The new bookmark and history system originally scheduled for inclusion in Firefox 2 will be disabled in official builds. First seen by Firefox users in the Bon Echo alpha build last month, the new bookmark and history system would have been the single most significant change between Firefox 1.5 and Firefox 2.0.

In an announcement posted to the Mozilla development USENET group, developer Michael Schroepfer said that the feature can't be completed adequately within the the 2.0 timeframe, and that saving it for a future release will give the core development time more time to focus on ensuring that Firefox 2 is as polished as possible. Although the bookmark and history system will not be included in the next major update, the underlying SQLite-based MozStorage engine, which was built for the new bookmark and history system, will be included for use by plug-in developers. Developers beware: the API for the MozStorage system hasn't frozen yet, so plug-ins that take advantage of this new feature may have to undergo rewrites in the future.

Numerous users and developers have expressed disappointment with the removal of the new bookmark and history system, and some say that the upcoming release no longer justifies a 2.0 version number. In response to these comments, Firefox lead developer Ben Goodger posted a blog entry to counter the criticism and explain why the release still deserves the 2.0 nomenclature. Goodger also spells out Firefox's release policy:

"Firefox has never been about date driven development (within reason). The changes with Places should not be seen as a change in this sentiment. What we're about is high quality software development with real advantages to users, and I think that with the updated plan we're still on a trajectory that supports and encourages that, perhaps more firmly now than before."

Discussing performance, security, and user interface improvements, Goodger posted an updated draft of the Firefox 2 requirements specification that emphasizes the multitude of features and improvements included in Firefox 2. Features scheduled for inclusion in Firefox 2.0 include improvements to tabbed browsing, RSS support, and the integrated search system, as well as a new anti-phishing system.

Since Firefox 2 (and all alpha builds from here on out) will use the conventional bookmark system, those of you that have been using Firefox 2 alphas (the Gecko 1.8 branch) will have to export your bookmarks to HTML in order to preserve them. As a Firefox user and a software developer, I am personally very disappointed with the removal of this innovative feature. With over 1,000 bookmarks to keep track of, I was really looking forward to being able to leverage the SQLite database engine for bookmark organization and management. That said, my disappointment is tempered by my capacity to appreciate the rationale for such a delay. In the world of software development (both open and proprietary), such delays are common and they typically result in software that is more polished and reliable. As long as inclusion of the feature isn't delayed indefinitely, the consequences of this particular decision will most likely be positive ones.