First Firefox 7 Beta Promises Dramatically Lower Memory Use

[jamescv7]

Hopefully we can see the lower memory usage once it was release.

Mozilla has released the first beta of Firefox 7, and the first to implement Memshrink, which can cut Firefox's memory usage by almost fifty percent.

The new Firefox Beta for Windows, Mac and Linux is available for download, and users who are already running the Firefox beta will be automatically updated. Separately, Mozilla also released a beta version of Firefox for Android.

On Aug. 16, Mozilla Firefox 6, as it moves to a rapid-release schedule;it brings very little that end users will notice—the big interface changes all came along in version 4, according to the PCMag.com review. According to Mozilla's Wiki page, Firefox 7 is scheduled to be released on Sept. 27.

Memory use has been a thorn in the side of Firefox, so the new beta revision may be welcome to many users. The new beta is the first to use Memshrink.

"Firefox 7 uses less memory than Firefox 6 (and 5 and 4): often 20% to 30% less, and sometimes as much as 50% less," Nicholas Nethercote, who has worked on the Memshrink program for Mozilla, wrote on Aug. 9. "In particular, Firefox 7′s memory usage will stay steady if you leave it running overnight, and it will free up more memory when you close many tabs."

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[Deleted member 178]

using it actually, let see the results

 

[win7holic]

i still using FF v5

 

[Ink]

i still using FF v5

Updating to version 6 is recommended, since Firefox 5 is no longer supported.

On another note:
I didn't realise Firefox users liked to use out-dated software. :666:

And another note:
I don't think the rapid-release is working well for Mozilla.

From
A Chrome user, where updates are silent and all extensions I use are still compatible.

 

[win7holic]

i still using FF v5

Updating to version 6 is recommended, since Firefox 5 is no longer supported.

On another note:
I didn't realise Firefox users liked to use out-dated software. :666:

And another note:
I don't think the rapid-release is working well for Mozilla.

From
A Chrome user, where updates are silent and all extensions I use are still compatible.

ok. i'll do. but, still wait until my connection get better.

 

[Jack]

From
A Chrome user, where updates are silent and all extensions I use are still compatible.

+1. How on earth does Firefox manage to 'break' all the plugins when they release another version?Do they change their source code on each build?????

 

[Ink]

When I upgraded from Firefox Nightly v8 to v9. It said WOT would be incompatible and disabled it for me, after restarting the browser I re-enabled WOT. Guess what? It works.

 

[HeffeD]

+1. How on earth does Firefox manage to 'break' all the plugins when they release another version?Do they change their source code on each build?????

Most of the time it's simply because the extension has a version number that only goes as high as the FF version the author has tested it on. So the extension very likely works just fine with the newer version, it is just ruled as incompatible by FF because of the version number.

If you're really feeling spunky, you can usually rename the .xpi to .zip and look through the files to find the version number, change it, resave to the .zip and rename to .xpi, then install the extension.

There used to be an extension MR Tech Toolkit that could over-ride the version numbers so you didn't need to go through this hassle, but it hasn't been compatible since v5 was released.

 

[Hungry Man]

I love how people think that nothing is changing between versions but then they see that all of their plugins break.

a LOT is changing between 4, 5, and 6 etc. you just don't see all of them. That's why things keep breaking.

Just thought I'd note that =p

 

[Vextor]

The Firefox Addons system is getting kinda screwed up with this new update system. What they should do is if the developer is inactive, disable it, otherwise note it as being not officially supported but usable.

 

[HeffeD]

I love how people think that nothing is changing between versions but then they see that all of their plugins break.

Most of the plugins don't actually break with new releases. They just lack the latest version number. If a developer has only tested his extension on version 6 and puts that in his release as the max version number, when (if) a version 6.1 comes around, FF will call the extension incompatible even if it works completely fine.

 

[Hungry Man]

Makes sense.

But my point stands. There have been lots of changes.

 

[MrXidus]

Most of the plugins don't actually break with new releases. They just lack the latest version number. If a developer has only tested his extension on version 6 and puts that in his release as the max version number, when (if) a version 6.1 comes around, FF will call the extension incompatible even if it works completely fine.

