Keithblog

Mozilla, the makers of popular web browser Firefox want to break the record for the most software downloads in one day. Download Day 2008 will coincide with the launch of Firefox3 (codename “Gran Paradiso”).

You can try-out Release candidate by downloading from the Mozilla website. However I suggest using the Firefox 3 RC1 Portable Edition, as it won’t overwrite your existing Firefox install and your Add-ons won’t get messed up.

I’ve had a go with the latest beta release and I have to say it’s all rather impressive. The new look is quite nice but depends on which Operating System, as it’s designed to blend in with the OS interface. The password reminder is no longer an annoying pop-up, it now appears across the top of a page much like the plug-in alert. The new bookmarking features (including very nifty smart bookmarks) and the smart location bar make browsing a breeze.

Firefox isn’t over-the-top on the user interface, social networking features don’t come as standard and it wasn’t built by Microsoft. All these add up to an extremely efficient and light weight application which rarely causes a crash. Unless you try and view Flash video but apparently that problem’s been sorted.

At the moment there isn’t a definitive date for the launch of Firefox3, but it should sometime in June.