Firefox Can't script??? Not quite true....
Straight_Man
Geeky, in my own wayNaples, FL Icrontian
Some folks, even Larry Seltzer of EWeek, have said Firefox cannot script. BUT, FireFox .8 can run plugins, and can run Java JRE (Java Runtime Edition for Java 1) 1.31-02 0r -03 (the Mozilla Gecko base of 1.6 vintage has issues with J2RE (2 means Java 2) of 1.4+ kinds, this is normally a Java 2 set). However, Mozilla gecko as in Mozilla 1.7 CAN run these J2RE sets of Sun Java 2 kind, am doing it on XP and Linux now-- which brings up something interesting, future FireFox versions should be based on Mozilla Gecko of Mozilla 1.7 current grade, so look at this issue again when FireFox .9 final and 1.0 final come out (yes, FireFox is still in dev). Java 2 can run many safe things as far as functions, so sites that are broken with IE in high security mode as Microsoft is now recommending (due to clients not working on these sites because of security level increases), can feed things that do not break Sun Java functionality limits built in for integrity and security reasons to non-IE type browsers, and get the functions working again.
Sun Java 2 can do most (about 95% of good things) of what ActiveX and ActiveScript can do-- OpenOffice.org all together works with Sun Java 2 and OOo 1.1.2 and StarOffice 7.+ has base layers that are Sun Java 2 compatible and which are Java based and indeed functions much better with Sun Java 2 J2RE PRESENT than with it not. One reason Microsoft settled with Sun and now licenses Java 2 is that Sun Java has limits built into it, and can refuse to work with things that could well be exploitive-- the Java core can itself abend things that violate some local system integrity issues and also recognize RAM paging violates and kill applets made for Sun Java that do these kinds of violates as well as some of those trying to cross domains.
So, as Sun Java 2 J2RE full compliance and linkage comes into FireFox, Java can be used to do many functions now broken with IE in high security mode for Local Machine and Internet Zones. FireFox NOW can use Java 1 J2REs and functions supported by that Sun Java version-- I was able to use Java 1 J2REs with FireFox .5 and up (just not Java 2)..... BTW, you CAN have more than one J2RE present (or one J1RE and one J2RE), if apps know to use the right J2RE and paths are unique to each J2RE set installed and set at JRE install time that way. I have two J2REs present now, and multiple versions of OOo as well as multiple Mozillas, on one of my O\S instances here, happens to be the XP install. NOTE: ONLY one Sun Java SDK can be in use at any one time, though, for Java, per session, as the SDK spawns a VM minihandler while JRE tends to spawn one within the VM of the native O\S used more often.
I've been following Sun Java closely since Byte Magazine existed and had articles about it as it was first being designed and developed as a language structure, in the mid 1980's. I like it, do not write much using the SDKs. So, there is an alternative to ActiveX for lots of things as far as functions.
Sun Java 2 can do most (about 95% of good things) of what ActiveX and ActiveScript can do-- OpenOffice.org all together works with Sun Java 2 and OOo 1.1.2 and StarOffice 7.+ has base layers that are Sun Java 2 compatible and which are Java based and indeed functions much better with Sun Java 2 J2RE PRESENT than with it not. One reason Microsoft settled with Sun and now licenses Java 2 is that Sun Java has limits built into it, and can refuse to work with things that could well be exploitive-- the Java core can itself abend things that violate some local system integrity issues and also recognize RAM paging violates and kill applets made for Sun Java that do these kinds of violates as well as some of those trying to cross domains.
