The latest bug-fixing release of the popular Mozilla email client

Mar 31, 2010 09:23 GMT  ·  By

Mozilla has announced the availability of the latest bug-fixing release of its email and news client, Thunderbird 3.0.4. It's a minor update with the usual array of security and stability fixes, but it also comes with several user-interface improvements. Meanwhile, the development team is working on its successor, with Mozilla Thunderbird 3.1 Beta 1 having just been released.

"As part of Mozilla’s ongoing security and stability update process, Thunderbird 3.0.4 is now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux for free download," the announcement on the Mozilla developer center read.

"We strongly recommend that all Thunderbird users upgrade to this release. If you already have Thunderbird 3.0, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. You can also manually fetch this update by selecting 'Check for Updates…' from the Help menu," it also said.

A number of 19 security and stability issues present in either Thunderbird 3.0.3 or the underlying web rendering engine, Gecko 1.9.1, have been resolved. You can check out the full list of fixes in Thunderbird 3.0.4 on this Bugzilla page. Critical issues are listed in red. Thunderbird 3.0.4 comes precisely one month after the previous maintenance update, 3.0.3, which fixed an issue with the mail folder introduced in the preceding release.

Mozilla Thunderbird 3 was eagerly awaited by fans of the email suite and, though it came after a considerable delay, it didn't disappoint, as it was widely considered a massive improvement over Thunderbird 2. Thunderbird is also regarded as one of the best email clients available for desktops on any platforms. The developers are already working on the next iteration, Thunderbird 3.1, which is intended for release later in the year. The first beta is already out with the biggest update being the new Gecko 1.9.2 rendering engine also used in Firefox 3.6.

Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0.4 for Windows is available for download here. Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0.4 for Mac is available for download here. Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0.4 for Linux is available for download here.