Mozilla is gearing up to make available the next releases of Firefox 3.0 and Firefox 2.0. At the end of September 2008, Firefox 2.0.0.17 and Firefox 3.0.2 stability and security updates were made available for download. By the end of that month, Mozilla was also releasing Firefox 3.0.3, an update designed to resolve a regression issue introduced by version 3.0.2. The coming week, users will be able to update to Firefox 3.0.4 and Firefox 2.0.0.18, according to Mozilla's current plans.

However, users can jump the gun and get the bits for the two updates early. Mozilla is already offering for testing purposes both Firefox 3.0.4 and Firefox 2.0.0.18 via FTP. Of course, both releases of the open source browser are nothing more than Beta versions at this point in time. Mozilla pointed to November 12 as the availability date for both Firefox 3.0.4 and Firefox 2.0.0.18.

“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 3.0.4 by selecting 'Help > Check for Updates',” revealed Samuel Sidler, Quality Assurance Engineer at Mozilla. “If you have previously downloaded a beta version of Firefox 2.0 or have manually set your copy to be using the 'beta' release channel for updates, you can update yourself to Firefox 2.0.0.18 by selecting 'Help > Check for Updates'".

In parallel with Firefox 3.0.4 and Firefox 2.0.0.18, Mozilla is also developing Firefox 3.1 Beta 2. With Beta 1 available for download in mid-October, initial plans indicated November for the release of Firefox 3.1 Beta 2. Taking into consideration the pace at which Firefox 3.1 is being built, the next iteration of the open source browser is likely to slip into early 2009.

In the meantime, Firefox 3.1 Beta 1, 3.0.3 and 2.0.0.17 are all available for download here.