France Plans To Move Away From Reliance On Windows

France is stepping up efforts to reduce its dependence on U.S. technology, signaling a broader shift in how governments view digital control.

The country now plans to move some of its government systems away from Microsoft Windows and toward Linux, an open-source operating system.

Officials see the move as part of a larger push to secure national infrastructure and limit exposure to foreign tech providers.

The change will begin within France’s digital agency, DINUM. Authorities have not shared a full timeline.

They also have not confirmed which Linux distribution they will use. Microsoft has not commented on the decision.

French officials frame the move as a strategic necessity.

Minister David Amiel said the goal is to "regain control of our digital destiny." He added that France cannot accept losing control over its data systems.

The decision reflects wider concerns across Europe. Leaders worry about dependence on foreign technology providers.

Many now see digital infrastructure as a national security issue.

France’s approach aligns with broader European Union thinking.

In January, the European Parliament adopted a report. It directs the European Commission to identify areas to reduce reliance on foreign providers.

Recent geopolitical tensions have accelerated this push. U.S. sanctions have shown how access to services can be restricted.

Some sanctioned individuals lost access to banking and U.S. tech platforms.

That risk has sharpened calls for sovereign systems. Governments want tools they fully control. Open-source software offers that flexibility and transparency.

Linux plays a central role in this strategy. It is free, open source, and customizable. Governments can modify it for specific operational needs.

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Perplexity Making A Move To Acquire Chrome

Perplexity, the emerging force in artificial intelligence, has offered a staggering US$ 34.5 billion for Google’s Chrome browser, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The unsolicited bid, which Perplexity confirmed to the newspaper, is far in excess of Perplexity’s own US$ 18 billion valuation and comes at a pivotal moment for both companies: Perplexity recently unveiled its own AI-native search browser, called Comet, last month, an explicit move to take on Google Chrome.

Meanwhile, Google’s own fate is up in the air as a federal judge weighs what remedies should follow from the 2024 ruling that Google had illegally monopolized the search market.

Perplexity said in a statement to the Journal that its bid is "designed to satisfy an antitrust remedy in highest public interest by placing Chrome with a capable, independent operator."

The Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google, which began in 2020, accused the company of unlawfully suppressing competition by locking in default search deals with device manufacturers and browser developers.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google had, in fact, monopolized the search market through anticompetitive tactics. Among the most consequential is exactly what Perplexity is proposing: whether Google should be compelled to divest Chrome, a browser installed on billions of devices and accounting for well over 60 percent of global browser usage.

Chrome, of course, is more than just a web browser; it’s a strategic linchpin connecting users to Google Search and a treasure trove of data fueling Google’s US$ 2 trillion advertising apparatus. Chrome’s size—about 3.5 billion users—positions it at the fulcrum of both user data collection and default search engine placement. The sale of Chrome is one of the Department of Justice’s top recommendations as a Google remedy.

For what it’s worth, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg recently testified in court that Chrome could be worth upwards of US$ 50 billion; some analysts offer more conservative estimates for its valuation, around US$ 20 billion. Perplexity’s bid, at US$ 34.5 billion, lands squarely within that range.

Perplexity, which has evolved from a little-known startup in 2022 to a high-profile competitor with an US$ 18 billion valuation, now hosts about 30 million monthly active users and generates roughly US$ 150 million in annual revenue. Its core product—a real-time AI-powered search engine with source citations—is positioned as a challenger to traditional search engines and leading AI assistants such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. Perplexity has partnered with several publishers, including Time, the Los Angeles Times, and, Fortune.

Perplexity allows you to choose from many of those popular models, including GPT-5, Gemini 2.5 Pro from Google, and Claude Sonnet 4.0, which has attracted major investors including Nvidia, SoftBank, and Jeff Bezos. Perplexity has also been a prime acquisition candidate, with industry analysts suggesting Apple should buy Perplexity to strengthen its currently lagging AI portfolio and rely less on Google for search.

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Opera's Browser Battle With Microsoft Starts In Brazil

Opera has filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft in Brazil, alleging it creates an unfair environment for alternate browsers to compete with Edge. The Norway-based company claims Microsoft's deals to make Edge the exclusive pre-installed browser on Windows machines creates an unfair environment for alternate browsers to compete.

