San Jose (CA) - A new web page that popped up on Mozilla’s site today suggests that the launch of Mozilla 3 is imminent. The developers announced that they will soon be announcing the availability date of the software and are rallying users to take Firefox 3 into the Guinness Book of World Records - as the most downloaded software within 24 hours.

It appears that Mozilla’s expectation that no more serious bugs have been detected in the currently available release candidate of Firefox 3 and the software will be launched not within weeks, but within days. Mozilla is confident enough about Firefox 3 to have posted a "Download Day" web page which is basically a notification page for the availability of the browser. However, the developers ask users to submit a "pledge" make it the most downloaded software within 24 hours. At the time of this writing, the counter showed about 176,000 pledges, climbing by about 5000 every 20 minutes.

Mozilla did not release the download date of the browser, but noted that the date will be posted soon.

Firefox 3 introduces a version 1.9 of its core Gecko engine. Mozilla claims that Firefox 3.0 includes more than 14,000 changes over Firefox 2 and the new browser is, as of Firefox 3 beta 5, "the fastest Firefox ever".

According to the original launch schedule, Firefox 3 arrives at least two quarters late. Developers had originally planned< to introduce the browser in Q3 or Q4 of last year. The first alpha version of Firefox 3 was made public in December of 2006, the first beta followed almost a year later, in November 2007. The release candidate 1 was made available for download on May 15.

The first version of Firefox was launched in November of 2004 and was replaced with version 2.0 in October of 2006. According to Mozilla, the browser was downloaded from the organization’s site more than 563 million times since its introduction.

Microsoft is also developing a new version of its browser. The first beta of Internet Explorer 8 was released on March 5 of this year.

Opinion - Now that SonyEricsson’s Xperia X1 has officially been postponed to Q4, we are certain that you soon will see predictions that Apple’s 3G iPhone, if it really launches in June, could be set for a home run in the smartphone arena this year. The Xperia’s delay and the lack of any information about Garmin’s nuvifone, has opened a window of opportunity for Samsung’s Instinct. But the handset maker may have shot itself in the foot with an overly bold marketing strategy.

Samsung’s Instinct is one of those major devices we expect to become an alternative to what is now widely perceived as an iPhone category of smartphones. Although the Instinct appears to lack some of the Xperia’s mojo, it could be serious challenger for the iPhone. It is basically an iPhone lookalike with a touchscreen dominating the device. The handset comes in a slightly taller (4.57"), a bit narrower (2.17") and thicker (0.49") form factor than the iPhone. Its touchscreen lacks multi-touch capability and relies on one touch at a time. The Instinct’s 240 x 432 pixels screen resolution is roughly half the iPhone’s 480 x 320 pixels. There is no Wi-Fi connectivity, but the device comes with a decent memory capacity of 2 GB standard, which is upgradable with a separate MicroSD memory card.

Still, the Instinct has a few advantages over the iPhone. It will come with haptic feedback support, which simulates a physical keypad through vibration. Its built-in GPS hardware provides precise real-time positioning. The Instinct’s 2-megapixel camera is capable of recording videos, a feature iPhone users only can access by jailbraking the handset and installing a third-party application. The Instinct is tied to the Sprint network and supports CDMA EV-DO Rev A (800MHz-1900MHz) standard to support 3.1 Mb/s downlink and a 1.8 Mb/s uplink speeds. As network speed and video recording capabilities are the Instinct’s main advantages, it is not surprising that Samsung’s marketing is betting on these features - especially with the existing criticism of the sluggish AT&T network. But the handset maker may have shot itself in the foot by setting Instinct on a collision course with the 3G iPhone.

The Instinct is set for a June 20 launch, coinciding with the supposed 3G iPhone introduction. To me, that sounds like a bad idea, as the 3G iPhone is likely to render the Instinct’s advantages obsolete. Samsung may have decided to launch the phone on the same day as the iPhone to take advantage of the very likely wave of media coverage of this segment and the comparisons that will be drawn between these two devices. Any article covering the iPhone is likely to mention the Instinct as well. However, the question will be how well the Instinct will compare, or will be perceived to compare. And that could easily turn into an uncontrollable situation.

