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More Firefox betas to come, admits Mozilla chief

First up then, the news that Firefox will go through as many betas as necessary and release be damned, according to Mozilla Europe supremo Tristan Nitot. A tactic which has won broad support from our forums, who've experienced quite enough buggy, rushed launches for one year thank you.

"I think that the majority will prefer more betas and a decent final version than a botched interim version," says Amnesia10. "There are many out there that will criticise Firefox for any delays but they really should be ignored."

But surely criticising Firefox is the tech world equivalent of kicking kittens - who'd do such a thing? Enter rjp2000, who's clearly got some browser issues.

"Sounds to me like Mozilla is suffering from the same malaise that's afflicted Microsoft. The product is getting more and more feature heavy and therefore takes much longer to develop and test, with higher likelihood that some bugs will slip through the net and be released into the wild. I think you are all being too kind (or is it double standards?) - the product is late and the timescale is slipping, give the Mozilla guys a good verbal kicking just like you would if it was called Microsoft Firefox 3 or are you all just Firefox fan boys really?!"

Ooh, that stung. And now a masterclass in how to duck a flame war by adopting the manners of a 1940's aristocrat. Step forward pcernie.

"Steady on old chap, there's a reason Firefox has gotten such a foothold in the browser business, and that reason is Internet Exploder. Firefox is highly unlikely to wreck your OS if something goes wrong no matter how buggy/late it is."

Widescreen monitors to adopt 1080p?

We

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move on to Taiwan where crazy inventor types have gone against nature by creating a 16:9 widescreen monitor. As a mob of angry peasants advanced on their island fortress with pitchforks and burning torches demanding a return to 16:10, our own readers were a little more reflective.

"Why has it taken so long for someone to do this? 1,920 x 1,080 is a very sensible resolution for PC monitors," says PalMal.

Not that sensible apparently.

"I'll stick with 1,920 x 1,200 and have some black bars when viewing video, thanks anyway," says Big_D. "Those extra 120 pixels are great when working on source code and long documents. If I want to watch a film, I'll go and watch the television - or I'll open a DVD in a corner of the screen while I work... I generally want more vertical space on my desktop, not less!"

"I'm with you," says Greemble. "Why spend money on a 42in television, only to watch films on a computer monitor half the size? Strange idea..."

Microsoft and Yahoo discuss merger

And speaking of strange ideas, the soap opera that is the Microsoft and Yahoo takeover deal continues to titillate, with reports suggesting that the two companies are now speaking again after weeks of cold stares and snide comments.

gullyg has clearly been following the saga with rapt attention. "Personally I hope they go ahead, make a huge c*ck up and go bankrupt," he says.

And he wasn't alone.

"I agree with this - but at the same time it worries me," says paulzolo prompting hushed tones around the campfire. "If Microsoft goes down, then the impact on just about every business and financial institution will be immense.

"The business world is just too reliant on it. Businesses need a contingency plan for this kind of thing. I hope that they have such plans in place. It's very unhealthy to be reliant on one platform, and to assume that it will always be there."

True. Here's hoping we're all here next week.