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Firefox 96 Is Now Available for Download, Here’s What’s New
Mozilla’s upcoming Firefox 96 open-source and cross-platform web browser is now available
to download for all supported platforms ahead of the official release tomorrow, January
11th, 2022.
Firefox 96 is here as the first release of the open-source web browser in 2022, bringing
a handful of modest performance and security improvements to make your web browsing experience
more stable, reliable, and secure.
For example, the new Firefox release significantly reduces the main thread load, significantly
improves noise-suppression and auto-gain-control, and slightly improves echo-cancellation to
provide users with a better overall experience.
Security-wise, Firefox 96 enforces the Cookie Policy: Same-Site=lax option by default to
protect users against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks.
For Linux users, Firefox 96 changes the keyboard shortcut for the “Select All” function
from Alt+A to Ctrl+A.
In previous releases, both keyboard shortcuts were available when selecting all the text
from a web page, but that’s no longer the case because Mozilla wants to avoid access
keys conflicts and also solve Web Compat issues.
“If you want to keep using Emacs like key bindings, e.g., you configured your GTK settings
to use Ctrl+A as a shortcut key for moving caret to beginning of a line, you need to
change ui.key.textcontrol.prefer_native_key_bindings_over_builtin_shortcut_key_definitions and ui.key.use_select_all_in_single_line_editor
from about:config.
These prefs are currently disabled by default but would be enabled by default in a future
release,” says Mozilla.
Among other changes, Firefox 96 fixes an issue where video intermittently drops SSRC, fixes
an issue where WebRTC downgrades the screen sharing resolution, fixes video quality degradation
in certain websites, and adds the ability choose to print only the odd/even pages.
If you’re using Firefox via the binaries provided by Mozilla, you can download Firefox
96 right now from the main FTP server.
If not, you should wait for the new Firefox release to land in the stable software repositories
of your favorite GNU/Linux distribution, which should happen by the end of this week.
Linux Mint Devs Announce Partnership with Mozilla to Improve Firefox in Linux Mint
Linux Mint’s lead developer Clement Lefebvre announced today a partnership with Mozilla,
the maker of the popular Firefox web browser, to improve Firefox in the Linux Mint distribution.
According to Clement Lefebvre, this is both a commercial or a technical partnership in
an attempt to improve the Firefox web browser in Linux Mint.
Firefox will still be distributed as a .deb package in Linux Mint, but starting with the
Firefox 96 release, it will receive better support for rounded corners for its own window
decorations.
But, what’s most important is the fact that the default Firefox configuration in Linux
Mint will change due to this partnership to provide users with a configuration almost
identical to the version of the web browser distributed by Mozilla.
This means that the default start page will no longer point to https://www.linuxmint.com/start/,
the default search engines will be reset to Mozilla’s search partners like Google, Amazon,
Bing, DuckDuckGo, Ebay, etc., and there won’t be any code changes or patches from Linux
Mint, Debian, or Ubuntu included in the web browser.
“Firefox is still a champion of Open Source, it still proudly promotes Free Software outside
of our community and it still produces one of the best and the most open browsers available
not only to us but to millions of people who enjoy it on proprietary operating systems
before migrating to Linux,” said Clement Lefebvre.
With this partnership, Mozilla wants to make their open-source web browser work the same
across all supported platforms, while the Linux Mint developers won’t have to hassle
with Firefox’s maintenance in their Ubuntu-based distribution as they’ll now only package
Mozilla’s version of Firefox.
Both Mozilla and Linux Mint hope to improve software updates in Firefox, which will integrate
with Linux Mint’s Update Manager to allow users to install newer versions of the web
browser straight from the browser itself.
The Linux Mint developers also confirm the fact that Firefox in Linux Mint will be faster
due to this partnership, but they warn users that their default search engine settings
will be reset to Google, yet DuckDuckGo will remain available but with a different URL.
However, other user settings will be preserved.
Linux Mint users should expect the transition to the vanilla Firefox to happen with the
next version, Firefox 96, coming this week in the Linux Mint 19.x and Linux Mint 20.x
series, as well as the Debian-based LMDE distribution.
Firefox 96 Yields Less Load On The Main Thread, WebP Encoder For Canvas
Firefox 96.0 is officially shipping today as the first update of 2022 for this open-source
web browser.
Firefox 96.0 has "significantly" reduced the amount of load placed on the browser's main
thread and there is also "significant" improvements in noise suppression and auto-gain-control
and improvements in echo cancellation.
In addition to that performance work, there are also WebRTC improvements, an improved
cookie policy to reduce the likelihood of Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks,
video quality degradation fixes, and other fixes.
Over on developer.mozilla.org are some of the web developer changes with Firefox 96
including CSS color value function hwb() support for specifying the hue/whiteness/blackness,
support for the CSS color-scheme property, the Web Locks API is enabled by default, image
encoder support for WebP for exporting HTML5 canvas elements, and other additions.
While awaiting the formal announcement today from Mozilla, Firefox 96.0 can be downloaded
right now from the Mozilla.org server.
