Chicago (IL) – Mixing into the wave of news surrounding Google’s new Chrome web browser is a note from Mike Shaver, director of Ecosystem Development at Mozilla. According to Shaver, The code-freeze for Beta 1 was moved from August to September 30. Beta 2 will be frozen about one month later, setting the stage for a late 2008 public availability of Firefox 3.1.
Originally planned to arrive last month, the download of the first public beta of Firefox 3.1 has apparently slipped into the October time frame. Following the code-freeze on September 30, Firefox 3.1 beta will reveal Mozilla’s first big update for Firefox 3. Code-named Shiretoko, Firefox 3.1 has been available as alpha 1 since June 16 (or one day before the release of Firefox 3.0) and integrates Mozilla’s Gecko 1.9.1 engine with web standards improvements, a text API for the <canvas> Element, support for using border images and support for JavaScript query selectors. Mozilla also enhanced its Smart Location Bar and improved tab switching.
According to Mozilla, version 3.1 also includes all those features that just did not make it into 3.0 in time, including window previews for the CTRL+Tab feature as well as “Tag Autocomplete, Advanced Search UI, Bulk tagging support, Download History integration, Enhanced compatibility checking during upgrades and coherent startup/shutdown prefs/behaviours.”
Shaver noted that current alpha 2 builds of Firefox 3.1 are using the code from August 19. Beta 2 should be returning to Mozilla’s four-week cadence and see a code-freeze on October 28.
Interestingly enough, there has been a flurry of activity on Mozilla’s FTP server lately, including the availability of a Firefox version that is marked as Firefox 3.1 Beta 1, which installs as “Minefield” Developer browser “3.1b1pre”, but carries the Firefox version number 3.0.1 and release notes pointing to this current browser. There is also a directory with a browser marked as Alpha 2, which installs as Shiretoko 3.1a2.
Both versions have not been officially announced by Mozilla.
Originally planned to arrive last month, the download of the first public beta of Firefox 3.1 has apparently slipped into the October time frame. Following the code-freeze on September 30, Firefox 3.1 beta will reveal Mozilla’s first big update for Firefox 3. Code-named Shiretoko, Firefox 3.1 has been available as alpha 1 since June 16 (or one day before the release of Firefox 3.0) and integrates Mozilla’s Gecko 1.9.1 engine with web standards improvements, a text API for the <canvas> Element, support for using border images and support for JavaScript query selectors. Mozilla also enhanced its Smart Location Bar and improved tab switching.
According to Mozilla, version 3.1 also includes all those features that just did not make it into 3.0 in time, including window previews for the CTRL+Tab feature as well as “Tag Autocomplete, Advanced Search UI, Bulk tagging support, Download History integration, Enhanced compatibility checking during upgrades and coherent startup/shutdown prefs/behaviours.”
Shaver noted that current alpha 2 builds of Firefox 3.1 are using the code from August 19. Beta 2 should be returning to Mozilla’s four-week cadence and see a code-freeze on October 28.
Interestingly enough, there has been a flurry of activity on Mozilla’s FTP server lately, including the availability of a Firefox version that is marked as Firefox 3.1 Beta 1, which installs as “Minefield” Developer browser “3.1b1pre”, but carries the Firefox version number 3.0.1 and release notes pointing to this current browser. There is also a directory with a browser marked as Alpha 2, which installs as Shiretoko 3.1a2.
Both versions have not been officially announced by Mozilla.