there is constant focus on minimizing the browser's resources and in fact firefox is faster and uses less memory than ever before. in case you're having unusual performance problems i'd recommend updating & resetting the browser (this will keep your bookmarks and passwords).

please note that continuing using outdated versions of firefox affected by numerous known security vulnerabilities will put the integrity of your system and all the personal data on it at risk!

the new release process is easily explained - there is a fixed release schedule with a new firefox version every 6 weeks. new features go through a 3-4 month testing phase in various development, alpha & beta versions: https://blog.mozilla.org/channels/2011/07/18/every-six-weeks/

your other remarks are way off the mark btw.

I have seen metrics declaring firefox faster, but I use it on many different machines and it is a complete dog. Memory footprint aside, it is simply slow to use.

A new version every six weeks is fine, a new MAJOR version, is absurd. The changes being made don't represent major version changes. If you leave the automatic updater on firefox fully on it is constantly in use. In my career in software, I have learned over and over that this is not a sign of a good product.

By the way, I see occasional posts like mine that make wholesale complaints about firefox and generally i see similar posts to yours which write these off.

But the numbers don't lie. We all know how firefox use has been trending down since after version 3. http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

At some point, the current direction needs to be re-evaluated.

again, if you're having issues with performance i'd recommend a reset as a first troubleshooting step.

what do you mean by "automatic updater [...] is constantly in use" - are you referring to the mozilla maintenance service? it is only active during the update process itself (see What is the Mozilla Maintenance Service?) & firefox per default checks for updates every 8 hours while in use.

edit: if you want to "make wholesale complaints", then you're wrong here anyway, since it is a primarily community- & volunteer-driven forum to provide technical support. for general feedback like this use https://input.mozilla.org/feedback.

I am uninstalling Firefox after years of faithful use and giving up. There's now a Search Here box that will not go away no matter what I do. After reinstalling to attempt to fix this problem, including deleting the old directory first, I have a new problem. The "Search Here" box is still there but also I have a window that opens up from Mozilla that will not stop opening up each time I load FIrefox... It reads:

Hooray! Your FIreFox is up to date. Now get the mobile browser that's got your back

the "search here" box is a problem with adware on your pc. remove any suspicious entries (toolbars, things that you have not installed intentionally, don't know what purpose they serve, etc) in firefox > addons > extensions. also go to the windows control panel / programs and remove all toolbars or potentially unwanted software from there and do a full scan of your system with the security software that you have in place and also different tool like the free version of malwarebytes.

Remove a toolbar that has taken over your Firefox search or home page Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware

for the other issue mentioned see: Firefox says it's just updated every time it starts - how to fix