Mozilla finally releases Firefox 3 Beta 1. Firefox 3 Beta 1 is a developer preview release of Mozilla’s next generation Firefox browser and is being made available for testing purposes only. It is based on the new Gecko 1.9 Web rendering platform.

What’s New in Firefox 3 Beta 1:

• Increased security features such as malware protection, new web forgery protection page, new SSL error pages, integration with anti-virus, and Vista parental controls.
• Improved ease of use with better password management, easier add-on installation, new download manager with resumable downloading, full page zoom, animated tab strip, and better integration with Windows Vista and Mac OS X.
• Richer personalization through: one-click bookmarking, smart search bookmark folders, direct typing in location bar searches your history and bookmarks for URLs and page titles, ability to register web applications as protocol handlers, and better customization of download actions for file types.
• Improved platform for developers such as new graphics and font rendering architecture, major changes to the HTML rendering engine to provide better CSS, float-, and table layout support, native web page form controls, colour profile management, and offline application support.
• Improved performance such as better data reliability for user profiles, changes in architectural to speed up page rendering, fixes memory leak, and a new XPCOM cycle collector to eliminate leaks.

For more information, read the Firefox 3 Beta 1 Release Notes or Mozilla Developer News. Firefox 3 Beta 1 is now available for download.