Mozilla picks up Firefox development pace with 'sprint' updates

From InfoWorld: Mozilla has switched to a quick-paced "sprint" cycle for Firefox that it hopes will bring new features to users faster, the company's browser architect said Wednesday.

"We decided we not only needed a way to be more nimble, but that we have a lot of great improvements we want to do every week and every month," said Vlad Vukicevic, Firefox architect.

"That was the thinking behind the 'sprint' development, that we have a bunch of projects that we assign to one or two people, who then have two to three weeks to maybe finish [the feature] or at least get some data on it," Vukicevic said. "Then we can decide if we want to do another sprint."

The change means that the next two Firefox upgrades will be minor updates that are pushed through development in a matter of a few months, a big difference from the last two versions of the browser, which included major changes to the interface or the underlying technology, or both.

According to Mozilla's current schedule, for example, Firefox 3.6, the follow-on to June's version 3.5, will ship in the October-to-November time frame. The next update, Firefox 3.7, is now set to release around March 2010.

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