Firefox 3.5 (CodeName Shiretoko) Beta 5 is a public preview release intended for developer testing and community feedback. It includes many new features as well as improvements to performance, web compatibility, and speed. We recommend that you read the release notes and known issues before installing this beta. Firefox 3.5 (formerly known as Firefox 3.1) Beta 5 is now available for download. This milestone is focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3.5. Ongoing planning for Firefox 3.1 can be followed at the Firefox 3.5 Planning Center, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #shiretoko.
nVIDIA ForceWare software unleashes the full power and features in nVIDIA's desktop, gaming, platform, workstation, laptop, multimedia, and mobile products. Delivering a proven record of compatibility, reliability, and stability with the widest range of games and applications, ForceWare software ensures the best experience with your nVIDIA hardware. • Incredible 3D and video performance for all of your applications. • Rock-solid system stability, greater compatibility, and reliability with nVIDIA® Unified Driver Architecture (UDA). • Industry-leading features for graphics, audio, video, communications, storage, and security. • Robust product support for over ten unique operating systems. • Continual product performance and feature updates for the life of your nVIDIA hardware.
NVIDIA has released the following WHQL certified drivers for use with Windows Vista RTM that will enable you to test the basic features and capabilities of the new operating system. NVIDIA is committed to supportingMicrosoft Windows Vista on current and previous GPU generations. It's important to us that you have an excellent experience through the Vista transition, and driver development is the highest priority in our company.
This is a WHQL-Certified driver supporting GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, and 200-series desktop GPUs and ION.
New in Release 185 drivers: * Adds support for the new GeForce GTX 275 GPU. * Adds support for Ambient Occlusion – the newest NVIDIA Control Panel feature to offer enhanced 3D gaming realism exclusively to GeForce GPUs. * Adds support for CUDA 2.2 for improved performance in GPU Computing applications. See CUDA for more details. * Expands GPU hardware acceleration for the NVIDIA Video Encoding library to GPUs with less than 32 cores. Applications using this library include CyberLink PowerDirector 7, Nero Move it 1.5, Loilo SuperLoiloScope MARS, and CyberLink MediaShow Espresso. * Accelerates performance in several 3D applications. The following are examples of improvements measured with Release 185 drivers vs. Release 182 drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings): o Up to 25% performance increase in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena o Up to 22% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with antialiasing enabled o Up to 11% performance increase in Fallout 3 with antialiasing enabled o Up to 14% performance increase in Far Cry 2 o Up to 30% performance increase in Half-Life 2 engine games with 3-way and 4-way SLI o Up to 45% performance increase in Mirror’s Edge with antialiasing enabled * Automatically installs the new PhysX System Software version 9.09.0408. * Supports GeForce Plus Power Pack #3. Download these FREE PhysX and CUDA applications now! * Numerous bug fixes. Refer to the release documentation notes. * Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.
Existing Support: * Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards. * Includes full support for OpenGL 3.0. * Supports NVIDIA SLI Multi-monitor support, giving you the ability to use two monitors with your GeForce graphics cards in SLI mode. Learn more here. * Supports NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects. Learn more here. Note: GPU PhysX is supported on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory. * Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.
When Microsoft released the official beta for Windows 7 a while back, it also published a set of system requirements. These were a general overview, and it seems that they have been updated to match the Windows 7 RC recently made available.
Here's the list of initial system requirements Microsoft made available:
* 1GHz processor (32- or 64-bit) * 1GB of RAM * 16 GB of available disk space * Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128MB of memory (for the Aero interface)
And here, you will find the updated and final list of requirements:
* 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit) * 1 GB of RAM (32-bit); 2 GB of RAM (64-bit) * 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit); 20 GB of avaiable disk space (64-bit) * DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
According to ZDNet, however, "If you are planning to run Windows XP Mode along with Windows 7, Microsoft is recommending a PC with a minimum of 2GB of memory and 15 GB of additional disk space." Microsoft stated, "In addition, Windows Virtual PC requires a PC with Intel-VT or AMD-V enabled in the CPU, as it takes advantage of the latest advancements in hardware virtualization."