Samsung also took a page from Apple’s playbook by targeting the iPhone directly in a series of ads available at Instinct’s teaser site that invite users to "see Instinct defeat iPhone". The ads put the iPhone in a direct feature by feature comparison with the Instinct, showing Instinct loading a site in a fraction of time than the iPhone, precisely pinpointing geographical location courtesy of the built-in GPS hardware and downloading songs out of thin air (through the carrier’s mobile network). The most prominent ads show features that the iPhone lacks, such as watching live TV, shooting and sending video recordings. Samsung even produced a made-up movie trailer showcasing the handset in a Hollywood-style thriller action piece.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong in comparing your product to what is out there. These ads are funny, but we wonder whether Samsung will have the final laugh as well. By openly pitching Instinct as an "iPhone killer", I believe that Samsung has made a mistake. Also, the handset maker has made a bold decision to show the actual iPhone product side by side with its own Instinct in these ads. In a way, Samsung has provided Apple with free product placement. Of course, Apple’s marketing never was shy of directly targeting and sometimes even ridiculing its competitors. Think about the latest Mac vs. PC campaign. Apple has a habit of targeting competitors in ad campaigns, but the approach fits in a bigger picture - injecting a sense of rebellion into Apple’s brand.

The Samsung Instinct seems like a great handset with interesting features that the iPhone lacks at the moment. It could have been positioned as a viable alternative to the current gen iPhone, especially for users unwilling to switch to the AT&T network just to get a touch screen smartphone. But I am not sure that this marketing strategy will work against the iPhone. In less than two weeks, competing with the iPhone is likely to be a whole different ball game. To me, it sounds like a case of marketing killing a nice product.

San Jose (CA) - Adobe has rolled out beta versions for parts of the upcoming CS4 suite. On May 27th, the company popped up test versions of Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Soundbooth and anyone is free to download and take them for a spin. No doubt other popular programs like Photoshop and Flash will be close behind.

The programs are time bombed to stop working after 48 hours or until the actual CS4 ships. However, customers entering in a valid CS3 serial number have no 48 hour time limit (but the CS4 shipment cut-off still applies).

PC Mag has a good roundup of the new features included within the beta programs.

Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang said on Wednesday a potential deal with Microsoft has tremendous power, but the software giant appears no longer interested in a full merger. In his most public comments to date about his thinking on the four-month-old, on-again, off-again Microsoft merger saga, Yang signaled his company remained open to a potential deal, but said Microsoft had ruled out a merger for now.

Read the complete story here.

Abit has reacted to a report from Digitimes that it will be phasing out its motherboard product line. In a statement released today, the company’s global marketing director Thore Welling said that the company "is a well established and strong brand within the enthusiast and high-end motherboard and components industry." Over the past 12 months, Abit was able to increase its market share, which has prompted the manufacturer to "broaden" its product lines into the consumer electronics segment," Welling said.

"Abit stays committed to motherboards and has a broad lineup of motherboards ready, as you will see in during Computex," he stated.

Asustek computer has stopped taking orders for its Eee PC 900, launched just one month ago, in order to prepare for the upcoming launch of the Intel Atom-based Eee PC 901, according to industry sources. The Eee PC 900 was unveiled for the Asia Pacific market during late April and for the US market on May 12.

More here at Digitimes.

Micro-Star International (MSI) company chairman Joseph Hsu recently discussed the products the company will be showcasing at Computex 2008, including motherboards and low-cost PCs. MSI revealed that on June 3 it will be announcing a slate of new motherboards using its DrMOS overclocking and power saving platform.

More here at Digitimes.

Memory module makers are being exposed to a sequential sales decline pressure as the spot price of NAND, after being stable for a while, is now showing signs of weakening again. The previous announcements from leading NAND flash makers about expansion or output trim helped stop a long-term downward price trend.

More here at Digitimes.

Liverpool (UK) - Woolworths, a major retailer in the UK, has decided to stop selling CD singles, shifting its focus to digital music sales through its own online store.

For Woolworths, the digital music sales business is convincing enough to drop CD single sales. In an announcement made yesterday, the high street retailer said that the CD singles market is in what appears to be an unstoppable downward spiral.

"CDs are alive and well for album sales, but unfortunately the physical singles market is in terminal decline. Our customers are now starting to embrace the world of download, which is why we feel the time is right to launch our new digital site," the retailer’s commercial director Jim Batchelor said.

Woolworths claims to be offering 1.2 million songs in WMA and MP3 format and over a thousand films and TV shows through its own download store. The songs are priced at 99 cents per piece, which translates to about $1.96 at the current exchange rate.

