Early-bird specials are a good thing, and Mozilla is offering one up just in time for Thanksgiving: The first beta release of Firefox 3 a.k.a. Grand Paradiso.

The release comes after what seemed like more than Mozilla's share of friction-laden episodes. At the beginning of November, Mozilla was forced to pull an alpha version of the browser after it was reported in an erroneous Digg listing as the first official beta. Then, just last week, an article in the New York Times led to a vehement denunciation — complete with four-letter-words — from Mozilla's Director of Community Development.

Those wishing to test out the beta can pick it up from Mozilla. Users should be forewarned, however, that it's development software and is still a bit rough around the edges.

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