Mozilla Releases Firefox 80 With Modest Improvements, And GPU Acceleration On Linux

Major software releases tend to be headline grabbing. For many reasons, those newer versions usually introduce new big things.

But the case isn't quite the same with Mozilla when it releases Firefox 80.0. There isn't too much to get excited about with this version of Firefox. But at least, Mozilla does introduce some changes that can make the browser better.

One of the major updates in this release, is for users using Linux.

In the operating system, Firefox 80 supports FFmpeg/VAAPI acceleration for video playback on X11. The Wayland implementation was already introduced in a previous release/

This Video Acceleration API is implemented as two options accessible through Firefox's about:config page.

Also in the area of performance, Firefox 80 also supports the WebGL KHR_parallel_shader_compile extension.

This developer-oriented update is about allowing GLSL shaders to be compiled in separate CPU threads and also the ability to query whether these parallel shader compilations are complete.

Among other changes, according to its release notes, Firefox 80 also allows users to set the web browser as the system's default PDF viewer.

Microsoft itself has put a lot of effort into turning the legacy version of Microsoft Edge into a fully-featured PDF app. And with Microsoft updates finally pushing the Chromium-powered Edge, similar efforts are directed to the new browser,.

Edge and Firefox are close competitors. And here Mozilla doesn't want its browser to be left out.

Firefox 80 also introduces a new add-ons blocklist to improve the overall performance and scalability. This should ensure that Firefox runs well as it can for all users, whilst protecting them too. The version also reduces the number of animations for users with migraines and epilepsy, and improves the JAWS screen reader.

“The name reported by accessibility tools for items in multi-tiered tree controls no longer incorrectly includes information from items at deeper levels, providing users with the correct level of content when using a screen reader.”

And for security patches, Firefox 80 introduces no less than ten different security patches.

Mozilla is also announcing changes for ESR users.

“Today’s release is the final scheduled for Firefox 68 ESR (68.12) unless there is a critical security issue found prior to the release of Firefox ESR 78.3 on September 22, 2020. Users of Firefox 68 ESR will be automatically upgraded to the Firefox 78 ESR series with the release of 78.3,” the company said.

Mozilla's Firefox is a popular browser, but has experienced some difficult times. The browser is the third most popular, after Chrome and Edge.

Mozilla itself has been laying off its employees, and was faced with hard decisions that made it change its focus.

But Firefox 80 being light on the feature changes isn't because of the major layoffs and the restructuring of the company, since the browser version was already finished at that point.