Mozilla has released the first beta of Firefox 2, its open source browser, which is to be released sometime at the end of 2006. It will go in direct competition with Internet Explorer 7, which is also slated for a year-end release. It will also be interesting to note, which browser emerges the winner.
For now though, the focus is on Firefox 2 and if the first beta is anything to go by, then Mozilla has a winner here. One of the most spoken of changes in Firefox 2 is the change made to the add-ons. Users will not have to open two windows when they want to call up the themes installed by them. However getting these under one category is not a great improvement, but is a welcome change nonetheless.
The search bar has also been tweaked a little and now users have the option of Managing Search Engines, which is at the bottom of the drop-down of all the listed search engines. Users will be directed towards Mozilla site, where they can choose any search engine on the fly. That's another neat change and the selected search engine will also be a faded one so users can recognize their choice only too well.
Secondly, an improvement has been affected in the close button, which was previously at the end of all tabs. It is now within each tab, so users won't close any other tab by mistake. Bloggers will love the Firefox 2 for the spell check feature that has now been integrated into it.
Lastly, Firefox 2 allows users their own choice of RSS reader. There is no need to open it up separately, just click on Live Feed Reader and subscribe to it.
Firefox 2 Beta 1 is available for download on the Mozilla site.
