So I tried building Firefox with Places a couple of days ago. It ain't pretty. It's definitely good that it isn't being released for a while yet.
- Importing my history and bookmarks took 15 minutes and have no UI what so ever. I only didn't kill the Firefox process using 100% CPU because I saw some sqlite files in my profile being created and modified.
- The imported data is 74% bigger than the original. This seems like a rather big increase.
- My personal toolbar is now empty, and I can't add stuff to it. (The folder in Places for this has the right stuff on, though.)
- The URL bar does not update when changing tabs or if the page loads. This means it only ever displays what I last typed.
- The URL bar has no autocomplete, either as-you-type or using the drop-down button.
- All links appear unvisited, despite clearly being in history.
- None of the navigation toolbar works either, so no back/forward/reload/stop. Not even the shortcuts work.
- The browser no longer opens my homepage on start, even though it's still configured the same. It just loads about:blank, and if I click the Home button it loads the Google start page!
- Add Bookmark menu item does nothing.
- Selecting either the History or Subscriptions items in Places itself hangs Firefox for 5 - 10 seconds. I think this is the calendar, rather than the data, as searching the history only takes 1s second.
- There is no way to select all dates in the calendar, even though it is (apparently) the default when going to a view.
- Expanding or collapsing a folder in Places' top-left box takes 5 - 10 seconds if Subscriptions is selected.
- Switching folders keeps the search string, but doesn't search the newly selected folder.
- Searching "Current Collection Only" doesn't do anything.
- Adding a search filter then can't be removed.
- Filters only allow "starts with", "is" and "is on site" for location matching. Where's "contains"? Have to use "Containing the text" for that, which includes the title.
- No title search option! Have to search title and URL together.
- The icons for items are not fixed, so appear badly inconstant, as they show the favicon.
- Properties context-menu item does nothing, at all, anywhere in Places.
- Quitting Firefox closes all windows, then spends at least 15 seconds using 100% CPU (saving something I think).
Please don't bother pointing out that Places isn't finished yet - I know that, and it sure shows.