Download Mozilla Firefox 3.0 alpha 5

Just over a month after the release of alpha 4, Mozilla already has the next alpha preparedwhich can be downloaded for Linux (8.6MB), Mac OS X (17MB) and Windows (6.2MB). Firefox 3.0 alpha 5 is the latest addition to the ‘Gran Paradiso’ series, which uses Gecko 1.9 as a render engine and is equipped with the usual features such as tabbed browsing, pop-up blocker and extending the functionality of the browser via add-ons. One of the most important new features of alpha 5 is the support for Places, as was also announced earlier. In addition, a new crash reporting system called Breakpad has been implemented for the Windows and Mac OS X builds. What else has changed in the new alpha – such as a revamped password manager – can be read below:

Gran Paradiso 1.9 Alpha 5 introduces several new features:

• Bookmarks portion of Places has been enabled
• New crash reporting system, break pad. It’s enabled by default on Mac OS X, on about 50% of Windows installations, and not yet available on Linux. You can also view crash reports at this site.
• New Javascript based Password Manager. More details available here.
• Support for Growl notification under Mac OS X
• Support for native controls on Mac OS X
• miscellaneous Gecko 1.9 bug fixes

Some of the changes in Alpha versions of Gecko 1.9 affect the web and platform compatibility of Gran Paradiso Alpha 5. For detailed information about changes in Gecko 1.9 and Gran Paradiso, please read these pages:

• Gecko 1.9 Changes affecting websites
• Firefox 3 for developers