If you're interested in comparing, here is the list of final specifications for Windows Vista:
* 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit) * 512 MB of RAM (for Home Basic); 1 GB of RAM for all other versions * 15 GB of available disk space * Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory (for Home Basic); 128 MB of graphics memory plus WDDM support for all other versions
These specifications are not specific to any particular SKU, and again, are final. Thoughts?
The wait is over folks, Microsoft has published the download page for the Windows 7 RC. As we noted earlier, the download was scheduled to launch tomorrow and was to be available worldwide. Coming straight from the download page, here are Microsoft's notes for the release candidate:
You don't need to rush to get the RC. The RC will be available at least through July 2009 and we're not limiting the number of product keys, so you have plenty of time.
Watch the calendar. The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you'll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You'll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use. (Learn more about installing Windows.)
Protect your PC and data. Be sure to back up your data and please don't test the RC on your primary home or business PC.
Tech details/updates: Before installing the RC, please read the Release Notes and Things to Know for important information about the release.
Keep up with the news. You can keep up with general technical information and news by following the team blog. And, you can get non-technical news, tips, and offers by subscribing to the monthly Exploring Windows newsletter.
Keep your PC updated: Be sure to turn on automatic updates in Windows Update in case we publish updates for the RC.
Installation: You can install the Windows 7 RC on a PC running Windows Vista without backing up the PC—but we encourage you to make a backup for safe keeping. If you're running Windows XP or the Windows 7 Beta, you'll need to backup your data, then do a clean installation of the RC, then reinstall your applications and restore your data. If you need to do a backup, please see How to back up your PC for more details and a suggestion for how to backup a PC running Windows 7 Beta or Windows Vista.
So without further a-do folks, click here to go to Microsoft's download center and download the Windows 7 RC. Microsoft has also launched the Technet download which you can find here. On a side note, it appears as if you will be issued a new product key for the RC. It is most likely going to give you the extended time for using the RC if you have downloaded from another source. Installation instructions can be found here.
Microsoft has finally compiled the final RTM version of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. As usual, the setup installer for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 have been leaked to Internet for free download by all, way ahead of official Microsoft release.
The final RTM of SP2 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista has the file build version of 6002.18005, with full string of 6.0.6002.18005, as mentioned in article about SP2 RTM-Escrow, and confirmed by Windows Team Blog post. mychaelo has posted on My Digital Life forums the leaked Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 standalone setup installers, for both 32bit and 64bit, in the form of RapidShare and DepositFiles HTTP download links plus torrents for BT download.
32-bit (x86) Windows Vista and Server 2008 SP2 RTM (All 36 Languages)
The standalone setup installer for Windows Vista and WS 2008 SP2 contains all 36 languages to support all localized operating system. No need to wait for any separate language waves to be released. However, for Windows Vista users who want to download a smaller SP2 update files, standalone SP2 installers for specific waves are also available.
32bit (x86) Windows Vista and Server 2008 SP2 RTM (Wave 0 - English, Japanese, Spanish, German and French)
Windows Vista Users will require to download and install Windows Vista SP1 prior to updating SP2. Officially, the roll out of Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 via Windows Update will take months, although the installer will make available publicly soon, during the second quarter of 2009. Those not intends to install SP2 onto their system should download and install Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit. However, Windows Vista SP1 will be made mandatory and started to deploy to all Windows Vista soon.
For Windows users who prefer to fresh install Windows Vista with SP2 from clean state (after reformatting hard disk), Windows Vista with SP2 slipstreamed or integrated DVD ISO images are also leaked to Internet.
The 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 2 delivers important customer-requested stability and performance improvements, while incorporating further enhancements to user security. This service pack also includes all of the updates released for the 2007 Office suite prior to February 2009. Service Pack 2 adds the ability to open, edit and save documents in version 1.1 of the OpenDocument Format for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. These applications now let users save, open, and edit files as OpenDocument Text (*.odt), OpenDocument Spreadsheet (*.ods), and OpenDocument Presentations (*.odp).
The 2007 Microsoft Office Service Pack 2 is the first service pack to support uninstall of client updates through the Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite as well as via Windows Installer command line. The Service Pack Uninstall Tool will be available as a separate download,” the Office Service Pack team member added. “The Microsoft Save As PDF or XPS add-in has been built into Office applications in SP2. Users no longer have to download and install the add-in separately.”
