Opera just launched the first alpha version of Opera 11, the company's first version of its desktop browser with support for extensions. As the browser wars continue to heat up, Opera remained one of the few players without a vibrant extension ecosystem. This new version aims to change this and while there are currently only a few extensions for Opera 11, the company promises that adapting existing extensions for Opera should be rather easy for a developers who have already written similar extensions for other browsers.
As we noted earlier this morning, Apple's Mac Store guidelines have been revealed, including the long list of apps Apple plans to reject. While some developers will jump at the chance for exposure a Mac App Store provides, not everyone in the industry is happy about the news - least of all, Mozilla Firefox chief Mike Beltzner. For him, Apple's version of a desktop-based Mac App Store is especially disturbing.
In fact, Beltzner accused Apple as attempting to "bypass the Web" altogether.
Mozilla has launched a prototype of what it calls an Open Web App Store. It's a decentralized challenge to both Apple's closed app store and Google's centralized strategy.
Open Web Apps, the organization says, are a hybrid of the web's openness and the desktop's convenience, access to hardware capabilities and more. The Store Framework will enable an unlimited number of interoperable App Stores to be hosted by anyone, and compete based on quality of user experience. The apps distributed through these stores can be free or paid and can run on any browser that supports HTML5, including mobile browsers.
Browser maker Opera announced two major updates today: its upcoming desktop browser will finally include extensions, the add-ons that let users customize their browser with additional features, and a version of Opera will be designed just for Android handsets.
Despite last month's promising debut of Internet Explorer 9, the world's most popular browser has fallen below 50% for the first time, according to StatCounter.
StatCounter Global Stats, which looks browser market share by browser and not by version, shows Internet Explorer occupying just below 50%, down from nearly 60% a year ago.
Earlier this summer we told you about the launch of Firefox Home, an iPhone app developed by Mozilla that allows users of the popular Web browser to take their bookmarks and browsing history with them on-the-go. Since a full-blown mobile Firefox client would likely be turned away by App Store reviewers, the handy app has been a decent compromise that keeps iPhone users interested in using Firefox on the desktop. Today, Mozilla outlined its plans for the future of Firefox Home, which includes expanding to more mobile platforms and adding richer social media integration within the app.
Firefox Home, the mobile app that brings your bookmarks, open tabs and browsing history to your iPhone, has gone worldwide, multilingual and more with its latest release.
For those of you hoping for a mobile version of Firefox on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, we say don't hold your breath, but this app will help you bring much of what you do on your home computer on the go.
We were in San Francisco yesterday as Microsoft unveiled the latest beta of Internet Explorer 9 and, like many present, we were impressed. From everything we saw, it was all it was hyped up to be - visually stunning, fast and full-featured. Then came the one, big catch - it's only available for Windows 7.
The Register says that it got the official word from Microsoft and if Internet Explorer 9 is something you want, then Windows XP just isn't going to do.
Microsoft just launched the first beta of Internet Explorer 9. After a series of developer previews, this is the first release of Internet Explorer 9 that features the browser's new interface. The new design is very clean and only features a single bar for entering URLs and managing your tabs. In addition, the browser is also integrated more tightly with Windows 7 and allows users to pin websites to the task bar, for example.
You can download the beta here.
I went to use Firefox the other day after months of loyal Chrome use, and I was astounded - what had formerly been my favorite browser suddenly felt like it was getting in the way, with multiple bars of menus and icons. It was eating up all of my precious screen real estate. It made me realize that, in many ways, the modern browser is working harder and harder to do more, while getting out of the way of the user's experience of the Web.
Today, Microsoft is releasing the latest beta version of Internet Explorer 9 and it looks like they got one big thing right - the browser has slimmed down, got a new wardrobe and stepped out of the way.
