While Mozilla is serving the first bits of Release Candidate 1 for the successor of Firefox 3.0, it is also focusing on having Firefox 3.5 finalized and available for download for end users by the end of this month. For the time being, Mozilla is serving Firefox 3.5 RC1 Build 2 as an update to the Beta testers that are already running earlier releases of the browser. Firefox 3.5 RC1 Build 2 started being delivered on June 16, 2009, and is also available as a standalone download for testers that want a taste of the close-to-final Firefox 3.5.

“Our 800,000+ Firefox 3.5 beta users will be receiving an update to the first Firefox 3.5 release candidate (3.5rc1build2) in order to continue to help us with daily testing and public feedback. This update contains bug fixes which will be included in the final release of Firefox 3.5, expected later this month. While Mozilla has not yet completed the quality assurance testing required before an official product release, this update is considered stable for daily browsing use and we appreciate your assistance in helping us test and evaluate this version of the release candidate,” revealed Mozilla's Nicole Loux (emphasis added).

Mike Beltzner, director of Firefox at Mozilla, also indicated that the end of June was the target ship date for Firefox 3.5. On June 17, Mozilla started wrapping up the second Release Candidate for Firefox 3.5. In this regard, the public will be receiving Firefox 3.5 RC2 starting tomorrow at the earliest, according to the plans of the open source browser maker.

At the same time, Mozilla started to look forward in the future of Firefox's evolution. Testers will be able to get their hands on the first build of Firefox 3.6 four weeks after Firefox 3.5 will be launched as an Alpha 1 release. Firefox 3.6 is not the final moniker of the next generation of Mozilla's open source browser, but it will be used for at least the start of the development process. Firefox 3.5 itself was referred to as version 3.1 until well into 2009.

Firefox 3.5 RC1 for Windows is available for download here.

Firefox 3.5 RC1 for Linux is available for download here.

Firefox 3.5 RC1 for Mac OS X is available for download here.