Second Firefox 3.1 beta under starters order

As Firefox 2.x disrobes anti-phishing and heads for retirement

By John Leyden • Get more from this author

Posted in Applications, 5th December 2008 11:25 GMT

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A second beta release of Firefox 3.1 is on the starting blocks, with the publication of an almost ready version of the latest edition of the open source browser due in days. A third beta is expected before Mozilla ships a final version of the software next year.

Beta 2 of Firefox 3.1 includes a "web workers" feature that allows the browser to carry out browser tasks such as JavaScript programs in the background. The release also includes performance and stability fixes. Confirmation that a release is imminent comes from a posting on the Mozilla add-ons blog here.

As Firefox 3.1 approaches the horizon, version 2 of the browser heads for the knackers' yard.

Laggards still running Firefox 2.x will be prompted to upgrade to version 3. One further upgrade from the current version, Firefox 2.0.0.18, to 2.0.0.19 is due before the funeral march sounds. The final update to Firefox 2.x will remove built-in anti-phishing features, which rely on now obsolete code. Anti-phishing features in both Firefox 2.x and 3,x come from Google, the firm that's also Mozilla's main source of income. ®

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