New version 3.5 of Firefox loses some of its "edge"

(ip-192.com): The war of the Web browsers has taken another turn, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The new 3.5 version of Firefox is the third major release in 2009, after Microsoft’s IE 8 and Apple’s Safari. While both Microsoft and Apple bundle their Web browser with every computer they sell, Firefox must convince users to download and install the product. So far, the company behind Firefox (Mozilla) has done a reasonably good job doing just that, as evidenced by a market share of approximately 23 percent.

However, other heavy weights’ like Google have joined the browser war with Chrome, and many reviewers including the Wall Street Journal conclude that Firefox “… no longer stands out as clearly superior” after the release of the latest version. First, Firefox lost its biggest advantage – speed. Reviewers claim that Firefox still beats Microsoft’s IE 8 hands down, but it lacked behind both Safari 4+ and Chrome 2+. Second, the newest version of Firefox has relatively few new and improved features, and some of them are merely catch-ups to other browsers.

Where Firefox shines is in its ability to integrate add-ons that can enhance the browser, such as adding features to sites like Twitter or making bookmarking easier.