Firefox 2.0 - the next major version of its Web browser

Firefox is a popular browser, quickly eclipsing its older brother Mozilla and gaining a 10 percent market share on the web. There is much anticipation for version 2.0, and the Mozilla organization has released a candidate for Beta 1 on their FTP site.

This is the first beta version of Firefox 2 to be made publicly available, and Mozilla hopes that software developers will download it and test whether it is compatible with their existing Firefox extensions. Versions are available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Firefox 2 hasn't changed much, interface-wise, from the original. Existing users will be instantly familiar with the standard button bar, links bar, and the row of tabs. One minor change is the ability to scroll the tab bar horizontally when it gets too large. Tabs also have small "X" boxes attached, making them easier to close. Under the hood, however, there have been numerous bug fixes and improvements, in addition to some welcome new features.

According to reports, the beta version comes with a built-in anti-phishing tool, improved search box capabilities and an integrated spell checker. Changes have also been made to the RSS support.

Nitot declined to speculate about the features that might appear in the commercial release of Firefox 2, pointing out that changes may be made following public reaction to the beta.

It's good that there is such healthy competition in the browser market.