Firefox 3 and Community Beta Program

Firefox 3 a.k.a Gran Paradiso has moved to alpha 2 and is available for download for testing purposes only, great news for us.


The main changes in Gran Paradiso is the use of Gecko 1.9 engine and Cairo graphics system, and it is finally passes ACID 2 test. It means that Firefox 3 will be a truly new version, comparing to version 2 that was an upgrade to Firefox 1.5. This also means that there will be a lot of bugs and testing Firefox 3 will greatly help it development.

For more Firefox 3 details check this review.

Those who will install and test Firefox 3 should use the report tool for reporting broken websites. In addition general feedback can be sent to mozilla.feedback newsgroup directly or using the form on this webpage.
Mozilla developers encourage testers to turn on Talkback. Talkback reports give them really valuable data on which crashes are the most serious, and how often people are encountering them.
And of course dedicated testers should join the QA team: Mozilla QA has a page dedicated to ways to get involved with helping. You don't have to be technical and being involved is good for people wanting to get more familiar with Mozilla and Firefox to contribute to the project.

And to the second part of the story:

Just opened Firefox Community Beta Program. This program goal is to ensure continued improvement in the quality of Firefox 2.

"During the run up to Firefox 2, we released beta builds and release candidates for wide testing and feedback as part of a community beta program. Anyone who downloaded and installed these pre-release versions of Firefox became part of this beta program and was automatically updated to the Firefox 2 final release.
To ensure continued improvement in the quality of Firefox 2, we are now applying the same program to our security and stability release process for Firefox 2. Starting within the next 24 hours, everyone who participated in the beta process will be offered a pre-release version of the next security and stability update." [via developer.mozilla.org/devnews]

If you are not already part of the commuity beta program, you can check Mozilla Developer News for more information on how to join the program.
If you are and if you aren't, report any problems or issues at Mozilla community feedback web site.