I have now added an Upcoming Releases sidebar widget to the right sidebar. I am going to try to keep this updated on a weekly basis. The (general) Mozilla Weekly Update Meetings are held every Monday and the Firefox 3 Status Meetings are normally held every Wednesday.
Note: Fx = Firefox & TB = Thunderbird
As is typical with Firefox/Thunderbird releases, the release date for Fx 3.0a2 has been pushed back. Earlier I had indicated it was tentatively scheduled for January 29th. Per the notes from today’s Firefox 3 Status meeting Gecko 1.9a2 (Minefield)/Firefox 3.0a2 (Gran Paradiso) are scheduled for release now on February 7th. Tree closure and code freeze are schedueled for February 5th.
I was reviewing the notes from the latest Mozilla developers meeting this past Monday (2007/01/29) and noticed some exciting news in the Thunderbird section. Besides announcing Thunderbird 2 Beta 2 being released last Wednesday (2007/01/24), there are now over 100,000 folks using the Beta 2 since its release. Even more encouraging, they are “on track” for an early March release for Thunderbird 2.
If you are interesting in trying out(at your own risk) Thunderbird 2 Beta 2, you can get it via the OSU Open Source Labs FTP server (select your OS below):
News Source: Mozilla Wiki >> WeeklyUpdate 2007/01/29
I am sure a lot of folks have been wondering what happened to the Fx 1.5.0.X to 2.0.0.X Major Update feature. Many people thought it would be included with the Fx 1.5.0.8 build as that was released a couple months after 2.0 came out in October. Then there were rumors it would be in the 1.5.0.9 build giving users the option to go directly to the 2.0.0.1 build.
After some hunting around (was actually looking for info on the upcoming 1.5.0.10/2.0.0.2 releases) I came across some information about the Major Update. For the most part, the Major Update is done, but still needs to be tested. However the testing can not be done until after Fx 1.5.0.10/2.0.0.2 are released. Once those releases are out then they expect to have the Major Update feature in another week or two which would put it towards the end of February.
News Source: Mozilla Wiki >> Major Update
The release of Fx 1.5.0.10 & 2.0.0.2 had been scheduled to occur on February 1st, however due to three critical blockers this has been delayed. The developers hope to have these bugs fixed either today or tomorrow with a release candiate by the end of the week. The new targeted release date is going to be around February 15th.
News Source: Mozilla Wiki >> Weekly Updates 2007/01/29
New at the Mozilla Store, Firefox Crop Circle Hoodie. Designed by Alex Polvi, a member of the Crop Circle creative team. The Hoodie is in navy featuring the original image to make the 220-foot Firefox crop circle along with the text “Aliens Prefer Firefox”. Each sleeve also has a splotch of wheat chaff. Also features a ‘kangaroo’ pocket on the front and draw string hood. Available in Large and Extra Large and are $50 each plus $2 shipping (within the US) per order.
Just because Windows Vista is being released today does not mean Mozilla is going to stop supporting Windows XP after the upcoming Firefox 3 release later this year. The only reason Mozilla ended support for Windows 95/98/Me with the upcoming Firefox 3 release was because Microsoft discontinued support for these obsolete operating systems. Mozilla’s plans are as long as Microsoft continues to support Windows XP, they will continue to support XP with future Firefox releases.
So now million dollar question: When does Microsoft plan to discontinue Windows XP support? The answer depends on if you were using XP Home or XP Pro Edition. Microsoft is providing support for XP Pro until April 2014 while XP Home was only going to be supported until April 2011. However Microsoft announced last week they would extend the support for XP Home Edition to April 2014, matching that of XP Pro Edition.
While it is great that Windows XP Home Edition will be supported for another 7 years, I doubt in 7 years I will still be using XP Home. By that time I am sure I will have new system which will be running Vista and/or I will have switched to Linux.
News Source: CyberNet News
Note: The below directions apply to Firefox 2 or older. More updated directions canbe found at The Firefox Extension Guru’s Wiki.
Here is a neat little trick to open the Add-Ons and Download Managers into the sidebar instead of a new window:
To make it even easier to access the Add-Ons & Download Managers, you can drag the bookmarks from the Bookmark Menus onto your Bookmark Toolbar.
Tip Source: Mozilla Links
Some folks have asked what happened to the “Get Mail” button that use to be in the older Firefox 1.5.0.X builds. For reasons not really clearly stated the developers opted to remove the button in Firefox 2. However, with the Get Mail extension, you can have the icon back. The extension works with Firefox 2.0 and newer. One word of warning this extension may not display correctly if you are not using the default Firefox theme. If this is the case you may want to inform the theme offer and see if they can provide icon support.
06/21/07: Link has now been updated to direct to extension author’s site.
Earlier this week the next Thunderbird 2 milestone, Beta 2 was released. We are getting closer to the final release of Thunderbird 2. According to the Roadmap, the estimated release is first quarter 2007. Given how late into January we are and also that there will still be a couple release candidates, I am going to guesstimate the final release sometime in March.
New features with Thunderbird 2:
- Visual Refresh (new look)
- Improved Message Notification
- Message Tags
- Folder Summary Popups*
- Tabbed Message*
* Still in development
News Source: mozillaZine
