By Jennifer Hagendorf Follett, ChannelWeb
Mozilla is one step closer to the launch of Firefox 3, rolling out Release Candidate 1 of the revamped browser for testing by developers and the open-source community at large.
The new version, based on the Gecko 1.9 Web rendering platform, adds several new features that will make Firefox 3 more secure, easier to use, and more personal, Mozilla said on its Web site. Firefox 3 also adds improvements for developers and will offer better performance, Mozilla said.
Mozilla Friday made Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) available for download from its site for testing purposes so that it can collect feedback from Web developers and the Firefox testing community.
Among Firefox 3's new security features is one-click access to site info to allow users to quickly see information on who owns a given Web site and whether the connection is protected from eavesdropping. New malware protection warns users when they land on a site known to install viruses, spyware and other malware.
Firefox 3 also offers simplified password management via an information bar that can be used to save passwords after a successful login, simplified add-on installation and a new simplified download manager that enables users to search for downloads by the name of the Web site they came from.
Mozilla also said improvements to its JavaScript engine will enable applications such as Google Mail and Zoho Office to run twice as fast in Firefox 3 compared to Firefox 2. It will also use less memory than previous versions.
Mozilla offered no timeframe for launching the final version of Firefox 3, though executives previously have said it will be available in June. "The final version of Firefox 3 will be released when we qualify the product as fully ready for our users," the outfit said in the release notes for RC1 on its site.
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