Don’t rush to download it as this version is intended mainly for testers and developers, but if you feel pretty sure about your computer skills you surely could give it a try.
Mozilla has done a lot of work for this version and Firefox 3 Beta 1 is based on the Gecko 1.9 Web rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 27 months and includes nearly 2 million lines of code changes, fixing more than 11,000 issues.
As a result Mozilla claims the new Firefox is more secure, more stable, speedier, and easier to use. Also, as you can expect it introduces many additional features.
As the security is a sensible issue for all users, Firefox 3 has added some interesting features. For example in the new version you can click the site favicon in the location bar to see who owns the site you are visiting. The identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand and Mozilla said that in later versions, Extended Validation SSL certificate information will be displayed.
The new browser also integrates malware protection, a system that will warn users when they arrive at sites which are known to install viruses, spyware, trojans or other malware. Also it has a new Web Forgery Protection page, thanks to which the content of pages suspected as web forgeries is no longer shown.
Mozilla also improved the add-on update security and those add-ons that provide updates in an insecure manner will be disabled.
Beside all these security features Firefox 3 offers integration
with anti-virus programs, and compliance with
Firefox 3 has also a number of ease of use enhancements. For example, it offers an easier password management (an information bar replaces the old password dialog so you can now save passwords after a successful login), simplified add-on installation, new Download Manager, full page zoom, tab scrolling and quickmenu and text selection improvements: Multiple text selections can be made with Ctrl/Cmd; Double-click drag selects in "word-by-word" mode; Triple-clicking selects a paragraph.
But one of the best features is the resumable downloading: users can now resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting the network connection.
On the interface side, Firefox 3 has introduced a simpler management of bookmarks. For example it has a Star button with which you can: quickly add bookmarks from the location bar with a single click; a second click lets you file and tag them and Tags, that will let you associate keywords with your bookmarks to sort them by topic.
Another feature is Smart Places Folder, which offers quickly access to your recently bookmarked and tagged pages.
A complete list of the features and improvements can be found here and, believe me, it will totally worth your time.
Also as the Software-as-a-Service is a hot topic those days, you surely find interesting that Firefox 3 introduced offline Web support, letting you compose Web mail while offline to send after you're back online, a feature that reminded me of Google and its online office suite. Of course, not everything in the new Firefox 3 is working flawlessly. For example neither the new interface of Yahoo Mail nor Windows Live mail can’t be accessed nor some of the new redesigned pages of YouTube, but still Firefox 3 offer a good experience and a glimpse of the things to come.
Unfortunately Mozilla didn’t say when we should expect the final version and said only that the new browser will be shipped when it will be fully ready for users. Earlier this year Mozilla scheduled the Beta 1 for late July and a second Beta was expected for September.
But as you can see we are in November and considering the previous timeline maybe we will see a second Beta sometimes in February or March next year.