Firefox 15 Released: Silent Updates, Compressed Textures, Add-on Memory Leak Fix

[wraggster]

Mozilla released Firefox 15 (http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/?from=getfirefox) today, and it brings a number of interesting changes. First, the browser is finally switching to a "silent" update model, like Chrome. (No doubt in answer to endless complaints about their rapid release cycle (http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/06/21/1756243/mozilla-ships-firefox-5-meets-rapid-release-plan).) In addition, Mozilla says they have "now plugged the main cause of memory leaks in Firefox add-ons." Add-ons commonly hold extra copies of sites in memory when they don't need to, and the browser now has a mechanism to detect this and reclaim the memory (https://blog.mozilla.org/nnethercote/2012/07/19/firefox-15-plugs-the-add-on-leaks/). Another significant improvement is the addition of native support for compressed textures in WebGL (http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/08/firefox-15-arrives-supports-compressed-textures-for-impressive-3d-gaming/), which is a boost for high-res 3D gaming. Here are release notes for the desktop (http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/15.0/releasenotes/) and mobile (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/15.0/releasenotes/) versions.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/08/28/1812225/firefox-15-released-silent-updates-compressed-textures-add-on-memory-leak-fix