Mozilla uses A/B testing and a staged rollout mechanism for the release channel, where updates are first presented to a small fraction of users, with Mozilla monitoring its telemetry for increased crashes or other issues before the update is made available to all users. In 2017, Mozilla abandoned the Aurora channel, which saw low uptake, and rebased Firefox Developer Edition onto the beta channel. For corporations, Mozilla introduced an Extended Support Release channel, with new versions released every 30 weeks (and supported for 12 more weeks after a new ESR version is released), though Mozilla warned that it would be less secure than the release channel, since security patches would only be backported for high-impact vulnerabilities. For example, the nightly channel would feature a preliminary unstable version of Firefox 6, which would move to the experimental 'Aurora' channel after preliminary testing, then to the more stable 'beta' channel, before finally reaching the public release channel, with each stage taking around six weeks. The release process was split into four 'channels', with major releases trickling down to the next channel every six to eight weeks. Ars Technica noted that this new cycle entailed 'significant technical and operational challenges' for Mozilla (notably preserving third-party add-on compatibility), but that it would help accelerate Firefox's adoption of new web standards, feature, and performance improvements.

In March 2011, Mozilla presented plans to switch to a faster 16-week development cycle, similar to Google Chrome. Main article: Firefox early version history Rapid releases This was gradually accelerated further in late 2019, so that new major releases occur on four-week cycles starting in 2020. Starting with version 5.0, a rapid release cycle was put into effect, resulting in a new major version release every six weeks. Firefox was created by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross as an experimental branch of the Mozilla browser, first released as Firefox 1.0 on November 9, 2004.

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