Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 24 March 2008 19:05
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Although Mozilla says Firefox 3 beta 4 still isn’t intended for the
general public, its performance so far has given them the confidence to
announce the final version is nearly ready to be unleashed on the
world.
In an interview with
Reuters, Mozilla’s Vice President of Engineering Mike Schroepfer said in an interview that Firefox 3 is ‘ready for prime time’.
Schroepfer told Reuters that: “In many ways it (Firefox 3) is much more
stable than anything else out there", with Firefox 3 beta 5 set to
finalise "tuning the visual look and feel of the program" and further
improving its stability."
As Reuters have noted, Firefox is in a battle with competitors such as
Microsoft, whose Internet Explorer 8 browser just reached beta 1
status, although the final version of IE8 isn’t due to arrive until
next year.
Despite this announcement, the Mozilla website (where Firefox 3 beta 4 can be
downloaded)
still advises that the latest beta 4 is still for testing purposes
only, although I’ve personally been using Firefox 3 since beta 3 (and
now 4, of course) and have found it to be a stellar browser: Firefox 2
has long been uninstalled from my computer.
That said, Reuters reported that Mozilla may well be changing that
warning, and while Reuters didn’t specifically note it, I’d say when
Firefox 3 beta 5 lands in a few weeks time, that will be the version
that Mozilla will bless as being a more general beta that anyone can
try, especially given the very stable nature the developers already
attribute to the existing beta.
Of course, Firefox and Internet Explorer aren’t the only other browsers out there. Apple’s own Safari has just
launched
in a new version 3.1 for Windows PCs and Macs, while the Opera browser,
currently at version 9.26 with a beta 9.5 version in testing, is also
another
popular alternative for PCs, smartphones and even the Nintendo Wii games console.
If you're so inclined, read onto page 2 for some other popular browsers
out there, including a very nifty add on to Internet Explorer 7 that
gives it some great 'Firefox' like capabilities. Please read on.
