This past year was not the best for new software developments. There were no surprising game-changers like Google Chrome in 2008, and no watershed moments. However, that doesn't mean there weren't some cool releases. I suspect that much of the best software of 2009 winds up becoming the foundation for innovations in 2010.
Obviously, the continuing development of Google Chrome was a major story, especially since it skyrocketed in market share based on its zippy engine and smooth JavaScript handling. If you're not using Chrome, you owe it to yourself to try it out. But it's not new. What is new, and is owed in no small part to Chrome, is that software development cycles have been significantly accelerated. We can see this in Chrome's competitor, Firefox, with five beta versions released for a minor-point upgrade. Users are demanding more frequent updates, and situations where popular software such as Adobe Reader suffers for months from the same major security hole will soon be untenable.
Microsoft Security Essentials
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)Speaking of, Windows security is never far from the top of any list. It's somewhat ironic that this year first gifted to us the mutating Conficker virus--which exploited a security hole in unpatched and bootlegged versions of Windows XP--would end well for the security field. But Microsoft Security Essentials and Panda Cloud Antivirus are two programs that prove that not only can free security programs be effective, but they can also be lightweight and work well on those processor-light, horribly-named "Netbooks."
Although it wasn't brand-new, Symantec's Norton refresh earns a mention for its surprising turn-around from their horrible mid-decade products. The overhaul started in the 2009 version, and the 2010 editions that came out in September were impressively fast and lightweight, overall, as well as being effective at detection and removal. Yes, just to reiterate: this is the same Norton that's been included as bloatware on new computers for years. Who knew?
While security was exploring the clouds, social networking came down to earth and your desktop. Desktop-based social networking coagulators TweetDeck and Seesmic serve up multiple protocols in a convenient, unified interface. They give users an expanded tool set for managing their social networking streams, including multiple Twitter accounts, Facebook news feeds, and most recently Twitter lists. Both offer mobile support, with TweetDeck on the iPhone and Seesmic on Android, Blackberry, and through a Web-based interface.
BumpTop
(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)Staying social for a moment, Trillian Astra is another noteworthy resurrection of an already-existing program. The first major multiprotocol chat client, Trillian hadn't seen a refresh in three years and the previous version was a slow resource-hog that was also feature-deficient. Astra isn't exactly light, but it's not the RAM monster that version 3 was. There's also better support for newer networks such as Google Chat and Facebook, and it works with Twitter.
Bumptop finally debuted in 2009, three years after a YouTube demo enthralled viewers. BumpTop is a freeware replacement desktop that makes the items on your computer's desktop more manageable, or at least differently manageable. Its strong suit is that it's intuitive: You can drag or fling folders and icons, and they have weight, which is related to the icon's size. The size is related to its importance to you, which is determined by how often you use them or if you customize them. Files and folders can be stacked, flipped as if they were pages in a book, spread out arbitrarily, or arranged in static grids. BumpTop may not set the software world on fire, but it's an interesting alternative and could take off as touch screens become more affordable and widespread.
Postbox is a heavily remixed Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client with an emphasis on social networking tools: think Gmail thrown in a blender with Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr, and then served hot over a serving of Thunderbird. Postbox would have retained more of its buzz from the spring and summer if it hadn't gone behind a pay wall, even though it's a flexible wall--under the right circumstances; you can get an official copy for 50 percent off. The trial version is still impressive, with deep hooks between your contacts, messages, attachments, and photo and video uploading. $15 is still cheaper than Outlook, but it's $15 more than Thunderbird 3, which can do many of the things that Postbox does.
Postbox (pictured in beta) is now available as a stable release.
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)Ninite is another interesting piece of software, and indicates how Web tools and desktop tools are merging. Go to the Ninite Web site and you'll see a vast list of mostly-freeware programs. Check off the ones you want, and then go get a cup of coffee as it downloads and installs them. It's an excellent tool for those with new computers and a preference for publisher-default settings. Fortunately, Ninite ditches all the installation bloat like toolbars, and keeps your installation clean.