In unrelated news, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said that it has dropped all legal action against the Russian music download site AllofMP3.com, since the service has gone out of business. Bowing to the pressure of the RIAA, the Russian government has shut down the site after U.S. officials said the site was a barrier for Russia to join the World Trade Organization. Shortly thereafter, a new site called MP3Sparks emerged and began offering former AllofMP3.com users to buy tracks using their existing login credentials. The RIAA expects Russia to take that site down as well.

Firefox 3 is on its way and it looks as though the people over at Mozilla are in high spirits.

Boasting 14,000 improvements, Mozilla has announced that they’d like to see Firefox 3 set a Guinness World Record for most software downloads inside 24 hours.

To try and pull of this stunt, the company has announced Download Day, which will coincide with the release date of Firefox 3. The exact release date of Firefox 3 has yet to be announced but the company expects it to be sometime in June.

Mozilla set up Spreadfirefox.com to encourage users to, well, spread Firefox. The website include ideas for how to help Firefox 3 secure the record and Download Fests and Firefox Parties are just two of them. Better yet, by visiting mozillaparty.com you can register your party or invite yourself to someone else’s. Who doesn’t want strangers showing up at their house, laptops in hand?

Most people, it turns out. Looking at MozillaParty there isn’t too many people willing to host parties in their homes with lot of the parties are taking place in universities or offices.

The current record for most software downloads doesn’t actually exist so there is nothing for Firefox 3 to break. However, they hope to exceed Firefox 2’s launch day downloads of 1.6 million, and so, have set the target at 5 million.

The Firefox folks are also asking users to “play nice” and not attempt to help them along the way to their record by cheating.

“We ask that you refrain from creating download bots or any other mechanism that would be cheating. In order for our attempt to be legitimate, each download must be human initiated.”

Visit spreadfirefox.com to pledge to download on the day. Once you pledge, Mozilla will send you a reminder email when it announces an official date for launch.

Cupertino (CA) - Apple has released a hefty 420 MB update for its current operating system. Leopard 10.5.3 delivers a myriad of improvements, patches as well as general stability and reliability enhancements.

After months of development and many test seeds released to the developers, Apple finally felt confident enough to release a long-awaited software update for the OS X Leopard operating system. The major OS upgrade updates Leopard to version 10.5.3 and is categorized as recommended for all users. It is available through OS X’s built-in Software Update mechanism but Apple offers a standalone combo update available here (536 MB) as well.

According to Apple, the update "includes general operating system improvements that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac," fixing 70 issues related to the operating system and built-in applications. Patched system applications include Address Book, AirPort, Automator, iCal, iChat, Mail, Parental Controls, a new multiple desktop feature called Spaces, the backup solution Time Machine and Voice Over.

An update for Time Machine addresses compatibility issues with Apple’s Time Capsule backup device. Airport’s 802.1X networking is also improved while the videoconferencing application iChat is promised to be more reliable during screen-sharing sessions, with group chats now properly indexed for fast Spotlight searching.

The update also solves compatibility issues with Aperture 2, Apple’s workflow application for photographers. Apple says that the reliability of .Mac syncing, the Achilles heel of all previous OS X versions, is improved; several flaws within the Mail application were patched through ten updates addressing performance issues, a stability issue when dragging large attachments to a mail message and reliability issues when changes are made to a mailbox while being offline.

A Californian resident by the name of Michael Largent has been charged with allegedly using the names of cartoon characters to open fraudulent online brokerage accounts, the Associated Press reports.

Federal prosecutors are saying Largent managed to siphon cash from several financial institutions including E-Trade Financial Corp. and Charles Schwab & Co., garnering $8,000 from Google Checkout alone.

When you open an online brokering account many companies send a tiny payment (usually under a dollar) just to be sure the user has access to the account they say they do.

So what are a few pennies in the grand scheme of things? Well, grand and scheme are the operative words in this case, as it seems Largent used an automated script opened some 58,000 accounts with his sights set on penny-pinching the few cents that were sent each time.

According to Wired.com, Largent tried the same thing with Google’s Checkout service, accumulating $8,225.29 in eight different bank accounts at Bancorp Bank.

When questioned by the bank about all those thousands of transfers of such small amounts, Wired says Largent claimed he’d read Google’s terms of service, and that it didn’t prohibit multiple e-mail addresses and accounts. Google is not included in the indictment.

