Scott MacGregor writes: "Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5 Beta 1 is now available for download. This is the first beta release of the next major Thunderbird update and is aimed at testers, and extension/theme authors. The final release of Thunderbird 1.5, which will be widely promoted to end-users, is scheduled for later this year along with Firefox 1.5.

"New features include an improved software update system, spell check as you type, phishing detection, podcasting, deleting attachments, reply and forward actions for mail filters, Kerberos authentication, auto save as draft, and many security enchancements.

"Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5 Beta 2 is scheduled for release shortly after Firefox 1.5 Beta 2 around the 5th October with the first 1.5 release candidate due on Friday 28th October.