Not like we didn’t know it was coming. So just get out there and download this bad boy! If you want to know about the thoughts going behind this release, Richard MacManus procured a great interview with Mozilla’s Vice President of Products, Chris Beard.
Chris said that the two key things they focused on in FF2 were 1) tuning the user experience - making it more efficient and enhancing customization; and 2) security.
In terms of the user experience, Chris mentioned the tweaks to the tabs, undo close tab, “session restore” and search suggestions as examples of improvements to usability. He also said that Firefox 2 focuses on bringing capabilities that are typically found in desktop apps, into the browser - inline spelling is the most obvious such feature. They support multiple languages too.
For security, Chris said they’re very proud that Firefox has the fastest response time of any vendor - they respond to security issues in days, “as opposed to the weeks and months that you might see from other vendors”. He also said Firefox looks to be very proactive in security - e.g. their Phishing Protection. Using plain, everyday language is also a feature in FF - so they don’t use the term “phishing” for example in their pop-up messages.
