14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla has quietly released the final version of Firefox 5.0 ahead of schedule with support for CSS transitions, enhanced compatibility with HTML5 and its Canvas mode, a Do Not Track option, and more.
The new Firefox, available for Mac, Windows and Linux users alike, is set to debut tomorrow, June 21, 2011.
Mozilla, however, has been so eager to get the final bits into the hands of customers worldwide that they uploaded the binary to their servers days early.
The updated web browser exhibits visibly better performance for background tabs and integration with Linux.
WebGL, spelling checks and overall network and memory use are also improved.
Since Firefox 5.0 Final should inherit all the tweaks and enhancements listed by Mozilla for the latest beta, we give you the official changelog:
· Added support for CSS animations · The Do-Not-Track header preference has been moved to increase discoverability · Improved canvas, JavaScript, memory, and networking performance · Improved standards support for HTML5, XHR, MathML, SMIL, and canvas · Improved spell checking for some locales · Improved desktop environment integration for Linux users · WebGL content can no longer load cross-domain textures · Background tabs have setTimeout and setInterval clamped to 1000ms to improve performance · The Firefox development channel switcher introduced in previous Firefox Beta updates has been removed
Firefox 6.0 alpha is already at its second release. Dubbed Aurora, this experimental build is the equivalent of Google Chrome Dev.
Aurora allows the curious to “experience the newest innovations in an unstable environment and provide feedback on features and performance to help determine what makes the final release,” according to Mozilla.
To run Firefox 5.0 on a Mac, you will need OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), a system with Intel x86 processor, 512 MB of RAM, and 200 MB hard drive space.