Firefox 3: Mozilla\'s Next Generation Firefox Browser

Firefox has long enjoyed massive popularity and a large share in the alternative web browser market, with an estimated 140 million users and 500 million downloads (as of February, 2008), making it the second most used out of all the web browsers available. After 4 years of sterling performance and updates, Mozilla is set to release the final build of Mozilla Firefox 3 on June 2008.

Version 3.0 of Mozilla's Firefox has been given the codename "Gran Paradiso", a name that came from the highest mountain group in the Graian Alps (Firefox development names come from real places, with the last one being named "Minefield").

Mozilla Firefox 3.0's most notable change is the implementation of Gecko 1.9, an update to their excellent layout rendering engine. The new version of Firefox offers hotfixes for a lot of security issues and bugs, an improved compliance with existing webpage standards, and the implementation of new APIs (Application Programming Interface). Firefox 3 also boasts of being the first Mozilla browser release to pass the Acid2 test, a standards compliance test for webpage rendering, which Microsoft's unreleased Internet Explorer 8 has only recently been able to pass.

Firefox 3 also contains a new internal memory allocator named Jemalloc, which replaced the previous libc one. This has the effect of making Firefox 3 more efficient in the use of your computer's memory, which was the weak point of previous Firefox versions.

The new browser also features improved graphics performance and consistency with various operating systems, due to the inclusion of Cairo, the graphics backend being used by Gecko 1.9. However, Firefox 3 lacks native support for all versions of Windows older than Windows XP, primarily due to the fact that Microsoft has already ended support for them last July 11, 2006. So if you're still using one of those operating systems, Firefox 3 will not be compatible with your PC.

Firefox 3 also contains new default themes for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, which gives Firefox a new native look and feel depending on which operating system you are using. As part of its long list of functional frontend improvements, Firefox also comes with a redesigned download manager that has a built-in search functionality as well as the ability to resume downloads, which is a big boon for today's download-hungry web surfing market. Another improvement, which is very minor but very useful, is with the password manager, which will now ask the user if they would like to save the password after the log on attempt, instead of before. This fixes the old version's flaws regarding the storage of incorrect passwords.

Last but not the least is Firefox 3's ability to play back videos natively, and without the use of any third party plugin or codec. This means every fresh install of Firefox can now tackle every video site thrown its way without downloading bytes and bytes of extra data. It will also make Firefox useful as a semi-alternative to Windows Media Player. Watch out for Firefox 3's official release this coming June.