Yes I'm glad some people know what they're talking about. Because of this I disable add-on Compatibility Checking In Firefox 9.0a1 Nightly using this Boolean code set to false. extensions.checkCompatibility.nightly

I have all my add-ons functioning such as ABP, BetterPrivacy, Ghostery and my Firefox theme.

Even tho it says it's not compatible I experience no issues, crashes or problems doing so and my happy browsing life goes on. Thanks.

 

[HeffeD]

Even tho it says it's not compatible I experience no issues, crashes or problems doing so and my happy browsing life goes on. Thanks.

Yes, I've only actually had one extension break on me, which happened back when version 3 was released. I can't even remember which extension it was anymore, but when raising its version number, it did indeed crash FF.

Other than that single extension, I've never had browser releases actually break anything. Most extensions aren't really dealing with the core processes of the browser, which are generally the things that are changing, or if they do, it's such a generalized thing that the changes don't phase the extension.

 

[Shadow Death]

To be honest, I don't think Firefox has ever had a memory issue. "Firefox uses 100-200MB of ram"... woo... 100-200MB out of how many gigs of ram?

 

[Hungry Man]

I could have 128GB of RAM, I still wouldn't be ok with memory leaks.

 

[Ramblin]

I will try FF7 Beta this weekend just to see if memory actually goes down.
It would be nice if its lower but I agree with Shadow Death, 100/200 MB
don't do nothing to a machine. The only time that I feel Firefox a little
"heavy" is after using Youtube for a long, long time, never at any other
time. I like this browser so much that it would be very hard for something
else to replace it.

Bo

 

[MrXidus]

I've been seeing the benefits of this memory shrink for a while in Nightly. I remember seeing 250 - 350K and now even with alot of tabs open does not use more and more memory over time like I have witnessed it do before.

Back on my old 1GB RAM PC Firefox was horrible for its memory leaks, I recall going to make a hot cuppa, coming back and seeing its jumped to 500K while I was gone, forcing me to terminate it via Task Manager and re-starting Firefox.

They've done good and it has improved.

Right now I have the same number of tabs and websites open in Chrome Developer 15.0.854.0 and in Firefox Nightly 9.0a1 and here's a screenshot.

Both are hovering steady around that mark and I've had them running for days on end. I remember seeing Chrome always being lighter then Firefox back in the day but things change and now (for me atleast on MY PC) Firefox is the lighter one.

It's been months since I've seen a memory leak in Firefox and I'd be most glad if it stayed that way now.

I have 4GB RAM now and I don't mind if a browser wants to use 100 - 200K or even more... But if your going to open up many tabs and have numerous Youtube videos, java, flash etc running of course your going to see some sort of jump in memory, Notice your heart rate now sitting at your PC or laptop is steady and beating away normally. If you were to get up now and run around your house 10 times and sit back down, Your heart rate is beating faster, your probably out of breath and dying for a drink of water. Your body needs to work your heart faster to allow you to run. Same goes for your browser.
If you don't let your browser use that extra needed ram, then don't expect it to do what you want.

Thanks.

 

[Ramblin]

.. But if your going to open up many tabs and have numerous Youtube videos, java, flash etc running of course your going to see some sort of jump in memory, Notice your heart rate now sitting at your PC or laptop is steady and beating away normally. If you were to get up now and run around your house 10 times and sit back down, Your heart rate is beating faster, your probably out of breath and dying for a drink of water. Your body needs to work your heart faster to allow you to run. Same goes for your browser.

Nice analogy MrXidus.

I have never installed Chrome but have installed Iron and Chromium
sandboxed many times, playing around and I found same as you
that on Youtube, memory goes as high as Firefox on those browsers.
I ll go a little farther, on my PC, Youtube and Flash works and feels
better on Firefox than on the browsers that I mentioned.

Bo

 

[Deleted member 178]

Because of this I disable add-on Compatibility Checking In Firefox 9.0a1 Nightly using this Boolean code set to false. extensions.checkCompatibility.nightly

Thanks for the tips, you saved my life. installed Nightly v9 ^^

+rep

Thanks