The Mozilla Foundation last week released the latest version of its oen source web browser Firefox 3.

Originally code-named 'Gran Paradiso', the 7MB download has been in development for nearly three years, and supports Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows systems, although support has been dropped for Windows 95, 98 and Me.

After a lengthy development process, Mozilla is hoping Firefox 3 can push Windows Internet Explorer's usage share to a new low. Within hours of its general release, browser tracking website Market Share showed that Firefox 3 had gained a 4.5 per cent share of the browser market. Not long after, downloads topped the 7 million mark.

One of the most important features in Firefox 3 include under-the-hood improvements to address memory leakage, which plagued users of its previous release.

Alongside the overall system performance improvement, Mozilla has beefed-up the browser's security features, including enhanced anti-phishing capabilities.

Firefox 3 also has a new password manager for automatically logging onto sites without going having to navigate pop-ups and also one-click bookmarking and the ability to zoom-in on any part of a web page.