Mozilla, the global community dedicated to building free, open source products and technologies, has released Firefox 3, a major update to its popular and acclaimed free, open source Web browser. Firefox 3 is the culmination of three years of efforts from thousands of developers, security experts, localization and support communities, and testers from around the globe.

Available in approximately 50 languages, Firefox 3 is up to three times faster than its Firefox 2 predecessor and offers more than 15,000 improvements, including the new smart location bar (dubbed the “awesome bar”), malware protection, and extensive under the hood work to improve the speed and performance of the browser.

New and improved features:

• Password Manager - Remember site passwords without ever seeing a pop-up.

• One-Click Bookmarking - Bookmark, search and organize Web sites quickly and easily.

• Improved Performance - View Web pages faster, using less of your computer’s memory.

• Smart Location Bar - Find the sites you love in seconds—enter a term for instant matches that make sense.

• Instant Web Site ID - Avoid online scams, unsafe transactions and forgeries with simple site identity.

• Full Zoom - See any part of a Web page, up close and readable, in seconds.

• Platform-Native Look & Feel - Browse with a Firefox that’s integrated into your computer’s operating system.

Firefox 3 was downloaded 8.3 million times during the first 24 hours, beating Mozilla’s expected goal of 5 million downloads and setting a new world record.

Firefox 3 is available for computers using Windows, Linux, and Macintosh operating systems, can be downloaded for free here.