Those of us looking forward to Firefox 2.0 will have to wait a bit longer, as the release date has slipped to October 24 from the original September 26 release date, according to Mozilla’s calendar. Beta 2 has also been delayed, with its debut pushed back a week or so to August 23.
Version 2.0 of the popular open source web browser will contain a handful of new features, including an integrated spell checker. There is also an antiphishing tool, similar to those found in Opera 9 and betas of Internet Explorer 7, that warns users when they are entering a potentially malicious website. It also sports improvements to tabbed browsing, better search engine management, and other new search-related features.
Unfortunately for Firefox fans, some other items didn’t make the cut for version 2.0, but should hopefully be included in future releases. Those include a new bookmark and history system that had appeared in an alpha build. Both were axed due to concerns that developers would not be able to complete them in time for the release of 2.0.
With a handful of bugs still being worked on, including the in-browser spell check, tab overflow handling, and preferences, moving back the release another month makes sense. It’s better to wait a few weeks or so if it means shipping a higher-quality product. This is especially true for Firefox, which has seen its popularity grow as it has steadily eroded market share from Internet Explorer.
News source: ARSTECHNICA
