Mozilla Updates Firefox To Appease FarmVille Users 220
CWmike writes "Just three days after adding plug-in crash protection to Firefox, Mozilla rushed out another release because people playing FarmVille on Facebook complained that their browser was shutting down the game. Although complaints about Firefox's quick killing of hung plug-ins were not limited to FarmVille, that game was the squeaky wheel that got the update grease. 'A lot of people play FarmVille. To ignore those people for any length of time could have a significant effect on Firefox's share of browser users,' said Firefox user Jeff Rivett on Bugzilla Sunday. 'The problem already existed, but the perceived impact suddenly changed, giving it a much higher priority.'"
Re:So much for the idea.... (Score:5, Interesting)
That Firefox users were smarter internet users.
No, see a couple of years ago the smarter internet users started installing Firefox for their computer-illiterate friends and family to get them away from IE.
THOSE are the type of people that play FarmVille.
Re:Why is the time fixed? (Score:4, Interesting)
I think terminating the plugin automatically is the wrong choice. If JavaScript takes too long, they don't terminate it, but instead ask the user if they want to keep running or terminate. One has to wonder why they give more leeway to applications written in JavaScript than applications written in ActionScript, seeing as how either one is just as capable of hanging your browser.
Notably, Chrome gives you the same popup dialog for both JS applications and plugins. My guess is Firefox devs are more anti-Flash, and don't mind killing it, and only relented when they realized how many of their userbase they might lose when they start interfering with people's Farmville addictions.
I made this while you were playing FarmVille (Score:3, Interesting)
See also this Good Samaritan Cartoon [cagle.com]:
Guy in street, prone man at his feet:
"Oh, Great, as if I have the time or inclination to help a dying homeless man"
Same guy in front of computer:
" What's this?!! Sally needs a bag of fertilizer for her FarmVille Farm? I better get right on it."
Re:Don't Hit Me! (Score:4, Interesting)
I used to work for a large Honda Dealership, assigning loan cars for people while theirs is serviced. While their car is bought around from parking I learned that some played Farmville. Others were in no mood for chat. I have seen grown(mainly women) scream like lunatics while they wait an extra 10 minutes till a car is sorted. One time when one didnt have cup holders, she threw the keys on the ground(complete with disabler alarm built in), and smashed them with her heel.
This is the farmville demographic.
Re:Why is the time fixed? (Score:3, Interesting)
It picks some arbitrary value because the browser is not psychic. It can't tell the difference between a plugin which is dead and one which is unresponsive. So it picks some reasonable value and assumes that once the plugin passes over that line that its dead. Unfortunately things like low memory, swap, CPU consumption elsewhere could mean the plugin takes longer to respond than normal and gets clobbered.
Funnily enough Firefox finds itself in the same pickle that OLE2 used to have on Windows. In OLE2 you can embed an object running from one process into a window of another process. Works well enough except for times when the object server goes dead and the host is trying to do a window resize or whatnot. The host can't resize because commands to the object are timing out. MFC used to install a message filter for this situation which kicked in too fast when the embedded object became unresponsive leading to a meaningless Cancel / Retry message appearing. Firefox has discovered its own version of the same issue.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:So much for the idea.... (Score:1, Interesting)
but girls can be educated. my mom is a computer illiterate, played all kind of mission of caesar III, ramped up all the micromanagement way to patrician III and settled down to strategy games. she's now complaining that all the total wars after rome are too much easy, even with the ugly cheating they do to masquerade the lame ai
she would play europe universalis but the interface sucks too much, and she's too slow to enjoy rts. I've tried to hand her civ 3, but that was beaten in a week and labelled illogical and contrived (which it's a valid point)
I've yet to submit her civ4.... but girls that don't like girlie games exists.
and my girlfriend is a rpg addicted. insists on playing again and again old black isle titles, but doesn't have the attention span to play with something more complex like morriwind (open world confuses her, she wants to have a goal and play a tunnel like story as in fable with a clear direction and enemy at all the time)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:So much for the idea.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:So much for the idea.... (Score:1, Interesting)
My wife stopped playing Facebook games (thank FSM) after her brother got her hooked on WoW. I'm not sure it's much of an improvement... now instead of logging in twice a day to farm, she logs in each day to make her epic gem.
At least we get to Level/Raid together now.