Checking in my stats the last few days I’ve noticed quite a few folks looking for information on the first release candidate of Firefox 3 and possibly when the release date might be. Well, the closest the developers will get on an actual date is “sometime in May” and since the date for the final release is “sometime in June” and that there’s at least an RC2 in there somewhere before the final, I’d expect RC1 somewhere within the first 10 days of May. Of course that’s just a guess on my part.
I’ve also noticed that most visitors who came to my site here looking for info on Firefox 3 RC1 didn’t stay too long either. Probably due to the fact that all I really said about RC1 was that when it comes out I was going to go off the trunk builds and go to the branch releases instead. Wasn’t exactly what they were looking for I would surmise.
So just so no one can say that I didn’t leave you with absolutely no real information on this subject yet a second time, here’s a link that you can use to keep an eye on the progress of RC1 as it works it’s way out onto the street.
Another source of info for those of you with a technical bend, try this section of the Mozillazine Forums and look for the latest The Official Win32 2008 ‘yada-yada’ [Trunk] build is not yet out entry. Browsing through the comments in these entries will give you a good idea how work is progressing on this latest version of Firefox.
So there you go. Once you check out the above links then you’ll know as much as I do. 
May 1st, 2008 at 6:37 am
Hey i hope u were right ‘coz i just can’t wait for the release of Firefox 3.0
May 1st, 2008 at 7:29 pm
It’s coming. You know Mozilla’s motto; “It will be out when it’s ready.”
May 7th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
There seems to be a crucial flash plugin / breakpad issue that’s holding back the release.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
@Tony:
That’s a bit confusing isn’t it? The bug is listed in each of the “Official Win32 yada-yada-yada is (not) out (yet)” posts on the Firefox Builds forum but looking at the actual blockers for RC1 and the Final via the May 6th Status Meeting notes, this Flash/Breakpad bug is not listed as one of the blockers for either release. But the actual filed bug report for this Flash/Breakpad issue states that it’s blocking 1.9-.
Sounds like it’s time to bring this up at the next nightly release post on the forum. Glad you brought this up!
May 8th, 2008 at 4:41 am
I came here looking for info about RC1. I’m running Beta 5 and there are a lot of crashes. Going back to Firefox 2 is just painful on OS X.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
@Rushi:
Yeah, I can imagine it would be painful but hang in there a bit longer, it’s almost there (down to two blockers left as of this afternoon). It’s hard to wait for the release myself.
May 11th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
So does anybody know when is Mozilla going to release Firefox 3 RC1 I hope they can release it by May 20?
May 11th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Hey Arley,
I’d be surprised if RC1 wasn’t out by the end of this week.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:25 am
Given how often Beta 5 crashes, I’m hoping they don’t rush the release. I would expect the final beta before RC1 to be far more stable than 5 is.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:20 am
@Steve:
Beta 5 was the final beta before RC1 (see next Firefox 3.0 post). With my experience running the nightly builds, you won’t be disappointed. Of course it all depends on how many extensions you install in RC1 since I’ve already found more than one that makes things look like the browser itself is acting up when it’s actually a buggy/leaky extension.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
very soon. the lst 3-4 nightlys (5/10-13) have been rock solid for me
May 14th, 2008 at 11:35 am
@kindofabuzz:
Same here. BTW, I went to build 1 of RC1 today. Grabbed it off of Mozilla’s FTP servers. Have to keep it quiet though since their FTP servers aren’t geared up for massive downloading. Just a week or so wait until RC1 is official.