Firefox 46, Vivaldi 1.1, Homeless Thunderbird
Mozilla was in the news today first for releasing Firefox 46 with GTK+ 3 integration. They're also making headlines for trying to find a new home for Thunderbird, their browser-based email client. In competing news, the Vivaldi project announced version 1.1 of their new browser already, not even a month since its initial release. Elsewhere, Bruce Byfield discussed the Debian installer and Jack Germain said "Bodhi Linux is elegant and lightweight."
The Mozilla project today announced Firefox 46, the latest update to the popular Web browser. "It features an improved look and feel for Linux users, a minor security improvement and additional updates for all Firefox users." Perusing the release notes one finds this release brings GTK+ 3 integration, which improves its appearance on GNOME and other desktops. Also fixed are bugs in SVG scaling and WebRTC operations. Several security vulnerabilities were also addressed, some of which could have exposed user data. Downloads are at the usual outlet or wait for your distribution package.
Last November Mozilla's Mitchell Baker posted of the Mozilla Foundations' desire to rehome the Thunderbird mail client. He said their main two projects seemed to be working against each other and they wished to focus their attention on the browser and "the cloud." An update Monday confirmed this was to be the path, Thunderbird has been kicked to the curb, or will be after a bit of hand holding. They hired Simon Phipps to advise them as to which Open Source foundation/project might best be suited to take over Thunderbird. Phipps suggested The Software Freedom Conservancy or The Document Foundation. As GNOME is also one of the possibilities, some have asked if KDE can do it. Pau Garcia i Quiles today explained why they shouldn't. He gives several good reasons with money, time, and personnel toping his list. Stay tuned for more on this as it comes in.
The Vivaldi guys today announced the release of Vivaldi 1.1, an update to the new browser based on Opera. This release brings new tab features and refinements, new Opera 12+ Speeddial importing, new URL dropdown disable setting, and lots of bug fixes. Download are at Vivaldi.com.
In other news:
* Bodhi Linux 3.2 Promises Clearer Path to Enlightenment