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Curtain falls on Mozilla’s Arrora Channel, Builds directly moves to beta version

Mozilla announced that it has decided to drop the Firefox Aurora release channel after its six year run. The decision has been made just a couple of days before the release of Mozilla Firefox 53 which is due on Wednesday, April 19th 2017.

The Arrora Channel has met its fearful fate as it failed to live up to the company’ s expectations as a first stabilization channel. A report from the company has stated that the move will help the company to streamline the release of a stable new version of Firefox with additional features to users and developers in a six week schedule, which is quicker than the usual time.

From April 18, developers will be moved to the beta version. Mozilla has also assured that users will retain their Developer Edition themes, tools, and preferences, along with their existing profile, and they may not experience any kind of disruption.

Firefox had used three development channels such as Beta, Aurora (also known as the Developer Edition), and Nightly before release a stable version to its users.

Usually, Firefox changes are introduced in Nightly versions first and then moved to the Aurora channel, then the Beta channel, and then finally to the Release channel which most users of Firefox are on. Taking the Arrora channel out of the picture will ensure that the code will reach the release versions of Firefox sooner than before.

But, it is to be noted that the change will have a ripple effect on Thunderbird and SeaMonkey as well as the service will be discontinued on them too.

Firefox is not following Chrome in using one process per tab, because this consumes a vast amount of resources. Instead, it is exploring a way to provide users with more control. Last week, Bleeping Computer reported a proposal to allow users to select from one to seven content processes, with the eighth process being used by Firefox itself.

Tag : Firefox
FAQ
Q
Does the aurora have any effect on the environment?
A
yes, but it is limited to the high latitude atmosphere. Since the aurora takes place at about 90-100 km altitude, only the atmosphere at or above that height is affected by Aurora. Some ionization may occur a few tens of kilometers further down and can have effects on radio wave propagation.
Q
Can you predict when and where there will be Aurora?
A
Yes, but with less confidence than weather prediction. The ultimate energy source for the aurora is the solar wind. When the solar wind is calm, we tend to have very little Aurora, when the solar wind is very strong and perturbed, we have a chance of intense aurora.
Q
What is black aurora?
A
Sometimes you can have diffuse auroral curtains and arcs that have small gaps. These gaps are usually thinner that the arc thickness next to the gap and they look like a black aurora curtain embedded in the bright auroral glow around them.
Q
How often is there aurora?
A
There is always some aurora at some place on the earth. When the solar wind is calm, the aurora might only be at high latitudes and might be faint, but there is still aurora. In order to see aurora, however, the sky must be dark and clear. Sunlight and clouds are the biggest obstacle to aurora observations.
Q
What causes the aurora?
A
When energetic charged particles from the sun hits earth’s magnetosphere. The solar wind is the outermost atmosphere of our sun. The sun is so hot that it boils off its outer layers, and the result is a constant outward expanding very thin gas. This solar wind consists of protons and electrons.