In other Firefox Linux-related news, Linux Mint announced on Monday they signed a partnership
with Mozilla.
Financial details were not disclosed but Linux Mint's Firefox build will be changing its
default start page, the default search engines will change to Mozilla search partners, and
other modifications for Mozilla.
Linux Mint is reverting Firefox to Mozilla config after partnership signed
Having to switch from the new default of Google as search engine of choice and turning off
telemetry likely to be biggest obstacles for users.
Mozilla and Linux Mint have signed a partnership that will see the Linux distribution dump
its customisation of the web browser, in favour of rolling out the defaults chosen by Mozilla.
"In the past Linux Mint used its own default settings and configured Firefox in a specific
way.
Most of this configuration is abandoned to go back to Mozilla defaults," distribution
founder Clement Lefebvre wrote.
Among the change will be the default start page no longer pointing to a page controlled
by Mint; search engines switching from Linux Mint search partners including Yahoo and DuckDuckGo
to Mozilla search partners including Google, Amazon, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ebay; and patches
from Mint upstream distributions Debian and Ubuntu being dropped.
The relationship between Mozilla and Mint is commercial and technical, with hopes that
Mint users will be able to update the browser from within Firefox, similar to how Windows
users do, rather than needing to use the distribution's package manager.
"For Mozilla, the goal is to make Firefox work the same way across all platforms to
ease maintenance and simplify development and bug fixing.
With these changes, Firefox will give the same experience in Linux Mint as it does in
other operating systems," Lefebvre said.
"For us, this change means a tremendous simplification in terms of maintenance and development.
We used to build Firefox ourselves using Ubuntu's packaging (which is set to be discontinued
as Ubuntu is moving towards snap).
We now package the Mozilla version of Firefox instead."
Lefebvre said any changes to default settings made by users will stay, but those relying
on defaults would see changes.
For instance, users that stuck with the default search engine from Mint -- one of Yahoo, DuckDuckGo,
or Startpage -- will see their default switched to Google, while users that manually added
one of the search engines will see it remain.
Similarly, despite Mint previously disabling telemetry, users will need to turn it off
again.
"It's on by default in Mozilla's configuration but what's also on is a dialog requesting
your review," Lefebvre said responding to a comment.
"Review your settings upon transitioning.
There's only one transition.
Firefox asks you to look at them anyway."
The transition is due to happen for Mint 19.x, 20.x, and Linux Mint Debian Edition when Mozilla
releases Firefox 96 due this week.
Once the change happens, the only search engine in Firefox to generate revenue for Mint will
be Google.
In other browsers, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and Startpage will continue to pay Mint.
Lefebvre added Mint was seeing "slightly faster performance" with the changes.
Earlier this week, Mint 20.3 Una was released.
Mozilla and Linux Mint sign a partnership agreement
Linux Mint, developer of the popular Linux distribution, and Mozilla, maker of the popular
Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client, have signed a partnership agreement.
The Linux Mint team announced the partnership on the official blog.
According to the information published there, the partnership is commercial and technical
in nature.
Some things will change for Linux Mint users who use Firefox as a browser on the system.
Linux Mint shipped Firefox with a custom set of settings and configurations in the past,
and most of these will be dropped to go back to the defaults.
The team mentions the following changes in particular:
The default start page will no longer be https://www.linuxmint.com/start/.
Default search engines of Firefox are restored, Linux Mint search partners are no longer included
(unless they match the default list of search engines in Firefox).
Mozilla default configuration switches are used by Firefox.
Firefox won't include code changes or patches from Linux Mint, Debian or Ubuntu anymore.
For Linux Mint, the change means the freeing up of development and maintenance resources.
The team used to build Firefox using Ubuntu's packaging, but will package the Mozilla provided
version of Firefox instead.
For Mozilla, it is mentioned that the organization wants Firefox to work identical across all
supported platforms.
Not mentioned but probably as important is the commercial benefit that Mozilla may be
getting out of this, as the company's search partners and Firefox's default startpage are
displayed to Linux Mint users going forward.
One FAQ entry points out that Linux Mint is getting a share of the income that is generated
when Linux Mint Firefox users use Google Search.
Other details are not mentioned.
The transition took already place in Linux Mint 20.3, which the team released last week.
For all other supported versions of Linux Mint, Linux Mint 19.x, 20.x and LMDE, it will
take place with the release of Firefox 96.
Firefox 96 will be released on January 11, 2022.
Custom user settings should not be affected by the change according to the announcement.
If a user has changed preferences in Firefox, they should remain changed.
The team notes that defaults may change however, and that users may want to check the preferences
after the upgrade to Firefox 96 to make sure that these defaults have the right values
set.
Closing Words
The Linux Mint and Mozilla partnership should benefit both organizations.
Linux Mint is freeing up development and maintenance resources, Mozilla is getting more users to
use its search partners and other offers.
While specifics have not been mentioned, it is likely that Linux Mint is going to see
an increase in revenue that is coming out of this partnership.
Whether it is limited to a revenue share agreement between the two parties, or money that Mozilla
paid the organization directly is unknown.
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