The 2007 Microsoft Office servers Service Pack 2 (SP2) package gives customers the latest updates to the 2007 Office server products. This service pack includes two main categories of fixes: • Previously unreleased fixes that were made specifically for this service pack. o In addition to providing general product fixes, SP2 includes improvements in stability, in performance, and in security. • All the public updates, security updates, cumulative updates, and hotfixes that were released through February 2009.
Microsoft Enterprise Content Management (ECM): * Improves the performance and stability of the content deployment feature and of the Variations feature. * Adds a new command to the Stsadm.exe tool. This tool provides the following functionality: o Lets a SharePoint administrator use the Variations feature to scan a site for errors, report the errors, and fix certain problems. o Finds and repairs missing peer relationships and corrupted entries in the internal variations relationships list. o Handles the propagation of large volumes of variations content in a more manageable way.
Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office Access services: * Fixes Open Snapshot so that snapshots open more reliably, even if there is no SharePoint root site. * Fixes display issues that cause calculations to appear incorrect in some cases. * Improves connections to cubes by using .odc files in non-English cases. * Improves the performance of programmatic scenarios. * Fixes conditional formatting in Mozilla Firefox browsers. * Improves support for generating Excel Web Access Web parts on new sites.
Microsoft Office Groove Server (64-bit version only): * Office Groove Server 2007 Data Bridge now limits the number of file-sharing workspaces to 64 to make sure that all workspaces can be synchronized. This limit applies only to newly added file-sharing workspaces. If you already have more than 64 file-sharing workspaces, you can continue to use them. * Improves synchronization reliability. * Groove Server 2007 Manager can be installed and run with SQL Server 2008. * Improves the Groove Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) connectivity and auto-activation functionality. * Improves error reporting in the Groove Relay Server. * Improves the robustness of Groove Relay Server.
Microsoft Office Forms Server: * Improves performance of large browser forms on InfoPath Form Services, both for memory usage and for page load time. * Improves reliability of Forms Server and of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server by addressing the previous behavior in which an upgrade of an administrator-approved form template triggers an IIS reset. * Improves the Digital Signature functionality for InfoPath Forms Services.
Microsoft Office Project Server: * Modifies the queue service to prevent it from using large volumes of memory over long periods. * Improves the performance of certain database table indexes. * Improves cost resource functionality. For example, the server now correctly handles tasks that have material or work resources assigned to the same task. * Improves certain areas such as resource plans, build team, and the server scheduling engine.
Microsoft Office Search Server: * Improves the reliability and stability of WSS crawl, of SharePoint crawl, of crawling through a very large corpus, and of backup restore. * Introduces a new command to the Stsadm.exe tool that lets a SharePoint administrator tune the Query processor multiplier parameter. For example, the Query processor multiplier can be used to tune the query performance for SSP indexing content sources that have highly restrictive permissions and many duplicates. * Improves the accuracy of searches that involve numbers. For example, there is additional support for large numbers in which a comma is used to separate every three digits (for example, 1,000,000), for numbers that are between 9 and 40 characters, and for numbers that are separated by spaces.
Platform support: * Provides full support for Windows Internet Explorer 8. * Provides level 2 browser support for Mozilla Firefox (versions 2 and 3).
Note: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 2 is required for 2007 Microsoft Office servers SP2.
Hisar Yayınevi'den çıkan bu eser İmam Gazali r.a. ait. Özellikle Hisar Yayınevininkisini yazdım zira diğer çevirilerde hatalar ve duaların ve ayetlerin Arapçalarını görememe sorunu var. Ben Çelik yayınlarının eserini almıştım fakat Çelik yayınları eseri iyi incelemememiş. İmla hataları var özellikle Allah lafzında ve duaların tamamen Türkçe yapmış, Arapça yazılışlarını vermemiş çoğu yeride farklı manaya gelecek şekilde çevirmiş. Allah'tan başka bir çeviri ile karşılaştırınca farkettim... Eser yaklaşık 20-21 TL arasında. Çok zevkle okuyacağınız eserde İmam Gazali r.a. Şafii mehzebinde olduğunu gözönüne getirerek bakabilirsiniz. Zaten İmam Gazali r.a. tüm eserleri büyük bir zevkle okunacak şekilde yazılmış...
