Firefox 4.0 goes Chrome, will arrive with new UI in Q4 2010
Mozilla recently updated its product roadmap through 2010. According to the first draft, the current browser will see a minor update in Q4 2009 as well as Q2 2010. Version 4.0 is headed for an October or November 2010 release and will bring a new user interface and browser sync
The current release schedule is just in draft status, which means we have to take it with a grain of salt. But the guys over at Mozilla are surely busy getting two new versions of Firefox out by mid 2010 and apparently a completely new browser by the end of 2010.
The current 3.5x version will be updated with version 3.6, code-named Namoroka and currently available as alpha 1 release. The software will have a slightly faster Javascript engine than version 3.5, a faster startup time and will update the Gecko layout engine from version 1.9.1 to 1.9.2. Mozilla also promises Windows 7 integration light weight themes called Personas, as well as an improved form completion feature called awsomeformcomplete.
Perhaps most interestingly, version 3.6 will debut with Fennec 1.0, the mobile version of Firefox, which will also be use the Tracemonkey Javascript engine.
The draft roadmap suggests that Firefox 3.7 will follow in Q1 or Q2 of next year, bringing and updated fennec v1.1 browser, a Gecko engine that is updated to version 1.9.3, support for XUL animations, task-oriented browsing, out-of-process plug-ins for more software stability, online bookmark synchronization, as well as further Tracemonkey and pageload enhancements. We will be especially looking forward to a transition in the way websites are handled by Firefox – version 3.7 will run websites as an application. Mozilla recently released Firefox 3.7 as a pre-alpha 1 version to developers.