14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla has effectively put Firefox 3.0 behind it so to speak. Having wrapped up the successor of Firefox 2.0 and made it available to the general public on June 17, 2008, the focus for Mozilla is now the continual evolution of the open source browser. As far as version 3.0 is concerned, the first step of this evolution will be Firefox 3.0.1. Mozilla has already revealed plans to move beyond 3.0 with Firefox 3.1 by the end of 2008, but no later than the first quarter of 2009. For now, Build 1 of Firefox 3.0.1 is available for download.
The first stability and security update designed for the current version of the open source browser, Firefox 3.0.1 is set up to deal with any issues identified past the Release Candidate 2 stage of Firefox 3.0. At that time, since early June, Mozilla had blocked all changes to Firefox 3.0 in order to make the launch deadline. In this context, 3.0.1 will manage to give the start for the next security and stability updates targeting Firefox 3.0.
Firefox 3.0.1 might end up as the major update rollout that will be pushed automatically to all Firefox 2.0 users, but this aspect has yet to be set in stone. By the end of July, Mozilla also plans to deliver the first Alpha build of Firefox 3.1, codenamed Shiretoko, a major update to 3.0 that will add extra features, capabilities and functionality and will improve performance and standards support. Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 is planned for August 2008, with the final version scooped for the end of this year or the beginning of the next. Considering that Firefox 3.0 was downloaded over 8 million times in the first 24 hours after launch, version 3.1 will have to convince users that it will be worth more attention than its predecessor.
"Mozilla and Firefox are people-powered and while our financial resources are a tiny fraction of our primary competitors, our active and enthusiastic community is unrivaled. There's no greater proof than the success of World Download Day. I wasn't directly involved in the World Download Day program, but I was there in the very beginning of Mozilla's grass-roots, people-powered, community marketing program and I believe strongly in the abilities and the judgment of our community marketing team. I think Download Day was a phenomenal success and I'm proud to count myself as one of the 8M+ people who set the Guinness World Record for most software downloaded in a day," stated Asa Dotzler, Mozilla's community coordinator.
Firefox 3.0 is available for download here.