So, as Sun Java 2 J2RE full compliance and linkage comes into FireFox, Java can be used to do many functions now broken with IE in high security mode for Local Machine and Internet Zones. FireFox NOW can use Java 1 J2REs and functions supported by that Sun Java version-- I was able to use Java 1 J2REs with FireFox .5 and up (just not Java 2)..... BTW, you CAN have more than one J2RE present (or one J1RE and one J2RE), if apps know to use the right J2RE and paths are unique to each J2RE set installed and set at JRE install time that way. I have two J2REs present now, and multiple versions of OOo as well as multiple Mozillas, on one of my O\S instances here, happens to be the XP install. NOTE: ONLY one Sun Java SDK can be in use at any one time, though, for Java, per session, as the SDK spawns a VM minihandler while JRE tends to spawn one within the VM of the native O\S used more often.
I've been following Sun Java closely since Byte Magazine existed and had articles about it as it was first being designed and developed as a language structure, in the mid 1980's. I like it, do not write much using the SDKs. So, there is an alternative to ActiveX for lots of things as far as functions.
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What percentage would you say that you use FireFox over other browsers? I've been trying to make a clean break from IE for sometime but I always find that I need to go back to it for a particular situation.
Also you mention in your post that 0.9 is not final, i.e. that we can expect to see a final 0.9 release. Is that what you are saying?
Firefox is no problem at work, in fact I imagine Brian prefers I use FF over IE.
Since I surf mostly on Linux, I use Mozilla 1.7 most often, Linux box also handles all email.
On the XP box I have the following:
IE 6.0 SP1 or SP2 (wierd confused IE, actually, but it works)
4% of time, becasue of what else is on that box.
Opera 7.52 is there, (not the Preview 4), it handles most of teh sites that Mozilla dislikes, boht Mozilla and Opera are hooked to the same Java J2RE 1.42_03 that OpenOffice.org is hooked to. I have Opera running off Netscape plugins for many things, also Mozilla 1.7. So is the latest Firefox. Mozilla, sans the email component (I simply used the advanced install options, had installer leave the email component and compose out), does most of my surfing from the XP box (~65%). Firefox next (~18%), then Opera (~13%)-- but I installed latest Opera last night. These percentage figures for browsing from XP are for browsers on XP box relative to one another-- I am posting from the Linux box using Mozilla 1.7 now. I've "come to Short-Media" also, on all the browsers I have installed on both boxes.
MY reason for having all these browsers, is to see what my websites look like from one unified web code set on host server from the POV of those browsers, in part, and in part because Opera can get to things IE cannot get to due to security levels and ActiveScript and ActiveX disabling in IE for security reasons. Opera uses Sun Javascript and not Activescript.
RE Firefox versions:
The Firefox info I had was a week old, I went to Mozilla's Firefox page last night later, found Firefox .91 up for download (late beta), Also was taking into account that Mozilla uses versions less than 1.0 versioning for code in very fast dev or code it knows will change at base level-- for all versioning of its products (I tried to summarize that in previous post, poorly it looks like). Any version deemed solid can be renamed 1.0 to show that, and Mozilla folks and other sources tell me they are very close to that point with FireFox (thus a .9+ version might get reversioned to 1.0). The Firefox snapshots are in fact beta "semi-stables" of public beta kind (they have been pretested by a core group of private beta folks, but not often or at all publicly been beta-tested), and will be until version rolls to at least 1.0.
To Mozilla devs, .91 means they think the product is 91% of the way to being final. They judge this from bug reports and automatically gened (user optional, encouraged) remote problem reports, and how mahny have been fixed versus how many unfixed bugs remain and how minor the remaining bugs are. Thusly went the logic behind what I said before.
Technically, Mozilla code is under pretty rapid dev also, the snapshots for Mozilla 1.7 have a new Gecko core also. Mozilla above 1.0 is generally considered gamma dev.
The nightlies are BETA for trial before next "fixed" snapshot is released, and typically are best used to get specific problem fixes fastest while understanding that they are not fully mature by any means. Firefox also has patch test archives available for it (to a limited few) that are not in installable snapshot form as downloads, parts of the code in them is early beta.
Does that help????
Great info... It was cool to read some of the Mozilla development stuff... I had no idea how those beta (dev) version numers were established. Thanks.