Mozilla ships Firefox 5, holds to new rapid-release plan

Delivers browser on time, patches WebGL as Microsoft hits rivals over 3-D standard

Computerworld - Mozilla today delivered the final version of Firefox 5, the first edition under the new faster-release regime it kicked off earlier this year.

The company also patched 10 bugs in Firefox 5, including one in the browser's handling of the WebGL 3-D rendering standard that rival Microsoft has called unsafe.

Firefox 5 met Mozilla's self-imposed deadline of June 21, notable because the company has historically struggled to ship browser upgrades on time.

Firefox 5 looks identical to its predecessor, Firefox 4, but Mozilla's made changes under the hood.

Shortly after Mozilla launched Firefox 4 in March, the company committed to a faster release schedule that puts the browser on a six-week refresh cycle that lets developers add features as they're completed, rather than hold them until all work on the next upgrade is completed. If a feature presents problems, it's yanked and re-inserted into a later cycle after fixes have been applied.

Mozilla has denied copying Google Chrome's upbeat schedule -- that browser was the first to institute a fast-release strategy -- but analysts have noted the similarities and pointed out the need of all browser makers to step up the pace.

Because of the shorter development cycle, Mozilla called out relatively few new features in Firefox 5.      More