Firefox 3.5 RC1 expected to be available June 19

Firefox 3.5 RC1 is now targeted for release on June 19, said one Mozilla spokeswoman.

Over the next few days,  Mozilla will begin releasing Build 2 of the release candidate to about 800,000 beta testers. But the official release candidate 1 won't be available until later in the week.

Firefox's lead developer said "Firefox 3.5 RC1 was not yet ready for the public to download, install and run [now]," one Mozilla spokeswoman said in an email statement on Wednesday. "Mozilla targets June 19th for the public availability of Firefox 3.5 RC1."

During Tuesday's weekly meeting, it appeared unclear  whether RC1 would be made widely available or if a soon-to-follow RC2 would be made available for final public testing. It is now clear that the public will get their hands on RC1 after all.