FireFox 3 beta 2 scheduled for availability Dec. 21

Firefox 3 beta 2 is now scheduled to be available to the public on December 21, Mozilla developers say.

The browser code is now in the quality assurance phase and will enjoy its first round of scrutiny during a test day being held on December 14. If all goes well, it will be made available to the general public before Christmas.

Beta 2 will incorporate performance imporvements, bug fixes and "user facing enhancements to the location bar," said Mike Beltzner, a developer on the project.

"The plan is for the final release to be on December 21st, but depending on what's found during the QA phase, that date might slip," Beltzner reported in an e-mail.