Devrimci Karargah'ın gözaltına alınan yöneticisi, Doğan Grubu'nun Vatan Gazetesini internet sitesi yöneticisi çıktı
Devrimci Karargah Örgütü’ne yapılan operasyonda gözaltına alınan 12 kişi çok kilit isimlerden oluşuyor. Örgütün yöneticileri, ideologları, operasyonel kanadı tamamen çökertilmiş durumda. Gözaltına alınan isimlerden biri ortalığı inletecek cinsten.
O isim Doğan Grubu’na ait Vatan Gazetesi’nin internet sitesi www.gazetevatan.com 'un Yayın Yönetmeni Aylin Duruoğlu… Aylin Duruoğlu’nun gözaltına alındığı bilgisinin ortaya çıkması üzerine Doğan Grubu’na adeta bomba düştüğü öğrenildi.
Hürriyet Gazetesi’nin Devrimci Karargah’a yönelik operasyondan sonra internet sitesi üzerinden sözkonusu baskını Mahir Çayan ve Deniz Gezmiş’e yönelik baskınlara benzetmesi ve iki baskın arasında ilişki kurarak, adeta teröristleri kutsaması da dikkat çekmişti.
Vatan Gazetesi son dönemde Doğan Grubu’nun Ergenekon’a en çok destek veren yayın organı konumundaydı,
Vatan Gazetesi’nin internet sitesi gazetevatan.com, grubun en hırçın yayın yapan internet sitesi ve tıklanma oranları da hayli yüksek. Gözaltına alınan Gazetevatan.com’un Yayın Yönetmeni Aylin Duruoğlu’nun, öldürülen örgüt lideri Orhan Yılmazkaya ile ile sık sık telefonla ve yüz yüze görüştüğü belirlendi. Duruoğlu ve Yılmazkaya ikilisinin Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi’nde aynı sınıfta okudukları ve ilişkilerini dava arkadaşı olarak sürdürdükleri belirlendi.
Vatan Gazetesi özellikle son günlerde Türkan Saylan ve ÇYDD’ye yönelik operasyonda Ergenekon Davası’na adeta savaş açmıştı. Saylan’ın derneğinin de çeşitli örgüt üyelerine burs verdiği ortaya çıkmıştı.
Aylin Duruoğlu'nun geçmiş yıllarda da dhkp c militanları ile ilişkili olduğu belirlendi.
ERGENEKON'UN YENİ KOLUYDU
Devrimci Karargah'ın deşifre olan ve yıpranan PKK, DHKP-C gibi örgütlerin yerine Ergenekon tarafından devreye sokulmak üzere hazırlandığı Ergenekon İddianamesi'ne yansımıştı. Örgüt, DHKP-C'nin tabanı ve söylemi üzerine kurulu, ancak eğitimini PKK'dan alıyor. Yani çift taraflı bir işbirliği sözkonusu.
İŞTE GÖZALTINA ALINAN İSİMLER
Özgür Dinçer, Süleyman Gürkan Anıl, Fatih Aydın, Abdüsselam Sultan, Muhammet Çetin, Mehmet Yeşiltepe (örgüt teorisyeni) Ceren Sültaş, Aylin Duruoğlu, Sevim Öztürk, Ergin Öncü, Mustafa Aşula, Melek Seven
Güngör Ergün'ün dün yayınlanan "Türkan Abla Skandalı" özel haberi de son günlerin tartışmalı birçok konusuna ışık tutuyor.
Ergün, Ergenekon'un 12'nci dalgasında basılan Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği'nin Kadıköy şubesinde ele geçirilen "şifreli" bir dosyaya dikkat çekiyor.
Son operasyonda 13 şubesi basılan ÇYDD, hasta olan Genel Başkan Prof. Türkan Saylan'ın evi arandığı ve derneğin burs listesine de el konulduğu için operasyona yönelik eleştirilerin merkezi olmuştu.
