Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 Released

Today Mozilla has released three major updates (postponed from December 14th):

• Firefox 1.5.0.9, likely to be the last release on the 1.5 builds. Remember, all support for the 1.5 builds will end on April 24, 2007.
• Firefox 2.0.0.1, 183 bug fixes including (but not limited too): Crashes (42), Memory Leaks (3), Regressions (41) and Privacy Related (4).
• Thunderbird 1.5.0.9, 7 bug fixes^* including: Build Configuration (2), Functionality (2), Spellchecker (1), Mac-specific (1) and Miscellaneous (1)

Auto-updates should start kicking in later this evening. If you want to update sooner visit getfirefox.com (note: at time of press, Mozilla has not yet updated the main page to download the new 2.0.0.1 version) or visit CyberNet and use their simple download tool, simply select your language and click the button for your OS.

* Bug fix list may not be all inclusive. Updates (if any) will be posted once the official release notes for Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 are posted.

News Sources: CyberNet News & The Rumbling Edge

Thunderbird 2 Beta 1 Released

The next Thunderbird 2 milestone, Beta 1 was released earlier this week. The final release is still a couple months away (first quarter 2007). Here are the new features for Thunderbird 2.0b1:

• Message Tags: Create your own tags for organizing email. Messages can be assigned any number of tags. Tags can be combined with saved searches and mail views to make it easier to organize email.
• Visual Theme:Thunderbird 2’s theme and user interface have been updated to improve usability.
• Session History Navigation: Back and Forward buttons allow navigation through message history.
• Folder Views: Customize the folder pane to show favorite, unread or recent folders.
• Improved Support For Extensions: Extensions can now add custom columns to the message list pane in addition to storing custom message data in the mail database.
• Improved Offline Management: Thunderbird (Linux and Windows) automatically adjusts the offline state based on current network connectivity.
• Improved New Mail Notification Alerts:New mail alerts include information such as the subject, sender and message text.
• Folder Summary Popups: Mouse over a folder with new messages to see a summary of the new messages in that folder.
• Saved Search Folder Performance: Search results for saved search folders are now cached, improving folder loading performance.
• Find As You Type
• Improved Filing Tools: Recent folder menu items for moving and copying folders to recently used folders. Move / Copy again functionality.
• Updates to the extension system: The extension system has been updated to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions.
• New Windows installer: Based on Nullsoft Scriptable Install System, the new Windows installer resolves many long-standing issues.
• MacOS X Univesal Binaries

Rumbling Edge has a more detailed list of notable bug fixes.

News Source: Thunderbird 2b1 Release Notes

Thunderbird 2 Beta 1 RC

We are moving a step closer to the next milestone for Thunderbird 2, the Beta 1 release. Release Candidate for beta 1 is now available in en-US build only via Mozilla FTP Server. Estimated release date for Thunderbird 2.0b1 is December 14th.

News Source: mozillaZine Forums Thunderbird Builds