With Microsoft deciding to dump EdgeHTML for its Edge browser and move over to the dark side by embracing Chromium, reminding everyone Firefox exists as an alternative web browser is important. Mozilla is doing its bit by launching a new version of the desktop browser complete with a number of welcome new features and improvements.
Firefox 64.0 for desktop launched today and is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Mac and Linux users will be especially keen to make the upgrade as there's a performance improvement due to link time optimization being enabled. The two big feature updates worth talking about beyond that are better recommendations and enhanced tab management.
Mozilla refers to the better recommendations as the Contextual Feature Recommender (CFR). It allows Firefox to proactively recommend features, services, and extensions based on intelligently assessing how you are using the web. The example given is if you open several tabs every time the browser is used and keep using them. Firefox will respond by recommending "Pinned Tabs" and explaining how it works.
It's important to note that CFR does not share any information about your use of Firefox with Mozilla. The whole process happens locally and for now it's limited to users in the US. CFR will only be active in regular browsing mode and disabled in Private Browsing mode. Three initial recommendations you're likely to see are Facebook Container, Enhancer for YouTube, and To Google Translate. What you see recommended will of course be governed by how you use Firefox, though.
Enhanced tab management is achieved by either Shift- or Ctrl-clicking multiple tabs, which selects them all for quick actions. Once selected you can organize them as a group, moving them (to a container or new window, for example), or muting, bookmarking, or pinning them. That's especially useful if you are someone who regularly finds yourself with 50+ tabs open and want to quickly organize them.
Other changes of note include easier performance management through about:performance. It's now possible to see how much energy each open tab is consuming and to close them from within the Task Manager. It's also now possible to remove add-ons from the context menu of the add-on's icon, and sharing web pages on Windows is more seamless as Firefox uses the native sharing experience.
Firefox 64.0 for desktop is available to download now for Windows, macOS, and Linux in 64-bit and 32-bit flavors (on Windows and Linux only).