Firefox 2 RC3 is nearing release and should be out next Tuesday if everything goes as planned. In the mean time Mozilla is testing out what could end up being Firefox 2 RC3 and the downloads are available on their FTP. If you don’t want to use the FTP you can download whatever language you would like (almost all are available) by using the drop-down menu that I have put together:
According to their schedule RC3 should be the last release candidate before Firefox 2 is launched. The Developer’s Calendar does not seem to officially say when the launch date will be but the last mentioning of Bon Echo (Firefox 2) is on October 24, which was the previously planned release date.
I’m crossing my fingers in hope that Mozilla will be able to get Firefox 2 out-the-door around the same time that Internet Explorer 7 ships. Hopefully that would prevent some people from switching back to IE from Firefox.
Following the same logic as I was I see…personally, I rather see Firefox come out a couple weeks after IE7. This would give people some time to play with IE7 and let the novelty wear off or let them get tired of IE7. That way when Firefox 2 does come out it will be the new and exciting browser.
As mentioned before by some here, the biggest hurdle Mozilla Firefox needs to get over for Firefox 2 to be successful is the memory leak issues that plagued Firefox 1.5.0.* builds. Mozilla really needs to make sure they get the word out that these leaks have been ‘plugged’.
How could any user of Firefox go back to I.E. version anything?
Are so many people still using slow computers that Firefox’s memory issues of old really matter?
I’ve checked out each beta release of I.E.7. It’s still slower to start than Firefox (love the latest John Haller portable Firefox 2 RC2) and no options for any of the great Firefox type add ons, like Adblock.
Firefox is the ultimate and I see no good reason for ANY other browser so lets only talk Firefox from now on!:~ )
i disagree a bit.
1. people don’t use just one browser cause of the fact that many sites (especially in countries with language other then english i think) don’t display as well in firefox. i have this problem with many hebrew sites. so i use firefox mainly, but also IE. and since i don’t “believe” in all this explorer shell browser, like Avant and such, i would love to have the new ie7, even if it’s just for tabs.
2. i think mainstream people wanna see more of a software when it does the jump from one version 2 another – 6 to 7 and 1 to 2. and if firefox get out later, they might be disappointed that 2 isn’t that new for them. so they might just stick/go back 2 IE.
but i guess we will be smarter and wiser in a few weeks.
Actually, you’re asking how people could go back to IE and unfortunately I can see it happening very easily. Most of the people I know who use Firefox never install a single extension. I’m not sure why but the only conclusion that I can come to is that the only reason they installed Firefox to begin with was because a friend told them to. For those people who never deal with extensions I think they might be going back to IE.
maybe the folks at mozilla should think about this, and either release a firefox version prepacked with some necessary extensions or publish a firefox which is themed and use extensions that make it look like IE.
i remember that back in the days of version 1, there where some guides on how 2 make ff look like ie.
many ppl r afraid of change, and ff is a big change when compared to ie6.
I have to admit, Ryan, the people who expect a computer to behave like a toaster that I’ve introduced Firefox to need help adding extensions & often don’t know they are available. Too bad
I hear ya, extensions are the whole essence of Firefox and honestly if I didn’t use them then I would be an Opera user 100%. There are just some extensions, like for my Google Bookmarks, that make it nearly impossible for me to switch to another browser.
And wait a minute, you’re telling me a computer isn’t a toaster? No wonder why that bread never pops back out of the floppy drive!
Not really. I don’t have a single extension installed on my Firefox. I use it because it renders pages faster than IE and is supposed to be more secure.
I’ve *tried* extensions like Adblock, Tab Mix Plus, etc… I just like Firefox the way it is.
Over the past year I’ve introduced a number of friends and acquaintances to firefox, and while they seem to be happy with the browser’s security and page rendering speed their is indeed a reluctance to add extensions. Like some others have said I also feel that the extensions make the browser, and without them Firefox wouldn’t be much. I’m afraid I too would be an Opera user. From my experience it seems that newbies need a bit of hand holding to show them the ropes in adding extensions, themes, plug-ins, and search engines. Without question the sheer magnitude of the number of extensions available is quite intimidating….at present 1,884.