Opera also argued that Microsoft uses design tactics and dark patterns to further discourage people from downloading and using rival products. It is asking Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) to pursue remedies against Microsoft.

"Microsoft thwarts browser competition on Windows at every turn. First, browsers like Opera are locked out of important pre-installation opportunities," Aaron McParlan, general counsel for Opera, said in a statement. "And then Microsoft frustrates users' ability to download and use alternative browsers."

This isn't the first time these two companies have clashed. Opera sued Microsoft in the EU all the way back in 2007 with a similar argument that bundling Internet Explorer was anticompetitive. Last year, it also argued (albeit unsuccessfully) that Microsoft should have gatekeeper designation for the Edge browser under the EU's Digital Markets Act.

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Malware Hiding In Plain Sight Using Google's Link

There is a new browser-based malware campaign that surfaced recently, demonstrating how attackers are now exploiting trusted domains like Google.com to bypass traditional antivirus defenses.

A report from security researchers at c/side, this method is subtle, conditionally triggered, and difficult for both users and conventional security software to detect.

It appears to originate from a legitimate OAuth-related URL, but covertly executes a malicious payload with full access to the user's browser session.

The attack begins with a script embedded in a compromised Magento-based ecommerce site which references a seemingly harmless Google OAuth logout URL: https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/revoke.

However, this URL includes a manipulated callback parameter, which decodes and runs an obfuscated JavaScript payload using eval(atob(...)).

The use of Google’s domain is central to the deception - because the script loads from a trusted source, most content security policies (CSPs) and DNS filters allow it through without question.

This script only activates under specific conditions. If the browser appears automated or the URL includes the word "checkout," it silently opens a WebSocket connection to a malicious server. This means it can tailor malicious behavior to user actions.

Any payload sent through this channel is base64-encoded, decoded, and executed dynamically using JavaScript’s Function constructor.

The attacker can remotely run code in the browser in real time with this setup.

One of the primary factors influencing this attack's efficacy is its ability to evade many of the best antivirus programs currently on the market.

The script's logic is heavily obfuscated and only activates under certain conditions, making it unlikely to be detected by even the best Android antivirus apps and static malware scanners.

They will not inspect, flag, or block JavaScript payloads delivered through seemingly legitimate OAuth flows.

DNS-based filters or firewall rules also offer limited protection, since the initial request is to Google’s legitimate domain.

In the enterprise environment, even some of the best endpoint protection tools may struggle to detect this activity if they rely heavily on domain reputation or fail to inspect dynamic script execution within browsers.

While advanced users and cybersecurity teams may use content inspection proxies or behavioral analysis tools to identify anomalies like these, average users are still vulnerable.

Limiting third-party scripts, separating browser sessions used for financial transactions, and remaining vigilant about unexpected site behaviors could all help reduce risk in the short term.

One of the primary factors influencing this attack's efficacy is its ability to evade many of the best antivirus programs currently on the market.

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Perplexity Ready To Launch AI Browser

The new AI company Perplexity has announced last February that it was building its own browser called Comet. In a recent interview with the TBPN podcast, CEO Aravind Srinivas gave some insight as to why the business appeared to be branching out from its artificial intelligence focus: It's to collect user data and sell them targeted advertisements.

"That’s kind of one of the other reasons we wanted to build a browser, is we want to get data even outside the app to better understand you," he said.

"Once you understand the user deeply enough, the user can probably trust you if you show them relevant sponsored content, as long as it's super personalized and hyper-optimized to that user," Srinivas said. "If any of the AI companies could do that, I think that could be a thing where brands could pay a lot more money to advertise there."

"We wanna get data, even outside the app to better understand you," Srinivas schemed, referring to tracking non-user data, as companies like Facebook and Google have been caught doing (and definitely still are, by the way.) "What are the things you’re buying, which hotels are you going [to], which restaurants are you going to, what are you spending time browsing, tells us so much more about you."

