For the upcoming new Firefox 3.5 (Shiretoko), Mozilla is planning an important final update: fresh new looks of the venerable Firefox icon. Mozilla has already announced its intention to slightly revisit the logo and today the team behind Firefox's development issued first renders. The refreshed icon is work of Jon Hicks, the original logo creator, and from his words it "introduced additional detail to the fur, and the flames starting to wrap around planet mozilla which significantly modernizes and streamlines the appearance of the icon." With the new icon, Mozilla aims to stamp the various changes it has made during the evoluion of the Firefox web browser. First release candidate of Firefox 3.5 is slated for June this year, no one can predict when the final version will be out.

Mozilla has just released details on what they plan to include for the future version 3.6 of their Firefox browser, and so far it's looking good. Logically, version 3.6 will come after Firefox 3.5 "Shiretoko" is released. The code name for Firefox 3.6 is "Namoroka", from the Namoroka National Park located in the northwestern part of Madagascar. Namoroka will be based on Gecko 1.9.2, with an intended release target of early-to-mid 2010. For the full development schedule of Mozilla Firefox 3.6 please visit the official Mozilla wiki page here.

Mozilla today released an important security update to Firefox. With sub-version 3.0.8, The browser has been patched for two critical security vulnerabilities, which are all that make it to this release.

The first vulnerability, titled "Arbitrary code execution via XUL tree element" could allow attackers to compromise a box by using a browser crash to run arbitrary code. The second one titled "XSL Transformation vulnerability" is where attackers get to use browser crashes caused by XSL stylesheets during XSL transformation, to run arbitrary code. For more information, refer to the Security Advisories page for Firefox. Existing Firefox versions will be updated to version 3.0.8 automatically by default. Firefox 3.0.8 can be downloaded from the Mozilla Website.

Exactly as predicted, Mozilla today released version 3.0.7 of the beloved Firefox web browser. Available now for Windows, Mac, and Linux users, Firefox 3.0.7 fixes several security and stability issues present in previous versions of the browser. For the complete list of bugs fixed click here.

DOWNLOAD: Mozilla Firefox 3.0.7

Last week Mozilla developers confirmed that they will add another beta to the Firefox 3.1 development schedule, meaning that Mozilla users will have to wait a bit longer for the new final release. The reason hiding behind this delay is the recently found critical bug in the browser's TraceMonkey java script engine."We're going to wrap up Beta 3 in the next week regardless of 'upvar' status," said Mike Shaver, Mozilla's vice president of engineering. "A fourth beta will follow approximately six weeks after, as a vehicle for more testing of TraceMonkey, video, Places and other eagerly-awaited improvements, as well as feedback from Beta 3," he added.
Originally Mozilla Firefox 3.1 was slated to launch in late 2008, but the browser's progress has been much slower than planned. With this last update on the development schedule, the browser will possibly ship in the second quarter of this year or even later.

There is a valid reason behind why Safari is growing in browser market-share, apart from the fact that iPhone carries it: it is arguably the fastest browser there is. The fourth beta version that surfaced earlier this week went a few notches ahead of Firefox (Minefield) 3.2a1 and Google Chrome in a review conducted by CNet, to take the top-sport for the fastest web-browser. Internet Explorer (IE) versions 7 and 8, Opera 9.6, Firefox 3, Chrome, Firefox(Minefield) 3.1 Alpha 1 and Safari 4 were put through JavaScript tests using the SunSpider suite. The PC was equipped with a Core 2 Duo processor running at 2.10 GHz. Safari 4 beta gave IE 7 a sound thrashing at the test, emerging 42 times faster. The performance difference between the two were so vast that the reviewers had to prepare a seperate graph without IE 7 so there could be more resolution in the charts showing the differences between the rest of the contendors. Then again, one must take into account the fact that Chrome and Firefox (Minefield) 3.2 weren't all that behind Safari 4 beta, only a few notches. The scores are denoted by render time in terms of milliseconds. Lesser the better. The scores stand at:

• Safari 4 (Total time: 910 ms)
• Mozilla Minefield 3.2a1 (1,136 ms)
• Google Chrome (1,177 ms)
• Firefox 3 (3,250 ms)
• Opera 9.6 (4,076 ms)
• Internet Explorer 8 (5,839 ms)
• Internet Explorer 7 (39,026 ms)

Mozilla added its regular incremental update to the Firefox web-browser. With this release, the group fixed many bugs found with its previous version 3.0.5, which don't necessarily translate into security flaws. As many as seven critical thru mild security vulnerabilities were fixed, that includes a crash with memory corruption issue, and extraction of data using SessionStore files. The list of security fixes addressed can be found here. The release also fixes several bugs as listed in the updated bug list. The release also improves the ability of scripted commands to work properly with plugins, one of the major bugs fixed. Fore more information, refer to the release notes page for version 3.0.6. Firefox can be downloaded from the server closest to you, from the Firefox homepage. Existing users would be updated automatically.

Firefox, Mozilla's most successful web browser based on the Gecko browser engine holds more than 20% of the web-browser market share, according to the latest figures by NetApplications placing it at 21.34%. Web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari have been on a roll in the past 24 months, at the expense of Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) which has been falling in market-share from the 90+ percent it once held.

