MS Delays RTM Version Of Vista?

According to DigiTimes, Microsoft will delay the RTM version of Vista until the second week of November instead of the last week of October. Sources say the reason behind the delay is that Microsoft is still squashing bugs.

The RTM build 5824 was originally set to be released this week after reducing the number of bugs found in the Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 (RC2) version from 1,450 to around 500, the sources noted. However, additional bugs were found in the RTM build 5824 version, and together the bugs could paralyze an upgraded Vista-capable Windows XP OS, said the sources.

Firefox 2 Is Out…Really

Alright, after a false start yesterday, the new Firefox 2.0 is out….in the exact same location it was yesterday. Grab it if you want it.

The award-winning Web browser is now faster, more secure, and fully customizable to your online life. With Firefox 2, we’ve added powerful new features that make your online experience even better.

MS Offering Vista Coupons

Reuters is reporting on Microsoft’s Vista coupon offer for new PC buyers. This confirms the rumors we reported here last month that MS will once again offer an upgrade coupon to new PC buyers, the same as they did with WinXP when it first launched.

The program allows customers who buy a PC running Windows XP to still be able to upgrade to Windows Vista when the new operating system becomes available in early 2007. A similar program is in place for Office 2007, also due out early next year to consumers.

AMD & Intel Trim Prices

Lower prices are always a good thing and C|Net says that both AMD and Intel are doing just that.

The TL-60, a dual-core Turion chip for thin notebooks that runs at 2GHz, dropped 26 percent, from $354 to $263. The TL-56, which is a similar chip that runs at 1.8GHz, dropped from $263 to $220. The TL-52, which runs at 1.6GHz, waterfalled from $220 to $184. On desktops, the Athlon 64 FX-62, a 2.8GHz monster chip for gamers, declined from $827 to $713. AMD posts more of its updated prices here, but it does not list the previous prices.

Fedora Core 6 Officially Released

Those of you interested in grabbing the new Fedora Core 6 can head over to the official website for a list of mirrors. I have been trying to post this all day but the Fedora Core 6 website has been down most of the day, it is hit & miss right now but at last check, a temp page and list of mirrors was still up. Grab it if you want it, try it if you haven’t.

Microsoft’s Free Anti-Spyware

I am sure most of you guys use 3rd party software for all of your anti-virus, spam and Spyware protection but Microsoft has released Windows Defender Spyware protection for free today. I’m leery of new security stuff but I think I’ll give it a whack and install it on one of the boxes around here and see how it goes. If anyone else tries it or is trying it out, let me know if you have any issues.

Windows Defender is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected and minimizes interruptions and helps you stay productive.

Firefox 2.0 Interview

There is an interview with Mozilla’s Chris Beard, Vice President of Products, posted at Read / Write Web that is pretty interesting. Here is a list of what you can expect:

Subjects discussed in the interview include the growing enterprise usage of Firefox, the importance of user experience and security, Mozilla's theory behind Web feeds and why they haven't included an integrated RSS Reader, the growing add-on ecosystem, offline browsing, why this is a 2.0 release and not a 1.x one, and finally Chris tells us a little about the future of the browser.

Gateway Recalls Sony Batteries

Gateway is now recalling 35,000 Sony batteries. If you own a Gateway laptop with a Sony made battery, you know what to do. On a related note, Sony has recalled 3.5 million more batteries.

PC maker Gateway Inc. said it is voluntarily recalling about 35,000 lithium ion batteries containing battery cells manufactured by Sony Energy Devices Corp. because of the risk that these batteries can overheat and create a potential fire hazard.

Firefox 2.0 Not Released

O.K. lesson number one, just because it says Firefox 2.0 and it is hosted on the Mozzilla.org FTP, does not mean it is Firefox 2.0 and you might be pissing off the Firefox developers by linking to what you thought was a legitimate product from the same site where all the legitimate Firefox builds in the past have come from.

Linking directly to builds hinders our ability to remove/retract bits that we may have to remove for some reason. While this may not seem like a big deal, it becomes a problem when supporting users, one of our most important values. If, let's say, we pull a locale, due to a stop-ship bug—and yes, this is not a hypothetical—then users who've (pre-)downloaded that build will not receive valuable security updates for those builds. The counterargument to this is "Well, you should provide updates for everything you've ever offered on your FTP site." If we did this, we'd be spending valuable (and über-constrained) Build Team and QA resources generating updates and testing them for builds that weren't the final bits, and were never "released" as such.

Apparently, the only place they have to host incomplete Firefox builds that are still in development is on publicly accessible FTP sites. The good news is, Firefox 2.0 should be out today…linked in the same spot it was yesterday

NVIDIA CEO Visits TSMC

According to DigiTimes, NVIDIA’s CEO, Huang Jen-hsun, is in Taiwan making sure that everything is running smoothly at TSMC and that the company will have sufficient capacity for the production of the G80.

With GeForce 8800 expected to be unveiled in November, Huang wanted to make sure that production of the graphics chip will not be affected by competitor ATI's bookings for TSMC's 80nm capacity, the sources claimed. About 90% of Nvidia's production is outsourced to TSMC, the sources indicated.

Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe

Our guys over at [H] Enthusiast are saying that the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe not only performs extremely well but it is a good overclocker as well. If you are planning an upgrade to a LGA775 motherboard, make sure you don’t miss this evaluation.

TForce motherboard series to the market targeting the PC enthusiast. Biostar has to fight an uphill battle against larger more well established makers of enthusiast level motherboards and with that said, the TForce P965 Deluxe does a very good job of that. This motherboard is based on Intel’s latest P965 Express chipset and ICH8R south bridge.

Dell Debuts AMD Servers

Dell has announced two new AMD based servers, the four processor PowerEdge 6950 and the two processor PowerEdge SC1435.

The four-processor PowerEdge 6950, for higher-end tasks such as housing databases, and the two-processor PowerEdge SC1435, for high-performance computing clusters or hosting Web sites. The 6950 will be sold alongside its Intel-based equivalent, the 6850, but the SC1435 replaces the Intel-based SC1425, said Jay Parker, Dell's director of worldwide marketing for PowerEdge servers.