Firefox 3.6 Enters Beta 1

The Mozilla community has now release Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 for download. This beta version of the next version of Firefox is built on the Gecko 1.9.2 web rendering engine, containing many improvements for web developers, Add-on developers, and users. The Mozilla community appreciates your feedback and assistance in testing this preview of the next version of Firefox. Your beta software will update itself periodically, and eventually will be updated to the final release itself.
This first revision of the Beta of Firefox 3.6 / Gecko 1.9.2 introduces several new features:

• Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
• Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
• Support for the WOFF font format.
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
• Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

Web developers and Add-on developers should read more detail about the many new features in Firefox 3.6 for developers on the Mozilla Developer Center. For the full list of changes since the alpha release, see this list (it’s big).
Please use the following links to download Firefox 3.6 Beta, or visit the beta download page:

• Linux: firefox-3.6b1.tar.bz2

At this time most Add-ons have not yet been upgraded by their authors to be compatible with Firefox 3.6 Beta. If you wish to help test your Add-ons, please also download and install the Add-on Compatibility Reporter – your favorite Add-on author will appreciate it!

Souce: https://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2009/10/30/firefox-3-6-beta-1-is-now-available-for-download/

"Linux killer" in Beta

It's only very rarely that this blog features news not related to Ubuntu / Linux (You could say that this is related to bug #1), and actually I've never written about Microsoft Windows before. That changes today. A lot of blogs are writing about Windows 7 as "the linux killer" - this one doesn't - although the Windows 7 experience is overwhelming positive.

On Friday, January 9, 2009, Microsoft will make the Windows 7 Beta and the Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta available to the public via four different locations on Microsoft.com, each of which is oriented towards a different customer type. I don't have exact URLs yet, but suffice to say that the download availability will be obvious.

Microsoft learned a few lessons the hard way with the release of Vista, and there's no doubt that they'll do everything not to make the same mistakes again. With a lot of enhancements, both visual and under the hood, Windows 7 is going to be a product that will win some lost Windows users back. Windows 7 has faster boot and shutdown time, that both Vista and XP. The hardware requirements have been lowered and Windows 7 will now run well on netbooks like the eee PC.
At the recent PDC, where Windows 7 was unveiled, Windows and Windows Live senior vice president Steve Sinofsky claimed that Windows 7 used less than half of the 1 GB of RAM on his Lenovo S10 netbook," Gralla wrote on October 31st. "Making the new operating system lightweight has clearly been Microsoft's goal."
The next day, Gralla gave one more reason: "The return rate for Linux netbooks is at least four times as high for Linux machines as it is for XP ones for at least one netbook maker [MSI]... The reason? People find Linux too hard to use."
There's also rumors that users buying a computer with Vista preinstalled after July, will be able to upgrade to Windows 7 for free.

I've had the opportunity to try this new Microsoft product and I have to say, one thing Microsoft does really well is make it look good. If you are dualbooting (Linux - Windows) perhaps the BETA is worth trying out.

For more information, screenshots and reviews on Windows 7 visit Paul Thurrott's SuperSite

Ibex wallpaper

If you were one of the people voting on Brainstorm for animal wallpapers for Ubuntu, you might been hoping for an ibex to appear on the Ubuntu 8.10 wallpaper.
However, this isn't very likely to happen as the current wallpaper for the BEAT release doesn't.
Softpedia wrote:

...there's a brand new wallpaper and like it or not, this will be the default one for the final release of Ubuntu 8.10.

Personally I will really miss the ibex. Especially since there's some great ibex artwork on the Art-maillist. Rico Sta. Cruz have made his ibex artwork available for anyone who wants to do their own remix. Here are a few of the remix's I like - take a look below:

Test pre-releases in a more eco-friendly way.

Idea description:

The idea is for a very simple and user-friendly program, which provides the user with an up-to-date list of pre-released (alpha, beta, release candidate…) versions of Ubuntu. The user then chooses a version, for instance Hardy Heron Alpha 6, and the program sets up the partitions needed and installs the selected (ISO) data on the users USB flash drive. Now the user can boot up on the USB flash drive and install the selected release as if it was from a CD. Afterwards the user can erase the data from the flash drive by clicking the “remove data” button inside the program.

Reason:

1. The short release cycle in Ubuntu (and many other distributions), means that every six months, many people download the Alpha 1, 2, 3…, Beta, Release candidate and at last the final release. That’s a lot of CD’s being burned, and when the release you downloaded is outdated, you properly won’t use the CD again. Linux is actually quite eco-friendly (http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/items/environment/index.php?lang=), but this program could provide a way to reduce the amount of CD’s ending up in the trash bin.

2. This program would also provide a tool, that would easily make users able to carry a portable Linux version (and their portable desktop) around with them on their USB flash drive.

Contribute:

Please comment on this project! If you want to help out (especially programmers) please let me know.

Links:

Below is a guide to install, boot and run Ubuntu 7.10 from a flash drive. It seems kind of difficulty, especially for beginners, compared to how I imagine this program would work.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2007/09/28/usb-ubuntu-710-gutsy-gibbon-install/