Activity for December 9

Review - KDE Software Compilation
4.7.4 (Dec 9, 2011)

Don't waste your time with KDE4.x (see other posters below). If you want a truly awesome and usable desktop environment, try Trinity Desktop Environment - it's a KDE3.5 fork with many updates - trinitydesktop.org
Review - Kaspersky Rescue Disk
10.0.23.14 Beta (Jul 24, 2010)

some_guy, what do you mean you can't update the definitions? You don't need a USB key to do that. It was quite a few months ago since I used it last time BUT as far as I remember, I am pretty sure it creates a RAM drive - disk drive/partition using your computer's RAM and updates are saved on that disk. It is exactly the same as if was saved on a hard disk except that the data is there for the current session only. This concept has been used everywhere on LIVE CDs. Anyone? correct me if I am wrong :)
Review - Mozilla Firefox (v4) for Windows
4.0 Beta 1 (Jul 7, 2010)

Beautiful and sleek design. The new revamped UI is absolutely beautiful. Looks awesome on Aero Well done! We need something like this for Thunderbird. I have placed the tabs at the bottom as they seem to be better matching the Aero UI in my own opinion.

Can't tell on Windows 7 whether there are any start-up performance improvements due to superfetch misbehaving. Every time you start Windows (sometimes it would take FF 1 second to start literally and sometimes 7 seconds). 5 stars from me but pay attention on the start up speed or the score will go down.
Review - Mozilla Thunderbird (v3.1) for Windows
3.1 Alpha 1 "Lanikai" (Feb 4, 2010)

This is an excellent email client. It seems to have good filtering techniques and in general it just does the job for me. I can either show or hide content with a click of a button as one would expect from a professional mail client. I haven't checked resource usage as I have 3GB of RAM on an Intel Dual Core and in my case it is more than enough however I do have sympathy for the users with less powerful systems and I understand their complaints. I firmly believe developers should pay attention to these systems. To these users I would suggest you try some of the other open source clients (many of them are written in GTK I think). Simply search for open source email client and you will get a lot of results such as 5 good open source email clients etc.
Review - OpenOffice.org for Windows
3.2.0 RC2 (Jan 14, 2010)

If you go to their web site: http://www.openoffice.or...beta.html#general_speed

"OpenOffice.org 3.2 Calc and Writer have both reduced 'cold start' time by 46% since version 3.0 was released just over a year ago, according to tests by our developers (results will vary on different operating systems and hardware)."

This is actually true and it was the first thing I noticed. These two programs indeed start a lot quicker than previous versions. Although the start-up time is now acceptable, I would still recommend further improvements however it is a very good start so well done OOo! team!

In relation to the UI, I miss the original StarOffice 5.2 toolbar look. http://linuxbook.orbdesi...h11/images/btlb1116.jpg

I personally like that look better over the today's one except for the fact that toolbars cannot be docked/un-docked. Back in the late 90s, when StarOffice was not owned by Sun, I preferred it over MS Office.

OOo team, in the past I've rated you low because of slow start-up speed but this time I am giving you 5 stars because you truly deserve it and I am actually quite happy with what you have done. Keep up the good work! 5 stars from me!
Comment - You bought HP TouchPad, it's discontinued, now what?
3.2.0 RC2 (Aug 19, 2011 - 5:58 AM)

This is HP's own stupid mistake - in total 2 big mistakes to be honest. HP's first unrecoverable mistake was under-powering the tablet. I read reports of it being sluggish. Their second BIG mistake but recoverable is cancelling the project. They could have learned from their first mistake and got the second time right just like what Samsung did: 10.1v vs 10.1. Should I say more?

HP I had hope in you! Why are you doing this?? If you are reading this, please do not cancel webOS and at least make it open source. WebOS has great potential.

HP decision was probably also caused by bad reviews. These reviewers should be more careful when reviewing a newly launched product. You should give someone hope, not take it away.
Comment - You bought HP TouchPad, it's discontinued, now what?
3.2.0 RC2 (Aug 19, 2011 - 5:47 AM)

Actually it does mean something. WebOS developers will probably get demotivated. I was interested in webOS app development but after this announcement my interest vanished. I was also considering to buy the HP Pre 3 but guess what, I won't. I will buy instead the Samsung Galaxy S2 (if it doesn't get banned by the mighty Apple of course by the time I buy it).
Comment - RealPlayer beefs up its Android beta app with dozens of new features
3.2.0 RC2 (Jul 15, 2011 - 5:44 PM)

Does anyone know it it is possible to play entire folders similar to PowerAmp?
Comment - Sony provides 'peek' at new tablets, and not much else
3.2.0 RC2 (Jul 14, 2011 - 7:54 AM)

As far as I am aware the S2 is very popular with good sales figures and many positive reviews. I am considering getting the S2 but I might have to wait for the Duo as it seems to have very impressive specs but these are unconfirmed as far as I know. I also dislike the touch sensitive buttons, I prefer real buttons. I am still thinking about the S2 though. I like what I have read/seen.
Comment - Sony provides 'peek' at new tablets, and not much else
3.2.0 RC2 (Jul 14, 2011 - 5:25 AM)

As far as I am aware, Sony Ericsson Xperia Duo is also on its away.