According to Mozilla the final version of Firefox 3 will be released when they qualify the product as fully finished.
Users of the latest released version of Firefox should not expect all of their add-ons to work properly with this preview release.
What’s New?
More Secure
- One-click site info
- Malware Protection
- New Web Forgery Protection page
- New SSL error pages
- Add-ons and Plugin version check
- Secure add-on updates
- Anti-virus integration
- Vista Parental Controls
- Effective top-level domain (eTLD) service
- Better protection against cross-site JSON data leaks.
Easier to Use
- Easier password management
- Simplified add-on installation
- New Download Manager
- Resumable downloading
- Full page zoom
- Podcasts and Videocasts can be associated with your media playback tools
- Tab scrolling and quickmenu
- Save what you were doing (Save Tabs)
- Optimized Open in Tabs behavior
- Location and Search bar size can now be customized with a simple resizer item
- Text selection improvements
- Find toolbar
- Plugin management
- Integration with Windows
- Integration with the Mac: the new Firefox theme makes toolbars, icons, and other user interface elements look like a native OS X application. Firefox also uses OS X widgets and supports Growl for notifications of completed downloads and available updates. A combined back and forward control make it even easier to move between web pages.
- Integration with Linux
More Personal
- Star button
- Tags
- Location bar & auto-complete
- Smart Bookmarks Folder
- Places Organizer
- Web-based protocol handlers
- Download & Install Add-ons
- Easy to use Download Actions
Improved Platform for Developers
- New graphics and font handling
- Color management
- Offline support
- A more complete overview of Firefox 3 for developers is available for website and add-on developers
Improved Performance
- Speed Improvements
- Memory usage
- Reliability
Detailed release notes can be found at Mozilla.com.
You can download Firefox 3 RC1 here.