How to make work Firefox 2.0 Add-Ons Work With Firefox 3.0

If you're like me, you've been playing around with the beta releases of Firefox 3.0. The new version of the open source browser is better-looking, uses less memory, and feels snappier all around. There's just one problem: Every time they release a new beta version, some of your extensions and add-ons are bound to stop working. With the release of Firefox 3.0rc1, almost none of them work.

Fortunately, there is a solution that will "fix" all of your extensions at once. But I caution you, it's not for the weak-hearted. The fix doesn't take longer than a few seconds, but when it comes to troubleshooting your browser afterward, you'll be on your own.

I can't repeat this enough. DO NOT TRY THIS unless you are comfortable editing the advanced preferences of your browser. And don't do anything until you've read through this entire post. Don't say I didn't warn you.

In my experience, extensions that worked with Firefox 3.0b5 will generally be stable with 3.0rc1. It is possible, however, that some of them will cause the new version of the browser to crash. It might even crash on startup -- which means, obviously, that you won't easily be able to undo the fix I'm about to describe.

The key to the fix is to prevent Firefox from checking its version number before it tries to load extensions. To do this, you will need to set a new preference value. Point your browser at the URL "about:config", then right-click on the preferences list to bring up the contextual menu. You should see an option that says "New." Select that, and choose "Boolean." When it asks you for the preference name, type "extensions.checkCompatibility" (without the quotes). You have to enter the name exactly. For the value, choose "false."

Now restart Firefox. When the browser comes back up, it should give you a warning that version checking is disabled. You can double-check under "Tools:Add-Ons" to make sure everything is activated once again.

If the worst case happens and the browser won't start after you add the new preference, you'll need to remove it by hand. Locate the file "prefs.js" within your Firefox profile directory and edit it with any text file editor to delete the line with the preference you just created. (If you're not comfortable doing that, then as I've said, this fix is probably not for you.)

Also, you'll want to remember to delete the preference once the final version of Firefox 3.0 is released, or else you'll never be certain that your installation is stable.

The Mozilla community is celebrating 500 million Firefox downloads

TechCrunch noted Thursday that Mozilla was about to celebrate its 500 millionth download of Firefox, the open source browser that has made inroads into Microsoft’s dominant market share. By this morning, the official Spread Firefox site was claiming an additional 340,000 downloads, putting it over the half billion mark.

That’s an impressive download rate — one that has given Firefox an approximately 17 percent share of the browser market. Looking at visitors to NYTimes.com, a much larger share of our online readers, about 28 percent in February, were Firefox users. The bulk of our online readers use various versions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (about 60 percent) and Apple’s Safari (about 10 percent).

But we also noticed that tens of thousands of our visitors use various versions of Netscape Navigator, the nearly defunct browser owned by AOL, as well as a variety of other, more obscure browsers. It made us wonder why people choose the browsers they choose. Let us know about what’s behind your choice in the comments section.

4 Years Ago Today - Netscape Corporation Killed, Mozilla Foundation Born

4 years ago today, 15 July 2003, AOL Time Warner disbanded Netscape Communications Corporation - the company that sparked the Dot Com Internet boom in the mid-90's with its 1995 IPO. Also 4 years ago today, The Mozilla Foundation was established. mozillaZine reported at the time:

"It has been learned through public and private sources that AOL has cut or will cut the remaining team working on Mozilla in a mass firing and are dismantling what was left of Netscape (they've even pulled the logos off the buildings). Some will remain working on Mozilla during the transition, and will move to other jobs within AOL.

The news isn't all doom and gloom, folks. I've been informed that the number of volunteer Mozilla hackers started eclipsing the number of Netscape hackers last month, and that a number of folks have already been snatched up by other organizations. ".More>>

Firefox Partners With EBay For Branded EBay Browser

Mozilla has released another branded, use-specific version of Firefox, this one as part of a deal with eBay. For now the eBay optimized Firefox (which really just amounts to the eBay toolbar pre-installed) is available for users in Germany, France and the United Kingdom with other countries “possible at a later date.”

Branded versions of Firefox are nothing new, Google has long offered a version with the Google Tools pre-installed and we looked at an AllPeers version a while back, but the EBay deal could be a sign the Mozilla sees this as Firefox’s future.

The Ebay toolbar, which has been in testing for a while now, includes the following features designed to improve your buying/selling experience:More>>

Lots of new features in Firefox 3

Mozilla has started to leak snippets of information about what new features will be included in Firefox 3 , which is due sometime in the autumn.

An entirely new graphics engine that can handle more feature-rich web pages will be added to Firefox 3, according to Mozilla . So will better options to upscale and downscale images, and the ability to zoom in and out on web pages

Another major addition is SQL Lite, which makes it possible to 'tag' your favourite websites instead of bookmarking them. Similar tagging features can already be found in Gmail and Google Reader. The most frequently visited websites will automatically be accessible at the top of the web browser window.More>>