Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Beta Coming Soon

Mozilla Corp. is nearing a release of the first beta of Firefox 3.0, which is several months behind schedule, making a final version of the open-source browser this year unlikely.

According to notes posted on Mozilla's Web site, Beta 1 is close at hand. "With Firefox 3 Beta 1 just around the corner (release candidates coming soon), it's time to start focusing on what it will take to ship a final product that we're all excited about," said Mike Beltzner, Mozilla's user interface designer in a posting Tuesday on his blog.

In another note, the browser's QA team called for volunteers to stress-test the Beta 1 release candidate this Friday, typically a sign that a roll-out is just days away.

As of Monday, only one bug remained to be patched in the Beta 1 code, a status meeting reported. On Tuesday, that bug -- an issue in Places, Firefox 3.0's new redesign of bookmarks and browsing history -- was still listed as open in Bugzilla.

At one time, Mozilla's schedule for Firefox 3.0 pegged Beta 1's debut as July 31, with second beta in September and the final before the end of the year. That, however, was when it predicted only six alpha versions; so far, Firefox has run through eight.

A brief mention of post-Beta 1 plans was tucked into Monday's Firefox status meeting notes. "Looking at [Beta 2] before the holidays," it read.

On its current schedule, it's unlikely that Firefox 3.0 can make final release status during 2007. Last year, for example, when Mozilla updated the browser to Version 2.0, the stretch between the release of its Beta 2 on Aug. 31 and the launch of the final Oct. 25 was just shy of two months.

Mozilla was not immediately available for comment.