Unveiled last September by Mark Shuttleworth, the creator of Canonical Ltd., the next version of the Ubuntu operating system is now available for download in alpha.

Ubuntu 9.04 – called Jaunty Jackalope – Shuttleworth wants to maximize the time to start the system and integrate web softwares. In the end, it could result in a version specially optimized for Netbooks and MID including compatibility for ARM processors.

Four versions of the Alpha are available for download: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu Studio.

MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones is now available. It enables users of BlackBerry smartphones to carry with them their MySpace experience in mobility. Thanks to a custom interface, users can access a variety of functions: they can receive updates and send messages to their network in real time or download it by clicking photographs on their profiles from their BlackBerry smartphones.

MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones includes:

• A comprehensive messaging interface, including reviews, newsletters and messages
• Update of status and mood in real time
• The ability to find, add and respond to friends requests
• The integration of a camera and a photo manager optimized allowing users to capture, sort and download images
• The ability to view and comment on albums and photos of your friends
• Notification of MySpace events (messages and requests from friends)

To download MySpace for BlackBerry smartphones, visit www.blackberry.com/myspace or m.myspace.com from your BlackBerry browser.

Some of you probably remember, there was a time when Microsoft delivered free with its operating systems an antivirus software. Microsoft Anti-Virus (MSAV), introduced with MS-DOS 6.0, was relatively crude, but it deserves to exist.

Microsoft has since lost the habit of providing with its OS an antivirus software, leaving even for many years this market. It was not until May 2006 to see an antivirus software – not free this time – at Microsoft, Windows Live OneCare.

Microsoft should abandon it during the second quarter of 2009 for the benefit of “Morro”, an antivirus suite, and this time free. Morro, as announced necessarily lighter and efficient than Live OneCare, should be compatible with Windows XP, Vista and even the future Windows 7.

The Flash technology is used on 98% of desktops, but Adobe has difficult to integrate it into mobile devices. The only alternative is Flash Lite which is not supported by most platforms. At the Adobe MAX developer conference, the company has demonstrated Flash 10 on a device running with Windows Mobile and another with Android.

On the other hand, it seems that the advent of the Flash technology on Apple iPhone is still a sweet dream, but according to Adobe, the problem would be especially on the side of Apple. Indeed, the Cupertino firm argues that Flash is too greedy (CPU) and is not optimized for the ARM11 processor of the iPhone.

Sun Microsystems unveils its new suite of office applications, StarOffice 9.0, which will carry several new features and promises full compatibility with Mac OS X.

StarOffice 9.0, which is already compatible with the ISO standard Open Document, adds support for Office Open XML (OOXML) and provides compatibility with files created through Office 2007 and Office 2008 for Mac. Indeed, after having published a first beta for Mac OS X last August, now the office suite works natively on the Apple system.

Finally, in reality, it seems that Microsoft has in the idea of launching a web version of its Office suite available via (and among others) the following browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. Which suggests that a version for iPhone might be expected. A beta service could start by the end of the year. We can therefore expect an availability in 2009…

Just a few days after the discovery of an “vulnerability” in the T-Mobile G1 to gain root access to the system, Google has updated its Android operating system, which is used for the RC30 version. This new version fixes this vulnerability, of course, prohibiting the same time full access to system files.

A beta therefore interesting, since it brings with it the possibility of skin changing, as in Opera Mini 3, an improved compatibility with YouTube via http://m.youtube.com/, the possibility of using the Link service of Opera, and obviously a lot of fixes on the speed and stability. You can download the software here.

The work once again by Jay Freeman, author of Cydia, Cycorder and WinterBoard for iPhone, who has managed to bring Debian on the G1 of HTC. Note that Debian does not replace Android, but just mixing with it, all without any loss of functionality. The complete tutorial to install it is on the blog of the author.

Two tests performed by lifehacker, on a PC with an Intel Core 2 Duo 3.16GHz and 4GB of RAM, show that Windows 7 is faster than XP and Vista.

First test: from the boot screen to Desktop “Fully-loaded”:

• Windows 7 Ultimate (Preview, PDC edition, 32-bit): 32 seconds
• Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit, SP1): 33 seconds
• Windows XP Professional (SP3): 40 seconds

Second test: from the boot screen to the user selection screen:

• Windows 7 Ultimate (Preview, PDC edition, 32-bit): 23 seconds
• Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit, SP1): 24 seconds
• Windows XP Professional (SP3): 29 seconds

More surprising, this gap of 7 seconds between Vista and XP for the first test…