Firefox 3.6 RC1 released - final build to follow soon?

 

Gallery

By Stuart Turton

Posted on 11 Jan 2010 at 08:44

Mozilla has unveiled the first release candidate of the widely anticipated Firefox 3.6.

According to Mozilla, the release candidate features over 100 bug fixes from the fifth beta released towards the end of December, and could be the final test version before the final release.

"Should everything run smoothly during testing this is what will be released to our users as the official version after a beta period," the company notes.

Should everything run smoothly during testing this is what will be released to our users as the official version after a beta period

The indications are good that we may see the final release of Firefox 3.6 shortly. The release candidate of Firefox 3.5 arrived 10 days before the final build, with the Firefox 3 RC making an appearance 13 days before the final release.

However, Mozilla won't be drawn on exact launch dates, claiming that the browser will be released in the first quarter of 2010. It was originally slated for release before the end of December, but has been held up by a series of bugs. Firefox 4 has also slipped, and won't be seen until "late 2010 or early 2011."

Among the new features to be found in Firefox 3.6, users will find support for full screen video embedded with the video HTML tag. There's reskinning through the Personas utility, and a plugin checker which will warn users about out-of-date plugins.

As with previous browser releases, not all add-ons will be compatible with Firefox 3.6, though Mozilla claims 75% of add-ons have already been updated for the release. TraceMonkey has also been tweaked, and should bring a a boost to JavaScript performance, according to Mike Shaver, Mozilla's chief engineer.

"I am excited about upcoming JS [JavaScript] engine work, and I don't care who knows it," Shaver tweeted.