The Mozilla Foundation is set to launch version 2.0 of
its open source Firefox browser on Tuesday 24 October, just days
after Microsoft launched the latest version of Internet
Explorer.
Internet Explorer 7 was launched on 18 October against a
background of increased rivalry between the two leading browsers.
Industry analyst figures have shown Firefox continuing to gain
ground on IE, with nearly 14% of market, against Internet
Explorer’s 76%.
The final version of Firefox 2.0 is expected to be little
different to Firefox 2.0 Release Candidate 3, which was made
available for download last week.
This introduced a new look, with toolbar buttons that glow when
users hover over them, and a series of new features, including
built-in phishing protection designed to warn users when they
encounter suspected fake websites.
The new version of Firefox offers enhanced search capabilities -
suggesting search terms when the Google, Yahoo or Answers.com
search engines are used – and changes to the tabbed browsing
system, including new “close tab” buttons.
Firefox 2.0 also includes new features allowing users to preview
and subscribe to web feeds and to check spelling in online
forms.
In August it emerged that Microsoft had written to Mozilla
offering support to allow the Firefox browser to run on the
forthcoming Windows Vista operating system.