Firefox 3 is out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOSTON (Reuters) - A new version of Mozilla's popular Firefox Web browser is ready for download with improved security and memory use as the tiny company takes a stab at Microsoft Corp's dominant Internet Explorer.
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The program's creators told Reuters on Thursday that the privately-held company's trial version of Firefox 3 browser is ready for the masses to use after months of development.

Until now, the company has discouraged average Internet users from moving on from Firefox 2, which was launched in October 2006.

"In many ways it (Firefox 3) is much more stable than anything else out there," Mozilla Corp Vice President of Engineering Mike Schroepfer said in an interview.

Key rivals to Firefox are market leader Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Apple Inc's Safari browser.

Engineers at Mozilla are still putting the finishing touches on the software and hope to release the final version of Firefox 3 by the end of June, Schroepfer said.

Mozilla is in a battle with Microsoft, which unveiled an experimental version of its Internet Explorer 8 in Las Vegas earlier this month and is looking to expand its presence on the Web through its bid to acquire Yahoo Inc.

Additions boost security and allow users to run Web sites when they are not connected to the Internet. Mozilla also says Firefox 3 uses less computer memory than Firefox 2.

Until now Mozilla has discouraged the typical computer user from exploring these new features. But its developers said on Thursday that the situation has changed and that they will be revising their Web site.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Web site still stated: "We do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download the Firefox 3 beta 4 milestone release. It is intended for testing purposes only."

But they said that as they concluded their fourth round of tweaking their software, they determined it was ready for prime time.

A fifth round of changes, due to begin within the next few weeks, will involve "tuning the visual look and feel of the program" and further improving its stability," Schroepfer said.

You still have to go into the "developers" section of the Firefox site to get it, but it is completely stable now.

I have noticed faster load times since I started using it.

pfft, I've been running it since January. :p

pfft, I've been running it since January. :p


Yeah, you are also a "techno-geek" :sqwink::sqlaugh:

It was still in Beta mode then, and as the article says, normal people should not have installed it then because of the bugs in it.

It is finally stable enough for us non-computer literate people to use.

Yeah, you are also a "techno-geek" :sqwink::sqlaugh:

It was still in Beta mode then, and as the article says, normal people should not have installed it then because of the bugs in it.

It is finally stable enough for us non-computer literate people to use.

I've been running it since the alphas (pre-beta). The next release of Ubuntu, Hardy Heron is including FF 3 by default even though FF won't be final until after the final release of Hardy next month which says a lot for FF's improvement.

All in all I like FF 3, I'm a little disappointed that some of my extensions don't work with it but I suspect they will be updated as we get closer to gold. The feature I like most if FF is no longer a RAM hog, I cannot tell you how many times it's eaten up the all the available RAM on my old computer and crashed the system.

Yeah, FoxyTunes got disabled, which made a little mad. But I still have WMP10 on my system (man do I HATE WMP11), so I can still just downsize it and still have the control on the task bar.

It is very nice and I must have been in about the same time as Dan :p I just hope some of my fave extensions play catch up now......

If you use a mac Camino is pretty cool

Yeah, FoxyTunes got disabled, which made a little mad. But I still have WMP10 on my system (man do I HATE WMP11), so I can still just downsize it and still have the control on the task bar.

I had to get WMP 11 to be able to view movies on Netflix. I was / am not happy about it.

( and use IE, as Netflix isn't compatible with Firefox )

Just discovered a HUGE problem (at least for me) with the new version.

I just tried to stream a station I listen too a lot, and it will not allow me to unless I download WMP11. No way am I changing over from 10 to 11. This really sucks!!!

In the old version you did not have to have WMP11 to stream radio stations, but I just went to the three I stream the most, and it requires it for each of them.

Howdy,

Does anyone else have this problem: The dropdown window in the address bar is blank although there are links there that I have visited. My window is white.

Dave

Dave, do you have your Browsing History set to be erased after every session? That will make the dropdown blank.

I used the beta for a while, but there were too many bugs that forced me to have to go to IE for some sites. I just uninstalled it and went back to firefox 2. Hopefully they will improve it.

thanks for the heads up guys I dont want to be owned by windows even if just for Media purposes.

Where are the configuration files stored that one could copy and use to make FireFox work and look identical on two (or more) machines?

Where are the configuration files stored that one could copy and use to make FireFox work and look identical on two (or more) machines?

On XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\<User name>\AppData\Mozilla\Firefox\

On Vista:

C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\

Two things to keep in mind, in order to see the App Data folder your must have 'show hidden files' turned on. I'm not in Windows right now so I cannot give you a step by step.

I just copy the whole firefox folder and replace the folder on the target computer, it makes things easier.

To sync bookmarks between computers, look into an extension called MyFiremarks it works great!

To sync bookmarks between computers, look into an extension called MyFiremarks it works great!
I use the Foxmarks plugin to sync my bookmarks, and I can recommend that one, too.

lol Dan - want the Portable Version of Firefox :) 8meg total no install

I use the Foxmarks plugin to sync my bookmarks, and I can recommend that one, too.

I just discovered this last week. I'm loving it previously I was using the del.icio.us plugin. I joined their beta program so I have the extension on FF 3. It's really nice, I got it going on 3 computers with a total of 6 different operating systems as each system is dual boot. It's not often you find something that works seamlessly across platforms :)

lol Dan - want the Portable Version of Firefox :) 8meg total no install

I like a full fledged install, I do keep some portable apps on a USB key for use a friends houses. :) Normally I try and convert them to FF anyhow. ;)