Firefox 3.5 RC due early June

While Firefox 3.0 was just updated with a bunch of security and stability fixes, Firefox 3.1 has been in beta for a tad bit longer than Mozilla had originally planned. This is mainly due to the inclusion of a new javascript engine that's been dubbed "Tracemonkey." Although the next beta of 3.1 is scheduled to be released somewhere between March 10th and 12th, the version its leading up to will, in fact, be labeled Firefox 3.5.

This upcoming milestone release will include the aforementioned Tracemonkey javascript engine along with new privacy features (including a private browsing mode), additions and changes to the way tabs are handled, and further progress in complying to the web standards demonstrated in the ACID3 test. Taking all of these features into consideration, Mozilla feels that bumping up Firefox's version number from 3.0 straight to 3.5 will be more indicative to the scope of work put into the latest iteration of their extremely popular browser.

So, why release the next beta as 3.1? Well, the beta builds have already started to compile and it takes time to increase the version number throughout their development system. It's only a number, though, and you can expect to see the 3.5 labeling to appear in both nightly builds and official builds in the very near future.