Firefox 2 beta ready for debut

A correction was made to this story. Read below for details.

The Mozilla Foundation is ready to release a beta version of Firefox 2, the next major version of its Web browser.

This is the first beta version of Firefox 2 to be made publicly available, and Mozilla hopes that software developers will download it and test whether it is compatible with their existing Firefox extensions.

"We have over 1,000 extensions already, but they may not work with this new version," said Tristan Nitot, president of Mozilla Europe.

Video: Firefox goes public with new browser beta
Mozilla has released a beta of Firefox 2.0 for the general public. CNET's Robert Vamosi takes a look.

According to reports, the beta version comes with a built-in antiphishing tool, improved search box capabilities and an integrated spell checker. Changes have also been made to the RSS support.

Nitot declined to speculate about the features that might appear in the commercial release of Firefox 2, pointing out that changes may be made following public reaction to the beta.

Release candidate 3 of the beta can be downloaded from Mozilla's FTP server (editors' note: .exe file). The actual beta will be released later this week.

In late June, Microsoft released the final beta for the next version of its browser, Internet Explorer.

Graeme Wearden of ZDNet UK reported from London.

 

Correction: This story incorrectly indicated the release date for the Firefox 2 beta. A release candidate can be downloaded now, and the actual beta is due later in the week.

[donhyrum]

extensions

if you have a few key extentions, they may not work. Even some of the Google extensions don't work (like toolbar). But if you're still curious, check out how to run both: http://blog.dojotoolkit.org/2005/12/01/running-multiple-versions-of-firefox-side-by-side

[clsgis]

Seamonkey is Mozilla's best

I've been using this product since it was called NCSA Mosaic and you had to compile it yourself. Ran Mosaic Communications' browser before they renamed it Netscape. Celebrated when the Mozilla group salvaged the mess of code AOL had opened in desperation.

I never liked Firefox and Thunderbird. I tend to have dozens of windows open on several desktops (always wonder how MS-Windoze users survive with only one desktop...) and leave the browser going for weeks at a time. Firefox and Tbird have memory leaks and eventually slow down and crash.

Mozilla Suite doesn't have that problem. When they announced end of life on it, I switched to Mozilla Seamonkey, aka Mozilla Suite 2. It's the best yet. Even stabler than Konqueror and Opera. Bug-compatible enough with that awful MS thing that I haven't found a site yet where it doesn't work. If Firefox isn't good enough for you, try its older brother Seamonkey.

[aabcdefghij987654321]

Some history

NCSA Mosaic was *NOT* renamed as Netscape, some of the crew who developed Mosaic left the school where they worked on Mosaic and founded Netscape but in doing so had to write a *new* and different browser which became Netscape. The Mosaic code btw was licensed to Microsoft and was used as the basis for the first releases of Internet Explorer though as of IE 4.0 very little of the original Mosaic remained.

Likewise the Netscape browser turned out to be a hideously malformed pile of code lacking useful structure and eventually had to be abandoned. In their trashing around the Netscape corporation did spin off and start the Mozilla project which brought us the Mozilla and later the Firefox browsers but again the code is all new.

Cool

Hopefully this will be better.

[abh_gup]

it better be...

i switched to firefox a long time back because of the sheer usability and thanx to extensions, coz i could "act God" when I browsed... esp when stripping off material, embedded stuff on web pages, n checking out 100s of other stuff...
so far so gud...
so firefox, better be better... coz i wanna go with the best, BUT i hate switching all the time...
(n i know it will... :) )

[superman9956]

ie7

i think interent explorer7 is the best browser out there

[aabcdefghij987654321]

One thing..

It's *NOT* out there yet. It's also still just a beta product at this time.

[alba tross]

ie7

Tried it, uninstalled it, will never touch the crap again until it is forced upon me by Microsoft and their "security" updates.

[Heebee Jeebies]

Please...

Someone get this man a paramedic... his brain has been damaged!

R

[acurism]

IE7 better? are you joking

There is no way in hell IE 7 is better than Firefox.

Firefox is much more innovative and secure. The ONLY reason that IE is so popular is because it is the default and only web browser on Microsoft's OS.

Just because it is the default and whatever MS might brainwash you to believe, it is not better. Nor is many of MS products.

[Sil3nt71]

meh..

I don't think it's the best browser out there, but I do prefer it over FireFox.

Since I'm not some idiotic "noob" downloading everything and its mother, i've had no viruses. And it seems from the story that they're adding stuff IE already has.

But good for Mozilla. If it weren't for them, there'd probably be no IE7 Beta 3 out now (heck, I might still be using IE6.. blegh).