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It’s been a busy few days vis-a-vis internet application updates and here’s a quick list of the current releases from Mozilla and Opera Soft, two of the more nimble competitors in the browser space with products that often eclipse Apple’s Safari and Google Chrome. Yes, competition is a very, very good thing.

For Mac users, Firefox 3.6.4 (release notes, 17.6MB) is just a straight security update that patches a vulnerability that “potentially allow remote code execution.” However, for Windows and Linux users, this release also brings “Lorentz,” a sandboxing feature that helps to stop plugins, for example, from creating problems that bring down the whole browser.

A Mozilla blogpost states that Lorentz crash protection requires a major rewrite of Firefox for Mac and, thereupon, it won’t arrive until version 4.0, which is generating a lot of smoke and light from Mozilla but not an anticipated ship date or even timeframe.

For its part, Thunderbird 3.1 RC 2 (release notes, 19.3MB is a bit more ambitious as it provides an improved account setup utility, faster search and saved files manager, as well as the usual passel of performance and security updates. If you’re only interested in “stable releases,” Thunderbird 3.0.5 is also available.

Everyone’s favorite Norwegians have been busy, too, and have released Opera 10.6 beta. Available for Mac, Linux, BSD and Windows, this latest prerelease build offers 75-percent JavaScript performance, smarter search and widescreen aware Speed Dial functionality. That said, the current “stable release” is Opera 10.54, which hit the streets just yesterday with a patch for a critical security flaw baked in.