Firefox 3 Beta 1 to be released tonight or tomorrow

The much anticipated Firefox 3 beta 1 will be available tonight or tomorrow, Mozilla developers said.

"Beta one [has] Q & A sign-off and will be ready to ship tonight or tomorrow, " one developer said during a Mozilla developers meeting on Monday. Beta 1 will be available in more than 20 localizations, developers also said.

Beta 1 is the "most thoroughly tested" software from Mozilla Q&A team in the last few years.

Developers said several industry reports claiming that Firefox 3 will ship with more than 70 percent of bugs are misguided. There are 700 bugs remaining but Mozilla has resolved 11,800 bugs, including the most important ones. "This personally upsets me," one developer said, claiming that news sites haven't done their homework before making sensational claims.

The beta was first expected to be available this summer, and then September, but has been delayed to resolve technical issues.

The target date for Beta 2 code freeze is now December 7, developers also said during the telephone meeting.

The big push for launch of Firefox 3 is underway. The Royal Order of Experience Design, a creative agency in Chicago, has been hired to handle the rollout.