Mozilla Previews Newest Open-Source BrowserMozilla Previews Newest Open-Source Browser

The Mozilla Foundation Monday changed the name one last time of its next generation open-source browser, and launched a preview edition of the software that can be downloaded for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X.

Formerly called Firebird -- and before that Phoenix -- the Firefox 0.8 standalone browser comes with a new streamlined download manager, an updated bookmark handler that allows for the creation of folders to better organize favorite sites, better handling of external file types such as .wma and .rar files, and a new offline mode that lets users view previously-seen pages even when not connected to the Internet.

Among other improvements, the browser now better handles extensions, the small downloadable applets for such chores as spell checking, removing ad banners, and the like.

The typical bug fixes have also been rolled into the preview, said Mozilla, last year's spin-off from Netscape.

Firefox 0.8 is available now from the Mozilla Web site in editions that run in Windows, Linux, and the Mac OS X. Unsupported versions for Solaris x86 and Solaris SPARC, contributed by Sun Microsystems, are also posted on the site.

At the same time, the Foundation debuted a preview of Thunderbird 0.5, the group's enterprise-class e-mail client. Thunderbird, also available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Solaris sports the ability to synchronize its address book with Palm-powered handhelds, has improved its support of LDAP, and offers secure password authentication using SSPI NTML. Thunderbird can be downloaded from here.

While both Firefox and Thunderbird are still in pre-production, the Foundation said it hopes to launch final 1.0 editions this year, perhaps as early as this summer.