Last week, I commented that I think the release version of Internet Explorer 7 should still be regarded as a beta. I’ll be commenting more on that in today’s episode of the FIR podcast.

Well, the FTP link was seen everywhere and almost everybody in the little-ahead – techno-sphere were already playing with the Release Version of Firefox 2.0 from Mozilla even before the official announcement was made.

Last week, Mozilla officially made the second release candidate (RC2) of its popular Firefox browser available for public consumption. As reviews pour in, an interesting debate is brewing amongst developers. Is Firefox 2.0 truly an upgrade from the current incarnation?

Internet Explorer 7 has been primed for release through Microsoft’s Automatic Updates, while the Mozilla Foundation unveiled Firefox 2 Release Candidate 2 for their users.

Versions 1.5.0.7 of the Firefox browser and the Thunderbird mail client have been appearing on user PCs as Mozilla tweaks a few security issues with both products.

Yesterday, we published an article that mentioned Mozilla’s creation of an Oregon crop circle in the shape of the Firefox logo. Someone involved in the project contacted us, appalled at the idea Mozilla had “abused” 45,000 square feet of oats. The representative insists that no oats were harmed in the making of the crop circle.

After Fortinet called attention to two security flaws in Flash Player, Adobe has released an updated, fixed version. The new release will take users from the vulnerable v8.0.24.0 up to v9.0.16.0.

The Department of Justice didn’t buy Google’s complaint that Microsoft’s 7th version of Internet Explorer violated antitrust measures by setting MSN Search as the default search engine, bundled with next year’s release of Windows Vista. Having worldwide dominance in search probably didn’t help Google’s case.

Firefox Flicks, the grassroots marketing campaign designed to increase awareness of the Firefox browser, ended on Friday.

The contest to find the best of the extensions and their developers for the Firefox browsers yielded ten winners out of the over 200 submissions received.

Mozilla released an update to the Firefox browser earlier this month which, the release notes say, provides improved stability, improved support for Mac OS X, fixes for several memory leaks and several security enhancements among other things.

It’s no secret that PRWeek is undergoing a redesign, an annoying little countdown teaser has been flashing on the home page for a while now, but from an outsider’s perspective, it seems that bigger changes are already a foot; changes in how the publication approaches its content.

I noticed this morning a link on Google’s home page to Google Pack, a collection of “essentials to make your PC just work.”

Despite a few fits and starts, and some bugs to quash, the Mozilla Foundation will make the full release of the Firefox browser, version 1.5, available this afternoon.

The release candidate 1 version of the Firefox browser version 1.5 is almost but not entirely unlike a released product, except it hasn’t been released yet, and may miss its originally planned date.

OK, apparently some of the Firefox developers aren’t happy. I don’t follow this stuff closely, and probably wouldn’t understand their complaints anyway.

Several security issues have been addressed with the latest release of the open source browser.

When Symantec reported serious vulnerabilities were being found faster in Firefox than in IE, many in the tech world anticipated a strong response to the report.

The Mozilla Foundation has released the beta version of the much-anticipated Firefox 1.5 upgrade, which includes improved security as well as improved Mac support.

The release means the final release of the next version of Firefox is on track for later this year.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser now officially exists in the eyes of Microsoft. In a filing with the SEC, Mozilla was acknowledged for the first time by the software giant as a competitor. Even as we wait, and wait, and wait, for Microsoft’s next desktop contribution, the MS crew remains confident about its ability to keep up.