Firefox ups its game with major upgrade

For the first time ever since its launch, Mozilla Firefox went through a major update by introducing a new powerful engine built for rapid-fire performance.

After six years of development and research and a year and half of engineering work, Firefox launched on Tuesday ‘Firefox Quantum’, which is a re-engineered version of the web browser. According to the company, Quantum depicts the greatest update of Firefox since its launch in 2004.

What is big about this update is that it is twice as fast as the older version of Firefox. Quantum uses 30% less memory than Google’s web browser Google Chrome. The less memory usage will lead to more space for the computer to run smoothly. Mozilla says that the browser is for those people who surf the internet by quickly switching through various tabs, which basically makes almost everyone.

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The users will also see a completely new theme, tab design and menu items. As per Business Insider, this update is a part of Mozilla initiative ‘Photon’ in order to unify and modernize the appearance of the whole Firefox. There will also be a simplified logo with more rich colors along with a new tool for taking screenshots and sharing them on the web.

Regarding the upgrade, Digital Trends quoted, “Faster and even more minimalist, Firefox Quantum makes Chrome look old.”

Quantum will incorporate ‘Pocket’ into it, a product Mozilla obtained that allows people to save articles and other such content to a personal reading list. Every time a person will open a new tab, there will be three Pocket recommended stories. Regarding this, Mozilla says, “They do a great job of representing what’s worth reading and watching on the web.”

“You should feel good about using Firefox because it contributes to Mozilla, which contributes to a healthy internet,” said Mozilla’s chief marketing officer, Jascha Kaykas-Wolff.

CNET reported, Google Chrome is currently the most-used browser with 55% browser usage, Apple’s Safari too has 15% browser usage whereas, Firefox accounts for only 6%. Mozilla believes that the Firefox Quantum will be an attempt to a fresh start.

“We pulled ourselves up to and in some cases ahead of Chrome. We doubled the performance of Firefox this year. The tentative goal is can we double it again in 2018,” said Mark Mayo, Mozilla's senior vice president of Firefox.