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Digital Arts Online has a thorough break down of some of the snags the Firefox development team has encountered as it continues work on the browser's 3.1 release. TraceMonkey, the JavaScript engine that's responsible for the browser's performance boost, seems to be what's holding its actual release back.

According to the forum posts the article points to, both Firefox developers and those focusing specifically on TraceMonkey agree that a decision has to be made -- but whether it's better to release Firefox 3.1 without TraceMonkey, release Firefox with TraceMonkey disabled by default, or give the developers a set amount of time before making the decision at all -- might be a sticking point.

Microsoft Watch's Joe Wilcox, in solemn observance of Friday the 13th, compiled a list of Microsoft's ten most unlucky breaks. The strokes of misfortune chosen were weighted according to heinousness (with #10 being least signficant, and #1 the most).

Checking in at #7 is the development of the Linux kernel. Putting aside Microsoft's whole Schrodinger's cat sort of approach to Linux over the years (Linux is not a threat. Linux is a threat), it is interesting Wilcox (and the analysts who helped him narrow down the list) focused on the kernel as the bad break.

It may not be perfectly stable yet, but if you've been following along with the beta releases of Mozilla's Firefox 3.1 browser, you can now get and test the candidate for Beta 3, as described here. Mozilla is calling for a Test Week for this latest version. Beta 3 was scheduled to be out on February 2nd, but bug fixes were required. Meanwhile, PC Pro has an interesting story up in which Firefox architect Mike Connor describes plans for version 3.2 of Firefox.

The Google Operating System blog and The Open Road have noted that Google's open source Chrome browser will get Firefox-like extensions by May. That's when the Google I/O conference takes place in San Francisco, and there is a session there titled Developing extensions for Google Chrome. According to Google officials This talk will cover the basics of the extension system (distribution/packaging, installation, updates), as well as the different APIs to enhance with the browser. As I've written before, this, along with the delivery of Mac and Linux versions of Chrome, will kick the browser into high gear, with Internet Explorer facing many problems.

Recently, we covered benchmarks showing the Release Candidate for Microsoft's Internet Explorer version 8 browser seriously lagging open source browsers Firefox and Google Chrome. We also discussed Microsoft's acknowledgement that the European Commission may force it to see that alternative browsers to IE ship on new computers. Now, representing the latest blow for Internet Explorer, new research shows Microsoft's browser continuing to lose market share.