Mozilla says it is working hard to convince cellular operators to allow 3G subscribers use mobile Firefox, which, in a nutshell, demonstrates how the operators are resisting open Internet access.

Instead of allowing open Internet access, the cellular operators have long limited and controlled what users can access. This benefits operators for many reasons, but it provides virtually no benefit to users.

Firefox 3, the latest version of Mozilla�s web browser, has been revamped to improve the search function for users. The browser, which is undergoing its third stage of beta testing, features a combined search and bookmark tool, accessible via the url bar.
If a user types a word into the url bar, the browser displays a list of recently visited sites which have that word in their names.

This should make it easier for users to re-visit sites they have visited earlier. The speed of the browser has also been improved and it has been made easier to use. The new version also allows users to do more offline. The browser �remembers” key data which is usually lost when an internet connection goes down. This will allow users to continue working while travelling, or when they are in areas where wireless access is unreliable.
Firefox 3 is due to be released next month.

Microsoft has asked its software-testing community to participate in beta trials for Internet Explorer 8 (IE8). A public beta will follow once the invitation-only test is complete - in the summer, according to experienced Microsoft watchers.

IE8 will replace Internet Explorer 7.0, Microsoft's current internet browsing software program. IE7 was introduced in October 2006.
No date has been set for the public release of IE8, but according to reports Microsoft will show Internet Explorer 8 at MIX in March.

Following some criticism of IE7, version 8 is expected to more fully comply with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards. W3C attempts to ensure cross-browser and -platform interoperability. Rival browsers such as Mozilla's Firefox comply with W3C standards more the IE.

It's an announcement that has almost slipped out unnoticed, but a blog entry posted last week officially marked the death of the Netscape browser, its latest update triggering a pop-up window urging users to switch to either Firefox or Flock.

No surprise that Internet Explorer wasn't on that list of official recommendations; it's largely because of Microsoft's aggressive pushing of Internet Explorer during the mid 1990s that Netscape's market share � which, at one point, was as high as 90% � was utterly decimated. Today it sits well outside the top five browsers and, according to stats at thecounter.com, the combined versions of Netscape accounted for less than 0.5% of internet browsing in the last month. So, what happened to this once-dominant piece of software?