It reads like a score from a soccer match, but the title says it all. Firefox, ver. 3, Beta 2 is out for distribution and is definitely headed in the right direction.

While working on a couple of designs last week, we encountered a ton of issues with Beta 1 and are now seeing course correction like nobody’s business. Thankfully, even after admitting and fixing over 300 memory leaks, the thing runs faster and without many issues (if you don’t use Windows Live Mail or the New Yahoo Mail).

We don’t portend the success or even shortcomings of the final release, but I will say that at the moment it’s so far, so good.

I’ve had a very bad time dealing with the memory management in FF2 and I’m truly hoping that both the increased speed and massive bug fixes that 3 can become my primary browser.

Regarding usability: the browser has upgraded the look and function of the downloads in particular, which is heaven-sent since we always seem to forget where the testing machine may have picked up a download or two.

Take it for a spin. The bumps you feel should be ironed out when they get the final release candidate up and running.