Google has posted an update for the unstable version 6.0.437.1 of Chrome, but is receiving heat for the integration of a native PDF reader in its browser. Mozilla is unusually quiet about Firefox 4 Beta, which is due this Thursday, but said that it is further delaying the release of Firefox 3.6.4 and will skip Firefox 3.6.5. Opera is pitching the fastest browser on Earth and Microsoft pushes its IE8 ad campaign. Update 5:05 PM: Mozilla has officially released Firefox 3.6.4
Google has somewhat fixed a crash issue with its latest actively pushed developer version of Chrome 6, which was plagued by frequent random crashes. Google has removed the update since and is now offering version 6.0.437.3, but if you received version .1 through a Google push, you may be stuck with it and you may need to manually update the browser through the chromium.org website.
It appears that Google’s decision to integrate native Flash and PDF support in Chrome is not a feature that is received with much enthusiasm. Commenters on its blog as well as Chromium forum entries especially highlight the fact that Chrome has become a bulky browser that now exceeds a download size of 22 MB on Windows PCs. So far, Google is mum on this integration and the possibility to offer Chrome without native PDF support, which subjectively could load PDF documents in web pages much faster than a separate plug-in. Google said that native integration would allow the company to update these features automatically, especially when security issues are discovered.
Mozilla hit some roadblocks with its current Firefox release 3.6.4. Originally planned for a June 1 release, the browser was delayed until earlier today. Mozilla had said earlier this week that it may delay the release until next week. The reason for the possible delay seemed to be crash issues Mozilla was “investigating”. One document mentioned that the crash issues could be minor and Mozilla will not be fixing the problem for this release. It is unclear whether the crash issues have been fixed or not.
It is already confirmed that Mozilla will be skipping version number 3.6.5 and release the next maintenance update as version 3.6.6. The code freeze for this version is targeted for June 25, or one day after the planned release of Firefox 4.0 Beta. The main goal of 3.6.6 will be to fix all open security issues in Firefox in preparation for BlackHat, which will take place from July 24 to 27 in Las Vegas and highlight gaping security problems in popular software.
Mozilla said that it is skipping version 3.6.5 as 3.6.4 has the platform number 1.9.2.4 and Fennec currently uses 1.9.2.5. With the additional fixes planned for 3.6.6, that browser’s platform will be 1.9.2.6. To keep the platform number and browser version consistent, Mozilla decided to skip the “5″ and go directly to 3.6.6.
Of course, if Firefox 3.6.4 is now delayed into the week of June 28, there is the question whether Mozilla will be able to release 4.0 Beta on time (June 24). There is no information from Mozilla whether that will be possible as our requests for information from Mozilla have remained unanswered for the past 2 weeks. The most current version that provides a first glimpse of Firefox 4.0 is the nightly build of 3.7a6-pre.
Microsoft is plugging along with two separate campaigns that still advertise IE8 as a browser that protects users from online fraud as well as tutorials how to measure IE9 browser performance using the Windows Performance Toolkit. The company has just posted a comprehensive explanation how to use the software and find out just how good IE9 is in some performance scenarios, such as hardware acceleration.
Opera is touting Opera as the fastest browser on earth, has released the 10.54 update, but is asking users to try the 10.60 beta, which is scheduled for a release “this summer.” Opera claims that 10.60 is up to 75% faster than 10.50 in some benchmarks.
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