Firstly - while I was browsing, I found the roadmap to Firefox 2.0:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/roadmap.html
Secondly, you can look at the roadmap to Firefox 1.0. It can be viewed
HERE. It clearly states the first release was in 2002, so about 2 years to fully develop a web browser
:
0.1 Pescadero 2002-09-23 Bugs Initial release introducing customizable toolbars, simple new interface, performance and size improvements, and lots of destruction.
0.2 Santa Cruz 2002-10-01 Bugs Improvements to toolbar customization, inline web form autocomplete, sidebar, extensions management, making preferences work (somewhat), more size improvements and bug fixing.
0.3 Lucia 2002-10-14 Bugs A few more features, global Go menu, improvements to pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing improvements, redesign of bookmark groups, more speed and size improvements and lots of bug fixing.
0.4 Oceano 2002-10-21 Bugs Shifting from features to bug fixing and polish. Plans to leverage the Mozilla 1.2 stability push to make Phoenix rock solid.
0.5 Naples 2002-12-07 Bugs Polish and cleanup. Lots of bug fixing.
0.6 Glendale 2003-05-16 Bugs Redesigned Options window, new default theme, smooth scrolling, automatic image resizing, and much more.
0.6.1 Glendale 2003-07-28 Bugs Security and other critical fixes, middle mouse button pan scrolling, a few other fixes picked up off the trunk.
0.7 Indio 2003-10-14 Bugs Updated helper applications management, automatic downloading, plugin control, bookmark panels, theme updates and numerous bug fixes.
0.7.1 Three Kings 2003-10-25 Bugs Maintenance update for Mac OS X - focusing on a small number of critical bugs that were present in 0.7 (see link) including external URL handling (when used as default browser) and page Save-As.
0.8 Royal Oak 2004-02-09 Bugs + - ? Download System Upgrade (ongoing Helper Applications and Download Manager updates), Part II (ben), XPInstall UI Upgrade (ben), Windows Installer (ben), Add Bookmark Dialog UI (pch)
0.9 One Tree Hill 2004-06-15 Bugs + -
? "Feature Complete" - Linux Installer (bryner), Mail Integration UI (mail button option for toolbar to launch default mailer) (ben), Extension API Changes [chrome registry changes, extension update UI] (ben+et.al.) SmartUpdate (ben) Migration Engine (ben), Help System Documentation Integration (rlk)
1.0PR Greenlane 2004-09-14 Bugs + - ? Bugs with higher complexity/risk, localization impact. See queries.
Release Candidates: RC1 (Mission Bay - 2004-10-27) and RC2 (Whangamata - 2004-11-03)
1.0 Phoenix 2004-11-9 Bugs + - ? Ultra Critical Bugs, PR Feedback
1.1 Deer Park March 2005 Bugs Re-sync with trunk. Ongoing HIG compliance work for Aqua, GNOME etc.
1.5 "The Ocho" ??? 2005 Bugs First major half of 2.0 development.
2.0 ??? 2005 Bugs Second major half of 2.0 development.