Microsoft releases Silverlight 3.0

Not willing to concede the market to Adobe, Microsoft has released a new major version of its Silverlight web browser plug-in. Among the new features in version 3.0 are 3D support, GPU acceleration, support for H.264 and AAC encoding, deep linking, image and text improvements and more. The official launch of Silverlight 3 is scheduled for tomorrow, but the actual bits are available now fromMicrosoft’s website.

One of the main new features of Silverlight 3 is its support for running applications outside the browser. This is similar to Adobe’s AIR in that it will allow apps to run on Windows or Mac clients and provide users with online, offline or intermittently connected access to content. However, Microsoft officials claim there will be advantages that Silverlight 3 offers over AIR, starting with the fact that developers and users won’t need to download an additional runtime in order to get out-of-the-browser support.

Microsoft is also including Smooth Streaming support in Silverlight 3, which dynamically detects network and local PC conditions to seamlessly switch the video quality of videos. People with high-bandwidth connections and newer hardware can experience HD quality streaming, while others with lower connection speeds or simply experiencing a temporary drop in bandwidth receive an appropriate stream for their current conditions, allowing an uninterrupted streaming experience with the highest quality possible

Future multi-process support likely for Firefox.

Mozilla has made dramatic improvements when it comes to speed in recent times, but one feature its Firefox browser notably lacks compared to Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 8 is multi-process browsing. As we’ve mentioned before, there are several benefits of having each page or tab run in a separate process, not the least of which are performance gains when using multiple processor cores and the added stability.

We already know Mozilla has begun a four-plus phase project, dubbed Electrolysis, to bring the feature to Firefox. So, how far along are they? According to the project roadmap, just about done with phase 1, which is to get basic code working in a prototype that runs plug-ins and content tabs in separate processes. In fact Mozilla's Chris Jones posted a video last month that shows how a page rendering process can be terminated independently, so that a page-specific crash would take down only the page and not the entire browser.

To accomplish this, Mozilla is using some code from Chromium, the open source development version of Google's browser. They are also contemplating the possibility of replacing existing Firefox components, such as the browser's network stack, with additional code from Chromium. Development team leader Benjamin Smedberg had has posted some additional information on the project, which is expected to conclude phase 2 by November 2009. The end of phase 3 should be synonymous with shipping, but a deadline was not offered for it at this time.

Google to launch operating system

Google is developing an operating system (OS) for personal computers, in a direct challenge to market leader Microsoft and its Windows system.

Google Chrome OS will be aimed initially at small, low-cost netbooks, but will eventually be used on PCs as well.

Google said netbooks with Chrome OS could be on sale by the middle of 2010.

"Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS," the firm said in its official blog.

The operating system, which will run on an open source licence, was a "natural extension" of its Chrome browser, the firm said.

The news comes just months before Microsoft launches the latest version of its operating system, called Windows 7

"We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you on to the web in a few seconds," said the blog post written by Sundar Pichai, vice-president of product management, and Google's engineering director Linus Upson.

Both men said that "the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web" and that this OS was "our attempt to rethink what operating systems should be".

To that end, the search giant said the new OS would go back to basics.

"We are completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates.

"It should just work," said Google.

Google already has an operating system for mobile phones called Android which can also be used to run on netbooks. Google Chrome OS will be aimed not just at laptops but also at desktops for those who spend a lot of time on the web.