06/17/2008, 1:20pm, EDT
Tuesday, June 17th
Firefox 3 launches, looks to set record
Though servers offering the software are currently buckling and inaccessible to many users, Firefox 3.0 on Tuesday has made its debut with the Mozilla organization looking to set a record for browser downloads. The major new release of the open source Web browser is available today in approximately 50 languages, and is purportedly three times faster than its predecessor, offering "15,000 improvements" including a smart location bar and malware protection. The new Firefox 3 smart location bar, dubbed "Awesome Bar" by Mozilla, adapts to user entries over time. The Firefox 3 Library archives browsing history, bookmarks, and tags, where they can be searched and organized.
There is also a new full-page zoom for displaying any part of a Web page. Firefox 3 is built on top of the new Gecko 1.9 platform, which delivers a decreased memory footprint. The new malware and phishing protection includes site ID information, allowing users to verify that a site is what it claims to be.
A new Add-ons Manager helps users to find and install add-ons directly from the browser.
The Mozilla community is running grassroots campaign to set a brand new Guinness World Record for the greatest number of software downloads in 24 hours. The worldwide community effort begins the minute Firefox 3 is released and will continue for a full day.
Filed under: software
Other story tags: browser, web, Firefox, download, mozilla, Open Source, malware
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breaking records
Apparently, they are trying to break the record for the number of "Http/1.1 Service Unavailable" error messages served.
and...
If you're lucky enough to get to the download page, it tells you to download Firefox 2. Something is amiss...
MacOSX users...
need not apply. When I managed to load the page, it directed me to v2.0.
Fixed now
I finally got through and got both PC & Mac versions.
Downloaded
I got the download after the second try. So far, FF3 works and it's VERY fast.
Explain..
After a few goes, the page loaded, and i had a choice of getting either V2, or V3 Release Candidate 3. RC3? Thats not final is it...
Tubular!
Finally, an Awesome Bar! How totally radical, man! And it better be awesome, otherwise they will face some nasty class-action lawsuits!
Oh, and you'd think the mozilla people would learn something after all this time and just use bittorrent for most of their seeding. Oh, right, they can't even build it into the browser, because some monkey might use it to steal some video or music or copy of Halo, so users are stuck with slow downloads from a set of servers.
FF 2.0
Right now on my work machine, I'm seeing Firefox 2.0 being pushed, with a sneak peak for v3.0.
FF3
Firefox 3 rocks and is super fast as promised. Optimize your FF3 experience with Firefox’s recommended add-on, the Me.dium Social Toolbar. Find us on AMO: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4365
Friend pjn, gfigg, and jenniferlauren so we can surf around together in Me.dium and talk about how Fx3 kicks @$$!! http://blogme.dium.com/content/2008/06/welcome-firefox-3-users
What's going on?
I am at the Mozilla download site for version 3 and it keeps directing me to download version 2.
What is going on.