14 DAY TRIAL // The latest Build of Mozilla’s next version of its open source browser can pretty much be labeled Firefox 6 Release Candidate (RC). The development process for Firefox 6 is nearly done according to the open source browser vendor, with the final version of Firefox 5’s successor planned for general availability in mid-August 2011.
While Mozilla has yet to announce officially the availability of Firefox 6 RC, a new Build can be downloaded from the company’s FTP servers. The Future of Firefox webpage, which normally serves all official releases had not been updated with Firefox 6.0b5 at the time of this article.
However, I don’t doubt for a minute that Mozilla will deliver Firefox 6.0b5 to all testers soon enough. For the time being, early adopters can grab it via the download links at the bottom of this article.
The release is the fifth Beta refresh of Firefox 6, and according to Mozilla’s earlier plans, which I talked about last week, this Build has the potential of being the last Firefox 6 Beta.
This is why, Firefox 6 Beta Refresh 5 can be considered as an equivalent of Firefox 6 RC. Here is what the company revealed earlier this week:
“Beta [Firefox 6] is pretty much done. Our 5th Beta build is being assembled as you read this (assuming you get your Engineering News hot off the presses) and if all goes well with this hopefully final build, it’ll make its way to the Beta channel audience on Friday and ship to the Release channel in 13 days.”
It’s important to note that even though Firefox 6 will merge into the Release Channel on August 16, 2011, this date is not the same as the release deadline. It might take a few more days for Mozilla to wrap up Firefox 6 altogether.
In the meantime, testers can play around with Firefox 6 RC / Beta Refresh 5, which is pretty much as close as possible to Firefox 6 Final.
Firefox 6 Beta, Firefox 7 Aurora and Firefox 5 for Windows are available for download here.
Firefox 6 Beta, Firefox 7 Aurora and Firefox 5 for Linux are available for download here. Firefox 6 Beta, Firefox 7 Aurora and Firefox 5 for Mac are available for download here.