Mozilla Launches Firefox 1.0

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 has launched following a two-month preview that drew 8 million downloads of the alternative Web browser.

Early Tuesday morning, the Mozilla Foundation made Firefox 1.0 available for download. With the browser, the open-source development project hopes to attract more everyday Web users and snag 10 percent of the market in another year.

Mozilla in September released a preview of Firefox 1.0, which included most of the browsers final features. The latest release follows two release candidates in as many weeks and incorporates a range of bug fixes.

Firefoxs features include tabbed browsing for viewing multiple Web pages in one window, Live Bookmarks for viewing RSS feeds and pop-up blocking. The browser runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

"Its a set of things you would want in a browser if you sat down and really thought about it," Mozilla President Mitchell Baker said.

Click here to read an eWEEK.com interview with Baker about Firefox and Mozillas direction.

The Version 1.0 release of Firefox comes after some delays. Developers had originally slated the full release for mid-September but opted instead to release a preview in order to fine-tune Version 1.0.

Firefox is part of the foundations focus on discrete applications rather than its namesake application suite. Along with the browser, Mozilla later this month plans to launch a 1.0 version of its Thunderbird e-mail client, according to the projects road map. Last week, the Mountain View, Calif.-based foundation released Thunderbird 0.9.

Baker said she expects users and distributors of the Mozilla suite to continue to develop features for it but that the foundation does not plan to port all new Firefox or Thunderbird features to the suite.

"There may be some crossover, but our real focus is going to be [on] the new products," Baker said.

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