Mozilla has successfully shifted to a faster release cycle, releasing Firefox 5 only three months after its predecessor.
The open-source developer announced the switch to a faster release cycle last year, following Google’s lead in rolling out smaller updates more frequently. Firefox 4 took a year to develop.
While Mozilla boasts Firefox 5 has 1,000 improvements over the last release, there are no major changes.
The biggest announcement is the extension of Firefox’s do-not-track system to the Android edition, which makes Firefox “the first browser to support do not track on multiple platforms”, the developer said. The system tells websites and advertisers not to drop tracking cookies onto the browser, although it’s not a widely supported system.
“Mozilla created ‘do not track’ to give users more control over the way their browsing behaviour is tracked and used on the web,” Mozilla said. “The feature, which lets users tell websites that they wish to opt-out of online behavioural tracking, is now easier to find in Firefox Preferences.”
Firefox 5 can be downloaded for Windows, Linux, Mac and Android here.
Firefox 6 is set to arrive in September, with 7 on the way before the end of the year. If you can’t wait a few months, Mozilla is already making early versions of 6 available in its developer channel, which it calls Aurora.
Author : Nicole Kobie
