Schedule & Progress onUpcoming Releases
Firefox Desktop
Current Releases
- FF21.0 looks like it’ll stick, congrats!
Beta (22)
- https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/22.0beta/releasenotes/
- Desktop WebRTC
- Windows HiDPI
- English Stub Installer on Beta
- https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=857199
- https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/beta/ for Stub Installer
- https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html for Full Installer
Aurora (23)
Nightly (24)
- FF24 is also planned as ESR24
- New scheme: planned dot releases of the ESR will be 24.1, 24.2, etc. For sanity the major+minor version will add up to the corresponding non-ESR release. 24.2 ==> 24 + 2 ==> released with Firefox 26
- “Chemspill” releases will use a third digit, e.g. 24.2.1
Firefox Metro
Read Only
- Metro Team completed Work Week in Vancouver – View Results
- Iteration #7 ends this Thursday on May 23.
- Team has completed 68 points (48%) of total story work.
- Majority of the remaining work will carry over to Iteration #8.
- Iteration #7 Review and Planning meeting happens on Friday May 24.
- Iteration #8 runs from Tuesday May 28 – Monday June 10.
- On PTO from Friday May 31 – June 12: Asa will be assuming my Metro responsibilities while I’m gone.
Firefox Mobile
Beta (22)
Handy Dandy Tracking Page for Fx22: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Roadmap/Tracking_Fx22
- Confirmed for beta 2
- bug 857459 – some about:home content is not displayed at first start-up
- The multilocale build contains Slovak!
- Beta 1 looks stable at less than 3 crashes per 100 ADU
- 4.3 stars and we’re still trending to positive comments
Aurora (23)
- [AT RISK] Dynamic URL bar <=== We are converging
- [AT RISK] Firefox Health Report
- [AT RISK] Added locale: Turkish
- [AT RISK] Added locale: Hungarian
- [ON TRACK] NFC bump for tab sharing
- [ON TRACK] WebRTC platform support, confirmed: preffed OFF
- [ON TRACK] L10N foundation improvements
- [ON TRACK] UI for changing search engine default
- [ON TRACK] RSS/Atom feed handling
- [ON TRACK] API: Payments
Nightly (24)
- bug 862763 – nsLayoutUtils::FontSizeInflationEnabled shows up in profiles, but shouldn’t <== Looks like this change resulted in a ~14% Tp4 (no chrome) improvement for Android
- Working to get WebRTC to state where we can pref it on – this is a goal, need to enumerate the plan
- Also working to converge on Reflow on zoom, slowing down zoom animation is in progress: bug 872139 – Slow down zoom animation for reflow on zoom
- [PROPOSED] Privileged apps support
- [PROPOSED] Shumway – v2 branded players
- Will create a project page for Mobile-specific work when known
- [PROPOSED] API: Alarm
- [PLANNED] API: Web activities
- [PLANNED] API: Contacts
- [PLANNED] Dynamic Snippets
- [PROPOSED] About:home redesign
Developer Tools
- landing refinements for netmonitor, sourcemaps etc in 24
- Jetpack UX work is increasingly linked to Australis, working to coordinate with Dolske’s team to assess scope.
- Jetpack has a beta bug, currently investigated and Mossop will arrange patching as need be.
Feedback Summary
Desktop
21 seems quite stable at this point. No urgent issues to report. One small issue to report around UI changes.
Menu Item Change – We are seeing user confusion around moving the “clear recent history” button. Feedback is low at this point, but could increase as more users update. We suggest an educational push similar to the Private Browsing changes.
Scrolling is laggy Comments around scrolling being laggy/mouse only?. May be related to perf problems we saw during the beta.
Untrusted connections (from last week) – Spike died down May 15th/16th.
Updates not completing (from last week) – Only seems to have been May 13th, otherwise, still seeing comments but at a more normal level.
Mobile
21 is a very smooth and stable release. YAY!
We now have automated feedback tools, please ping Tyler if you want access.
