Waterfox 18 finally arrives for 64-bit Windows users

The unofficial 64-bit Windows fork of Firefox, Waterfox, has now been updated to version 18.0.1 of the browser. The release was, say the developers in the release announcement, subject to an "unseemly delay" due to a bug appearing during the preparation of Waterfox version 17.

"There seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel", say the developers, who had to work closely with Intel to resolve the bug and allow them to produce Waterfox 18.0.1 which includes all the enhancements of Firefox 17 and Firefox 18. These include the Social API, click to play blocklists, the new IonMonkey JavaScript compiler, improved developer tools, W3C Touch events, initial WebRTC support and many performance improvements.

Waterfox is built using Intel's C++ compiler and uses Intel's Math library, streaming SIMD extensions 3, vector extensions, Jemalloc and profile-guided optimisation, with the aim of getting maximum performance from the 64-bit build. Mozilla has never released an official 64-bit Windows build of Firefox and stopped producing experimental 64-bit builds in November 2012. Now, after the delay, Waterfox is available with the latest Firefox functionality. Waterfox 18.0.1 is available to download for 64-bit Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

(djwm)