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According to the Official Google Wave Developer Blog, they’ll be extending 100,000 invites to regular old users on September 30th. Google launched Google Wave at its Google IO conference at the end of May, but so far the Web giant has restricted the service to 6,000 or so developers.

Google Wave is a unique hybrid of email, chat, and a blog, and some expect it to eventually replace some of Google’s other applications. No word yet on how invites will be handled or who will be getting them.

So the previously thought RTM date didn’t happen but Mary Jo Foley apparently has the official scoop on dates from Microsoft on when Windows 7 will hit the streets. So who gets it and when?

OEMs: Two days after RTM

ISVs and IHV partners: August 6 (downloadable via Microsoft Connect or MSDN)

Microsoft Gold certified resellers: August 16 (downloadable from the partner portal in English only); October 1 (other language)

TechNet subscribers: August 6 (English only); October 1 (other languages)

MSDN subscribers: August 6 (English only); October 1 (other languages)

Microsoft “Action Pack” subscribers: August 23 (English only); October 1 (remaining languages)

Volume licensees with existing Software Assurance license: August 7 (downloadable from the Volume License Service Center in English); a couple of weeks after that for other languages. (So my original post on when business users would get Windows 7 wasn’t really wrong, after all. Glad we cleared that up. Not!)

Volume licensees without a Software Assurance license: September 1 (downloadable from the Volume License Service Center)

Consumers: General availability begins October 22. Retailers and OEMs will be offering new systems preloaded with Windows 7 and copies of Windows 7 at retail on that day.

Oddly, while Microsoft has stated the above dates it still hasn’t released the official RTM date.

A day after Slashdot reported about a self-inflicted vulnerability in Firefox 3.5, Mozilla releases 3.5.1. It addresses the security issue in the TraceMonkey engine that would allow someone to exploit a system, but also fixes the annoying slow-startup on Windows.

Run Help – Check for Updates or hit this link to download 3.5.1!

Mashable does a great writeup on why IE6 Must Die for the Web to Move On. The serious downsides to IE6 are:

- CSS v2 (Cascading Style Sheets): This is the code that enables almost all design on the web. In other words, designers have to hack up websites just to make them load in IE6.

- PNG Transparency: A great deal of .png images don’t display correctly in IE6. It basically kills using them in design work.

- General Security: Just like not updating your virus software can get you riddled with spyware, not updating your browser can be a gateway to attacks. There are even code snippets that will shut down IE6. I won’t tell you what they are, but you can find them on Wikipedia. It’s unstable.

- Digg , Facebook , and YouTube (soon): Both Digg and YouTube have announced that they’re cutting back on IE6 support. Facebook already gives you suggestions for better browsers if you try to log in with IE6. You won’t be able to Digg articles or browse YouTube via IE6 in the near future.

You should read through the entire article though if this is something that is of interest to you because they go into HTML5 as well as how IE6 is hurting web development progression in general. As a “web guy” I can’t wait for IE6 to die. When a client says they want to target IE6 (I usually say “current release + one version back” but sometimes they object) I utterly cringe because I know what a PITA it will be.

Catch the full article on Mashable.

Supposedly, a Google representative demonstrated a private beta build of the OS to an anonymous Acer parts supplier yesterday. The pictures were grabbed while the Google rep wasn’t  looking. Here’s the highlights:

• The “elegant” install on the Acer Extensa 4620Z laptop took about 10 minutes and 1 restart
• Reboots desktop-to-desktop in about 25 seconds
• It was “amazingly fast” in its stripped-down beta form
• The blue orb on the auto-hiding “Chrome Bar” along the bottom of the UI is essentially the start menu
• Navigating the file system can be done in “exploration” (like Windows explorer) or “browser” (search based) modes
• The Chrome Bar can also host a search bar if configured
• Future Chrome OS netbooks will feature an iconified Chrome key on the keyboard similar to the Windows flag key

Source: http://chromeosleak.wordpress.com/