"Mozilla Messaging has published a proposed schedule for Thunderbird 3.1, the next release of the popular e-mail client. The organization is refining its development process and could potentially shift towards shorter release cycles and a more incremental approach to development.

"Mozilla Messaging, the Mozilla subsidiary behind the Thunderbird project, has revealed a preliminary roadmap proposal for the next major version of the open source e-mail client. The developers could potentially adopt a more incremental development model with shorter release cycles.

"According to a new proposed schedule that has been published in the Mozilla wiki, Thunderbird 3.1 is tentatively planned for release in April. The new version will include an updated Gecko engine and some features that weren't quite ready for the 3.0 release. The roadmap states that large and disruptive changes will be avoided during this development cycle.