There’s lots left to do, and nothing’s guaranteed, but it seems Firefox 4 will arrive in less than 50 days if all goes according to plan.  Word’s come straight from Damon Sicore, Senior Director of Platform Engineering at Mozilla.

In a post directed at Mozilla developers, Sicore indicated yesterday that Firefox 4 should launch before the end of February.  He wrote, "We’ve worked tremendously hard on Firefox 4, and it’s time to ship it.  I’m seeing the same burst of excitement and activity that we’ve seen in the endgame of every release."

Sicore also wrote, "You all do incredible work every day, and you’ve built an amazing product. . . .  Firefox 4 is gonna kick ass, and you should be fiercely proud of it."

So keep your fingers crossed, Firefox fans, and hope the pep talk has an effect.  Consider showing your support by downloading the latest Firefox 4 beta (and reporting any problems you encounter) while you’re at it.

On that note: there are still some hurdles to clear, including at least one more beta (prompted by bug counts).  It sounds like nerves are getting a little frayed, too, with Sicore admitting that everyone’s stressed and encouraging them to play nice.

The end’s in sight, at least.