Mozilla is considering two new proposals which will be both speed up and slow down controversial new development cycle of rapid release of Firefox.
The first plan - to accelerate the development of Firefox - would shorten the development cycle of Firefox six weeks at a five-week development cycle. Then that which may seem does not a huge deal, considering that Firefox spends six weeks in each channel of the cycle - passage of every night in aurora to beta and, finally, Firefox proper. Shortening the cycle by a single week means that the final version of Firefox get users three weeks faster that it does now.
Of course, the cycle of five weeks is just a proposal. While the developers seem to be favourable to the idea, most believe that it will be some time before that Firefox is ready to accelerate again and for the moment the company has no commitment.
At the same time, that Mozilla is also a slow release cycle for Firefox of planning a new channel aimed at managed, enterprise environments. Move Firefox to a cycle of rapid release earlier this year many users of the browser on the left in the cold. Now, Mozilla has proposed a new version of the release of Extended Support (ESR) of Firefox that could be updated every 30 weeks. It is much slower than the current six weeks release cycle which uses Firefox. In addition to the slower updates, the ESR of Firefox version would have 42 weeks of support.
Then that which is good news for the users of Firefox, there is nothing in the proposal that would limit the ESR channel for the company. Mozilla said that he announces the ESR canal on its various Firefox Web sites, but there is nothing to stop "regular" users to use the ESR.
Naturally, there are a few things that you should keep in mind even if the cycle of the rapid release of Firefox drives you crazy. The most notable thing to keep in mind is that Mozilla says that the ESR canal enjoy the same cycle of testing that happens via existing channels every night, aurora and beta. The canal of the PEP will be just that, a completely separate channel.
Mozilla also noted that the ESR channel will be "less secure" than the Firefox quickly updated, with only "security patches high-risk/impact" being backported to the slower release plan. Among other objections that come with the new ESR proposal are that Firefox would only be supported on operating systems "support at the beginning of the ESR.". That likely means ESR Firefox running on OS upgrades that come as well as during the week 42 cycle would not be sustained.
Limited security and support for the Mozilla Firefox ESR proposal make it useful to ask why Mozilla is even bothering with the enterprise market. After all, tend to move slower and needs that will be as secure browser one year now that it is now, which Mozilla does not seem to offer. As noted by Joe Brockmeier on ReadWriteHack, "Microsoft and Google, there is little upside for Mozilla by engaging enterprises… there is no set of the company for Mozilla products sell to large slow organizations, but it faces fresh and the burden of development to be treated to keep happy enterprises.". Mozilla itself recognizes that the new plan will be a drain of resources and might slow down the development of regular Firefox.
On the other hand, Mozilla seems to display the new plan of business as a learning experience, noting that the ESR releases will give the company "a better reading on the possibilities offered by a market area that is not familiar with."
