Firefox is the second most popular browser, but the gap that separates it from Chrome is gigantic. The changes Mozilla must implement to regain ground are not only political, but also technical. Firefox is shaping up as a more or less stable browser, with a rich ecosystem of extensions and notable advanced options, although its performance issues are very well documented. Quantum will seek to eliminate all those rough edges, and transform Firefox into a true speed demon.
Very far behind are the peaks of innovation and performance races for web browsers. In fact, I have no problem saying that we are facing the worst generation of browsers in recent years, courtesy of bloated code, almost nonexistent quality control, constant memory leaks, CPU cycles devoured with madness, and a total addiction to "sandboxing" to contain multiple security and stability problems. For work reasons, Firefox is my main browser, and being honest, I think half of its functions should be removed. Mozilla discontinued Hello with version 49, and many ask for the same with Pocket, but cutting is not a magical solution (and never will be). Mozilla's plan is to adapt and reorganize Firefox so that it can better face the demands of the Web in the coming years. Its name is Quantum.
What is Quantum?
The first thing Mozilla made clear about Quantum is that it is not a new browser. Firefox will remain Firefox, and Quantum represents the creation of a new engine, accompanied by several additional optimizations. Quantum will have a fairly close relationship with the current Gecko engine, but at the same time it will incorporate elements from other Mozilla projects, such as the experimental layer engine Servo, written in Rust. A point to highlight about Quantum is its emphasis on parallelism (thus taking advantage of all the cores the processor has), and the offloading of tasks to the graphics processor. As a closing note, Quantum will not be a desktop-exclusive technology. Its resources will be available on Android, and Mozilla expects to bring its benefits to iOS, which only allows WebKit execution.
Timeline and expectations
Quantum's timeline is very relaxed. In essence, Mozilla will take all of 2017 to deploy the new engine, reaching its final version before the end of that year. The promise of greater speed and smoother scrolling sounds very good, but we must see it before believing it. Why do I say this? Because Mozilla is not in one of its best moments, and it also needs to complete other high-profile projects like Electrolysis.
