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Firefox’s Leopard Woes

November 5, 2007 BY Mark Evans

Apparently, Firefox has worked out some compatibility issues with Leopard but I’m finding they still aren’t playing nice together. My biggest issues are Firefox freezing, an inability to switch between applications, and the inability to quit an application. Anyone else struggling with Firefox and Leopard?

Update: There’s already a service pack for Leopard (10.5.1) in the works that fixes a number of bugs. And I thought service packs were just a Windows thing!

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  • http://www.route1.com Kevin David

    I’m having trouble with Firefox under Leopard. I’ve switched to Safari as a result.

    This was documented on Wired: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/10/firefox-still-h.html

    I tried 2.0.0.9 and it doesn’t resolve some of these issues.

  • http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

    Kevin: Thanks for confirming things. Hopefully, they’ll issue a fix soon.

    Mark

  • http://pxltd.typepad.com Stephen Hayward

    I have been having issues with my Parallels Tools crashing and ultimately freezing my MacBook Pro.

    No problems with Firefox though.

  • Rana Tawakkol

    I have been having an issue with downloading whil using firefox. all my files either dont download or download in a way that they wont open.

  • http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

    Hopefully, the fixes apparently on the way soon to Leopard will address many of the problems people are having.

  • Elaine Watson

    Since I installed Leopard I cannot print from Firefox, anyone else having this problem?

  • John Scott

    Come on people! This is nowhere near the problem that Windows user’s have upgrading. How spoiled have we become? I would say Leopard is far from a minor upgrade in terms of code changes. I also think some major changes to it still were happening just before final release.
    As with a operating system upgrade which if you have forgotten is the heart and sole of any computer system. Can cause problem with any software that was not designed to work with it! Give all these people some time to fix and test their software to comply with Leopard before trashing anything. This is just part of the process of early adopting a new operating system. If you don’t want to take a chance of having problems. Then don’t upgrade so soon. Nobody forced you to upgrade!

  • Tim

    Well…

    The previous poster is full of bull.

    As a long,long,long time windows user, I’m extremely disappointed with Leopard. I’ve NEVER had as many issues doing a windows update, all the way back to windows 3.1

    With Leopard, I have problems with my network, network shares, FireFox forms, Printing issues in general.

    And… with the PRICE I paid for my first MAC just a short few months ago… I’m completely blown away that APPLE doesn’t have their act together any better than they do… to get major software application providers on board BEFORE the OS gets released.

    My BIGGEST issues is that APPLE is now seeding out updates to Leopard that CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS then they fix. This is just NOT good business.

  • Dave

    “It just works!” Not anymore it doesn’t! I’m a long time Mac user and have never had as much trouble with any OS installation as I’ve had with Leopard. I couldn’t access my old user account, Mail stopped working, Firefox stopped working, Safari kept asking me for ‘keychain passwords’ that I didn’t have. The Apple updates haven’t done a thing to help and even the ‘genuises’ at the Apple Store couldn’t help. It wasn’t worth all this hassle just for Spaces and Time Machine. I wish I could get in a frickin’ Time Machine and go back to before I installed Leopard!

  • Francis Delly

    I have a new MAC that is a little over a month old. I have read on the net that Leopard does not always do well with Firefox–some even suggest that Firefox beta must be used. Any advice?? Should I just be happy with Safari?? Naturally I called Apple Help and they unequivocally say that Leopard with Firefox is just fine. I’m skeptical, and not looking for big problems.

  • http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

    I’m using Firefox 2.0.0.12. It does crash occasionally but it works well.

  • Ron F

    I am a lifelong mac supporter and full time tech. Yes, I own a mac and make my living fixing PC issues as well as Macs. Leopard is not 1/10 as bad as Vista, which Microsoft should be liable for, which would mean more than the value of their entire company if they were to reimburse people for 1% of the damages and suffering they have caused people. However, Leopard is the first sign of Apple heading down the same path. They have lost their vision, and are trading quality and functionality for visual coolness that appeals mostly to idiots who like anything shiny (almost all humans including me – yes I admit it proudly). Now, my apple calls have at least quadrupled, and the only answer I can give a client is the same one I give Vista users. Leopard has lots of unresolved issues and you have to wait for an update. (I actually recommend Vista users throw the entire box out the window and possibly follow it themselves which would be less painful than trying to deal with their troubles).

    But to address the Firefox issues… I have clients who cant print from Word when Firefox is open, and closing it resolves many issues. I really dislike Safari myself as it suffers from many idiotic issues like i.e. does for windows because it is built to support other functionality instead of simply great web functionality which hinders it tremendously from viewing many web sites properly. So we’re all stuck with one of 2 problematic browsers for the time being, and I am still using Firefox hoping Apple will wake up soon and figure out that things are falling apart and macs will soon not have any advantage over crappy PCs which will kill the entire goal they set out to achieve.

    My 2 cents.

  • Jeremy C

    Leopard seems to be unstable in regards to Firefox. I just installed Leopard, and on day one Firefox crashed at startup 4 out of 5 times, and would not let me switch apps.

    To compare this to Windows by saying “it’s not as bad” is a ridiculous comparison. A system should be stable; PCs are not. And up until iPhone 2 and Leopard, Mac seemed to be doing it right. What happened?

  • GFC

    This business of trying to rationalize Leopard’s problems by ripping on Windows is lame. Both Apple and Microsoft have been guilty of letting marketing override their engineering. Microsoft more so in the past, but Apple more so recently. Apple really needed to revamp their kernel after 10.3, especially with the Intel switch. Instead, they added bells and whistles at the expense of stability. The situation with Leopard reminds me of where Microsoft was with Windows ME: Microsoft added ooh and aah features to the inadequate Win9x kernel with a disastrous result. Similarly, Apple’s attempts to Mickey Mouse around the deficiencies of the Mach kernel have led OS X into some real trouble. Apple’s implementation of EFI is also pretty poor and has led to stability issues, despite the theoretical advantages of EFI over BIOS.

    Having used Macs and Windows machines over the years, I never thought I would see the day when Windows was more stable. But in my experience we’re in that situation now. XP has been running flawlessly for years, and I never had any real problem with Vista. Unless things change fundamentally, my Mac days are over.