Mozilla on Tuesday began a limited release of a multiple-process Firefox by outfitting fewer than one in every 100 users with the improved browser.

The reworked Firefox 48 was the culmination — or at least the beginning of that — of a seven-year effort to boost the browser’s performance and improve its stability.

“Users should experience a Firefox that is less susceptible to freezing and is generally more responsive to input,” said Nick Nguyen, who leads the Firefox team, in a post to a company blog.

“Electrolysis” — “e10s” in shorthand — has been Mozilla’s long-term project to separate Firefox’s operation into more than one CPU process. The practice lets the browser take advantage of multi-processor systems for heightened performance, and segregates the browser’s user interface (UI) and content to keep Firefox from fully crashing when a website or web app fails.

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