Source tree closed, awaiting wrapup and approval.

As noted on Slashdot, MozillaZine is reporting that the Mozilla development tree is now closed as the open source browser approaches a final 1.0 release.

This doesn't mean the product is closed source now, of course. It just means that they're not accepting new submissions as they're in the process of certifying it for an actual product release. Once that's complete, there will be an official v1.0 release, and the new development builds beyond. Below is the text of MozillaZine's post, as they've been Slashdotted far and fast:

The tree just closed in preparation for Mozilla 1.0, and so far, it's looking promising. What does the tree close mean? This time around, as drivers have been in control of the tree for the entire milestone, the actual process won't change, but drivers approval will begin to get harder and harder to get for a checkin. As we approach 1.0, we'll keep you up to date on current status and other interesting news.

Mozilla is the open-source version of the Netscape browser, developed within the Mozilla organizaition as well as independent developers 'round the world, with many users on multiple platforms.

I was wondering if anybody else is trying out the Mozilla browser...I'm using the April 12th build right now, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I had messed around with Mozilla M18 (some year(s) ago), and was pretty disgusted, but the 1.0 should be a real treat. Some nice features that you might want to know...

- Ability to stop pop-up windows. Of course if you click a link that opens a new window, this will still work as expected.

- Block images from servers (ie - stop ads from appearing), although this isn't really that big a deal in my opinion.

- Fast page loads, at least just as fast as IE6

- Reasonable program load time if you set the mozilla tray agent to run in the background (consumes extra RAM, though)

I have noticed some problems/inconveniences with it, though. Java is a separate download, and installing it as a plugin requires a manual file copy, at least for me in WinXP (I have know idea why - maybe that will be fixed soon).

If you use the internet for alot of media (ie...flash stuff) IE will probably be better for a while, but Mozilla will make a HUGE dent in IE's market if AOL decides to use Mozilla's Gecko page-rendering engine in their next release.

Bottom line - give it a try...if you don't like it, uninstall it, and no harm done.

What do you guys think?

I've been running the build distributed with Mandrake 7.1, which I think was 0.97. The only complaint I have with it is that I can't get the Flash plugin to work. Anytime I go to a Flash site, I get all the silly popups sending me to the Macromedia site to download and install the RPM, but I've *done* that and it still won't work. It's really low-priority, though, so I'm not bothering further with it. Otherwise, it's a pretty good browser.

I like all the changes they made to it that went into Netscape v6...except without the Netscape bloat. It's definitely *the* browser to use when you're not on Windows (and that includes Mac OS - I use IE in Windows, but IE for the Mac is just horrid).

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"And knowing is half the battle!"

I like netscape 6.2. Works great for me. Stable, fast, and great image quality. Last time I tried mozilla in windoze, it messed up the way mozilla and netscape viewed images for some reason. But since I would like to get away for aol products, I am going to try mozilla 1.

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Road Runner!!!!

I like IE the best.....After the initial release of NS 6 I was totally turned off by it. I had pretty bad experiences with the program, so if I use NS, I use version 4. Also I like Opera a lot too, very useful to have all the windows in one task on the taskbar...

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ActiveTuning - Partner & Director Of Sales & Marketing

Heh...you may not have to worry about it. The next version of CompuServe is shipping with Gecko/Mozilla, presumably as a testing release for integration into the next AOL client.

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"And knowing is half the battle!"

If I'm in Windows, I use IE 5.01 or 5.5 (Or 6 in XP). If I'm on a Mac, I use Netscape 6.2. If I'm in Linux, I use Mozilla.

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"And knowing is half the battle!"