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Firefox 60 now available for download with sponsored stories, better Android performance, and more

Firefox Quantum 60 for Windows 10 - About window
Firefox Quantum 60 for Windows 10 - About window
The recently unleashed Firefox 60 is the first Extended Support Release version since Firefox 52, so it brings more than a year's worth of new features for personal, mobile, and business users. The most important changes are the sponsored stories present in the New Tab page and the improved customization capabilities for IT administrators.

Yesterday, Mozilla finally offered the new Firefox 60.0 for the Release channel users. According to the official release notes page for the desktop version, this update "offers something for everyone and a little something extra for everyone who deploys Firefox in an enterprise environment." 

The Android version of Firefox 60 only comes with a new option in the Page Action menu (the View Page Source feature, to be accurate) and faster page rendering — thanks to Quantum CSS (Stylo) — in addition to the usual security fixes and tweaks.

Although it might not seem important to many users yet, Firefox 60 is the first browser to report the emerging W3C standard known as Web Authentication (shortly known as WebAuthn). To make a long story short, it is enough to say that WebAuthn promises to provide password-free logins, thus making phishing attacks a lot harder. Later this month, it will come to Chrome 67 and Microsoft Edge, while Safari should also get it, but probably in a few months.

The New Tab page now features a responsive layout and sponsored stories "Recommended by Pocket" that Mozilla says will only show up "occasionally" to US-based users for the time being.

The enterprise version of Firefox now allows IT administrators to adjust the browser as needed using Windows Group Policy to block websites and to restrict user access to the browser's settings or certain features.

Firefox 60 arrives as the first Extended Support Release (ESR) since Firefox 52, so it will be maintained for over a year. Firefox 60 targets desktop users and mobile users on Android, since the latest major version for iOS users, which was released last month, is labeled 11.0.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2018 05 > Firefox 60 now available for download with sponsored stories, better Android performance, and more
Codrut Nistor, 2018-05-10 (Update: 2018-05-10)