The last development milestone for the next iteration of Mozilla's open source browser is now available for download. At this point in time, there is still no official word from Mozilla on the evolution of Firefox 3.0, but this situation will not last, as Release Candidate 2 is live. RC2 is a stage in the building of Firefox 3.0, and in this context, almost identical to the gold version. The Firefox 3.0 code is being wrapped up for delivery mid-2008, although the final availability date has yet to be announced. On May 3, 2008, Mozilla pointed out that today the RC2 build was scheduled to drop, and managed to live up to its promise.

"The Firefox 3 development team has decided to produce a new Release Candidate of Firefox 3 before shipping. This should not change the final shipping date, still estimated for mid-June, but will allow a small number of additional fixes for issues discovered during the RC1 cycle. Many of the issues to be fixed in RC2 have already been patched, reviewed, approved and landed. Several localization updates have also been accepted. Release Candidate 2 is currently expected to be available on Wednesday, June 4," Mozilla stated.

But make no mistake about it, Firefox 3.0 RC2 is Firefox 3.0. Mozilla will only introduce superficial changes if any to the RC2 build before it labels it as the gold version and releases it in its attempt to make it the most downloaded software product in the first 24 hours. "All you have to do is download Firefox 3 when it goes live on Download Day - some time in June. In the meantime, check out Download Day Headquarters and pledge to download Firefox 3. We'll let you know when Firefox 3 goes out the door, kicking off the 24-hour attempt," Mozilla added.

Firefox 3.0 Release Candidate 2 (RC2) is available for download via this link.