Looking ahead to 2010, some developments will be easy to predict. The Google Chrome OS will be big, even if it eventually fails. The browser wars will continue, as Opera showed that it can remain competitive by significantly boosting its speed with the Opera 10.50 prealpha release. One improvement I'm hoping for is for friendlier installations, where users will not have to opt-out of bloatware toolbars and search engine changes that they don't want. OpenCandy is doing some interesting work in this area.
Do you like this list? Do you think I've missed something major? Tell me about it in the comments.
Disclosure: CNET's TechTracker product uses OpenCandy in its installation.
TweetDeck gets promotional with a Sherlock Holmes movie theme.
(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)In a sign that both the movie industry and the Twitter industry are adapting to the times, TweetDeck released a promotional version of its Twitter-user software that sports a look and function tied to Warner Bros.' Sherlock Holmes movie and related 221B video game.
The Sherlock Holmes promotional version is called TweetDeck Telegram Co. and sports black-and-white icons and a couple period touches that try, but don't really succeed, to make you think you're in the 19th century. It also adds a new column for 221B-related tweets that tie into the online video game.
"Alongside the development of our core products we've also been partnering up with a select group of bands, record labels, movie studios, and media companies to develop themed TweetDecks," said TweetDeck founder and Chief Executive Iain Dodsworth in a blog post Monday. "These special TweetDecks not only offer a potentially radical look and feel but also a dedicated channel straight to the artist or movie alongside the usual TweetDeck columns."
These special TweetDecks are a nice idea, especially for a start-up in search of new revenue sources. But here's what I don't like: you must install a new version of the software.
Happily, Adobe Systems' AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) foundation makes this reasonably easy. But I'd much rather have a TweetDeck skin that does the trick, especially because uninstalling this to go back to regular TweetDeck is another hoop to jump through.
TweetDeck, for those unfamiliar with the software, lets you get more out of Twitter by constantly publishing tweets from those you follow, categorizing those you follow, shortening Web addresses, and automating various administrative tasks. It also can act as a front end to Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn.
Twitter is a free service and TweetDeck is free software to use it. Promotional deals are one way to make money off the ecosystem. Another, apparently, are Twitter's search deals with Google and Microsoft.
Mozilla Messaging hopes to release Thunderbird 3.1 in early April, a date that reflects a new frequent-release strategy adopted from the better-known Firefox effort at Mozilla.
Dan Mosedale, a programmer for the open-source e-mail software, published the date in a Thunderbird schedule draft he announced Thursday.
"If we're lucky, we relabel 3.1RC1 [release candidate 1] as final and ship it on Tuesday, April 6. Otherwise, there's an RC2," Mosedale said in the planning document.
The new version is due to get an updated Web browser engine. Using the same Gecko project that Firefox is built atop means Thunderbird messages can integrate with Web activity such as Google Calendar.
Another possibility for 3.1 is a revamp of the Thunderbird start page, Mozilla Messaging CEO David Ascher said Friday. That redesign, which Ascher described in May, could show more useful information than the present splash screen--for example, information about what activity people has been up to help pick up where they left off.
"The 'start page,' which makes a lot of sense in Firefox, never made a huge amount of sense to me in Thunderbird. In particular, it's shown only when a folder is selected, and no message is selected. That's hardly a logical time to show the (colorful, pretty, but fairly useless) page we show now. Instead, why not show information about the selected folder and help people who clearly intended to select a folder, so most likely wanted to do something related to that folder," Ascher said in the blog post.
The faster Thunderbird release cycle is just one attribute the Thunderbird team is trying to adopt from Mozilla's higher-profile Firefox effort. Also on the longer-term plan is financial self-sustenance. Those are big challenges, though. An easier adoption will be fun names.
Starting now, Thunderbird versions will be named after beaches, Ascher said in a blog post this week.
