This is kind of "old-news" but I've found the next Firefox, codename Bon Echo. This new version has some cool new features such as inline spell check so you can easily spell check posts here or anywhere (it even works in Google's Gmail!)

It's very cool... I just don't like the name. My web design teacher was making fun of it calling it "bone cho"... Even the Alpha 2 of Firefox 3.0 is better: Deer Park.

To get the Bon Echo release (WARNING: DEVELOPERS AND TESTERS ONLY!!!! It's ALPHA stage so it is unstable and Mozilla has it posted that you're warned!) check out this page:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/bonecho/releases/2.0a2.html

[N]F

I wanna test out the new spell-checker and also see how the new Addons section looks like. They've combined Themes and Extensions into one dialog, so I'm interested in seeing it. I'm just waiting for PortableFirefox, so that I can try it out without losing my Firefox 1.5. It currently only has Bon Echo Alpha 1, and I doubt it'll release Alpha 2, since Alpha 3 is planned to be released next Friday.

Haha yeah the name is a bit queer. I think I might have to go test it out...

Is is available for download by the public even if you aren't actually a tester or developer?

Thanks for the info.

Well, you can download all alpha & beta versions of all softwares for free. No one checks or knows whether you're a developer or not! You're on your own freewill to download the software while it is in development stage.

I would personally suggest that you DON'T do that if you're not a developer - because 'under-development' softwares are very unstable, especially if you using Windows, then it might even take down the OS, if you're not running it in a protected shell! So, better way - wait for the complete stable version to release and then test it out!

-Omkar Ekbote

ah... yeah i have the latest nightly build and its codenamed MineField (Firefox 3.0). It has a cool icon. Maybe its the same for all Beta/Alpha releases.

Also yes it does crash at certain points and I do send the crash report to mozilla.
Anyhow itś stupid to have gone till the development of version 3.0 when the only stable thing you have is FireFox 1.5
And I don´t see any version 3 qualities either (except the inline spell checker, but that could come as an add-on too). Uh.. I mean they arent fixing possible future bugs but creating way for it. Anyhow FireFox is at a stage where it doesn require much of further rigourous development. All that the users will be interested in next will be more Add-ons.

Also what I believe is that some of the very required add-ons should be made an integral part of the whole suite. A good download manager and a few top rated skins for instance. Itś a bare necessity which isnt fulfilled yet within the official release.

Even though it's obvious you guys know about this, I'm going to write this anyway for those of us who still don't .

Mozilla has pronounced the release of its alpha version of Deer Park, the next generation FireFox browser. It's currently for testing purposes only and Mozilla advises that only developers and people who really know what they're doing use it. But after trying it, I think it can be safely used by anyone.

Don't ask me why they changed the name to Deer Park. It beats the hell out of me. But it does have a couple of improvements over FireFox 1.5 and the beta Bon Echo releases.

If you want to have a quick peek at Mozilla's release notes for their new product, you can find them here:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/deerpark/r...ses/alpha1.html

If you're interested in helping the Mozilla community in testing their new browser, and if you want to see what's up with Deer Park, you can choose the version that works for you by navigating through this FTP site:
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/fir...eerpark/alpha1/

Now to all FireFox enthusiasts... Go Nuts!

This post has been edited by Djetamun: May 28 2006, 05:10 PM

Darn...more bloat....don't really see the point of inline spell check when most things that need spell check already have spell check except forums...

I cry for Firefox bloat!

I've only been using FireFox for maybe 3 months, but from the sounds of it, if there only adding a spell checker, why bother. I agree that some of the add-on should be included in the upgrade. But I really don't even see why, at this point why they are doing it. I mean unless they come up with something major. Like I've said, I'm a relatively new user, but I just don't see the point.

I am using Bon Echo Alpha 3 and haven't noticed much difference from Firefox 1.5 except for the following:
- A different icon (Looks good, but I prefer the FF 1 icon)
- Spell Checker (Nice feature but it's a bit startling when you first see it and didn't realise it existed.
- Themes and Extensions combined into Add-Ons (Pretty stupid, I think)
- Most of my themes and extensions (Add-Ons) don't work (Real kick in the knickers, but at least 2 of them work! The theme in Win9x is terrible but I can't get around to installing XP!)
I like it and it has crashed only once and that was the first time I ran it.

Hope you enjoy it like I do.

Sometimes, it gets really annoying. Is there anyway to disable it?

xboxrulz