Mozilla Releases New Firefox For Windows 10

Mozilla have just released a new Firefox for Windows 10 in a bid to regain the initiative from Microsoft’s new default Edge browser, and also retain their user base.

The new updated and ‘streamlined feel’ of Firefox for Windows 10 makes good on Mozilla’s promise to have an updated browser as fast as they could after Microsoft’s new OS landed last month. This appears to be a direct response to Microsoft’s full on drive to have users use Edge over and above any other browser.

Currently, thanks to Windows 10 default settings when installed or upgraded, Edge is designated as the go to browser, even if Chrome, Firefox, or another browser had been set as the browser of choice before Windows was upgraded.

In an open letter posted on Mozilla’s blog at the end of July, Mozilla’s CEO, Chris Beard went on the attack against Microsoft’s aggressive drive to “throw away the choice your customers have made…and replace it with the Internet experience Microsoft wants them to have….by effectively overriding existing user preferences for the Web browser and other apps…” While Beard’s letter may have sent ripples of dissent amongst internet users, the issue he cites is very real.

New Firefox: So What’s New?

There doesn’t appear to be huge difference between this new Windows 10 version of Firefox, and the versions currently available for previous versions of Windows. A considerable portion of Mozilla’s release blog is centred around  “support materials to show you how to restore or choose Firefox as your default browser in Windows 10” as opposed to bringing anything new to Firefox.

By choosing Firefox as the default browser in Windows 10, the search icon (by default, Edge and hence Bing) is also changed to use Firefox. But this of course does not guarantee you will have the search engine of your choice, as Firefox itself defaults to its own choice depending on users’ geographic location.