Mozilla will finish with Firefox 5.0 what it has started with Firefox 4.0 in terms of support, namely producing a next generation release of its open source browser tailored to 64-bit Windows.
Some Softpedia readers might remember that I told you first in May 2010 that Mozilla had started cooking an
x64 flavor of Firefox for Windows.
The open source browser vendor even managed to put together and release a few early Builds of 64-bit Firefox 4.0 to early adopters running Microsoft's OS.
But in the end, it appears that x64 Firefox 4.0 wasn’t meant to be. To date, Microsoft is the only company providing a 64-bit version of its browser, and those running x64 Windows can find it easily by digging just a little bit under All Programs.
Still, it seems that x64 IE will soon have a 64-bit browser companion, with the advent of the successor of Firefox 4.0.
Mozilla recently revealed that it’s planning to release not only Firefox 4.0, but also
Firefox 5.0, Firefox 6.0 and Firefox 7.0 by the end of 2011.
In this regard, a x64 variant of Firefox 5.0 will be provided in addition to the current 32-bit (x86) release which is available for both x86 and x32 Windows.
With Firefox 4.0 now in the finishing stages, as
Beta 11 was released earlier today to testers, Mozilla could very well offer three additional Firefox iterations this year.
As such, end users might not have to wait all that long until they will be able to run x64 Firefox on Windows.
There’s no telling at this point in time what other platforms will Mozilla port x64 Firefox, as the expansion of support for the 64-bit version of its open source browser doesn’t seem to factor in with the upcoming Firefox 6.0 and 7.0 releases.
Firefox 4.0 Beta 11 for Windows is available for download here.
Firefox 4.0 Beta 11 for Linux is available for download here.
Firefox 4.0 Beta 11 for Mac is available for download here.
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