While Microsoft is still hammering away at Internet Explore 8 in order to produce the second Beta, currently planned for August 2008, Mozilla is gearing up to release the first update to Firefox 3.0. The successor of Firefox 2.0 was released to the general public on June 17, 2008, and climbed to a record 8 million downloads in just the first day. Firefox 3.0.1 is the first security and stability update for Firefox 3.0, and Mozilla is targeting July 16 for the release date. Firefox 3.0.1 code freeze status was available at the end of June, and the Beta versions of the first update to version 3.0 are already live and up for grabs.

"Candidate builds of Firefox 3.0.1 are now available for testing. You can get the builds here. If you have previously downloaded a beta version of Firefox 3.0 or have manually set your copy to be using the 'beta' release channel for updates, you can update yourself to Firefox 3.0.1 by selecting 'Help > Check for Updates'," revealed Samuel Sidler, Quality Assurance Engineer at Mozilla.

But Firefox 3.0.1 is not the only version of the open source browser under development. Mozilla is also building Firefox 2.0.0.16, one of the last security and stability updates for Firefox 2.0 which will not live to see 2009. At this point in time, Mozilla plans to kill support for Firefox 2.0 in mid-December 2008, just half a year after the launch of Firefox 3.0. But by that time, Firefox 3.0 could have already all but wiped out its predecessor since Mozilla is considering version 3.0.1 as a candidate for a major update roll out of its open source browser.

"Candidate builds of Firefox 2.0.0.16 are now available for testing. You can get the builds here. If you have previously downloaded a beta version of Firefox 2.0.0.x or have manually set your copy to be using the 'beta' release channel for updates, you can update yourself to Firefox 2.0.0.16 by selecting
'Help > Check for Updates'," Sidler added.

Firefox 3.0 and Firefox 2.0.0.15 are available for download here.