"_2008 toplantıözeti" başlıklı dosya, ÇYDD'nin ilişkileri ve çalışmalarının kamuoyuna sunulduğunun aksine masum eğitim faaliyetlerinden ibaret olmadığını ortaya koyuyor.
Dosyada yer alan kararlarla ilgili sık sık "Türkan Abla" referansı yapılıyor.
Mesela ÇYDD, araç yakan PKK'lı eylemcilere bursları polisin uyarılarına rağmen bilerek kesmemiş.
Gerekçe "Türkan Abla". İşte o çarpıcı not:
"Polis içinden gelen bilgilere göre araç yakanlar nedeniyle burslar konusunda daha dikkatli davranmak zorundayız.
Türkan abla 'gerekirse kayıt silinsin ama bursta kesintiye gitmemeliyiz' görüşünde.
Acil durumlarda yalnızca Türkan ablanın belirlediği listedeki polis müdürleriyle görüşülecek"
Ancak şifreli dosyada askeri okul öğrencileri ile ilgili çok daha şok edici ifadeler yer alıyor.
"Askeri okullara yakın çevrede oluşturulan kız evlerine en uygun kızlar seçilerek bu evlere aktarılacak.
Çalışmanın hassasiyeti sıklıkla vurgulanacak.
Kızlara her türlü fedakarlık yapmaları için yönlendirmede bulunulacak.
Kuleli'de rehberlik dersinden yararlanılacak".
Bu skandal kararların alınmasını sağlayan Türkan Abla kim olabilir?
Kuleli Askeri Lisesi'nden neden "yararlanmak" istiyor?
Askeri lisenin yakın çevresine neden kız evleri açar?
Kızlardan istediği "her türlü fedakarlık" neleri içeriyor?
Bu ifadeleri çok daha önemli kılan diğer bir neden de, yine Kadıköy Şube'nin bilgisayarında bulunan şok mektup.
Tuğamiral "S.O.K." imzalı mektuba da "Amiral'den gizli mektup" manşetiyle geçtiğimiz hafta yine gazetemizde yer vermiştik.
Skandal mektup da "Saygıdeğer Hanım Efendim" diye başlıyor.
ÇYDD'nin Deniz Askeri Lisesi ve Deniz Harp Okulu'na "Ata Evleri" üzerinden elemanlar sokması ve kadrolar oluşturması için öneriler sıralanıyor.
Kuleli'de olduğu gibi "kızların kullanılması" tavsiye ediliyor.
Yine burs verilen kızların teğmenleri "kontrol" için kullanılması talep ediliyor:
"Okudukları süreçte tanıştıkları kızların teğmenlerin evlerine sık sık giderek veya Kocaeli Üniversitesi'nde tanıdık kızlarla tanıştırılarak kontrol altında tutulması gerekmektedir".
Bir tuğamiralin "Saygıdeğer Hanım Efendim" diye hitap ettiği kadın kim olabilir? 'Türkan Abla' ile aynı mı?
Okumak isteyen maddi sıkıntı içindeki kız öğrencileri burs karşılığında bu tür faaliyetlerde kullanmak, şayet gerçekleştiyse, çağdışı istismarın en büyüğü değil mi?
Türkan Abla, kızları kullanıp ne tür bir kadrolaşma faaliyetinde bulundu?
Genelkurmay Başkanlığı herhalde ÇYDD burslular ile "öğrenci ya da mezun" mensupları arasındaki temasları araştırmaya başlamıştır.
Orgeneral İlker Başbuğ eminin yapacağı basın toplantısında, bu karanlık faaliyetler hakkında da Türk halkını bildirecektir.
