14 DAY TRIAL // As it released Firefox 4.0 Beta 5 and is heading for Beta 6, Mozilla has cut yet another feature from the list announced earlier this year. The browser vendor did warn that some of the features proposed for the successor of Firefox 3.6 might get cut in order to make the late 2010 release deadline, and with Account Manager already cut off, it now amputated Inspector.
Inspector is “analogous to the DOM inspector or Firebug inspector, (…) a mechanism to get a fast drill-down into an HTML page with associated properties for the selected element,” the company revealed.
Mozilla confirmed that it was cutting Inspector as it was gearing up to release Beta 5 of Firefox 4.0.
However, more sacrifices could be required. Fact is that at the time of the Firefox 4.0 Beta 5 launch, Mozilla revealed that there are two additional features at risk of not making it into the final version: Silent updates on Windows and Web console.
No decision has been reached at this point in time related to the fate of the additional features that are being considered for removal.
Firefox 4.0 Beta 6 is next, and this Build will be synonymous with the feature freeze milestone for the next iteration of the open source browser.
Following feature freeze Firefox 4.0 will not get any new interactive features or any new web platform features. At the same time, Mozilla will limit as much as possible string changes and API modifications.
Still, users need to keep in mind that dropping features is a part of the development process.
When it announced the initial feature set for the next major version of Firefox, Mozilla underlined the fact it wasn’t by any means set in stone, and that all details of the project could change, more or less dramatically.
The browser vendor is of course working to release the final version of Firefox 4.0 by the end of 2010.
With October or November 2010 targeted initially for the official launch of Firefox 4.0, Mozilla certainly needs to hurry, especially since it hasn’t hit feature freeze yet, and with at least two Beta development milestones to go, with Beta 7 already planned.
Firefox 4.0 Beta 5 for Windows is available for download here.
Firefox 4.0 Beta 5 for Mac OS X is available for download here.
Firefox 4.0 Beta 5 for Linux is available for download here.