If that all sounds familiar, it could be become Google's Chrome browser has taken a similar approach. In fact, Comet is built on Chromium, the open-source browser base from Google. That's not to say Perplexity wouldn't take the chance to go straight to the source and acquire Chrome in the aftermath of Google's recent monopoly court ruling regarding online search.

The company emphatically notes that it does not "sell" or "share" personal information "as those terms are defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act" — an oddly specific caveat. "Nor have we done so in the preceding 12 months." (It would be difficult to imagine how Comet is supposed to turn a profit on hyper-personal ad surveillance unless this line gets an update.)

In the ongoing hearings about Google and its potential sale of Chrome, Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko said he thought Perplexity would be able to continue running the browser at its current scale. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't too keen on OpenAI acquiring the property.

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Kaspersky May Have Uninstalled And Installed Itself On Your Computer

It was a subtle move and not many are aware that last week cybersecurity company Kaspersky started deleting its anti-malware software from computers located in the United States. The company replaced it with a downloaded antivirus software from UltraAV.

To those who are familiar with the company, they know that the Russian company was added to the U.S. government’s Entity List and subjected to a ban on sales and updates within the United States earlier this year. As a result, the company released a statement to BleepingComputer in July that it had decided to shut down its U.S. operations and lay off its American employees.

These developments may not be a public secret, but it is safe to say that not many knew about them. As a result, Kaspersky’s sudden and badly explained decision to automatically delete its software came as a surprise to many.

Emails went out at the start of September informing customers that the company had teamed up with UltraAV to provide continued protection for customers even after Kaspersky withdrew from the United States. The emails did not, however, make it clear that this continued protection would be automatically installed on their computers.

For those who didn’t see the email for whatever reason, the transfer came as even more of a shock. Users on Reddit and other forums have been expressing their confusion about the situation along with their distrust of the new UltraAV software. One poster even worried their desktop had been compromised when they woke up to find their Kaspersky antivirus software gone and UltraAV in its place.

This distrust isn’t surprising since little is known about the company other than its connection to multiple VPN brands such as UltraVPN, Hotspot Shield, and Betternet. According to customer reports online, many people are uninstalling UltraAV because of this — and because it appeared on their devices in such an unsettling way.

Kaspersky has since posted an official statement explaining that it took this action to make sure customers "would not experience a gap in protection upon Kaspersky’s exit from the market.” The post also went on to say the company had chosen UltraAV because it offered similar features and products to Kaspersky. For instance, people who used Kaspersky’s VPN service also found UltraVPN installed on their devices.

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A Force Update From Windows Will Start On October 2024

Everyone is aware that Windows 11 version 22H2 will reach its end of servicing next month. However, very few know that Microsoft has announced a forced update to 23H2 for 8 October 2024.

When the force update is adopted, machines running 22H2 (Home and Pro editions) will stop receiving updates after next month, leaving them vulnerable to security threats. Enterprise, Education, and Internet of Things (IoT) Enterprise editions running version 21H2 will also receive the automatic update.

In a post on the Windows Message Center, Microsoft urges users to update before October 8 or participate in the automatic update to keep themselves "protected and productive" since the monthly Patch Tuesday updates are "critical to security and ecosystem health."

Microsoft releases feature updates every year, and they always come with 24 months of support for Home and Pro editions and 36 months of support for Enterprise and Education editions. This year’s version, 24H2, is expected to arrive this fall and is usually made available to Release Preview Insiders before rolling out to the public.

Once it’s out, anyone can upgrade to the latest version, but you can also stick with the forced upgrade to 23H2. If you don’t know how to upgrade to 23H2, there’s a video on the Windows community YouTube channel that walks you through the steps.

Windows updates have long been an annoyance to many since they seem to pop up at the most annoying moments — but this time you've got 30 days to prepare. The update is an important part of keeping your PC secure, so make sure you and any family members are safely updated by the time 22H2 reaches its end of servicing.

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Windows 11 Faring Badly in Gaming Performance?

When AMD’s newly launched Ryzen 9000 series desktop CPUs were made available for purchase, gamers tested its performance and stronngly recommended them on Linux than Windows 11, particularly when it comes to gaming scenarios.