Böylece "Saygıdeğer Hanım Efendim" diye hitap edilen "Türkan Abla"nın kim olduğunu da bütün Türkiye öğrenmiş olur. Kaynak:Bugün
Luis de Bethencourt has announced the release of Ubuntu Studio 9.04, a multimedia variant of Ubuntu built for the GNU/Linux audio, video, and graphics enthusiast: "The Ubuntu Studio team is proud to announce its fifth release - Ubuntu Studio 9.04. With this release, Ubuntu Studio offers a pre-made selection of packages, targeted at audio, video and graphics users. Ubuntu Studio greatly simplifies the creation of Linux-based multimedia workstations. For Ubuntu Studio 9.04 we have continued to update packages and fix critical bugs to improve the Ubuntu Studio user experience. Features, fixes and improvements: heavily-tested 2.6.28 real-time kernel for low-latency audio work; Jack Connection Kit upgraded to 0.116.1 (a major improvement); Ardour upgraded to 2.7.1; fresh Ubuntu Studio looks improvements; addition to Ubuntu Studio Controls to allow users to maintain Ctr+Alt+Backspace behavior." Read the rest of the release notes for additional details. DownloadMD5): ubuntustudio-9.04-alternate-i386.iso (1,313MB, torrent), ubuntustudio-9.04-alternate-amd64.iso (1,330MB, torrent). (
Mozilla Firefox - faster, more secure, easier to use and sporting a new look, this latest Firefox release sets a new standard for web browser innovation. Mozilla Firefox project (formerly Firebird, which was formerly Phoenix) is a redesign of Mozilla's browser component, written using the XUL user interface language and designed to be cross-platform. It is small, fast and easy to use, and offers many advantages over other web browsers, such as the tabbed browsing and the ability to block pop-up windows.
Mozilla Firefox 3 is focused on improved memory handling, performance, and stability, improved XUL, and new core components such as application data stored in SQLite. Firefox 3 is based on the Gecko 1.9 Web rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 34 months. This new platform includes more than 15,000 changes to improve performance, stability, rendering correctness, and code simplification and sustainability. Firefox 3 is been built on top of this new platform resulting in a more secure, easier to use, more personal product with a lot more under the hood to offer website and Firefox add-on developers.
Secure: * One-click site info: Click the site favicon in the location bar to see who owns the site and to check if your connection is protected from eavesdropping. Identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand. When a site uses Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates, the site favicon button will turn green and show the name of the company you're connected to. (Try it here!) * Malware Protection: malware protection warns users when they arrive at sites which are known to install viruses, spyware, trojans or other malware. (Try it here!) * New Web Forgery Protection page: the content of pages suspected as web forgeries is no longer shown. (Try it here!) * New SSL error pages: clearer and stricter error pages are used when Firefox encounters an invalid SSL certificate. (Try it here!) * Add-ons and Plugin version check: Firefox now automatically checks add-on and plugin versions and will disable older, insecure versions. * Secure add-on updates: to improve add-on update security, add-ons that provide updates in an insecure manner will be disabled. * Anti-virus integration: Firefox will inform anti-virus software when downloading executables. * Vista Parental Controls: Firefox now respects the Vista system-wide parental control setting for disabling file downloads. * Effective top-level domain (eTLD) service better restricts cookies and other restricted content to a single domain. * Better protection against cross-site JSON data leaks.
Easy to Use: * Easier password management: an information bar replaces the old password dialog so you can now save passwords after a successful login. * Simplified add-on installation: the add-ons whitelist has been removed making it possible to install extensions from third-party sites in fewer clicks. * New Download Manager: the revised download manager makes it much easier to locate downloaded files, and you can see and search on the name of the website where a file came from. Your active downloads and time remaining are always shown in the status bar as your files download. * Resumable downloading: users can now resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting your network connection. * Full page zoom: from the View menu and via keyboard shortcuts, the new zooming feature lets you zoom in and out of entire pages, scaling the layout, text and images, or optionally only the text size. Your settings will be remembered whenever you return to the site. * Podcasts and Videocasts can be associated with your media playback tools. * Tab scrolling and quickmenu: tabs are easier to locate with the new tab scrolling and tab quickmenu. * Save what you were doing: Firefox will prompt users to save tabs on exit. * Optimized Open in Tabs behavior: opening a folder of bookmarks in tabs now appends the new tabs rather than overwriting. * Location and Search bar size can now be customized with a simple resizer item. * Text selection improvements: multiple text selections can be made with Ctrl/Cmd; double-click drag selects in "word-by-word" mode; triple-clicking selects a paragraph. * Find toolbar: the Find toolbar now opens with the current selection. * Plugin management: users can disable individual plugins in the Add-on Manager. * Integration with Windows: Firefox now has improved Windows icons, and uses native user interface widgets in the browser and in web forms. * Integration with the Mac: the new Firefox theme makes toolbars, icons, and other user interface elements look like a native OS X application. Firefox also uses OS X widgets and supports Growl for notifications of completed downloads and available updates. A combined back and forward control make it even easier to move between web pages. * Integration with Linux: Firefox's default icons, buttons, and menu styles now use the native GTK theme.
