Re: Firefox, the changes happened because Chrome is a VERY popular browser and they want to make Firefox look and behave more like Chrome. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer are losing users, Firefox not as fast as IE but Firefox is no longer at the top of the heap for Browser use. Some of the changes have been in the works for quite a while but I also think some of them have been introduced now as a way to take people's minds away from the Brendan Eich/Prop 8 Mozilla Foundation debacle
Jack, yes, the 3 bars at the top right of the browser is the new Control Panel for settings, although if you have a Top Row of commands (File, Edit, View, History, Bookmarks, Tools, Help) on the upper left corner of Firefox many of the commands are there as well as in the Control Panel.