Firefox 2.0 Beta 1 Released

The Mozilla Corporation launched the first official beta of Firefox 2.0 early Wednesday, signaling that its major upgrade to the popular alternative browser is inching ever closer to release. New features in Firefox 2.0 include enhancements in security, tabbed browsing, performance, and extensions.

Code-named Bon Echo, Firefox 2.0 includes a built-in spell checking and an anti-phishing feature, much like Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7. JavaScript 1.7 and improved subscribing of RSS feeds are also among the new features. Firefox has been making major gains against Microsoft's browser dominance, passing 15 percent market share in the United States. Firefox 2.0 Beta 1 is available for download for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.