Personal: * Star button: quickly add bookmarks from the location bar with a single click; a second click lets you file and tag them. * Tags: associate keywords with your bookmarks to sort them by topic. * Smart Location Bar: type in all or part of the title, tag or address of a page to see a list of matches from your history and bookmarks; a new display makes it easier to scan through the matching results and find that page you're looking for. Results are returned according to their a combination of frequency, and recency of visits to that page, ensuring that you're seeing the most relevant matches. An adaptive learning algorithm further tunes the results to your patterns! * Library: view, organize and search through your bookmarks, tags and browsing history using the new Library window. Create or restore full backups of this data whenever with a few clicks. * Smart Bookmark Folders: quickly access your most visited bookmarks from the toolbar, or recently bookmarked and tagged pages from the bookmark menu. Create your own Smart Bookmark Folders by saving a search query in the Library. * Web-based protocol handlers: web applications, such as your favorite webmail provider, can now be used instead of desktop applications for handling mailto: links from other sites. Similar support is available for other protocols (Web applications will have to first enable this by registering as handlers with Firefox). * Download & Install Add-ons: the Add-ons Manager (Tools > Add-ons) can now be used to download and install a Firefox customization from the thousands of Add-ons available from our community add-ons website. When you first open the Add-ons Manager, a list of recommended Add-ons is shown. * Easy to use Download Actions: a new Applications preferences pane provides a better UI for configuring handlers for various file types and protocol schemes.
Platform for Developers: * New graphics and font handling: new graphics and text rendering architectures in Gecko 1.9 provides rendering improvements in CSS, SVG as well as improved display of fonts with ligatures and complex scripts. * Color management: (set gfx.color_management.enabled on in about:config and restart the browser to enable.) Firefox can now adjust images with embedded color profiles. * Offline support: enables web applications to provide offline functionality (website authors must add support for offline browsing to their site for this feature to be available to users). * A more complete overview of Firefox 3 for developers is available for website and add-on developers.
Performance: * Speed: improvements to our JavaScript engine as well as profile guided optimizations have resulted in continued improvements in performance. Compared to Firefox 2, web applications like Google Mail and Zoho Office run twice as fast in Firefox 3, and the popular SunSpider test from Apple shows improvements over previous releases. * Memory usage: Several new technologies work together to reduce the amount of memory used by Firefox 3 over a web browsing session. Memory cycles are broken and collected by an automated cycle collector, a new memory allocator reduces fragmentation, hundreds of leaks have been fixed, and caching strategies have been tuned. * Reliability: A user's bookmarks, history, cookies, and preferences are now stored in a transactionally secure database format which will prevent data loss even if their system crashes.
Windows 7 (formerly codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna) is the next release of Microsoft Windows, an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Microsoft stated in 2007 that it is planning Windows 7 development for a three-year time frame starting after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista, but that the final release date will be determined by product quality.
Unlike its predecessor, Windows 7 is intended to be an incremental upgrade with the goal of being fully compatible with existing device drivers, applications, and hardware. Presentations given by the company in 2008 have focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup, and performance improvements. Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, most notably Windows Mail (formerly Outlook Express), Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are no longer included with the operating system; they are instead offered separately as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite.
Windows 7 - It's the next version of Windows for PCs, and it's the result of working hand-in-hand with our partners and with people who use Windows in the real world every day. We're paying particular attention to the things they're telling us are important to them and will make their PCs work the way they want them to - things like enhanced reliability, responsiveness, and faster boot and shut-down. We're also trying to make their everyday tasks easier, like connecting and syncing devices, browsing the web, and managing a home network.