A detailed analysis done by PC Games Hardware has shown that when it comes to gaming, Linux outshines Windows 11 on Ryzen 9000 series CPUs. Tests using popular Linux distributions like Nobara, which are optimized for gaming, demonstrate higher frame rates and smoother gameplay compared to the same setups running Windows 11.

While these gains for Linux weren’t overwhelming, they were noticeable, generally falling within the range of 5 percent to 10 percent. The one exception was "World of Warcraft", where the difference in performance was only 2 percent. In a test of "Cyberpunk 2077", a game notorious for its high CPU demands, Linux consistently delivered better average frame rates and lower frame time variances, resulting in a more stable gaming experience.

A key factor behind Linux’s superior performance is its efficient handling of system resources. Linux has long been praised for its lightweight and customizable nature, allowing it to utilize the advanced architecture of Ryzen 9000 series processors more efficiently. This is particularly evident in the way Linux manages CPU threads and memory, enabling more effective multitasking and reducing latency in gaming.

On the other hand, Windows 11, despite being the go-to operating system for most gamers, appears to be lagging behind in optimizing performance for the Ryzen 9000 series. This isn’t to say that Windows 11 performs poorly across the board — it still provides a solid gaming experience. However, in direct comparisons, it falls short of what Linux is able to achieve with the same hardware.

The reasons for this could be multifaceted. Windows 11, while feature-rich and designed with a wide array of compatibility in mind, may suffer from its own complexity. The operating system’s numerous background processes, security features, and how it handles system resources could contribute to its relatively lower performance on these new Ryzen CPUs.

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Rumors About Windows 12

It should be clear from the start that Microsoft hasn’t officially commented on whether it's developing Windows 12. Some leaks, rumors, and other indicators suggest that we may get Windows 12 in late 2024, but it's looking less and less likely.

A late 2024 release would be much quicker than the move from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Six years passed between the launch of those two OSes, and Windows 11 appeared a little more than two years ago (in October 2021). But prior to Windows 10, major releases did arrive every three years, at least from Windows Vista on, so it's not out of the question for a new version of Windows to be coming relatively soon.

The first inkling that Windows 12 might be coming sooner than expected happened when Microsoft reportedly started implementing a new update cadence for Windows, with major versions released every three years. That same cadence would in theory put a Windows 12 release somewhere in the second half of 2024.

The company previously announced that it would release annual rather than twice-yearly feature updates to Windows. In the second half of 2022, we got the Windows 11 update 22H2, and in 2023 we got 23H2.

Perhaps the strongest evidence for a 2024 release of Windows 12 came in a statement by Intel's chief financial officer in a September interview, in which he predicted a boost in PC sales due to the new version of Windows coming next year. Qualcomm, too, has released statements pointing to Windows 12 in 2024.

Then again, the departure of longtime Windows boss Panos Panay could point to a restructuring of its release schedule. Or the new team might want to wait to put its own stamp on a future release.

Evidence is mounting that we won't see Windows 12 in 2024 at all, though. When those executives say, "the next version of Windows," (none have specifically mentioned "Windows 12"), that word version includes Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2. And in fact, references to a 24H2 version of Windows have been found in Microsoft support documentation.

Eagle-eyed code watchers have noticed references to "subscription edition," "subscription type," and "subscription status" in the code for a Windows Insider build in the Canary channel (the earliest release channel). These references have led to speculation that Microsoft will require a subscription for the OS in the future—and perhaps PC prices would be lower as a result. Further speculation has it that a free, ad-supported version of Windows 12 might be available as well.

But that's truly all just speculation. A stronger possibility is that these references to subscriptions are for business users, similar to the already available Windows 365 Cloud PC option. Even Bowden published an article debunking the subscription rumor.

A subscription requirement would surely result in outrage from longtime Windows users. That's what happened when Adobe Photoshop first moved to a subscription model...only that users eventually paid up, boosting Adobe's profits and enabling the company to develop impressive new features for the imaging software.

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Upgrading Windows 10 To Windows 11 ... Now

Microsoft has finally confirmed the existence of Windows 11 during an event in June. This followed months of leaks and speculation from every corner of the internet.

