Download Firefox 1.5

The Firefox Roadmap states that Firefox fans would be able to download Firefox 1.5 beta Alpha 2 Release - Deer Park in August 2005 while the final release of Firefox 1.5 would hit the shelves in September.

Firefox is asking users to report about websites which are not working properly in Firefox. (From the Help menu, select Report Broken Web Site). The new Firefox 1.5 features faster browser navigation with improvements to back and forward button performance, drag-and-drop reordering for browser tabs and some Improvements to popup blocking. But most of the Firefox extensions still are not compatible with Firefox 1.5. And this might prove a bottleneck for consumers planning to make an upgrade from Firefox 1.0.6 to Firefox 1.5. Personally, I cannot imagine web surfing without the BlogThis, Adblock and Tabbrowser Preferences extensions. As long as these extensions are not updated to support Firefox 1.5, I am not downloading it.

The next major version of Firefox will contain more new features than originally specified. Firefox 1.5 would include features such as the software update functionality, an improved extensions system and support for technologies like SVG (similar to Macromedia Flash).

In an attempt to dissuade end-users from downloading the preview versions, “Deer Park” versions do not use the standard Mozilla Firefox branding. The most recent version of Firefox like Firefox 1.5 will be referred to as “Mozilla Firefox”. Firefox 2.0 will be called “Mozilla Firefox 2”.

But even Firefox 1.5 may not be ready yet for Corporate consumers. Businesses have been slow to adopt the alternative browser because of worries about compatibility issues. According to Nate L. Root at Forrester Research, the recent moves by Mozilla to form a for-profit corporation will bring Firefox one step closer to being something CIOs can consider. “Right now it is largely viewed as an experimental product - and rightly so - and is not yet ready for prime time,” said Root.

With some many drastic features planned for Firefox 1.5, why is not Mozilla calling it Firefox 2.0 ? Download Firefox 1.5 here (Alpha 2 Release)

The lockdown for “Firefox 1.5 Beta 1? will occur at 11:59pm on Tuesday, Sept 6 in preparation for release on Thursday, Sept 8. There will be a further lockdown on Monday 3rd October in preparation for a second 1.5 Beta release (Firefox 1.5 Beta 2) on Wednesday 5th October. Another lockdown will occur on Wednesday 26th October, leading to the availability of the first Firefox 1.5 release candidate on Friday 28th October. However, these later dates are subject to change.