PCWorld has an interesting article on Firefox 3.0 after spending a little time with an early alpha build. Looking forward to next version of Firefox? Give this article a read!

Whatever features appear, however, as users none of us will be putting Firefox's offline application support to the test until software exists that can take advantage of the capability-and that won't happen before the 3.0 version's full release into public beta (presently scheduled for sometime in the second half of this year). Companies send out alpha builds to give third-party developers a chance to work with early versions, find flaws and bugs, and suggest fixes. The code then gets a series of patches-or a rewrite-to remedy the complaints and also to give other features a solid core to run on. As with constructing a skyscraper, the underlying pieces least apparent to the end user must be solid prior to raising the full structure.

Making better use of memory has been another major goal for those developing Firefox 3.0 and Gecko 1.9. Both fans and critics of the browser have accused it of being a memory hog. A lot of that piggishness comes from the built-in conveniences that users demand (and often take for granted), such as the caching that lets us quickly return to previous pages. You'll rarely find the causes of memory issues to be cut-and-dried, however. For one, they remain very dependent on the particular configuration of a PC and its browser. And, of course, third-party software can prove troublesome. One of the most innovative aspects of the browser-the ability it gives others to extend its capabilities-has proven especially problematic because of poorly written or compiled third-party extensions. Firefox 3.0 developers have been paying more attention to memory, however, profiling exactly how the program uses it and, especially, how the browser interacts with software developed elsewhere.