Firefox version 73 is planned to have a pre-release on December 3 and a full release in February 2020. This period will be a transitional stage for phasing out the sideloaded extension support in Mozilla Firefox due to its being used for installing malware into Firefox. Sideloading is defined as a method for installing a browser extension by adding a file from a specific location on a user’s machine through an executable application installer.
Till March 10, Firefox continues to read sideloaded files
For preventing malware into Firefox during sideloading, the Firefox browser announced that they would give up supporting for sideloaded extensions. According to the statement, from February 11, 2020, the release date of Firefox version 73 to March 10, 2020, Firefox will continue to read sideloaded files. Still, they will be copied over to the user’s profile and installed as regular add-ons. Then from 10 March, sideloaded extensions will be phased out entirely.
“The transitional stage in Firefox 73 will ensure that no installed add-ons will be lost, and end-users will gain the ability to remove them if they chose to,” they added.
After the firm announced this change, some feedback on the community forum expressed confusion about how this change will give more control to Firefox users. The firm added new statements to the announcement and underlined that:
“With this change, we are enforcing more transparency in the installation process, by letting users choose whether they want to install an application companion extension or not, and letting them remove it when they want to.”
With the words, “Other forms of automatic extension deployment like the ones used for some Linux distributions and applications like Selenium may be impacted by these changes. We’re still investigating some technical details around these cases and will try to strike the right balance between user choice and minimal disruption,” the firm underlined their support the users during this transitional stage.
FAQ
What is the latest version of Mozilla Firefox?
The latest version of Mozilla Firefox is Firefox 109.
Is Firefox still used today?
Yes, Firefox is still widely used today. It is a popular web browser that is known for its speed, security, and privacy features. It continues to be a popular choice among users who value privacy and security when browsing the web.
Is Mozilla Firefox a Chinese company?
No, Mozilla Firefox is not a Chinese company. It is a free and open-source web browser developed and maintained by the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization based in the United States.
Is Mozilla Firefox free?
Yes, Mozilla Firefox is a free and open-source web browser. It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems and can be downloaded from the official Mozilla website. Firefox is free to use, download, and distribute, and it is supported by a community of developers and users who contribute to its development and maintenance.
What are the system requirements for running Mozilla Firefox?
For Windows
- Windows 7 or later
- Pentium 4 or newer processor that supports SSE2
- 512MB of RAM / 2GB of RAM for the 64-bit version
- 200MB of hard drive space
- macOS 10.12 or later
- Mac computer with an Intel x86 or Apple silicon processor
- 512 MB of RAM
- 200 MB hard drive space
- Firefox will not run at all without the following libraries or packages:
- glibc 2.17 or higher
- GTK+ 3.14 or higher
- libstdc++ 4.8.1 or higher
- X.Org 1.0 or higher (1.7 or higher is recommended)
- For optimal functionality, we recommend the following libraries or packages:
- DBus 1.0 or higher
- GNOME 2.16 or higher
- libxtst 1.2.3 or higher
- NetworkManager 0.7 or higher
- PulseAudio