Firefox 2.0 Early Release
Hot on the heals of Microsoft’s launch of Internet Explorer 7, the Mozilla Foundation has made available their latest iteration of IE’s chief competitor. Even though it has yet to be officially noted on Mozilla’s site, Firefox 2.0 is already available for download. Does the early release mean anything or is the availability of the install merely in preparation for the official announcement? In either case the timing of the browser’s appearance is impeccable.
The presence of the Firefox 2.0 install sends a message to the big boy on the browser block. For instance, while Internet Explorer is just sprouting its tabbed browsing interface, Firefox has refined their existing tabbed platform for an increasingly better browsing experience. The smaller browser has been ahead of the game when it comes to features and their ability to rapidly update their product will allow them to continuely eat away at IE’s market share.
One Step Ahead
Features from the latest Mozilla browser include:
- Visual Refresh of Firefox 2’s theme and user interface
- Built-in phishing protection
- Enhanced search capabilities
- Browser session restore
- Previewing and subscribing to Web feeds
- Inline spell checking in Web forms
- JavaScript 1.7 support
Read more about Firefox’s updates from their Release Candidate 3 notes page.
Update 10/25/2006
Firefox 2.0 is now officially released!