A few months later, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 would officially roll out to the public on October 5th. But users don’t have to wait that long to get the final version of the update. In fact, one can upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 for free today, and it is written below.

The first thing that you are going to want to do is ensure that your computer is compatible with the Windows 11 upgrade. This has been one of the biggest controversies surrounding the release of the update. Microsoft isn’t bringing nearly as many devices into the next generation as users expected. You can download the PC Health App directly from Microsoft by clicking on this link.

Once you are sure that your computer is compatible with Windows 11, the next step is to register for the Windows Insider Program. The upgrade is only available to Insiders right now, but the program is completely free. Just follow the steps on Microsoft’s website to sign up.

After you join the Windows Insider Program, you should be ready to upgrade. On your Windows 10 PC, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program.

Click the "Get started" button and link your Microsoft account. You should then be prompted to pick your Insider settings, at which point you should select the Release Preview ring. Confirm your settings, agree to the terms, and then reset your computer. When you go back to the Update & Security settings, you should see a large banner about upgrading to Windows 11. Click the "Download and Install" button.

Once the upgrade is complete, you can stay on the final, stable build of Windows 11 by going back to Settings > Windows Update and clicking "Stop getting preview builds." This will stop Microsoft from pushing early versions of future updates to your Windows 11 computer.

Some of the standout features in Windows 11 include a centered Taskbar and redesigned Start menu, an updated File Manager, a Widgets drawer, and all new Snap Groups and Snap Layouts for improved multitasking. There’s also a redesigned Settings app, new themes, new sounds, and rounded corners everywhere you look.

If you aren’t quite ready to upgrade yet, the final public build will be available for everyone on October 5th. At that point, everyone with a compatible PC can upgrade.

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MS Edge Will Try To Match Google Chrome

If you think Microsoft has gone soft when it comes to its web browser, guess again.

The tech company will switch to a four-week release cycle for stable builds of Edge later this year. It plans to move to that schedule starting with Edge 94, which should arrive in September.

Earlier this month, Google announced that Chrome would move to that cycle with Chrome 94 (which should drop in the third quarter) as part of an effort to release new features faster. At the moment, stable Chrome builds emerge every six weeks or so. Chrome and Edge are both based on Chromium, so it makes sense for Microsoft to adopt the same schedule.

Microsoft noted that the four-week cycle might not be ideal for everyone. Enterprise customers will have an Extended Stable option, through which Microsoft will roll out major Edge updates every eight weeks. It will still provide bi-weekly security updates to those who choose that option. Google will offer a similar Extended Stable option to its enterprise customers.

The upcoming schedule change will bring Edge and Chrome in line with Firefox. That browser adopted a four-week release cycle in early 2020.

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Chrome Team Rolls Back Update

With the release of Chrome 66 last month, the browser began automatically muting sound on videos by default. The only problem is that a few days later tweak silenced a number of web games and art projects, which weren't built for the new feature.

Now the Chrome team has rolled out a new v66 (66.0.3359.181 on all desktop platforms) that undoes the change as it applies to the Web Audio API specifically - but not for the

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A Much Faster Firefox Version Was Released

The team behind open-source browser Firefox has finally released a version that promises to be faster and less of a memory hog. Version 54 is the first to use "multiple process" tech that has been available for a while now on Chrome, Safari, Edge and other browsers. Now, Firefox tabs running heavy, complex websites will impact other tabs less, making the web run better overall on Windows, Mac and mobile devices.

"With today's release, Firefox uses up to four processes to run web page content across all open tabs," Firefox VP Nick Nguyen wrote. "By separating the tabs into separate processes, we make better use of the hardware on your computer, so Firefox can deliver you more of the web ... with less waiting."

Firefox enjoyed a stint as the second most popular browser (after Internet Explorer) until Chrome passed it in 2011. Since that time, its tech has lagged behind -- a 64-bit Windows version of Firefox only arrived in 2015, and it has used single-process tech until now. Chrome (and Safari and other browsers) had 64-bit and multiple process tech well before Firefox.