"Firefox releases have cool code names while in gestation," Acher said. "Firefox picks national parks as code names, as metaphors for the values that go into making a Firefox release. The idea made a lot of sense to us, so we decided to follow suit for Thunderbird. Rather than parks, we picked beaches."
First up: Hawaii. Thunderbird 3.1 gets the name Lanikai, Ascher said, adding that he misspelled it "Lanakai" in the blog post.
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Seesmic)
On Monday, Seesmic released an update to Seesmic for BlackBerry, a Twitter app that first debuted in late November.
Back then you had to download Seesmic from the company's Web site. Now you can get it directly from BlackBerry App World online or from the App World app on your smartphone.
Although Seesmic's interface is a bit light on features--like support for multiple accounts--it has added some enhancements that better integrate its Twitter app with the BlackBerry ethos. Chief among these are compliance with the BlackBerry's spell checker and auto-corrector, which will both help keep you from misspelling tweets or forgetting to capitalize an "i." The app has also become sensitive to keyboard shortcuts. In addition to the usual BlackBerry shortcuts T and B, to take you to the top and bottom of the page, are R to reply, D to send a direct message and F to retweet. Here is the full list of mapped shortcuts.
You can now vary your font size among small, medium, and large fonts. Seesmic for BlackBerry also lets you mark a tweet as a favorite in your timeline, but doesn't yet have a dedicated Favorites screen. In addition, Seesmic is now available for phones running 4.5 of the BlackBerry's operating system.The previous build, version 1.0.6 beta, only worked on BlackBerrys 4.6 and up.
You can view the change log for more details, and can try Seesmic's take on Twitter for free on Windows and Mac.
Thunderbird 3 is finally here for Windows, Mac, and Linux, after a gestation period measured in years. Take an introductory tour in this First Look video of the latest improvements, including robust integrated search, tabbed e-mail reading, and a slick new account wizard.
For an even deeper look at Firefox's sibling, read this hands-on report of what's good and what's lacking in Thunderbird 3.
eBay may have recently sold off Skype to the highest bidder, but the VoIP app for desktop and mobile is still in development.
On Thursday, Skype announced Skype 4.2 for Windows beta and a new beta build for Symbian phones. Skype 4.2 beta for Windows desktop users is small as updates go, reinstating Skype Access--a Wi-Fi hot-spot connector--and call transferring that Skype had removed when overhauling its app and updating to version 4 (now in version 4.1), a build that includes screen-sharing.
You can scrutinize the full release notes here.
In addition to tightening up Skype for the desktop, the company announced it will issue a limited beta release for Symbian Series 60 handsets. There's compatibility for 17 Nokia handsets at launch, with use on more phones on the way.
The feature set is basic at present, with just the following features in place:
- Free Skype-to-Skype calling
- Call phones with Skype credits or subscription
- Receive calls on your online number
- Instant messaging
- Group conversations
- File sending and receiving
Mozilla Messaging pushed the stable release of Thunderbird 3 out of the nest on Tuesday, and there's a lot to like in case you haven't been following the beta development of this Outlook alternative. The long-overdue Thunderbird 3 is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and it introduces several hefty new features and some long-needed improvements, including an overhauled search and message indexing, tab support, and a revamped setup wizard that's designed to make new account setup quick and painless.
One feature that isn't included is the calendaring add-on, Lightning. Originally, Mozilla had planned to bake the extension into the program, but decided back in February 2009 to change course and leave it up to users to download. Although Thunderbird natively comes with Microsoft Exchange support, there's no calendar and therefore no meeting support in the default Thunderbird installation. Along with Lightning, there's an essential Google Calendar add-on for Lightning that gives Google users calendar support in Lightning. Currently, the only version of Lightning that works in Thunderbird 3 is the nightly build, available here.
Even without Lightning, Thunderbird makes for an excellent desktop-based e-mail client. Beyond Outlook replacement, it also makes a savvy offline or local-storage tool for the various Web mail providers. Gmail integration has existed in Thunderbird for a while, but improvements in version 3 include better recognition and integration of Gmail's special folders. These include Sent and Trash, and the non-English versions of Gmail. The All Mail option in Gmail defaults in Thunderbird to the Archives folder.