UX & User Research
Fuller update to come (will update the wiki). For now, some highlights:
- [Metro] – Design iterations and refinements:
- Updated Start Screen Tiles — http://cl.ly/image/0j3m1B0W1U2S
- Downloads Bar — http://cl.ly/image/3W3B2I2J0A1T
- Awesome Bar Results — http://cl.ly/image/0R1Q3s073e3u/o
- “Finalizing” Main Toolbar Specs — http://cl.ly/image/1J2c3b0J2J0D
- [Australis]
- Customization Mode Updates on UX Branch — http://cl.ly/image/3i1C0Q27023D
- Updated OS X Design Specs — http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/files/australis-design-specs/australis-design-specs-osx.html
Market Insights from the Product Marketing Strategy Team
Mobile
The first Jolla phone was revealed and made available for pre – oder for 399 Euros. A device with a dual – core processor and a 4.5 – inch display, it will be able to run Android apps with the help of Open Mobile’s Application Compatibility Layer. It will not support the Google Play Store, though, so applications will need to be loaded through other venues. Besides Android, it will support Qt and HTML5 apps. The value proposition is branded “The Other Half” and speaks to the device’s ability to adapt its design, settings and apps as the user applies different hardware elements (like a cover) to it, as it acts through her day. Jolla will be providing a few of them, but it invites collaborators to create those accessories. The device will ship before the end of 2013.
Opera launched the stable version of its Webkit – based Android browser. Based on Chromium 26, the app will likely switch to Blink once Google has integrated it into Chromium. It holds most of Opera’s signature features, such as the proxy – mode, Speed Dial home page, and Discover panel, which lets the user browse through the day’s top news. Available for Android 2.3 or newer, this version does not support tablets yet and has a 4.4 star rating.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.opera.browser
Samsung has acquired a 10% stake in Pantech, the 3rd largest Korean smartphone manufacturer. While significant in the country, the device maker has had little success outside of it, where is sells in the low – end in some of the emerging markets. Another stakeholder in Pantech is Qualcomm with 11.96%.
The 2012 Kaspersky Security Bulletin Board claims that 99% of the newly discovered mobile malicious apps target Android. The rate of discovery is going up, from 8 new unique programs in January 2011 to 8 times that amount at the end of 2012. There are 3 main types of malware: SMS Trojans, that send messages to premium-rate numbers, backdoors which provide unauthorized access and allow the installation of other malicious programs, and spyware as the 3rd category. These 3 types account for 51% of the newly discovered malware.
http://www.kaspersky.com/about/news/virus/2013/99_of_all_mobile_threats_target_Android_devices
Telefonica has announced a deal with Samsung to integrate its carrier billing backend into Samsung’s mobile services. Using the BlueVia payment APIs, Telefonica’s 316 million users who use Samsung’s app portals and services would be able to charge content directly to their phone bill. The rolle-out will be gradual, starting with Germany.
ZTE has announced that is will begin selling phones in India with 5 devices priced between $105 and $270. The smartphones will be available in major cities starting with October and could be followed later by tablets. Important because ZTE is one of the top 5 worldwide phone manufacturers and India a country with a great deal of potential in the long – term and staggering growth in smartphones sales of 75% Year – over – Year.
Marketing, Press & Public Reaction
- Five new features coming in Firefox 21 tomorrow
- Firefox 21 arrives with social providers Cliqz, Mixi, MSN Now, open source fonts and HTML5 tweaks for Android
- Firefox 21 Launches with Enhanced Social API Support, Health Report
- Firefox 21 release adds to Social API, closes security holes
- Mozilla to Firefox: ‘Browser, heal thyself’
- Firefox 21 Out Now On Desktop And Mobile
- Firefox 21 release rolls out more social network integrations and new Android fonts
Planning Meeting Details
- Wednesdays – 11:00am PT, 18:00 UTC
- Mountain View Offices: Warp Core Conference Room
- Toronto Offices: Finch Conference Room
- irc.mozilla.org #planning for backchannel
- (the developer meeting takes place on Tuesdays)
Video/Teleconference Details – NEW
- 650-903-0800 or 650-215-1282 x92 Conf# 99696 (US/INTL)
- 1-800-707-2533 (pin 369) Conf# 99696 (US)
- Vidyo Room: ProductCoordination
- Vidyo Guest URL