Firefox 2.0 reaches alpha

Dawn Kawamoto CNET News

Published: 22 Mar 2006 09:30 GMT

A developers' version of Firefox 2.0 targeted that was released on Tuesday evening aims to test the back-end infrastructure supporting the browser's new bookmarks, or Places, functionality.

Firefox 2.0 Bon Echo Alpha 1, designed to serve as a developer's and tester's preview, focuses on improving access and ease of use for Web site history and bookmarks, according to the Mozilla wiki.

The Places functionality aims to consolidate user data formats, as well as improve the capabilities of Live Bookmarks.

"The BonEcho Alpha 1 milestone is the first of many developer milestones on the path to Firefox 2," Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering for Mozilla, said in a statement. "We do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download Alpha 1, as it is intended for testing purposes only."

The final release of Firefox 2.0 is expected in the third quarter of this year. Its debut would come roughly two years after Firefox 1.0 was released in November 2004 amid much fanfare.