Firefox 3 is done as promised as of today, but it seems the less-and-less niche browser cannot handle the demand as of yet, giving a Http/1.1 Service Unavailable error upon attempting to access the Get Firefox page. And don't try to be all smart and whatnot and update from the browser itself, you'll just get an AUS: Connection timed out error. Here's a blog posting from the team put online just now:

"The outpouring of interest and enthusiasm around Firefox 3 has been overwhelming (literally!).  Our servers are currently feeling the burn and should be back to normal shortly.  Download day will officially commence once the site goes live.  The 24 hours period will be clocked from that moment.  Thanks for your continued support."

(Update: the site appears fully operational as of 1PM PST.)

So, this won't affect Mozilla Corporation's goal to set the Guiness World Record for most number of software downlods in a day. Good stuff.

Firefox 3 was three years in the making, and we'll see over 15,000 changes from Firefox 2 in this version (see an overview here). The main improvements expected are increased speed and security, not to mention the 'Awesome Bar', which adapts to the user's behaviour to help them find sites more quickly.

Tristan Nitot, founder and president of Mozilla Europe, stated "It's really a completely new version."