Mozilla outlines Firefox 4 vision

Not just fast... "super-duper" fast

Mozilla has unveiled its plans for a speedier and more powerful version of its web browser Firefox.

Mike Beltzner, the director of Firefox development, explained the development plans to the Mozilla community in an online presentation.

Beltzner told fans that Firefox 4 would be "super-duper fast", support open standard web technologies including HTML5, and put users in "full control of their browser, data, and Web experience". And those are his italics, not ours.

What Beltzner didn't explain was that users had expected version 3.7, an upgrade to the current 3.6, this summer.

Instead, they'll get version 3.6.4 (available now as a Beta), while Firefox 4.0 will be released as a separate Beta in June, with a final version expected in October. The 3.7 version number has been quietly retired.

Perhaps trying to explain the confusion, Beltzner stressed that Mozilla was intent on transparency: "We work in the open, socialising our plans early and often to gather feedback and build excitement in our worldwide community."