Mozilla rolls out Firefox 3.0 Beta 1
Mozilla Corp. late Monday released the first beta of Firefox 3.0, but continued to warn most users to stick with production Version 2.0. “We do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download the Firefox 3 Beta 1 milestone release,” Mike Beltzner, Mozilla’s interface designer, said in a note posted to the company’s development center. “It is intended for testing purposes only.” But while the official word was for users to stand clear, Beltzner’s personal recommendation was a lot less intimidating. “It’s a preview release, so use with caution and don’t expect your add-ons to work without some magic; but between you and me, I’ve been running on this ‘developer preview’ for at least three months, and have never looked back,” he said in a post to his own blog.
Beltzner also touted several of the improvements in Firefox 3.0, including new security features and tools, a redesign of the bookmarking and browser history and numerous back-end platform enhancements, but he said they all require more testing and user feedback. The company has posted a more complete list of new features in the release notes it added to its Web site Monday. On the security side, Firefox 3.0 adds malware check, a phishing filter-like feature that warns users attempting to reach a URL blacklisted for suspected malicious code hosting; one-click site information that displays site ownership; fixes for vulnerabilities in plug-in updating; and integration with antivirus software and Windows Vista’s parental control settings.
Mozilla also claimed that it has fixed more than 300 individual memory leaks and added a new cycle collector to eliminate other memory issues. Firefox has a reputation for leaking memory consuming large quantities the longer it’s left running, and ultimate slowing down its host computer although some of its developers have contested the claims, and even pegged the problem as one of perception. Most current Firefox plug-ins Mozilla calls them extensions will not work with Firefox 3.0, a stumbling block for some who might otherwise want to test the preview. “Users of the latest released version of Firefox should not expect their add-ons to work properly with this beta,” the beta’s release notes read. Firefox 3.0 Beta 1 can be downloaded for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in 21 language versions from Mozilla’s site.
Source: Wired, NY Times
Comments(27)
hmmmz 3.0b1 been out liek 2 weeks? or ?
this is first beta released yesterday
Firefox FTW !!!
Firefox 3 is gonna kick IE7 & Opera aśśes. w00t.
new magic
@ TMK
Your right, it was available via their FTP servers which must have been swamped.
Here’s a draft copy of their product strategy:
http://cbeard.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/releaseroadmapdraftv1_2.png
The beta includes updates to the default theme, the new places (bookmarks) site management features, improved security architecture, and Gecko 1.9.
Full release notes are available to view here:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.0b1/releasenotes/
FireFox is the best!, and yes… I’ve been using it for 2 weeks. You hadda get it quick off their FTP, or else like someone said… it did get swapmed. Very cool though!
I like firefox overall as a browser but I hope they get their memory usage issues taken care of..has the potential to be the best browser out there but the system resources it eats up is borderline ridiculous at times..safari & opera are pretty decent too.
Have they fixed the history so that you can have more than a couple day’s worth without it bogging down like molasses in the arctic?
Firefox used to be great, but has gone down that same road as everything else and now is another slow bloated resource hog
in fact I think even IE7 is better and it hurts me to say that
I use K-Meleon now and it’s good like FireFox used to be
Betas and Alphas here. Why? How many FF’s beta testers are out there?
I like FF, but i dont see any good reason to install a beta version of FF.
maxthon is the best
Lynx rulez!
@10
I agree that Firefox 2 has become somewhat bloated. I do forgive it for that since I can’t use the web without it’s features now though.
That said… FF3 takes a lot less resources. So it’s definitely going in the right direction.
Firefox 3 Beta 1 download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/71283662/Firefox_Setup_3.0_Beta_1.exe
yeah, ive been using it for a few weeks now as well. i got it off their FTP. im not all that happy w/ it actually. like he said, “it’s a preview release, so use with caution” .. ive been having problems with yahoo mails beta not loading my mail and resorting to IE
.. i also have experienced a much higher number of crashes * 2+ a day! *
but i can live with these minor annoyances for now cause i refuse to use any other browser.
I use Firefox only for the aDBlock features. Opera blocker system is miles behind this.
Anyway I hope they fix the memory issues, because its horrendous
Opera blocker is great, i can kill flash and images with few clicks, the default Opera Blocker is enough for everyone, for others u can add some extra features like block frames, images (with 2 cliks) and also block scprits like NoScript, updates with a external app or add manually to a txt file, etc
Who can u say Opera blocker is miles behind? U can say that Opera’s addblock is not to good as/similar/close to FF’s aDBlock, but not miles away.
i agree with asdas although the adblocker on linux opera is a little flaky
can’t wait for the official release!!
On OSX, Camino is still the best. Firefox became a bloatware and slow as Turtle. Still better than Safari though.
i don’t wat your problem with Opera’s popup blocker is. For me it is flawless and i was even surprise to hear this site had popups. What is the problem you are having with it?
FF3 ,sux
it cant handle Arabic language
Firefox is a web browser. Opera is a web suite.
There is no comparison and there never will be.
Am i the only one who uses NoScript with firefox, I find it really good because I can choose what to allow and what to dis allow, it even stops the ad from rlslog poping up. It can be a little annoying allowing every new site you go into but now i wouldn’t go without it.
@23: It’s beta 1, what do you expect…
I think AdBlock Plus is better, it blocks all ads if you subscribe to all 5 filters and does so unobtrusively so there’s no hassle at all.
@25
rslog has ads popping up?