release

Mozilla pushes Firefox 3.5 RC to beta testers

If you've been using the Firefox 3.5 beta, you now get to upgrade to the release candidate for Firefox 3.5. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, The noticeable changes to the release candidate from beta 4 and the b99 pre-release version are not readily apparent. Generally, you can expect the release candidate to be more stable than its beta predecessors, although if you're using an add-on such as Nightly Tester Tools or MR Tech to force incompatible add-ons to work in the beta you may be compromising your stability somewhat.

The upgrades to Firefox 3.5 … Read more

Windows 7 may have limited XP downgrade rights

Microsoft will allow only limited rights for those who buy a Windows 7 PC to go back to Windows XP, according to an analyst who said he has been briefed on Microsoft's plans.

According to Gartner analyst Michael Silver, Microsoft plans to only allow the downgrade option to those who buy PCs during the first six months that Windows 7 is on the market (see update below). After that, Microsoft's proposed licensing terms would allow buyers of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate only to go back to the comparable Windows Vista edition.

That could put users, … Read more

The iPhone 3G S: Coming to a country near you

Like the iPhone 3G, the new iPhone 3G S won't be released to the entire world at once. Rather, it will be released on three dates following its initial June 19 debut. Apple announced the 90 countries at the WWDC 2009 keynote, but they flashed by quickly so we don't blame you if you missed your country. Here's what we know so far.

June 19 releases

Canada France Germany Italy Spain Switzerland United Kingdom United States

June 26 releases

Australia Austria Belgium Ireland Japan Netherlands

… Read more

New Firefox hangs in limbo between beta and RC

On the same day that Apple released the public version of Safari 4 for Windows and Mac, Mozilla published an update to its Firefox 3.5 beta. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, they're not calling this a beta version, but it's not a release candidate, either.

Within the next 24 hours, the Firefox 3.5 beta 4 will auto-update to what Mozilla is calling a "preview" version. Users can also force the update by going to the Help menu, then Check for Updates. At the time of writing, it doesn't appear that users can … Read more

Leaked Best Buy memo offers Windows 7 details

Engadget brightened up a slow news day on Friday with a leaked memo from Best Buy that offers a number of Windows 7 details.

Most notable is the fact that the memo puts a date on when people can start buying Vista-based machines and qualify for a free upgrade to Windows 7. According to the memo, June 26 is the magic date--and I'm hearing that date is correct.

The memo also says that on June 26, Best Buy will start preselling upgrade versions of Windows 7 Home Premium for $49 and Windows 7 Professional for $99 via its Web … Read more

Windows 7 catching developers' eyes

While we've heard a lot about Windows 7, we haven't heard too much about the software and hardware that will take advantage of the new operating system.

That's starting to change.

This week, touch-screen maker N-trig is showing off a variety of third-party software programs that take advantage of the multitouch features of Windows 7. Meanwhile, Microsoft's hardware unit said it is also building support for Windows 7's new taskbar and thumbnail previews into its line of keyboards and mice.

Microsoft said beta versions of the drivers for its products are available now, with final … Read more

Windows 7 to launch October 22

Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that it is planning for Windows 7 to hit retail shelves and start showing up on new PCs on October 22.

To reach that milestone, Microsoft plans to wrap up development of the operating system by the middle or end of next month, Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said in an interview.

"The feedback from the release candidate has been good," Veghte said.

Microsoft made the near-final release candidate version available last month. Shortly after its release, Microsoft finally confirmed that it was aiming Windows 7 for a holiday 2009 release, something that was … Read more

Playing with Windows 7's Slingbox-like feature

With many versions of Windows, Microsoft chops features as it gets closer to release.

With Windows 7, Microsoft has actually added a few features as it has gotten closer to launch. One of the most intriguing is a feature that debuted with the most recent release candidate (download) allows a user to stream media from one PC to another over the Internet, a la the Slingbox.

There are some noteworthy limitations. The streaming feature works with unprotected video and music files, so one can't watch video from iTunes or other copy-protected content.

Also the remote media streaming, as the … Read more

Windows 7 on your Intel Mac - for free!

Most people who read The Download Blog are probably familiar with the coming release of Windows 7. For a full rundown of new features, check out Seth Rosenblatt's hands on post here, but there's plenty of Windows 7 content to pore over.

Judging from many of the comments, people who have used Windows 7 are saying it's the OS everyone hoped Vista would be. So when I read this week that you can easily setup and run Windows 7 in a virtual environment on an Intel Mac, I had to try it out. I can't advise … Read more