firefox for 64 bit windows canceled

[hclarkjr]

http://www.neowin.net/news/firefox-for-64-bit-windows-os-canceled

People who have been waiting patiently for Mozilla to launch a version of Firefox made especially for 64-bit versions of Windows looks like they may be waiting forever. Mozilla Engineering Manager Benjamin Smedberg has apparently made the decision to kill off development of the 64-bit Windows version of the popular web browser.
In a post on the Bugzilla development page written on Wednesday, Smedberg states, "Please stop building windows 64 builds and tests." He outlined his feelings on the matter in an earlier post on a Google Groups development board. Some of the reasons deal with plug-in issues, with Smedberg saying, "Many plugins are not available in 64-bit versions." He added, "The plugins that are available don’t work correctly in Firefox because we haven’t implemented things like windowproc hooking, which means that hangs are more common."
With development of a Windows 64-bit version of Firefox now halted, it looks like Windows users now have just Internet Explorer and Opera that support native 64-bit web browser versions for Microsoft's platform. While Microsoft continues to release both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, the trend in the last few years has been for Windows owners to get the 64-bit SKU.

 

[stag3]

i've been using http://www.waterfoxproject.org/
for a long time now, haven't had any major issues

 

[Socio]

the trend in the last few years has been for Windows owners to get the 64-bit SKU.

This is absolutely right, more secure, ability to use more ram etc... I believe the last data I saw there were more people using Windows 7 64bit than XP and Vista 64bit users combined. Pursuing a 64bit version should be their top goal, not giving up on it!

Correct me if I am wrong but 64bit apps like the OS have the ability to access more than 4gb of ram where a 32bit apps even on a 64bit OS are still stuck at the 4bg threshold.

This alone would make a true 64bit browser superior to 32bit.

I hope they change their minds and iron out the problems with hooking etc... and get a 64bit version released.

 

[Mem]

Glad I stayed with Opera 64 bit version,far as I know only IE and Opera have official 64 bit builds,I would like to see more browsers making 64 bit official builds however.

 

[Sheep221]

What is advantage of having 64 bit browser?

 

[Netopia]

What is advantage of having 64 bit browser?

+1

 

[Socio]

What is advantage of having 64 bit browser?

Aside from the ability to access more ram, 64bit appears to be a bit faster;

http://www.favbrowser.com/internet-explorer-9-32-bit-x86-vs-ie9-64-bit-x64/

http://www.favbrowser.com/firefox-32-bit-x86-vs-firefox-64-bit-x64/

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Well that is unfortunate, i hope they change their minds in the future!

 

[ImDonly1]

Not sure if the title is accurate.

On their google groups discussion he says "For these reasons, I would like to propose that we disable the 64-bitWindows nightly builds"
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.apps.firefox/jpX_z5zieD4

Seems they are stopping nightly builds and giving less attention to x64, but will still continue to develop 64-bit firefox?

 

[lamedude]

For Win8 users security is the biggest advantage. Only 64bit programs can use HE ASLR.

 

[ringtail]

i've been using http://www.waterfoxproject.org/
for a long time now, haven't had any major issues

stag3,

Thank you for telling us about the existence of Waterfox.
1st I've heard of it, will try it out.

 

[Socio]

Not sure if the title is accurate.

On their google groups discussion he says "For these reasons, I would like to propose that we disable the 64-bitWindows nightly builds"
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.apps.firefox/jpX_z5zieD4

Seems they are stopping nightly builds and giving less attention to x64, but will still continue to develop 64-bit firefox?

Sounds like Benjamin Smedberg how a bit of disdain for 64bit or is afraid to move out of his 32bit comfort zone; 64bit is the future if he refuses to pursue it Firefox will eventually go by the wayside as others do.

 

[Socio]

i've been using http://www.waterfoxproject.org/
for a long time now, haven't had any major issues

When you have it open does it have a *32 next to the exe in task manager?

 

[lxskllr]

Firefox is open source, so those that want it can create a new fork, or use Waterfox. Alternatively, they can switch to GNU/Linux :^D

I don't see a lot of value in 64bit browsers at this time. I'm sure there's some edge cases that could use it, but the vast majority of people do just fine with a 32bit browser. FWIW, I don't think they should drop it. It should just be deprioritized, and slowed down if they don't want to put a lot of resources into it.

 

[stag3]

stag3,

Thank you for telling us about the existence of Waterfox.
1st I've heard of it, will try it out.

yea np, i don't even remember how i stumbled upon it, probably someone else on anandtech mentioned it and i checked it out, have not looked back.

 

[stag3]

When you have it open does it have a *32 next to the exe in task manager?

nope, it's 64bit

 

[Anteaus]

Hmm strange. Stopping development on 64-bit Firefox is like stopping development on Firefox in general. 32-bit software is on the way out. They previously announced that they were ceasing development on future versions of Thunderbird. I wonder if they are making plans to develop for-profit software in the near future...

 

[lxskllr]

Hmm strange. Stopping development on 64-bit Firefox is like stopping development on Firefox in general. 32-bit software is on the way out. They previously announced that they were ceasing development on future versions of Thunderbird. I wonder if they are making plans to develop for-profit software in the near future...

I don't see that. I question dropping 64bit Firefox a little, but it's not an unreasonable position. Tbird is pretty much feature complete. How much can you really add to a mail client before it's just bloat to justify a new version number? They'll be continuing security updates, and that's all that matters to me.

They're currently working on the mobile browser, which is a bit of a pig, as well as Boot To Gecko. That's the new frontier, and they have a limited amount of resources, so cuts and realignments have to be made.

 

[Jodell88]

Hmm strange. Stopping development on 64-bit Firefox is like stopping development on Firefox in general. 32-bit software is on the way out. They previously announced that they were ceasing development on future versions of Thunderbird. I wonder if they are making plans to develop for-profit software in the near future...

They only cancelled 64bit Firefox for windows, which has never seen a release. I've been using 64bit versions of Firefox on Linux for years now.

 

[tcsenter]

What is advantage of having 64 bit browser?

Isn't the last thing keeping *some* check on the bloat of web design these days the 32-bit browser and plug-in limit? If all browsers and plug-ins were 64-bit, you wouldn't be able to load a webpage other than plain text that wasn't a full-blown application.

 

[bigrash]

That sucks for Firefox users.

 

[Nothinman]

That sucks for Firefox users.

You mean Windows users.

 

[gmaster456]

I doubt most average users don't even know what 64bit is. Let alone whether or not their browser supports it. I for one think it's a shame that they haulted development, but there's always waterfox.

 

[Nothinman]

I doubt most average users don't even know what 64bit is. Let alone whether or not their browser supports it. I for one think it's a shame that they haulted development, but there's always waterfox.

And they shouldn't have to worry about it, the fact that it's in everyone's face so much is largely MS' fault for their half-assed multi-arch system. I've been using 64-bit FF builds on Debian for like a decade now. The only noticeable issue was Flash which Adobe "fixed" by releasing a 64-bit plugin years ago.

 

[ShawnD1]

What is advantage of having 64 bit browser?

Being able to access 4gb of ram means it's capable of playing those incredibly inefficient flash advertisements found on some web pages. It's not unusual to see firefox.exe hit 500-600mb of memory with only 1 tab open.