Thunderbird 3's new search results pane.
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)Undeniably, the killer feature in Thunderbird 3 is the search. The most obvious competitor, Microsoft Outlook, doesn't offer anything that comes close to the level of granular control that Mozilla has given Thunderbird users. The new search bar is dominant at the top of the interface, and is set by default to search all messages. When you search, a new tab will open with your results organized as shown in the screenshot above. Filters based on e-mail addresses, folders, and tags appear on the left, while the majority of the window is given over to displaying summaries of the e-mails that meet your criteria. There's also a timeline bar graph at the top of the results. Click it, and then mouse over any of the subcategories to see how they occurred over time.
You can change the search box to one of several filters, including Subject, From, Recipient, To, CC, and Message Body. Frustratingly, you can't filter by Tag. You can also save any of these filtered searches as a virtual folder. Editors' note: The previous two paragraphs have been rewritten for clarity.
The new search bar drops down with options, but also can do predictive on-the-fly queries similar to the URL bar in Firefox 3.
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)There is one drawback to the search: the first time it indexes your messages, you're potentially in for a long, long wait. In testing, this depended entirely on the number of messages in your folders. High volume accounts, whether locally archived or all on a server, should probably set their indexing to run overnight. After the first indexing, each new e-mail is added as it comes in.
E-mails open by default into new tabs, making the e-mail reading experience far more similar to the Web-browsing one. This can be toggled under the Advanced section of the Options, under the Reading and Display tab. The hot keys for the e-mail tabs have been mapped the same as in Firefox, so middle-click an e-mail to open it in a new tab but retain your focus on the current tab. The CTRL+Tab hot key combo will cycle through your tabs, and there's an open tab button on the right side of the tab bar to help manage your tabs.
There's a new activity manager that records all interactions between your e-mail provider and Thunderbird, making it easier to track down errors when you send or receive mail. There's also an entirely new system for archiving messages based on Gmail's "archive and forget it" method. The new version offers the traditional multiple-folder-based solution, as well as the new dumping-ground style, which can be activated via the "A" hot key. Thunderbird 3 supports Firefox personas, too, further reinforcing their shared architecture.
Thunderbird 3 beta 4 introduces tighter folder integration for Gmail users.
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)Other changes include major code improvements. The setup wizard now looks to mozillamessaging.com for additional information on how to configure the account. This changes how new Web mail accounts are created. Mozilla has said that only the domain name from your e-mail address gets sent to Mozilla's servers, and that the entire process falls under the Mozilla's privacy policy. Nevertheless, it's a move that's likely to cause some concern among privacy advocates.
The compact header mode has been deleted, which is sure to annoy those who like using Thunderbird on smaller-form computers like Netbooks. Windows users should see Thunderbird results appearing in federated searches in Windows Vista and Windows 7, while Mac users will find Growl notification support for new e-mails, integration with Spotlight and the Mac OS X address book, and support for Mail.app. The full changelog for Thunderbird 3 can be read here.
Thunderbird 3 rates as a top-notch e-mail client, and it's definitely the best freeware one around. It will require some fidgeting to get it to be usable in a corporate environment, but it's far more scalable to user needs than anything else currently available.
Mozilla updated its nearly-baked Thunderbird 3 Tuesday night, fixing one critical error and addressing three others. The critical bug fix affects the Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of Thunderbird 3 Release Candidate 2. It had caused the previous version to hang on shutdown, consume too much memory, and close all IMAP connections.
The other fixes in this version enable downloading new messages automatically by default for POP3 accounts, label the default theme as version 2.0, and fixes the "download more dictionaries" option, which had been failing to open properly.
Already a year off from its original release schedule, Thunderbird 3 has also missed its most recent revised deadline, which had been planned for the end of November 2009. However, I've been using the beta and release candidate builds and have found them to be as stable as Thunderbird 2, but with far less memory hogging.
