Microsoft to Open Source Edge’s and IE’s JavaScript Engine
Say what?
During the JSConf conference, Microsoft has announced that they will be open sourcing Charka, the JavaScript engine behind Edge and Internet Explorer.
Starting in January, 2016, users will be able to explore Chakra on GitHub, which will be dubbed “ChakraCore”. Why named it like that? Well, while the software giant will indeed open source the whole JavaScript engine, the are some differences between the two: ChakraCore lacks the “glue” between JavaScript engine and the browser’s HTML engine as well as “glue” between Universal Windows Platform and the JavaScript engine. Chakra also includes COM Diagnostic APIs that won’t be open sourced as well. However, that does not seem like a loss.
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AdBlock Plus Coming to Microsoft Edge
Yesterday, we have reported that Microsoft has accidentally revealed the Edge extensions page, which listed a couple of upcoming extensions and hinted that the support for the long awaited add-ons will soon be launched.
Now, it looks like one of the most popular extensions will also be joining the party: Adblock Plus. While there is no ETA yet, I know more than few people that will be extremely happy to give Edge another try, just without annoying popups and other ads.
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Microsoft Mistakenly Reveals Edge Extensions Page
Porting from Chrome couldn’t be simpler.
Edge extensions, rumored to be launching sometime in 2016 (due to delays) for the consumers and in late 2015 for the Windows Insiders, have been accidentally revealed by the Microsoft itself.
According to a recently published page, which has since been removed, the very first batch of extensions will include the Pinterest button and Reddit Enhancement Suite, and likely other extensions.
However, what is more interested is the recent claim (as reported by @WalkingCat), that Chrome extensions will be extremely easy to port to Edge, according to him, “Comparing Edge version vs. Chrome version of same extension, basically substitute “chrome” with “msBrowser”, add few minor changes, done.”
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Mozilla Abandons Firefox OS, RIP
At first it was Thunderbird and now FFOS…
Mozilla, the company that is ran by the headless chickens, has announced that they will stop developing and selling Firefox OS smartphones.
Unveiled back in 2013, Firefox OS was supposed to flood the developing world with the low cost devices. After that strategy failed, they switched to the “higher end”, and after this strategy failed too, Mozilla completely abandoned the platform and it is now dead.
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Mozilla Launches “Focus by Firefox” for iOS
No, it does not work on Firefox for iOS.
Recently, Mozilla has announced that they will begin focusing on the core user experiences instead; so they have pretty much stopped developing Thunderbird and even ditched sponsored tiles as a result.
Now, the very same organization has just announced a new product: Focus by Firefox, a free content blocker for the Apple’s Safari users. How exactly does it help Mozilla to focus on the core Firefox user experiences? I am not sure that Mozilla knows that either.
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Mozilla to Cut Down On Sponsored Tiles
Now cares about the “core” experiences.
Remember when Mozilla started to experiment with the sponsored tiles, saying that it was for the better? Then, despite a lot of controversy, still decided to implement ads into Firefox?
Well, after the continuous decline in the market share, it looks like Mozilla might have finally realized that selling out its users is not exactly a formula for the success. The result? The recently made announcement, which puts an end to this. As stated by Darren Herman, “Advertising in Firefox could be a great business, but it isn’t the right business for us at this time because we want to focus on core experiences for our users.”
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Internet Explorer Motivation (Picture)
Who knew that IE can motivate people…
“If Internet Explorer is brave enough to ask you to be your default browser, you’re brave enough to ask that girl out.”
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Mozilla Does Not Believe in Thunderbird Anymore
Might spin it off.
Mitchell Baker, the exec chairwoman of Mozilla Organization, has recently published an open memo on the mozilla.governance forum, sharing her thoughts about Firefox and Thunderbird, its free email client.
As it turns out, Baker does not believe in Thunderbird anymore and now considers it akin to “paying a tax”, even though the active software development has pretty much stopped back in 2012.
So what’s going to happen with the Mozilla’s email client? According to Mitchell, “Thunderbird should would thrive best by separating itself from reliance on Mozilla development systems and in some cases, Mozilla technology,” which pretty much indicates what fans have had feared for years: Thunderbird is dead, unless new home is found.
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Opera 35 Dev Brings Windows 10 and Other Improvements
Today, Opera Software has pushed another Opera 35 Dev build (35.0.2064.0), which brings some UI enhancements and other changes. Windows 10 users should be especially happy as some of these tweaks are just for them, like the improved contrast for window frame, better control menu items look and ability to control the window frame look.
As far as non-Windows 10 changes go, ad blocking section was removed from the Basic settings, which apparently received a lot of criticism from the community. However, if you have missed the release before, here is what else was added:
– Search box, yes, for the old school users
– Experimental flag #frame-color-awareness, which allows you to change the window title bar color in Windows 10 Threshold 2.
– Simple settings
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Yahoo! Loses All Its Market Share Gains
The search deal did not come to a rescue.
Last year, Google and Mozilla did not come extend the search agreement, and as a result, Yahoo! became the default search engine in Firefox.
While at first Yahoo! experienced a pretty healthy increase in its market share numbers (where even Google was concerned as it begged users to switch back), it looks like the gains did not hold. According to the most recent data, for October, Yahoo’s global usage share was actually at a new low, 7.6%, down from 10.2% (January 2015).
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