The battle in the virtualization market enters a new phase: Sun Microsystems released new versions of its virtualization software Sun xVM. And a few days ago Red Hat announced its takeover of Qumranet, makers of the virtualizer KVM. Meanwhile Microsoft and Novell are teaming up to counter with their own Microsoft Hyper-V and Suse Linux Enterprise Server offerings.

RSS preview, Atom-feeds and improved bookmarking facilities are the new features in the upcoming version 9.6 of the Opera Web Browser.

Ubuntu promoter Mark Shuttleworth took on the traditional role of code-naming the next Ubuntu version on the Ubuntu mailing list. Version 9.04 is henceforth known as Jaunty Jackalope.

Free project WINE now offers the newest version (1.1.4) of its runtime environment. Among its features is better support for Google Chrome.

The second early Firefox 3.1 test version (code-named Shiretoko Alpha 2) provides at first glance a video tag, which allows audio and video to be played in free Ogg/Theora format.

At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Germany, (August 29-September 3), Chinese hardware vendor HiVision showcased a Linux laptop that is to cost a mere $98.

The latest version of the open source anti-virus scanner, ClamAV 0.94, promises to improve virus detection rates with enhanced scanning capabilities.

U.S. Linux distributor Red Hat has bought the virtual computing solutions vendor Qumranet.