Mozilla is now planning on adding a fourth Beta to its oft delayed Firefox 3.1 open source web browser.
Firefox 3.1 will be the first major update to Firefox 3.0.x which was first released in June of 2008 after five alphas, five betas and three Release Candidates. Firefox 3.1 development released have been stalled at Beta since the Beta 2 release in December of 2008. The plan now according to Mozilla Developer Mike Shaver is to push out a Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 next week with the Beta 4 to follow 6 weeks after that.
Firefox 3.1 is set to include a new JavaScript engine, new HTML 5 features as well as a Private Browsing (aka Porn Mode).
Given the time that it has taken to push out Firefox 3.1 some developers are now calling on Mozilla to rename Firefox 3.1 to Firefox 3.5.
“Given all the efforts that went into FF3.1 and given its prolonged schedule and expanded scope, I was wondering whether it might make more sense to name it Firefox 3.5 just as Firefox 1.1 was renamed Firefox 1.5?” Mozilla Developer Simon Paquet wrote in a mailing list posting.”That way we would more clearly communicate to users that this isn’t just a minor update but a major step forward in many areas.”
I personally see 3.1 as a big release, and agree with Paquet. Time will tell whether or not the people that make the naming decisions at Mozilla will agree.
