The Mozilla Organization open-source project is putting the final
touches to the first release candidate of its long-awaited Version
1.0 of the Mozilla Web browser.
In a posting on Mozilla.org's Web site last week, the group said it
is "very close to the finish line for 1.0. We look forward to
celebrating Mozilla 1.0 shortly!"
It has been more than four years since Web browser vendor Netscape
Communications released its source code in early 1998 and created
the Mozilla.org open-source community to work on the development of
future browsers. Version 1.0, which has yet to be finalised, will
soon be available to download to allow wider testing and feedback
before a final Version 1.0 release or a second release candidate is
ready, according to the group.
Mitchell Baker, a spokeswoman for Mozilla.org, said no date has yet
been set for a final release.
Last month, America Online said it was testing several open-source
software products to run various parts of its Internet service, a
move that could herald a shift from Microsoft's Web-browsing
software.
The test version of the AOL software is powered by what is known as
the Gecko rendering engine, which is the technology responsible for
allowing Web pages to be displayed in a browser. Gecko powers the
latest versions of the Netscape browser and is at the core of
Mozilla.