Largent faces 13 counts of computer, mail and wire fraud and is scheduled to appear in court on June 19th. He is currently released on bail (reportedly $25,000).

Largent used fake names, addresses, drivers licence numbers and social security numbers. Names used include Johnny Blaze, Hank Hill, and Rusty Shackelford. The former being the alias Dale Gribble (King of the Hill) uses.

Related Links
Both the affadavit and indictment are available from Wired

Opinion - Some days just don’t turn out in the way you expect they would. In the case of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, their appearance at D6 and a demonstration of a multi touch interface of Windows 7 created lots of feedback from the media, but probably not quite the feedback they expected. Considering the critical voices surrounding Windows Vista, Windows 7 needs to deliver in every perceivable way. And even if Microsoft is very careful about giving out details about the new Windows, there appears to be a growing disappointment over what Windows 7 might or might not be. Can Microsoft afford another Vista?

Let’s be realistic. Microsoft is in a very comfortable position and Windows remains a castle no one has been able to dent since the software has become popular in the early 1990s. Microsoft expects that the installed base of Windows will have grown to more than 1 billion PCs worldwide by the end of next month. The client software business alone (which includes Office) brought in more than $4 billion in revenue and more than $3 billion in profit in the last quarter. By any standard, Windows Vista is selling like sliced bread, more than 100 million times within the first year after launch, which, admittedly, is due to the fact that pretty much every PC you buy today comes with software by default.

But there is an undeniable disappointment over Windows Vista in the market, which even Gates and Ballmer admitted yesterday. Given the fact that it is pretty much a new operating system, the criticism is somewhat surprising to see - as is Gates’ remark that Vista has provided Microsoft with room for improvement. I won’t go into the flaws of Vista, I am pretty sure that most Vista users have their own preferences and their usage patterns impact what works and what does not work. I for myself compare Windows Vista to a Toyota Camry that runs on a 20 year old engine. It will get you and your family from A to B, albeit not in a particularly exciting way and while it does everything you expect from it, there is nothing that it does exceptionally well. Just like the Camry, it has received updates and a new look over time, but its overall appearance is relatively bloated today. Throw in a decades-old engine and you have a Vista-Camry.

A changing operating system market: An enthusiast tool that turns into commodity and loses its excitement

My journalism career began about 14 years ago and my first assignment was to assist my senior editor at the time with the Windows 95 introduction coverage. I was about as geeky as you could get at the time and loved my Windows 3.11/DOS 6.2 PC. There were far less PC users than today and if you ran into another PC owner, there was a good chance you were talking to another geek who had quite a bit of knowledge how DOS/Windows worked inside and out. This excitement carried over to Windows 95 with people waiting in line at midnight for the software to become available. Windows 95 is especially remembered for its driver disaster that followed after the launch. Though, outside businesses, few complained - this was the way you expected Windows to work, with all of its flaws.

In the following years, Microsoft recognized that a software that was difficult to handle would not become a product for everyone. Virtually every Windows presentation I attended carried the message that a Windows PC should be as easy to use as your TV. If you listened carefully to Steve Ballmer’s presentations at the Windows Vista launch last year, this was exactly the message delivered through Visa: Windows has become the software that just runs and enables you to access your pictures, video, music, Internet and everything else you would ever expect from your operating system. However, what happened in the process is that all those fancy features like Flip3D (does anyone actually use it?) and the fancy GUI, which was supposed to be Vista’s biggest selling point, became irrelevant. Vista is a foundation for the applications you want to run and Microsoft has achieved that goal in a way that few may actually care how Vista looks like. What counts for most of us is how quickly, convenient and effective we can reach our goals on any particular day.

At least for me, Vista and Office have not shown measurable improvements in how quickly or how effectively I can get my email; access the Internet, transfer and view pictures or anything else. Music, pictures and video tasks actually have been transitioned to a Mac in our family, not because I find Apple’s commercials funny, but because Macs are faster and Apple has found a way to make usually boring tasks a bit more enjoyable. When was the last time I actually got excited when I turned on my Vista PC?

According to Microsoft, the biggest consumer complaint with Vista apparently was its user interface. There is little we can we have learned to simply accept it the way it is. If you are truly unhappy with Windows, then you a choice: Go back to Windows XP and wait for Windows 7. In fact, I have noticed a volume of excitement for Windows 7 I haven’t seen with Vista and I believe that Microsoft has a huge opportunity with this release - to fix the Vista flaws and demonstrate that the company can still come up with those wow-features.

