Firefox 5.0 slips out ahead of official release


by Cyril Kowaliski — 6:00 AM on June 20, 2011

I guess all that talk about Firefox moving to a quicker release schedule wasn't just talk. Over the weekend, a number of folks noticed that the final version of Firefox 5.0 appears to have quietly made its way onto Mozilla's FTP server. The new browser release is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in a variety of languages.

According to the Mozilla Wiki, Firefox 5.0's official public release is planned for June 21. Mozilla may simply have snuck the software onto its FTP site a few days ahead of time. Since release notes for the beta version are up, tentative early adopters can get an idea of what's on the menu. Changes include:

Translation: Firefox 5.0 doesn't harbor anything too major, although I'm sure most users will welcome the performance improvements.

By redefining what a major release entails, Mozilla has managed to churn out Firefox 5 in just three months—and work has already begun on Firefox 6. The aforementioned wiki page says the first Firefox 6 beta release is due on July 5, so perhaps the final Firefox 6.0 release will be out before the summer is over. (Thanks to TR reader SH SOTN for the tip.)

   
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