The competitor to Windows says its browser is the most stable browser on the market. By Jim Finkle
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.
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.
(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Brian Moss)
© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
/ 34 
