Mozilla sets release date for Firefox 3: June 17

Mozilla is set to release the final version of Firefox 3 next Tuesday, June 17th. The next generation of Mozilla's web browser has been in development for almost three years, and after countless alphas, betas, and release candidates, we can't tell you how much we're looking forward to finally reporting on point releases. 

The company has big plans for the day. Mozilla is hoping to set a world record for the most software downloads within a 24 hour period. The company is also encouraging people to plan Firefox partiesaround the globe. Very, very geeky Firefox downloading parties. 

We'll let you in on a little secret though. If you don't care about setting world records, but just want to make sure you've got the most up to date version of the web browser, go ahead and downloadFirefox 3 RC 3 right now. It's pretty much the exact same browser you'll be able to download next week. But it's a lot harder to set a world record if you don't give people some warning, so Mozilla is delaying the official launch by a few days. That's a bit of a different tactic than Opera took when the company pushed out a release candidate of Opera 9.5 Monday and followed up with a final version of Opera 9.5 this morning.