Mozilla has pushed out another update to Firefox, taking it to version 3.0.11. The latest release fixes 9 security vulnerabilities, 4 of which as rated as critical, along with a large list of other bugs.
The update will be automatically downloaded for existing Firefox 3 users, or can be downloaded directly from the Firefox website.
Microsoft is proposing to release Windows 7 E in the European Union (EU), a version of Windows without Internet Explorer.
The move is aimed at pleasing the European Commission regulators who are currently taking action against Microsoft over it’s bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows.
If agreed upon, Microsoft will completely remove Internet Explorer from Windows, and not just hide the browser like is currently possible. Despite this move, manufactures are still likely to release PC including Internet Explorer.
We will let you know Microsoft’s final decision when it is made.
The European Union (EU) is set to ask major PC vendors for evidence that Microsoft pressured them to oppose the EU’s plan to give consumers choice when they first start Windows.
Questionnaires have been sent to PC makers seeking information about their communications with Microsoft.
“Microsoft hasn’t seen the commission’s questionnaire and doesn’t pressure any PC makers to oppose the ballot-screen remedy”, said Microsoft spokesman Jesse Verstraete in Brussels.
More information can be read on Bloomberg.
At today’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC), Apple announced the immediate availability of Safari 4 final for both Mac and PC.
Safari 4 contains over 150 new features, including a screen reader, basic HTML5 support, and a much improved JavaScript engine. A full list of new features can be found online.
The latest release is now the first browser not in beta to score a full 100% in Acid3 tests, which tests a browsers support for JavaScript and CSS3.
Safari 4 can be downloaded from the Apple Safari website.
It appears Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate 1 is now expected at some stage this week. Nightly builds of the browser now include the RC1 tag, suggesting that we will see a release some time this week.
Current early Windows builds weigh in at 7.6MB and run on Windows 2000 all the way up to Windows 7.
On the outside, the browser doesn’t appear too different from Beta 4, but there are plenty of bug fixes that have gone in under the hood. “Even before shipping the RC, we’ve managed to find a number of issues that needed fixing,” said Mike Beltzner, the director of Firefox.
The final 3.5 release is still expected before the end of the month, and we will let you know as soon as the release candidate is released.
Opera have just released Opera Mobile 9.7 Beta 1 to the web. The new version runs on the new Opera Presto 2.2 core.
The biggest new feature is Opera Turbo, which can compress data by up to 80% before it is sent to the mobile device, dramatically increasing web page loading times.
A full list of new features can be found in the new features list, while the browser can be downloaded from the Opera Mobile website.
Google has released the first early development builds of Google Chrome for Mac and Linux, but has stressed these builds are far from complete and are missing many common features.
According to Chrome developers, these builds lack the ability to watch YouTube videos, the option to print, change privacy settings amongst a large list of other missing features.
Those still wanting to test out the browser on these new platforms can use the links below:
Download Google Chrome for Mac OS X
Download Google Chrome for Linux
I have gone and put Opera 9.64, Opera 10 Alpha, and Opera 10 Beta 1 through the Acid 3 test, V8 Benchmark, and SunSpider Benchmark tools to see how the new browser is stacking up.
The results are pleasing, with the browser clearly heading in the correct direction. Graphed results are below.
On schedule Microsoft has released the final wave of language packs for Internet Explorer 8, with the browser now available in 63 languages.
New languages included in this wave are Albanian, Assamese, Basque, Bengali (Bangladesh), Bengali (India), Gujarati, Indonesian, Kannada, Kazakh, Konkani, Kyrgyz, Latvian, Malay (Brunei Darussalam), Malay (Malaysia), Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi (India), Tamil, Telugu, Uzbek (Latin).
The language packs can be downloaded from the Internet Explorer website.
Opera has released Opera 10 beta to the public following months of development from the alpha version.
The new browser includes a new interface, visual tabs, Opera Turbo for fast browsing on slow connections, customisable speed dial, and a whole lot more.
A full list of changes can be found in the changelog, and the new release can be downloaded from the beta homepage.