Firefox to get Multi-process Support?

Techtree News Staff, May 09, 2009 0825 hrs IST

Hopefully, simple implementation of this by July this year

Firefox, the world's second most used browser, by the looks of it will soon receive an update that will add multi-process support.

By multi-process support we re talking about the similar feature seen in Google Chrome and IE8 that runs multiple, separate processes for each tab, which allows the browser to function without issues even when one tab has stopped responding or has crashed. This method of splitting processes increases stability and offers performance improvements as well.

As for why the speculation regarding multiprocessor support arose, that is because of a recent project that the Mozilla has initiated. The project is being co-coordinated by Benjamin Smedberg, who is a long time supporter of Mozilla. While little is known abut the project itself, we have a roadmap which suggests that we should be seeing a simple implementation of this in action by July this year.

That being the first phase, there will be three other phases post this, which will deal with the interactions between process types. The third phase will comprehensively test APIs for extensibility, accessibility, and performance. The fourth phase will deal with the final implementation and sandboxing.

Looking at how things are moving now, it would be at least an year from now when we would see a final release version of Firefox with multi process support.

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USER COMMENTS

it's nice.

by nayandev chouhd, guwahati, on Aug 21, 2009 07:32 PM, Report abuse Reply

Great We are waiting for it.

by Animesh, Indore, on May 14, 2009 08:53 PM, Report abuse Reply

i am very happy while i using Firefox bcoz i won't disturb by other network problem.its easy and comfortable and help protect my computer........

by ANOOP.S, KOLLAM, on May 11, 2009 01:39 AM, Report abuse Reply

This is not going to be 'soon' for any reasonable definition of 'soon'. At best this will be seen in the next major release after Firefox 3.5. The current guess is that this feature will be seen in final builds released in about a year.

by kbrosnan, Boston, on May 10, 2009 08:40 PM, Report abuse Reply

Can't wait! :D

by Fyre Vortex, Byzone, on May 10, 2009 04:55 PM, Report abuse Reply

Has been available for a long time in Maxthon 2.0

by LarryE, Chicago, on May 10, 2009 07:24 AM, Report abuse Reply

This crappy post suggests a multi-process update is right around the corner. Instead, it will likely will be another year. Read the other story closely before you copy & paste it.

by pwayboy, pwayboy, va, on May 09, 2009 11:01 AM, Report abuse Reply

Firefox off late has become a resource hog, chrome on the other hand is doing wonders with its light weight and clean interface

by MaxAxe, Noida, on May 09, 2009 10:26 AM, Report abuse Reply