The Firefox community shall be involved in the development process of Firefox updates as well!!!
The developers of the Firefox web browsing software application have announced that they shall release the security updates for the Firefox web browsing software application to a select group of end users before releasing it to the public at large. As on date, the practice followed by all web browsing software applications including the Firefox web browsing software application is to keep the source code of the security update secret until it is released to all the end users of the web browsing software application. The purpose of a security update is to ensure that the various security flaws and security defects in the web browsing software applications are solved. Hence, the security update is kept as a secret and is released to all the end users at once. This ensures that there is no possibility of an individual having advance knowledge of the nature of the security update and there is no possibility of the individual making use of the same to bypass the solution to the security flaw or the security defect.
However, the developers of the Firefox web browsing software applications have realized that the advantages of releasing the security update to a select group of end users before releasing it to the public at large outnumber the disadvantages of doing the same. In fact, there are no specific disadvantages involved in releasing the security update to a select group of end users in advance. Such a move just creates the risk of the information and configuration of the security patch being released to the hackers and persons with the malicious intent. However, the Firefox web browsing software application will be releasing the security update to a select group of end users and has established the criteria for determining which end user of the Firefox web browsing software application shall have access to the security patch in advance. The purpose of the move is to enable the few end users of Mozilla Firefox to determine whether the security patch is functional or not. It is expected that the Firefox 2.0.0.3 update shall be released to certain end users in advance. Not only will the end users determine whether the security patch is functional or not but it will also determine whether the security patch can be improved or whether the security patch will cause certain extensions or themes to become dysfunctional.
Such a move by the Firefox web browsing software application may seem as a crazy move to the end users of other web browsing software applications. However, the end users of the Firefox web browsing software application have long been used to being involved in the development of the Firefox web browsing software application. Before work on Firefox version 3.0 started, the developers invited suggestions and opinions from all the end users of the Firefox web browsing software application. The best part with the invitation was that there was absolutely no necessity for an individual to be an expert in the web browsing software application.
Any and every individual who felt that he or she had an idea that was worth thinking about could contribute to the list of suggestions. Hence, the tradition of involving the end users in the development process of the Firefox web browsing software application is a very old one. Further, the Firefox community functions well simply due to the trust and cooperation between the end users of the web browser. Hence, a person who is very active on the Firefox community will not find this move of the developers of the Firefox web browsing software application to be an unnatural or startling one.
Technorati Tags: Mozilla, Firefox, Firefox web browser, Firefox end user, Firefox features, Firefox updates, Firefox security patch, Firefox version 3.0, Firefox community, Firefox development
Tags: Firefox Browser, Mozilla
