"Release Candidates" (RC) are the final step before a company releases an official software product.  It signifies that all the features (or nearly all) that will be in the final product are in the RC.  It's like a trial release, to see if major bugs crop up before the official release.

So that's why it's exciting to see Firefox 3 RC1 has just been released.  It means that it's fairly safe for anyone to download and use, although everyone does so wih the understanding that there may be some small glitches here and there, and that they'll need to upgrade to the "real thing" when it's eventually released.

Everything looks great, and this browser continues to be the fastest I've ever used.  This thing rocks.

• Announcement here
• Release notes here
• Downloads here

One word of caution:  Mozilla has tried to sneak a fast one in on the installation process, and will make Firefox your system default web browser unless you're careful. 

When you get to the installation step below, be sure to un-check the box indicated if you don't want Firefox 3 to be the default web browser on your computer.  For example, if IE7 is your primary web browser, and you want to keep it that way, be sure to un-check the box.