Besides making the web run more smoothly overall, Firefox 54 should run better on computers with limited memory. At the same time, it "won't suck up memory and slow down your computer as Chrome will sometimes do," writes Firefox Head of Product Ryan Pollock. That's because the team implemented multiple processing differently than Google in order to strike a balance between speed and memory usage (above).

Overall, Firefox uses "significantly less RAM than other browsers on Windows 10, macOS and Linux," Nguyen adds. The release also includes bug and security fixes, and should be rolling out to all major platforms (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS and Linux) now.

Firefox still sits comfortably in third place in the browser wars, behind Chrome and (yep) Internet Explorer, but well ahead of Microsoft's other browser, Edge. The new release might help stop users from quitting it or encourage them to try it again.

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Former Mozilla Developer Says Antivirus Ineffective

As far as everyone is concerned, installing anti-virus is one of the first steps that most would recommend users do with a new PC build. However, it turns out not everyone subscribes to that line of thinking.

Ex-Mozilla developer Robert O’Callahan has gone so far as to say that anyone running the latest version of Windows 10 should delete it, as it risks creating more vulnerabilities than it protects against.

O'Callahan left the Mozilla Foundation in mid-2016, but worked there for many years, helping develop the Firefox browser, and more recently was involved with research into the "rr" record and replay debugging tool. In short, he knows his stuff, enough that when he says everybody don’t need something as seemingly essential as anti-virus, it’s worth taking notice.

This isn’t to say that O'Callahan believes security on a PC platform is worthless. Indeed he makes a specific claim that Microsoft’s anti-malware software, like Windows Defender, is a must. But as for everything else? He genuinely believes that it's a waste of time and in a worse case scenario, may actually make the system more vulnerable than if nothing was installed at all.

As an example of why this is the case, he highlighted bugs that Google's Project Zero vulnerability team have discovered in antivirus software. It appears to be just one, though the illustration does somewhat argue his point: if antivirus itself can have security vulnerabilities and doesn't do enough to ward against others, is it really necessary?

O'Callahan truly believes that it isn’t, citing one particular instance on his Eyes Above The Waves blog, where Firefox updates of yesteryear would be blocked by overzealous antivirus software. That meant that important security patches would not be delivered to users in a timely manner, all because they were using third-party anti-virus software.

He even goes so far as to highlight why it is he's only speaking about this "now that [he’s] left Mozilla for a while." It's because software developers need the cooperation of anti-virus makers, since if they were to tarnish a software's name with the idea that it's insecure or a tool for malware in its own right, that could have a massively negative effect on the developers' business.

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New Ad-Blocking Feature in Mozilla Firefox

There were some good news from Mozilla recently after it introduced three new test features for Firefox. It includes one that separates YouTube videos from the browser and another that may foreshadow a more aggressive ad-blocking strategy by the open-source developer.

"We're excited to announce the release of three new Test Pilot experiments," said Nick Nguyen, the vice president of Firefox, in a post to a company blog. "These features will help you share and manage screenshots; keep streaming video front and center; and protect your online privacy."

Test Pilot was re-introduced in May when Mozilla resurrected a 2009 moniker and used it on a 2015 project that had fallen into disuse. Test Pilot was designed to collect feedback on proposed new features for Firefox before they were added to the browser.

The three features that debuted today were a screenshot taker, called "Page Shot," that also includes a search mechanism for finding what has been snapped; "Min Vid," which plays YouTube and Vimeo videos in a Lilliputian window atop Firefox; and "Tracking Protection," a tool brought over from Firefox's already-extant Private Browsing.

The last of the trio - Tracking Protection - had the most significant implications for the browser.

As part of Private Browsing - Firefox's incognito mode - Tracking Protection has blocked web ads, page analytics measuring tools and the sharing buttons, such as those for Facebook and Twitter, that may record users' site-to-site travels. Mozilla added Tracking Protection to Private Browsing in November 2015.

"This experiment will help us understand where Tracking Protection breaks the web so that we can improve it for all Firefox users," Nguyen wrote.

By testing Tracking Protection, Mozilla signaled that it's thinking of adding the feature to Firefox, where it would be used - whether by default or as an option - by all users, not just those calling up Private Browsing. If so, that would make Firefox the second of the top five browsers to block ads natively, or without the assistance of an add-on or extension. Opera Software, which commands less than a third of the browser user share as Mozilla, was the first when it pulled the blocking trigger in May for its flagship Opera browser.

