) and the UI is still the same as Firefox 8. I'm not too sure about Firefox 10; they apparently have features like "Improve display of location bar results" and "New Tab Page" complete, but I am not sure if the UI is actually overhauled. I'll find out in a few days when Firefox 10 moves to Aurora from Nightly.
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
jgoode@... 7th Nov
I'll be first to say it: Who cares!
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Agreed. Looks like their marketing strategy is paying off.
ye 7th Nov
@jgoode: Who cares!

What amounts to a minor update is being reported as news. That's what happens when you change the big number.
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
TsarNikky 7th Nov
@jgoode@...
You are right. Things that used to work, don't. Crashing much more often than 3.6.x. The list, I'm sure, could go on and on.
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
olddogv 7th Nov
We will wait for final release. FF is not perfect, but beats the crap out of IE, and while a bit slower than Chromium, runs as fast as I can think, and, in MHO, more comfortable/intuitive to use. We DO keep Chromium as back-up, & IE also on our few Win machines.
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
sharkboyjohn 7th Nov
I have 8 but I am on the Beta Channel. Seems that it has some Flash related crash issues.
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Permission.... Denied!
Zorched 7th Nov
Can't download it via browser or by ftp client. File permission is denied.
0 Votes
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Permission.... Denied!
Zorched Updated - 7th Nov
Ooops. DP (double post).
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
Alan Smithie 7th Nov
8 Beta is better than 7 production
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May not be compatible
Drakaran 7th Nov
EXTREME CAUTION! Beta version 8 installs in the default FF folder and may completely gank your install (ie you can't go back to previous install). I'd strongly advise doing a custom install in a separate folder. If you DO try to go back, make sure to uninstall 8 first or it could still gank your previous install (from personal experience).

I got into the FF beta program a while back and beta 8 was NOT friendly on my machine (win7 64). There were serious problems with plugins loading that SHOULD have been compatible, and it wiping out tab groups, bookmarks, everything. The plugin tab would also stall out.

I did a feedback to them already, and version 10 didn't have this problem, but had other stability issues.

I'd use this build with EXTREME caution until official release and backup the contents of your FF folder BEFORE you install this version (as that was the only way I was able to restore things from an alt folder.
0 Votes
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RE: Firefox 8 available NOW!
ScorpioBlue 7th Nov
I'll wait a few weeks. Let other people deal with the bugs
0 Votes
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I'll only use it if ...
Reged 7th Nov
... they've done something about their plugin-container.exe, which is a total CPU hog and reduces the computer to a crawl. Otherwise it's over to Chrome for me.
0 Votes
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Can run this and old versions as well on Windows and Linux
damian56x Updated - 8th Nov
If you know where to look/what to tweak, then you can run several versions of Firefox stable/beta and Chrome/Chromium (stable/dev/beta) on HDD and their counterparts adapted for portable thumbdrives. I am not keen about Firefox' accelerated development of new versions of their browser, b/c the primary reason that I USE Firefox is the vast variety of extensions developed for it, AND if they aren't compatible, then I have to do w/o them or use them (if available) on various Linux distros with older addon/plugin/extension/theme-compatible versions of Firefox, since I am not nearly as concerned about malware or viruses while browsing the internet.

If the Firefox developers are doing these rapid version updates just to keep up with the "Joneses" IE 8/9..soon 10 and Chrome,14/15/16 ect... just b/c of the NUMBER next to the name of the browser..well...that is just really silly..haha!!

Firefox will ultimately lose more users, IMO, mostly BECAUSE the extension/theme/addon/plugin developers can't keep up with the increasingly rapid CHANGES, and its tweak/modify-ability of the UI and about:config/userchrome.css internals is why most of us liked it, you dummies!!

Hmm...now where did I put my thumbdrive with the MUCH longer-lived versions of the Palemoon, Orca, and Seamonkey browsers in it?

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