The two biggest Web browsers on the Internet are both gearing up for their next release, and both Mozilla and Microsoft have made the latest betas of their products available. The former has made available the fourth beta of Firefox 3, which now incorporates a download manager as standard, and new zoom functionality.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has unleashed the first beta of Internet Explorer 8, although as you'd expect from such early software, it's reported to have a selection of problems at this point in its development. Microsoft has been making welcoming noises on standards adoption, though, and feedback on it has been mixed thus far.

Both Firefox 3 and Internet Explorer 8 are a little way away from final release, but we'd expect to see them both before the year is out.