Advertisement

Firefox's multi-process mode is coming to more users soon

Other browsers like Chrome and Edge already use multiple processes for increased stability and security.

LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images

Over the last few months, the developers of Firefox have been slowly rolling out technology that will bring the browser up to par with competitors when it comes to speed, security and reliability. Others like Chrome, Safari and Edge are already designed using multi-process, to separate tabs, add-ons and even rendering from the main browser. As it stands, Firefox 50 users with extensions approved for multi-process are already using the technology, which the team says has increased responsiveness by 400 percent, and 700 percent while pages are loading.

So what's next? Beyond switching on multi-process for users with a broader set of extensions, it's working on bringing multiple processes for content and security sandboxing, first on Windows then later to OS X and Linux. As we spend an increasing amount of time online, anything that improves performance and security we can get behind, while alternative options to browsers built by Google, Microsoft and Apple will keep everyone on their toes.