Mozilla Bumps up Firefox 3.1 to 3.5
Mozilla will officially swap version numbers when it releases the fourth beta of the still-under-construction browser.
Mozilla Corp. announced that it will dump Version 3.1 as the name of the next edition of Firefox and instead call it Version 3.5. The name change has been under discussion for several weeks, prompted in part by calls from developers who thought that the "3.1" moniker didn't properly reflect the amount of new features and changes from last June's Firefox 3.0.
The increase in scope represented by TraceMonkey and Private Browsing, plus the sheer volume of work that's gone into everything from video and layout to Places and the plug-in service, make it a larger increment than they believe is reasonable to label.
3.5 will help set expectations better about the amount of awesome that's packed into Shiretoko. "Shiretoko" is Mozilla's code name for Firefox 3.1, now Firefox 3.5.
Mozilla will officially swap version numbers when it releases the fourth beta of the still-under-construction browser. Beta 4 is currently scheduled to ship April 14.
Mozilla originally named the next edition "3.1" to reflect the faster-paced development it planned for the upgrade. But those plans were disrupted last year by efforts to add more features -- the TraceMonkey engine, for one, plus a new privacy mode -- and build in more testing time.
Shaver said that the new name doesn't mean Mozilla is now adding more to what was already in Firefox. "It's important to note that 3.5 represents a better labeling of our current scope, and not an indication that we intend to significantly increase this release's scope any further," he said.
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