Firefox 3.0

Good news everyone (all 3 of you... by the way, a welcome to our new viewer) Mozilla has released Firefox 3.0 beta (or RC if you like - all that means is release candidate). I have ranted about how I love Firefox in my post about Google Pack. Firefox is great. Its the fastest web browser I have ever used, it uses tab browsing like Internet Explorer (IE), and it allows you to use a link bar like IE and Safari. However, Firefox is much more customizable than the other browsers mentioned here. You can use any add-on that has been made for the browser and completely change the look of the browswer for a better feel. For example, I love the NASA add-on because its a sleek black and instead of a little icon that rotates when I access a site, a spaceship launches. Its amazing.

So, Mozilla is testing the waters for the secure release of Firefox 3.0. As mentioned, the current version 3.0 RC is simply a release candidate or beta version. Basically, Mozilla releases an early version to get more help from developers and feedback from the community. The version is pretty cool and has a bunch of new features and improvements. Indeed, the improvements make it even "more better" than IE and definitely worth the download. Here are few of my favorite new features and improvements (taken from the Mozilla site):

• Improved Security: One-click site info: Click the site favicon in the location bar to see who owns the site and to check if your connection is protected from eavesdropping. Identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand.
• New Download Manager: the revised download manager makes it much easier to locate downloaded files, and you can see and search on the name of the website where a file came from. Your active downloads and time remaining are always shown in the status bar as your files download.
• Resumable downloading: users can now resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting your network connection.
• Tab scrolling and quickmenu: tabs are easier to locate with the new tab scrolling and tab quickmenu.
• Save what you were doing: Firefox will prompt users to save tabs on exit.
• Find toolbar: the Find toolbar now opens with the current selection
• Integration with Windows: Firefox now has improved Windows icons, and uses native user interface widgets in the browser and in web forms.
• Integration with the Mac: the new Firefox theme makes toolbars, icons, and other user interface elements look like a native OS X application. Firefox also uses OS X widgets and supports Growl for notifications of completed downloads and available updates. A combined back and forward control make it even easier to move between web pages.
• IMPROVED SPEED, MEMORY USAGE, AND RELIABILITY!!! ITS AMAZING

I love Firefox. I hope you love the new release. Obviously, you might run into a few mini-glitches but I bet you don't even notice them. Note: for windows users, the beta version will install in a seperate file and therefore be seperate from your current version of Firefox (I hope you have one). Mac OS X users, the beta version will completely replace your existing installation, however, it will leave bookmarks, history, links, etc. untouched.