Mozilla has released a beta version of Firefox 3.6.4, as the company looks to fend off growing competition from the likes of Google's Chrome browser and Apple Safari and continue its battle with Internet Explorer.

With a ballot screen now in place, the playing field is significantly more level than it has been previously and Mozilla is hoping that the latest version of Firefox can lure people over.

Firefox 3.6.4 offers greater stability in dealing with plugins like Flash, Quicktime and Silverlight, and Mozilla is urging people to try the browser and report back.

Uninterrupted

"This version of Firefox will offer uninterrupted browsing for Windows and Linux users when there is a crash in the Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime, or Microsoft Silverlight plugins," explained Mike Beltzner's post on Mozilla Developer News.

"If a crash in one of these plugins happens, Firefox will continue to run and users will be able to submit a crash report before reloading the page to try again."

Users who had installed the Firefox "Lorentz" beta release will be automatically updated to this beta release of Firefox 3.6.4, or can manually "Check for Updates" in the Help menu.

Interesting times

The browser arrives at an interesting time, and not only because of Microsoft's EU ballot page instigation.

Firefox has long been a plucky second place to the behemothic Internet Explorer, but the might of Google is beginning to hand Chrome a significant share of the market.

Although it is IE that is currently dropping in overall usage, Mozilla must now be more conscious that the competition is coming not just the dominant Microsoft browsers, but also from Chrome.