Mozilla's Camino, the lightweight Mac alternative to Firefox, is getting very close to a 2.0 release. The first release candidate is out now -- you can download it by checking for updates in an earlier version of the browser -- and it's got updates to appearance, security features and more. You'll notice a new, more Leopard-like look for the tabs and toolbars, making Camino blend in better with recent versions of OS X.

One of the best additions to the new version of Camino is a built-in Flash blocker. You can turn it on to block all Flash animations, and then add exceptions the sites whose Flash you actually want to see. Other security features include making use of Google Safe Browsing, which warns you when you're headed for a site that Google has blacklisted for malware or phishing. All-in-all, Camino 2 isn't as feature-packed as Firefox, or as pretty as Safari, but it's lighter than either one (and offers Firefox-equivalent page-load times using Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine).

[via TechCrunch]

When KDE 4.0 was released that fateful day in January, it unleashed an unholy boatload of controversy. Was it a final release? Was it really a final release? And just because the developers say it is a final release, but that it isn't, it's just numbered as such, and we shouldn't worry if things don't seem finished -- does that mean we shouldn't be concerned if things don't work?

We stand by the statements we made originally. KDE 4.0 is pretty and showed a lot of potential. We knew it would get better, but what would the cost be to the desktop environment? Would they be able to get the desktop environment to a stable, workable condition in time to keep alive the interest of those who opted to stay with KDE 3.5 at the time, or even moved to GNOME or Xfce?

The KDE 4.1 final release has become what many hoped the January release would. It is as stable on our OpenSUSE 11.0 system as our GNOME desktop. It is much faster and less weighty than a KDE 3.5 install. It is, of course, still really pretty. But better than that, it is functional. It can be configured to work the way you work, and even make your work easier. We can finally set our default desktop to KDE4 on login, and use it on a daily basis.

And yes, it is very different. And where we might not understand the reasoning behind every change (and some may even puzzle us a bit) we are really excited about the way things are shaping up.

Today marked a pretty significant release for Microsoft: Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 was made available to beta testers today. To clarify, Release Candidate means candidate for release, as in, "We think this version is so good it could be the final version, but before we ship it we want to do one final bug check." And I'm tempted to accuse Microsoft of forgetting that fact (oops, I think I just did). To be more specific, Windows Vista isn't set to ship until January (albeit somewhat earlier to OEMs), but here Microsoft has a Release Candidate already. Is it possible that Microsoft is that far ahead of schedule? Well... no. It's my opinion that Microsoft is just abusing the RC1 appellation, much like some companies increment version numbers at the drop of a hat, to make users, and more importantly investors and journalists, feel like a) Vista is actually making some progress, and b) if it's already up to RC1 in September, when it's finally released in January it's bound to be amazingly polished, stable, and secure. Now, for all I know, Vista really is "almost ready" and maybe when it does ship it will be amazing polished, stable, and secure. But forgive me for harboring a few doubts. Even the announcement at the Windows Vista Team Blog seems to defy the Release Candidate label: "We're not done yet, however - quality will continue to improve. We'll keep plugging away on application compatibility, as well as fit and finish, until RTM [release to manufacturing]." Application compatibility is a good thing, but isn't that the sort of thing that should be taken care of before you start talking about releases?

Oh, well. Currently Windows Vista RC1 is only available to a closed group of testers, but it will be "made available to those of you outside those programs" soon.

Despite many technologists' belief that IE7 should undergo another beta cycle or two before it's release candidate time, this morning Microsoft released Internet Explorer Release Candidate 1. According to General Manager Dean Hachamovitch, the release "includes improvements in performance, stability, security, and application compatibility," and apart from those users won't notice too many differences. "A release candidate is fundamentally different from a beta," says Hachamovitch, "With the exception of a very short list of issues we're aware of and working on, we think the product is done." Microsoft is soliciting user feedback on the release candidate and plans to release the final version of IE7 in Q4 of this year. Paul Thurrott has a brief review of IE7 RC1 up on his site, in which he concludes, "It's not a perfect browser, but IE 7 is hugely improved, and even in this prerelease version is worth considering." Oh, and for keyboard-centric users (like me), there's a new quick reference sheet of all of IE7's keyboard shortcut at the IEBlog.

The first release of Freespire, the community-driven (a la Red Hat's Fedora) Linux distribution from Linspire, is due in a couple of weeks, but the first release candidate is now available and DesktopLinux.com is running an early look at it, which gives a good overview of what we can expect in the new platform. Out of the box, Freespire has support for a wide variety of media formats, including proprietary ones like Windows Media, QuickTime, and Real. One of its stand-out features is the Click-and-Run (CNR) system, which lets you install a wide variety of software with one click over the internet. CNR costs $20 per year to use and includes both commercial (for which you pay) and open source software. Linspire has a modified KDE desktop which is designed to be comfortable for Windows converts. DesktopLinux.com says concludes that Freespire is "a fine Windows replacement desktop for home users," but could use better Network support. Click through for the full review.