TweetDeck now doubles up profile pics on retweets to give original poster's credit.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Seesmic's Twitter reader app for Mac and Windows is looking at some serious renewed competition from TweetDeck.
The newly updated TweetDeck 0.32 (and AIR app for Windows and Mac,) packs in a host of changes that should make the desktop app more attractive to power tweeters. Chief among these is new behavior for retweeting, when users share a contact's tweet with their own list of followers in just a click. TweetDeck supports two formats, the "new style" that spits out an identical post and displays both your photo and that of the original tweeter, and the "original" style that lets you edit before you post the duplicated message. We like that TweetDeck can remember your preference, or that you can do nothing and choose fresh each time.
(Credit:
TweetDeck)
The new TweetDeck also incorporates Twitter Lists for the first time, a grouping feature that Twitter launched about a month ago. Just as you can manage individuals on TweetDeck, you can also manage lists and omit people on them that you don't directly follow. You're able to create new lists from scratch or from a list you already have.
In addition, tweets that include geolocation information now pop up with a yellow pin at the bottom of the message. You can click the pin to expand an embedded map. We haven't seen any of these show up in our lists yet, but the concept of convenience is similar to what Yahoo Messenger already does when it embeds photos and videos into chat windows. We hope that's next here, too.
Adding and expanding on Twitter features isn't TweetDeck's only move. The update also pulls the LinkedIn social network onboard, which means you can now read status streams from LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace in TweetDeck's column view, in addition to tracking streams from various Twitter accounts.
The version 0.32 update also makes its mark with a reorganized Add Column screen that replaces previous menu items with redesigned navigation for maintaining your Tweeting dashboard. The new TweetDeck includes numerous bug fixes as well; here's the changelog for more details.
Mozilla Messaging has released the first release candidate of a Thunderbird 3, software it hopes will significantly improve how people read, write, catalog, and search their e-mail.
Mozilla released the software Tuesday for Windows, Mac, and Linux, several days later than predicted earlier this month but close to a year later than Mozilla planned in 2008. A final version of Thunderbird 3 is expected not long after the release candidate.
Thunderbird 3 has been years time in the making. For its next versions, the Mozilla Messaging group hopes to release new versions more frequently, said Mozilla Messaging programmer Dan Mosedale.
"Part of the plan for Thunderbird is to move our development process in a more agile direction...Rather than having super long releases, we'd like to release significantly more frequently than we have historically done," said a draft Mozilla proposal for what to do in the post-Thunderbird 3 era Mosedale posted. He proposed major Thunderbird releases every four to six months, starting with version 3.1, and also laid out some ideas for Thunderbird after version 3.1.
Thunderbird 3.0 adds a variety of features, according to Mozilla and the Thunderbird 3 RC1 release notes:
• A more elaborate search option to locate specific messages. People can employ a variety of methods to sift the wheat from the chaff.
• An e-mail archive a la Google's Gmail. Rather than filing every message in a folder, an organizational technique that can be hard to maintain with high volumes of messages, people can move them out of the inbox into the archive where search can find them later.
• A streamlined interface that cleans up the toolbar and moves some of its functions to the frame around e-mail messages.
• A new plug-in system designed to be easier to use to replicate some of the success of the Firefox browser. The browser, by the way, is built in so plug-ins can use it.
• A tabbed interface that can reduce clutter of e-mails, e-mail folders, and other tasks. A tab can, for example, house a version of Yahoo's online calendar.
• An easier process to set up new e-mail accounts. The software has preset settings for several e-mail services.
• "Smart folders" that can be customized in a variety of ways. For example, users with multiple e-mail accounts can create a smart folder that provides a unified inbox for all the accounts.
• An easier way to add people to the address book by clicking a star icon next to the sender's name.
Be sure to check the list of Thunderbird 3 RC1 issues if you're the cautious type.
