OStatic

If you're regularly saddled with repetitive computing tasks and you use the Firefox browser, one of the most useful of all Firefox extensions you can add to your arsenal is IMacros from iOpus. The download is free, and it shows up as a button on your Firefox toolbar for easy availability. This extension allows you to automate numerous tasks in Firefox, from mundane ones like visiting the same sites every day, filling out forms, and remembering passwords, to automation of complex web development tasks. Here's how it works.

MindTouch announced yesterday a new incremental release of Deki Wiki 8.05.1 (Jay Cooke) ahead of next week's final release of its popular open source collaboration platform. In addition to general performance improvements, Deki Wiki 8.05.1 also includes new functionality like single sign-on utilizing Apache/IIS authentication modules (experimental) which... allows for easy integration with auth systems like NTLM...

As we noted earlier today, after five beta versions have gone through testing, Mozilla has delivered Release Candidate 1 (RC1) of version 3 of the Firefox browser, for Windows, the Mac and Linux. I've been using all the previous beta versions, and while I'm still frustrated that I can't use my extensions with RC1, the rendering speed is so much faster than previous versions that I'm ready to use it as my main browser most of the time. It is still pre-release software, but the speed and several of the new features are truly welcome additions to almost everybody's favorite open source browser. Here's a tour of what's under the hood.

The official first Release Candidate for Firefox 3--the next, much faster version of the open source browser that could--is now available. It hit that milestone last night. This release is all about stability and speed and bug fixes; there arenﾒt any huge new features to trumpet if youﾒve been watching the betas. But if you had trouble with beta 4 or beta 5 (which for Mike Gunderloy, who writes here, caused problems), the official Release Candidate is much better. Like Mike, I've been using Firefox 3 since early in its cycle. The improvements over the previous versions in rendering speeds are palpable, although this release still doesn't handle my extensions. Check out more on what Mike has to say at our sister blog WebWorkerDaily and stay tuned for updates this weekend as we take RC1 for a spin.

ZDNet U.K. is out with some interesting analysis of the LiMo Foundation's announcement that Verizon Wireless, Mozilla and several other organizations are joining up with it. According to the ZDNet U.K. report, there may be some moves afoot by two of the very well-known Linux distribution companies that currently operate in the enterprise space to join LiMo and combine mobile open source applications on Linux phones with enterprise open source deployments.

Linux-based mobile phones have just picked up added momentum, thanks to Verizon Wireless. Numerous Linux phones and phones based on Google's Android (Linux-based) platform were announced early this year at the Mobile World Congress, and many companies joined the LiMo Foundation--the organization behind improved mobile Linux technology. However, while U.S.-based phone makers announced plans for Linux phones, not a single large U.S. service provider joined the LiMo Foundation's cause. That's changed in a big way now, as Verizon Wireless becomes the first U.S.-based operator to join the LiMo foundation. Mozilla and others have just joined as well.

A new version 9 of Fedora, the community maintained Linux distro that's the foundation for Red Hat Enterprise Linux is out, as is analysis.....

OpenOffice's new beta--compatibility problems with MS Office XML formats?.....

Vidoop hires dream team open source veterans.....

Does the market have irrational expectations for open source?.....

The Associated Press has an interesting story out today about a group of MIT students who set out to show the power of open cell phone systems. MIT professor Hal Abelson challenged them to design an application for cell phones based on Android, Google's upcoming Linux-based mobile operating system. According to the AP story: In the process, they revealed the power of an open system like Android to shake up the mobile phone industry, where wireless companies are being pressured to loosen the control they have maintained over what devices do. Is there something to this?

Sun Microsystems is out with an answer to Adobe's AIR and Microsoft's Silverlight Rich Internet Application tools: JavaFX. At the JavaOne show in San Francisco today, Sun's head of software, Rich Green, discussed what to expect from the new offering. Green claims JavaFX will arrive on 91 percent of desktops, 85 percent of cell phones, and 100 percent of Blu-ray players--no small claims. While I'm not positive it will have that bright a future on so many platforms, Green showed JavaFX running on Google's Android mobile platform, which is Linux-based. Here, there could be promise.