Firefox 2.0 Beta 2 is now available for download. The most noticeable change from Beta 1 is the new theme, updating the familiar look of Firefox. It has created considerable controversy among Firefox testers; some love it, others hate it, still others prefer to wait and see what the final version looks like before they pass judgment.

New features and changes in this milestone include:

• A new theme that updates Firefox's familiar interface
  
• Built in Phishing Protection
  
• Enhanced search engine management and search suggestions for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com
  
• Improvements to tabbed browsing, including the ability to re-open recently closed tabs
  
• Firefox will resume from where you left off after a system crash or browser restart
  
• Better support for previewing and subscribing to Web feeds
  
• Inline spell checking in Web forms
  
• The ability to create bookmarks with "Live Titles" for Web sites that offer microsummaries
  
• New Add-ons manager that simplifies management of extensions and themes.
  
• Support for JavaScript 1.7
  
• Extended search plugin format
  
• Updates to the extension system to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions
  
• Support for client-side session and persistent storage
  
• Support for SVG text using svg:textPath
  
• New Windows installer based on Nullsoft Scriptable Install System
  

(You can find out more about all of these features in the "What's New" section of the release notes.)

Downloads for various systems and languages are available here.

The Bon Echo nightlies actually have greatly improved the theme that got released with Beta 2.

i hate it. the theme is genuine crap for users that like Windows Classic.

i have to agree with you Mangix...

I prefer to use a compact theme anyway, but I do check out the default theme's progress. Tarun, you're right, it has improved quite a bit since Beta 2. There's still over a week until they're scheduled to lock down the code for RC1, I hope to see a lot more improvement before then.