Stories by: Gregg Keizer

A "clerical error" by Mozilla Corp. omitted one of the security patches that was supposed to be included in the Windows version of yesterday's Firefox 2.0.0.19 release, a company executive said today.

Mozilla Messaging Tuesday released the first beta for its open-source Thunderbird 3.0 e-mail client, with the company's chief executive calling the preview "far from typical" because its feature set still has not been set.

Mozilla Monday released Firefox 3.1 Beta 2, the first version of its flagship browser to turn on a much faster JavaScript engine and sport a working privacy mode.

Opera Software Thursday launched a preview of its next browser, Opera 10, that aces the Acid3 Web standards test, a mark that most browser makers have pursued without success.

The market share of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) dropped under the 70 percent mark last month for the first time since Web metrics vendor Net Applications started keeping tabs on browsers, the company said Monday.

Mozilla will probably add a third beta to the development schedule for Firefox 3.1 to get a better handle on remaining bugs and give several new features, including a faster JavaScript engine and a private browsing mode, more testing time, the company's browser director said Tuesday.

Google has patched Chrome to prevent attackers from stealing files from PCs running the open-source browser.

Microsoft clarified this week that the upcoming Office Web -- a lightweight version of its Office suite that runs as an online service -- will be available to users running Mac OS X and Linux, as well as from Apple's iPhone.

Mozilla on Wednesday patched 11 vulnerabilities in Firefox 3.0 -- and 12 bugs in the older Firefox 2.0 -- that could be used to compromise computers and steal information.

Developers working on Mozilla's next browser Tuesday added a privacy mode to the still-under-construction Firefox 3.1, a major milestone in the development of the upgrade.

Mozilla's Firefox climbed above 20 percent market share for two weeks last month, but ended October just under the milestone, a Web metrics company said Tuesday.