Others have also adopted ad-blocking: Last January, a new browser called Brave debuted with a business model that explicitly relied on blocking website ads.

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Firefox Will Be Blocking Flash Content

In a few days, Mozilla’s Firefox will block Flash content that "is not essential to the user experience," the organization announced last 21 July.

With this move, Mozilla is following Google’s lead, which made a similar decision last year and now plans to almost completely block Flash content in its Chrome browser.

Not too long ago, Flash was one of the fundamental technologies of the web because it enabled developers to create rich user experiences in the browser that they couldn’t build in any other way. Now that modern web standards essentially enable the same features as Flash, though, the aging technology is becoming a drag on modern browsers. It's responsible for security issues, reduced battery life and slow page loads.

Mozilla says that for now, it will continue to support Flash and it defines non-essential content as Flash content that isn’t visible to the user. The organization is also curating a list of Flash content that can be replaced with HTML.

Come 2017, Firefox will move to a "click-to-play" model for all Flash content, so users will have to explicitly allow the browser to activate the Flash plugin.

"These changes are part of our ongoing efforts to make browsing safer and faster without sacrificing the Web experiences our users love," Mozilla's manager of Firefox quality engineering Benjamin Smedberg writes in the announcement.

Interestingly, Mozilla doesn't specifically talk about blocking Flash-based advertising, but thankfully, those ads are already becoming increasingly rare, in part because Google's AdWords and DoubleClick networks have been phasing out Flash support already.

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Firefox 48 Is Coming Soon

A report from Shawn Knight of TechSpot.com said that Mozilla will soon ship a version of Firefox that replaces an original C++ component with one developed using Rust, a programming language backed by Mozilla.

Dave Herman, Principal Researcher and Director of Strategy at Mozilla Research, explains that the first Rust component – a media parser – will ship in Firefox 48 for desktops. The Android version is also coming soon.

Created by Ralph Giles and Matthew Gregan, the element is memory-safe and thus, won't be susceptible to the types of attacks that trick decoders into exposing dangerous security vulnerabilities that exploit memory management bugs in browsers’ implementation code.

In their preliminary measurements, Herman said the Rust component is delivering identical performance results compared to the original C++ code.

As CNET points out, Mozilla isn’t the only entity using Rust as both Dropbox and OpenDNS utilize it. That said, Mozilla is its highest-profile project considering the code will ship to hundreds of millions of Firefox users come August. Those that want to give the technology a shot now can try the Servo Nightly build.

Herman said seeing Rust code ship in a Mozilla product feels like the culmination of a long journey but in reality, it’s only the first step for Mozilla. He also encourages anyone that’s interested in Rust to get involved and help out with the Mozilla project.

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Slowly and Surely, Vivaldi Gains Followers

Everyone knows that it won't displace Google's Chrome anytime soon, but startup Vivaldi has won over a respectable chunk of users in its six months since launch.

The Oslo-based company is a philosophical offshoot of the Opera browser. Opera came from the same city and, in part, from the same man, Jon von Tetzchner. After leaving Opera Software in 2011, he channeled his energy into startup investing. But in 2014, he decided to focus on a new browser with customization tools for people who consider Chrome and Firefox too simple.

By catering to power users and by trying to build in their feature requests rapidly, Vivaldi now has nearly a million active users each month, von Tetzchner told CNET last 10 May. "We need a few million users to be profitable, say 5 million," he said. "Our plan is to grow from there" and hire beyond the current staff of 35 to expand in new directions.

It's a tough time to launch a browser business. Google's Chrome is dominant. Since its debut in 2008, Chrome has surpassed Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari and longtime leader Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Google continues to aggressively develop and promote Chrome for personal computers, phones, tablets and Chrome OS laptops popular at schools.

But there are plenty of options for anyone looking for a fresh approach to the Web. They include Brave from Mozilla co-founder Brendan Eich; Baidu Browser from the Chinese Internet giant; Yandex Browser from Google's biggest competitor in Russia; and UCweb, a mobile browser that Chinese Internet power Alibaba acquired. Even Microsoft is in the game, trying to move IE users to its new Edge browser.

