Download Firefox 3.6.4 Beta Build 5

A new development milestone of Firefox 3.6.4 is now available for download, as the browser version is approximately a week away from release. The third not-so-minor update to Firefox 3.6 has been cooking for almost two months now, and Build 5 of Beta for version 3.6.4 was offered to testers at the end of the past week. Early adopters are able to test-drive Firefox 3.6.4 Beta Build 5 and try first-hand the browser’s evolution since Build 4. Of course, there are no new additions to Firefox 3.6.3 in terms of features and capabilities outside of Out of Process Plugins.

Mozilla has been working to resolve a number of blockers preventing it from wrapping up the OOPP-ready version of Firefox 3.6. With the release of Build 5, some of the severe bugs affecting the next refresh for Firefox 3.6 have been dealt with, while others still remain. In fact, in a development meeting last week, Mozilla revealed that it needed to determine what blockers could be pushed to Firefox 3.6.5, and not be resolved in the upcoming update.

Out of Process Plugins was a feature initially planned for Firefox 3.7, which, just as v3.6, was supposed to be a minor upgrade to Firefox 3.5. Mozilla decided to fold Firefox 3.7 into Firefox 3.6.4 and to deliver OOPP early to customers. As some of you might already know, OOPP is designed to separate the Firefox process from that of various plug-ins running in conjunction with the browser. The end purpose is to increase the stability and reliability of the open source browser.

Because of OOPP, Firefox will no longer be impacted by problems affecting plug-ins such as Flash or Silverlight, from poor performance to crashes. The past week, Mozilla revealed plans to ship Firefox 3.6.4 Final on June 1st, 2010. Firefox 3.5.10, which has been finalized for quite some time now, will also be offered to users on June 1st.

Firefox 3.6.4 Beta Build 5 is available for download here.

Firefox 3.6.3 for Windows is available for download here.
Firefox 3.6.3 for Mac OS X is available for download here.
Firefox 3.6.3 for Linux is available for download here.