Due in June, Mozilla says 'Firefox 3' is ready to rock!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 24 March 2008 18:05

Opinion and Analysis

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.