New Release Of Mozilla Delayed

[Mobo]

<a href="http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=affiliates&amp;id=118287&amp;t=89">
</a>The
Mozilla Foundation has delayed the release of the next major version of
Firefox until September, a move that followed recent troubles in the
release of bug fixes for the popular open-source browser.
Firefox
1.1, code-named Deer Park, had been scheduled for release this month,
but changes in the product's roadmap was announced in a posting by developer Ben Goodger on the Mozilla website.
The
updated timetable has Firefox 1.5 shipping in September, with versions
2.0, code-named The Ocho, and 3.0 tentatively scheduled to ship in the
first quarter and third quarter of next year, respectively. Version 1.1
has been scrapped in favor of 1.5, Goodger said.
A version 1.4 general preview release of 1.5 is scheduled to ship in August.
This
is at least the third delay in the next major release of the browser.
Version 1.1 was scheduled to ship in March, before it was postponed to
June and then July. The delays have been caused by an
increasing number of features Mozilla has decided to add into the next
release, Asa Dotzler, community coordinator for the organization, said.
Among the biggest changes is in the update system that will be part of
version 1.5.
The new system would make it possible to patch
the browser with small-sized upgrade files, rather than force users to
reinstall a full version of the browser. In addition, the next version
is expected to have support for scalable vector graphics

and a default feature called Fastback that caches previously visited
pages in memory for faster display when clicking the back and forward
navigation buttons. Other new features include the ability to group
tabs that let the user move between multiple pages in the same browser,
and one click removal of cookies, history and temporary Internet files.

The long feature list has added to the development time, making
the delay unavoidable, said Dotzler, who also pointed out that the
original launch dates were never final.
"We always qualify that we're not going to ship (the browser) until it's ready," Dotzler said.
Of
course, when something is actually "ready" is sometimes relative.
Mozilla this week updated the current versions of Firefox and the
Thunderbird email client for the second time in eight days to fix
flaws. Version 1.0.6 of Firefox patched bugs in version 1.0.5, which
had fixed security vulnerabilities.
Last week, Mozilla posted the second alpha edition of Firefox 1.1, which included many of the features described above.