Among Vivaldi's options is the ability to control the browser with mouse gestures -- for example, closing a tab by clicking and dragging down and to the left. The upcoming Vivaldi 1.2, set to debut at the end of May, will let you create new mouse gestures of your own and assign them to a wide range of commands, von Tetzchner said.

Also coming in 1.2 is the ability to "hibernate" a group of tabs, storing them away so they don't clutter your screen or burden your computer's memory, then reconstituting them when needed later. And users will be able to type in a custom zoom level by clicking on the zoom percentage in the lower right of the screen, at least if they've set Vivaldi to show a status bar across the bottom of the page, a feature other browsers have scrapped.

Later this year, Vivaldi plans to release version 2.0, a major update that will bring a cast-off Opera feature: integrated email aimed at people who have to wrestle with several accounts, according to von Tetzchner.

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Google Chrome Gained First Place in the Browser Arena

In a sleek move this April, Google Chrome took home a 41.6 percent share of all desktop browser traffic picked up by Web tracker Net Market Share, up from 39 percent in March.

Over the same time, Internet Explorer's share dropped to 41.3 percent from 43.4 percent. This marks the first time Chrome has surpasssed IE to assume the top spot, at least in the eyes of Net Market Share.

While the browser battles aren't as intense as they once were, browser makers continue to fiddle with their approaches. Most dramatically, after years of riding IE's dominance, Microsoft is moving on with the more modern Edge browser in Windows 10. Meanwhile, stalwarts like Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome get their share of streamlining and updating, and every once in a while, a brand-new entry pops up, like the Vivaldi browser launched earlier this year.

The growth for Chrome is especially impressive as IE comes bundled as the default browser with every version of Windows except for 10. Windows users who want Google Chrome must manually install it and choose it as their default browser.

At the same time, Firefox's appeal has been plummeting, according to Net Market Share. Mozilla's browser saw a market share of 9.7 percent last month, down from 10.5 percent the prior month. Firefox has been mired in third place since March of 2014.

Google Chrome has actually been in first place since 2012, according to another Web tracker StatCounter, which puts Firefox in second and Internet Explorer in third. Why the difference?

Each Web tracker uses its own somewhat unique methods and sources to determine Web traffic data. For example, Net Applications counts unique visitors per day rather than page views, covers around 40,000 websites and has a stronger presence in certain countries than other Web trackers. StatCounter analyzes the overall volume of Web traffic and tracks more than 3 million sites around the world.

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Extension Support for Microsoft Edge

After its initial launch, Microsoft is now addressing the biggest gripe with its Edge browser to date.

Since it conception, extension support has kept even the most devoted Windows users from ditching other, more complete browsing experiences like Chrome and Firefox. Thankfully, add-ons will finally make their way to Edge before the end of the month, in time for Microsoft’s annual BUILD developer conference.

This news stems from WinBeta who spoke with "contacts familiar with the matter" determining that extension support is now being tested internally within the rs1_release, or RedStone 1 release, builds. If history is any indication, everyone will likely see the feature pop up for Insider Preview members in the coming days/weeks. If everyone is lucky, that means third-party developers will finally start bringing over their Chrome extensions to Edge.

It is difficult to predict a specific release window for the build, since Insider updates usually come out whenever Microsoft engineering VP Gabe Aul is ready for them to, but nonetheless we can safely expect that it’s coming soon. WinBeta’s sources claim that build 14284 will be the first rs1_release to introduce extension support in Edge.

While extension support for Insiders is bound to drop any day now, it isn't nearly as convenient for everyone else. In fact, the feature won’t officially arrive until June, when the company's first major 'Redstone' update is scheduled to drop for everyone. This means developers will have three months to port their extensions over to Edge, and that for Insiders, the initial offerings will be sparse.

Given its notoriety as one of the most requested features in the Windows 10 feedback app and Microsoft’s authority in the desktop computing space, surely we’ll start to see a competent selection of extensions arrive along with the Redstone feature.

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