Mozilla's CEO John Lilly calls this as a significant milestone for Mozilla, and gives credit to the global Mozilla community. NetApplications gets into the details of how Firefox gained a market share growth of 20%, by attributing it to the relatively high number of public holidays between November and December, when users accessed internet from home. This since the significant movers were noted to be home/domestic users rather than corporate users.

Mozilla Firefox has yet another sub-version, 3.0.5 released earlier today. The browser has been updated with several security patches, bug fixes and localization features. To begin with, Mozilla patched several moderate-thru-critical vulnerabilities. The list of security fixes can be found here. Mozilla also fixed several bugs (listed here). The company expanded localization for Firefox, with stable releases in Bengali, Esperanto, Galician, Hindi, and Latvian. For more information, please refer to the Release Notes. Firefox can be downloaded from the server closest to you, from the Firefox homepage. Existing users would be updated automatically.

Mozilla released an update to its latest web browser, Firefox 3. The browser has been updated to sub-version 3.0.4, with several security patches, bug fixes and localization features added to the mix. To begin with, Mozilla patched several moderate-thru-critical vulnerabilities which include excecution of malicious code remotely, and crashes leading to memory corruption. The list of security fixes can be found here.

Mozilla also squished several bugs as listed in the Bug List. The company expanded localization for Firefox, with stable releases in Icelandic and Thai, and beta releases in Bulgarian, Esperanto, Estonian, Latvian, Occitan, and Welsh languages, which are open for testing till they reach stable-grade in subsequent releases. For more information, please refer to the Release Notes. Firefox can be downloaded from the server closest to you, from the Firefox homepage. Existing users would be updated automatically.

Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of Silverlight 2, one of the industry's most comprehensive and powerful solutions for the creation and delivery of applications and media experiences through a Web browser. Silverlight 2 delivers a wide range of new features and tools that enable designers and developers to better collaborate while creating more accessible, more discoverable and more secure user experiences.

Microsoft also announced further support of open source communities by funding advanced Silverlight development capabilities with the Eclipse Foundation's integrated development environment (IDE) and by providing new controls to developers with the Silverlight Control Pack (SCP) under the Microsoft Permissive License.

Mozilla has released an update for their Firefox 3 web-browser. The update brings. Changes as condensed in the Release notes include:

• Fixed several security issues.
• Fixed several stability issues.
• Fixed an issue where the phishing and malware database did not update on first launch.
• Under certain circumstances, Firefox 3.0 did not properly save the SSL certificate exceptions list.
• Updated the internal Public Suffix list.
• In certain cases, installing Firefox 2 in the same directory in which Firefox 3 has been installed resulted in Firefox 2 being unstable. This issue was fixed as part of Firefox 2.0.0.15.
• Fixed an issue where, when printing a selected region of content from the middle of a page, some of the output was missing (bug 433373).
• Fixed a Linux issues where, for users on a PPP connection (dialup or DSL) Firefox always started in "Offline" mode (bug 424626).

A list of security issues fixed is issued here.

Current Firefox 3 users will be automatically updated.

Mozilla now holds the Guinness World Record for the most downloaded software within 24 hours. On the Mozilla Firefox 3 launch day, from 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008 the browser software was downloaded 8,002,530 times as recorded by Guinness - thus official declaring it a world record.

A new survey by Net Applications shows a steady increase in the market share (not to be confused with browser usage) of Mozilla Firefox and more importantly, a surge in the usage of the Apple Safari web browser. The two web browser software have been chipping away share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer (MSIE) and it appears that Microsoft could use a convincing new browser rather sooner than later.

According to the survey, Internet Explorer (all versions together) still holds a 73.01 per cent market share, which is down by 1 per cent from 73.75 per cent in May and 74.83 per cent in April. While this growth of web-browser software against MSIE cannot be regarded as an upsurge just as yet, the growth of Apple Safari against other MSIE-alternatives is close to being called so. The Apple browser with a current share of 6.31%, up from 5.81% in April, has long overtaken Opera which was once considered the best alternative to MSIE and since early days believed in platform-diversity to gain market share.With inputs from TG Daily

As expected, Mozilla's Firefox 3 web browser was made available for download today. After 34 months in development the final version of the popular web browser is finally available for everyone. Click here to download Firefox 3 Final for Windows, MacOS or Linux in over 40 different languages. Also don't forget that Mozilla is aiming to break the download per day Guinness World Record with their "Download Day" initiative.

Mozilla announced Firefox 3 Release Candidate 3 on Wednesday, June 11, 2008. The third Firefox 3 Release Candidate contains a single change for Mac OS X users only; there is no change for users running previous Firefox Release Candidate versions on Windows or Linux. You can find out more about the new Features of Firefox 3 in the "What's New" section of the release notes. For any one who wishes to download the web browser in any of the 45 different languages on hand, please click here.

Mozilla's second public release candidate of Firefox 3 is now up for download as promised. Coming in over 45 languages, it's waiting for you to dowload it here. You can find out what's new in Firefox 3 RC2 in the release notes.

Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1, a preview release of Mozilla's next generation Firefox browser, is out for download. Although this is a public preview of the new Firefox code, it is aimed at developers and early adopters. Download it in 45 languages from here. See What's New in Firefox 3 for more details.

Mozilla has updated its Firefox 2 web browser to version 2.0.0.14. The new version fixes one critical bug that may lead to a stability problem, where some users experience crashes during JavaScript garbage collection (MFSA 2008-20). To download Firefox 2.0.0.14 select "Check for Updates…" from the Help menu or manually apply the update by downloading it from here for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Mozilla announced Firefox 3 Beta 5 today, intended for developer testing and community feedback. Beta 5 includes new features as well as dramatic improvements to performance, memory usage and speed.

• Improvements to the user interface based on user feedback, including changes to the look and feel on Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS X and Linux.
• Changes and fixes for new features such as the location bar autocomplete, bookmark backup and restore, full page zoom, and others, based on feedback from our community.
• Fixes and improvements to platform features to improve security, web compatabilty and stability.
• Continued performance improvements: changes to our JavaScript engine as well as profile guided optimization continues to improve performance over previous releases as measured by the popular SunSpider test from Apple, and in the speed of web applications like Google Mail and Zoho Office.

Download Firefox 3 Beta 5 for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in 45 different languages. Also check the Release Notes.

Although Firefox 3 is still in research and development, Mozilla is already working on new features for the fourth version of its increasingly popular Web browser. Webware spoke with Mozilla vice president Chris Beard, who mentioned two specific new concepts for Firefox 4 that will evolve the online experience and add greater integration with content stored on computer hard drives. One of the new features is called "Prism," a next-gen software technology that would allow users to run Web-based content offline. For example, users would be able to visit websites and still access non-dynamic content even when they don't have an active Internet connection. The other big feature already unveiled for Firefox 4 is called "Weave." This is an option that would basically create a set of online preferences and settings that is stored for each user instead of each computer. In other words, users would be able to bring up their bookmarks, font settings and privacy preferences no matter which computer they use. This feature is set to be in its first stages in Firefox 3, but Firefox 4 will reportedly allow users to access these profiles on other browsers as well. Beard told Webware that these are just a hint of some of the "crazy ideas" the development team is working on for the next-next-gen browser.

Mozilla has released a new minor update for its popular Firefox browser, bringing the version number to 2.0.0.13. Six security issues have been fixed in this release, and if Firefox hasn't already prompted you to update it's recommended you click on "Check for Updates..." from the application's Help menu. Alternatively, you can download the update from this website.

Some readers may already be familiar with the Web Standards Project, which claims it "fights for standards that reduce the cost and complexity of development while increasing the accessibility and long-term viability of any site published on the Web." The Acid Tests provided by the project are commonly used as a benchmark to see how compatible different browsers are, and Internet Explorer has found itself on the end of much criticism when it comes to this, being beaten by nearly all competing browsers such as Opera, Firefox, Safari and Konqueror. However, in the recently launched Acid Test 3, the ancient Internet Explorer 5.5 manages to outscore both IE 6 and 7, reaching a still rather miserable 14% compared to 12% for the other two. Meanwhile, Konqueror leads the pack with 62%, with Firefox in fourth on 52% and Opera a little way down the table at 46%, ahead of Safari on 39%. In terms of beta browsers, Safari is well out in front on 90%, and IE 8 trails at the bottom on 17%.

Mozilla has released the 4th public beta version of Firefox 3. Here are a few of the updates packed into Firefox 3 beta 4:

• Full page zoom - Up until now, Firefox would let you make text larger or smaller, but there was no way to increase or decrease the size of all the content on a web site (something you've been able to do with Opera for years). Now you can choose whether the zoom feature works for text or full pages.
• New download manager - The new download manager shows active time remaining, and the status of downloads. You can also search your downloads and see the site where your downloaded files are from.
• Improved OS integration - Firefox 3 beta 4 includes specific icons and themes for Windows Vista, OS X, and Linux (using the native GTK theme).
• Improved memory usage

Firefox 3 beta 4 also includes a ton of other tweaks and bug fixes described in the release notes.

DOWNLOAD

While most of us hardly even thought that Netscape was still seeing regular updates and security patches, AOL was making sure that exactly that was happening. Apparently, that's all going to stop next week, as AOL is hunting for ways to cut costs around the house. Neowin published a nice eulogy for the classic web browser all too many of us with dial-up grew to know all too well...

Netscape was founded in 1994, and quickly won customers by providing software that made it easy for people to navigate the Internet. Netscape went public a year later and saw its stock price nearly triple on its first day of trading. At one point, the company had an $8 billion market cap and 90% of the Web browser market. But soon it all went south. Microsoft introduced its Internet Explorer browser and began eating into Netscape's market share. Microsoft later paid AOL, which bought Netscape in 2000, $750 million to settle antitrust charges.

Netscape accounts for less than 1% of internet users now. Anyone known using Netscape has been sent an E-mail from the Netscape development team, urging an immediate switch to Firefox or Flock browsers.