A new release of Firefox 3.0 is just around the corner, and with it, Mozilla could evolve the development process of its next generation of the open source browser from the alpha to the beta stage. Gran Paradiso is currently available for download as an early developer milestone for Firefox 3. In this context, users can get their hands on the Alpha 7 release via this link. The next generation of Mozilla's layout engine, Gecko 1.9 was initially scheduled for Beta availability at the end of July. In fact, Gran Paradiso Alpha 6 was planned as the last alpha development milestone preceding the evolution into beta. Mozilla changed its tune towards mid July and moved Firefox 3.0 into pre-Alpha 7, only to deliver Gran Paradiso Alpha 7 on August 6.

Following the last month's launch, Mozilla geared up for Gran Paradiso Milestone 8, and as far, it has managed to keep up the pace with the schedule announced by Mike Schroepfer, Vice President of engineering. The code for Firefox 3.0 M8 was frozen on September 5, but M8 failed to hit so far, even though, traditionally, there is only an insignificant period of time separating code freeze and the actual release. This is why Mozilla even provided an update explaining that "the Firefox trunk is still frozen until the final Gran Paradiso M8 blockers get resolved. During the extended freeze, Gecko 1.9/Firefox 3 endgame drivers are meeting daily to triage approval requests, accepting only patches which are high-value and low-risk. We expect these final bugs to be resolved shortly, and the tree should re-open once the last landing has cleared. Thanks for your patience!"

Currently among the nightly builds available for download, the latest release delivers bad news for both users and developers awaiting for the first beta of Gran Paradiso. Mozilla is offering for download another pre-alpha version, this time for Milestone 8. In this context, it is safe to assume that September will not be synonymous with the release of Firefox 3.0 Beta 1. But still, Mozilla is making headway, just like Apple with Safari 3.0, scheduled for official launch in October. In contrast, Microsoft is focused on not whispering a single word on Internet Explorer 8. The Redmond company is dogfooding alpha versions of IE8 since earlier this year, but so far, it kept all development milestones in house, while letting Firefox run wild with IE's market share.