Of course, we're also working on new capabilities, so people will be able to do things with Windows 7 that were difficult (or perhaps impossible) to do with PCs before. Finally, we're working hard to ensure that Windows 7 will run on any PC and work with any program that works today with Windows Vista, so upgrading from Windows Vista will be easy.
FEATURES: Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch, speech, and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, and kernel improvements.
According to reports sent to TG Daily, the Milestone 1 build of Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors and a new version of Windows Media Center. New features in Milestone 1 also reportedly include Gadgets being integrated into Windows Explorer, a Gadget for Windows Media Center, the ability to visually pin and unpin items from the Start Menu and Taskbar, improved media features, the XPS Essentials Pack being integrated, Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE), and a multiline Calculator featuring Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion.
Reports indicate that a feedback tool included in Milestone 1 lists some coming features: the ability to store Internet Explorer settings on a Windows Live account, updated versions of Paint and WordPad, and a 10-minute install process. In addition, improved network connection tools might be included.
Many new items have been added to the Control Panel including: Accelerators, ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Infrared, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, Windows Solution Center, and Display. Windows Security Center has been renamed the Windows Solution Center (Windows Health Center in earlier builds) which encompass both security and maintenance of the computer.
The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the Quick Launch has been merged with the buttons to create an enhanced taskbar or what Microsoft internally refers to as the "Superbar". This enhanced taskbar also enables the Jump Lists feature to allow easy access to common tasks.
According to released PDC 2008, which was held 27-30 October 2008, session information, Windows 7 discussions will cover "enhancements to the taskbar, Start Menu, thumbnails and their desktop elements", a new networking API with support for building SOAP based web services in native code (as opposed to.NET based WCF web services), new features to shorten application install times, reduced UAC prompts, simplified development of installation packages,[56] and improved globalization support through a new Extended Linguistic Services API. Windows 7 will also contain a new FireWire (IEEE 1394) stack that fully supports IEEE 1394b with S800, S1600 and S3200 data rates.
At WinHEC 2008 Microsoft announced that color depths of 30-bit and 48-bit would be supported in Windows 7 along with the wide color gamut scRGB (which for HDMI 1.3 can be converted and output as xvYCC). The video modes supported in Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit sRGB, 30-bit with extended color gamut sRGB, and 48-bit scRGB.
BUILDS:
Build 6801 On 8 October 2008, screenshots of Windows 7 build 6801 were leaked. On 28 October 2008, Microsoft distributed build 6801 to attendees at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC). It has since been leaked to bittorrent networks. It features an enhanced taskbar similar to the one in build 6933 although it is disabled by default. An unofficial patch has been released to enable the new taskbar in build 6801.
Pre-Beta 1 Microsoft also demonstrated build 6933.winmain.081020-1842 during the PDC, but did not give it to attendees. On 14 November 2008, screenshots of Windows 7 build 6936 were leaked by Winfuture. On 20 November 2008, Microsoft posted screenshots of build 6948 on the Engineering Windows 7 blog. In early December, WinFutere.de leaked screenshots of Build 6956, which demonstrated a new bootscreen. (Announced by WinFuture since Build 6954) and several improvements. At the WinHEC in China an attendee from the conference leaked a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) image of Windows 7 Build 6956, then an ISO image was published, in this same site we can see many new screenshots of this build. Lately, Paul Thurrott posted several screenshots on his website of a newer build.
Beta 1 Microsoft has confirmed that Beta 1 will be handed out at MSDN Developer Conference on 13th January 2009 in the form of a DVD.
Release Candidate The release candidate for Windows 7 will be available after Beta 1.
Final Build While officially Microsoft has stated that Windows 7 will be released three years after Vista was shipped, the company has indicated that it plans to release Windows 7 in mid-2009, in time for installation on PCs that will ship for the Christmas 2009 buying season.
Mozilla Firefox - faster, more secure, easier to use and sporting a new look, this latest Firefox release sets a new standard for web browser innovation. Mozilla Firefox project (formerly Firebird, which was formerly Phoenix) is a redesign of Mozilla's browser component, written using the XUL user interface language and designed to be cross-platform. It is small, fast and easy to use, and offers many advantages over other web browsers, such as the tabbed browsing and the ability to block pop-up windows. 