That’s the thing. Fx3 places was supposed to do all these magical things w/ bookmarks and history. One of these things, at least as reported here, was bookmark sync. Instead, they change up the bookmarking system in the background, so the user doesn’t know the difference, but now re-written extensions are necessary for bookmark sync. I don’t see how that’s better.

Well, their goal all along was to just implement a backend for syncing so that extension developers had a hassle-free way to create the bookmark syncing extensions. It’s really smart because so many of the Firefox users have their own preference as to what bookmarking system they want to use, but I would have liked to see Mozilla team up with Foxmarks to offer a built-in solution.

That’s really clever! *Goes to do the same thing*

That’s really the reason I prefer Opera over Firefox (and I don’t want ext’s in Opera). I’d rather get handed a giant sack of cool features than have to go find them one by one and cram them all into a small plastic bag as it gets holes and more holes and eventually just tears apart. Then you get another small plastic bag (create a new profile) and start over again. It’s the circle of Firefox life.

We’ll see if there’s a way to sync w/ bookmark services like delicious by release.

I’m sure there will be, but not by Mozilla. I think it will come in the form of extensions.

I think I found the right zipped Fx3.0b1. I just put it on that $0.72 1GB flash drive (AWESOME tip). It’s remarkable how few software enhancements you notice just by using the software. Really, the biggest thing I noticed was that star button, which is a very small (yet cool) feature. Then there’s the resizer which I don’t really care about (too much choice, now I’ll be moving it over and over never finding a good spot) and the plugins in AddOns which I’ll admit is pretty darn cool. Otherwise, forgot all the new features. I’ll re-read your info then check it out.

[ftp.mozilla.org]

Yep, what you downloaded is essentially the same thing as the Beta. If you really just wanted to test out the features you could use the nightlies, which are equal to the Beta’s plus have some enhancements.

This release of Firefox definitely seems to pay more attention to the finer details, instead of having the “big” new features. Although I would have to say that their bookmark system redesign is rather big considering the addition of tags. This will likely mean that bookmarking systems such as Delicious will be able to integrate directly into the browser’s bookmarks.

OK, for features, there’s the real zoom which is good (and overdue). They should get it in the tray like IE7 & Opera9.5 so people actually notice it. And, unlike in Opera, you can’t put it in the tray yourself. Restart Fx is also overdue. Permissions are kinda cool (also something Opera has had). I like that there’s all the options on one tab. It doesn’t seem to fit, though, that it’s a part of Page Info. Maybe they should make it Page Info/Permissions. Fx still has I think the worst theme of Opera/IE/Fx

Overall, Fx doesn’t have many big improvements. It’s probably not going to get much more this release, also. Opera in a much shorter development cycle got out a 9.5 beta w/ a big feature: auto bookmark sync w/ no extra install. I’m guessing Opera still has a few more features coming this release, also.

[ftp.mozilla.org]