But anyone who has a similar purpose-based relationship with Windows like may have had a rude awakening when reading news this week. First, we learned that Windows 7 is merely two evolutionary steps above Windows Vista, the core will remain untouched and a multi-touch screen feature will be one of its key features. Expect a 2009 Vista-Camry. At least we were happy to hear that the information our source who suggested a 2009 release date was right on target.

Read on the next page: Chalenges and Opportunities, Conclusion

Challenges and opportunities

We know that Microsoft is much more careful about releasing new features, but after hearing Gates and Ballmer at D6, my initial reaction was: That’s it?

At least to me, the timing appears to be perfect to break with old traditions, throw the 20 year old Windows foundation (the concept behind it are more like 40 years old) out and come up with something new. Microsoft is facing more pressure than at any other time in its history within the next two years and I am surprised that the company would decide to continue building what is essentially and old product.

If you are looking into the near future and Microsoft’s recent history, one could imagine that Microsoft is running into the perfect storm in 2008/2009 and could be more vulnerable to competitors than it was ever before. Google has become too large and too fast in the Internet business for Microsoft to catch up anytime soon; Google has enough cash and the necessary following to attack Microsoft in its core businesses; a Yahoo merger would have been necessary for Microsoft to defend itself against Google; Apple is making in-roads in the mobile phone business, in the PC business and has taken control of the consumer electronics business from the IT perspective. Add to that that Bill Gates will be basically dropping out of the company this year and remove most of the charisma of the company’s leadership group.

Steve Ballmer can claim as often as he wants that Microsoft is selling its software on 290 million PCs every year, while Apple has only 10 million and he can keep re-affirming that Microsoft can grow its Internet business by itself to a degree where it can compete with Google. I just doubt that everyone will be satisfied with those answers. I just don’t think they are enough.

Windows always has been the core of Microsoft’s business and there is little to suggest that this will change. It is Microsoft’s market to lose and it is up to Microsoft to take advantage of opportunities while its seemingly endless source of sales is producing dollars.

With Windows 7, Microsoft apparently has identified as opportunities to play it safe, keep the Windows foundation in place, keep the current driver model, not to completely switch to 64-bit and introduce a multi-touch input interface a la iPhone. There may be more (hopefully!), but this is what we know for now. Not only does the multi-touch feature look a lot like what Apple has been doing, but I am not sure if this is really something that would really convince a lot of people to upgrade to a new version of Windows other than the fact that they have to upgrade when they buy a new PC anyway. Do I want to use my PC by touching the screen in front of me? Probably not.

However, there are clearly trends out there we are seeing every day. And, as it turns out, Microsoft is even working on a wealth of promising features in its research labs reaching from cloud computing solutions, security and performance advances that could completely transform the way we are working with computers today.

Singularity may actually be the vision behind a Microsoft operating system and a playground that may reveal a completely new Windows. The operating system is available as a research software download and probably won’t ever see the light of the day. However, the thoughts, ideas and solutions behind it are a different caliber than what Microsoft indicates Windows 7 will be. These innovations refer to a higher standard of security and acceleration features such as GPGPU support in particular. While we still have to figure out what GPGPU acceleration is really good for on a consumer PC, AMD already presented an application that can render a user’s hand that is recorded through a webcam in real time and allow a user to control items on the screen by simple hand movements - without having to touch the screen.

Other companies are using this technology for improved voice recognition (by combining audio recognition with monitoring lip movements) and Adobe has a working version of GPGPU accelerated image editing.

Current advances in hardware are taking huge leaps. I can’t quite believe that all we are getting out of this from Microsoft will be an evolutionary step above Vista.

Conclusion

Of course, anything that happens to Windows is highly speculative and only Microsoft knows for sure how Windows 7 will look like. And as of now, Windows is still an unbreakable bank that will finance Microsoft’s business for years to come. But Windows 7 appears to be a critical software release, given the company’s competitive pressure. If the competition is turning up the heat and Windows 7 will turn into another Vista, you don’t have to be an expert to predict that Apple will be seeing its market share rise.

So, can Microsoft afford another Vista? Financially, certainly. As a business foundation and a as tool to win back market shares against Apple and Google, probably not.

Share your thoughts by writing a comment below.