Original URL: http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2008/02/14/mozilla_two/
The beta 3 version of Firefox 3 (http://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2008/02/12/firefox-3-beta-3-now-available-for-download/), released this week, will probably be the last version of the browser based on the original Mozilla platform, celebrating its tenth anniversary next week. Work is already underway on a revamp of Firefox's underlying platform - Mozilla (http://wiki.mozilla.org/Mozilla_2).
It was on February 23, 1998, that Netscape announced (http://cgi.netscape.com/newsref/pr/newsrelease577.html) the creation of the Mozilla website as the "focal point for developers interested in modifying and redistributing Netscape client source". It was an historic time for the embryonic open-source movement. Netscape's move happened around the same time that open-source evangelists Bruce Perens and Eric Raymond formalized (http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2008/02/11/open_source_at_ten/) open-source development with the Open Source Definition.
Although Firefox 3 introduces some changes that will affect many developers (http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Firefox_3_for_developers) given Firefox's growing number of downloads, it should be noted that those promised (http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/roadmap/archives/2006/10/mozilla_2.html) for Mozilla 2 will also have a far-reaching impact. The Mozilla code has become widely used by a range of hardware manufacturers, from mobile devices (http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS8360022837.html) to media servers (http://www.stino.com/signageview/7900/7900.htm), in addition to regular ISVs, all rolling their own browsers.
While the current Mozilla 1.9 platform for Firefox has evolved incrementally since 1998, Mozilla 2 is likely to be more of a revolution with cleaner application program interfaces (APIs) and possible adoption of a Just In Time (JIT)-oriented JavaScript Virtual Machine with incremental garbage collector to manage DOM object memory, instead of using Cross Platform Component Object Mode (XPCOM) reference counting. Interestingly, the Mozilla 2 definition specifically excludes a mobile version although the architects say "volunteers are welcome to port" to mobile platforms and note that it will be easier with Mozilla 2 than its predecessor.®
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