After going through a total of 4 Beta versions and 2 release candidates (RC2 fixed a high CPU usage bug), the development process of Thunderbird 3.0 has finally come to an end. Thunderbird 3.0 has been released to the awaiting masses as a final, stable software application. There is just one thing I have to say: it’s about time. It sure took a long time – I remember reporting on the release of Thunderbird 3 Beta 1 this time last year.

“Mozilla Messaging is happy to announce that Thunderbird 3 is now available for download. Thunderbird 3 has been under development for the past two years, and contains many new features we’re excited about and we think users will enjoy,” said the official release announcement.

Let’s get straight to the point. Here is what you can expect to get from Thunderbird 3.0 Final:

- New Search with Advanced Filtering Tools
- New Global Search Field with Autocomplete
- New Mail Account Setup Wizard
- Redesigned Mail Toolbar
- Tabbed Email Messages
- Smart Folders
- New Message Summary View
- Column Headings
- Message Archive
- Activity Manager
- New Add-ons Manager
- Improved Address Book
- Improved Gmail Integration
- Integrated with Vista search results (Windows version only)
- Integrated with Spotlight (Mac OS X version only)
- Thunderbird 3 can import from Mail.app, can read your OS X address book, and can use Growl for new mail alerts (Mac OS X version only)
- IMAP Folder Synchronization

If you would like to see a more in-depth presentation of these features, go through the Release Notes.
If you would like to jump right in and use Thunderbird 3.0, you can download it here. The software is available in 49 different languages for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux users alike.