mozilla

Mozilla has released the Firefox 3 Beta 2 for download, solely for developers and testers.

Firefox 3 Beta 2 claims to include 900 improvements over the previous beta, such as fixes for- stability, performance and memory usage, and platform- and user interface- enhancements. Mozilla claims the improvements are based on community feedback received from the testing of beta 1 that was released in November.

The next version of Firefox will identify malware on Web sites and make users stop and think about it.
With the number of malicious Web pages mushrooming over the past several months, the Mozilla Foundation is looking to help users defend themselves. Window Snyder, who is Mozilla's "chief security something-or-other," says the company is taking a two-pronged approach.

First, Mozilla developers are working on giving Firefox 3.0, the next version of the open source browser due later this year, the ability to detect malicious code on Web sites that users are trying to access. "In Firefox 2, there's no mechanism that identifies if malware is present," says Snyder.

Dear Friends,

Now the latest version of popular, free, open source e-mail client Thunderbird 2, is now available worldwide.

To read more about the new features, security and to download Thunderbird 2, please click here.

Regards,
Kumar Thirumal.

Dear Friends,

Would like to share some interesting things about Firefox-Web Browser with you all.

What's new in Firefox Web Browser ?

Why use Firefox ?

And many lot's of questions...

I hope so that the following information would help you to know better, Why Firefox ?

The plug-ins give you souped-up functionality, better look and feel, and streamlined development tasks. There are some pain cool.20 of the best extensions and add-ins used and recommended by hardcore Web surfers, developers and IT pros.

Mozilla has reportedly released security updates for versions 1.5.x and 2.0.x of its Firefox Web browser, as also for its Thunderbird mail client and its SeaMonkey program suite that includes a chat client and a Web site building tool.

Most of the security updates are labeled "critical" by Mozilla.

In a statement, the company said, "As part of the Firefox 2.0.0.1 and 1.5.0.9 update releases, we fixed several bugs to improve the stability of the product. Some of these were crashes that showed evidence of memory corruption, and we presume that at least some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code with enough effort."

The latest round of updates fixes flaws in Mozilla products such as problems with RSS feeds, as also in the way in which JavaScript is used in email.

Besides, users of Thunderbird are advised to disable JavaScript so as to prevent unauthorized code from affecting their systems.

The new updates also fix the way in which the browser renders graphics on certain Web sites, plus the way in which it renders custom cursors through CSS or Cascading Style Sheets.

While Microsoft's Internet Explorer remains the dominant browser client, leaving Mozilla to own at best - a mere 10 percent of the browser market; Mozilla's Firefox is steadily gaining currency as the more secure and stable browser of the two.

Plus, if at all, hackers are switching loyalties in favor of Firefox, Mozilla, to its credit, is inviting people who've found any Mozilla-related security vulnerability to instantaneously report it by sending email at security@mozilla.org.

Mozilla Corp. has hit an early milestone on the road to the next version of its open-source browser, but the final product is still a year away, developers say.

The Mozilla team released its first alpha release of Firefox 3.0 Friday, giving Firefox and Web application developers an early look at the next-generation browser. This release is not intended for regular users, not even those who like to play around with early versions of the product, Mozilla said.

The software, code-named Gran Paradiso, comes just six weeks after Mozilla shipped Version 2.0 of the browser, but it has already been in development for more than a year, according to Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla's vice president of engineering.

The final version of Firefox 3.0 is expected to be released by the end of 2007. Developers hope that it will be a major step toward making Web applications indistinguishable from programs that are installed on the desktop, Schroepfer said.

Gran Paradiso features better support for a number of graphics standards, such as the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) language and the Canvas specification, Schroepfer said. "These are fairly major architectural changes to enable us to improve performance."

Firefox 3.0 also supports the Cairo graphics library, which aims to make Web pages look the same whether they are being printed or viewed on a Windows PC, a Macintosh or a small-screen device.

The Firefox 3.0 plan calls for browsing, bookmarking and privacy enhancements to be built into the browser, but Schroepfer said there is still a lot of time to work out new features. "It's a bit early to be talking about the user-facing features," he said.

Bug trackers have had a couple false starts with the release of Firefox 2.0, a top Mozilla engineer said Thursday.
Of the two vulnerabilities reported since the browser's release on Tuesday, the first was patched in a previous version and the second alleged problem couldn't be replicated during testing, said Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering.

The first problem caused the browser to crash in some cases when text was displayed. The second problem was described as a cross-scripting attack, and sample attack code was posted on the Internet, Schroepfer said.

Firefox, the free browser from Mozilla, is releasing a beta of version 2.0 on 11 July.

Early testers have highlighted several changes to the software; it now features an integrated spell checker designed for bloggers and forum posters, and a phishing filter.

The phishing filter uses a list of suspected malware sites as well as Google's site listings to flag potentially hazardous websits.

The browser also features an improved RSS reader, with the option of using Firefox's reader or others from Google or MyYahoo.