Welcome to another edition of the Prompt Newsletter.

The biggest technology story of the week was the launch of Google's new browser, Chrome. It may still be in beta, but it's still managed to impress Dave. Read on for his review.

But Chrome isn't the only story of the week. We also take a look at the legal shenanigans over the US imprisonment of a UK hacker, celebrate GNU's birthday with Stephen Fry, and explain why Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash is so upset.

All this and the return of the Commodore too!

If you enjoy reading this newsletter, then why not visit our blog?

Hazel Butters
CEO
Prompt Communications

Google Chrome arrives as a very polished beta

By Dave Wilby

On Tuesday night, Google launched its first serious foray into the browser wars. It's only a beta at this stage, but the early signs suggest a very shiny future for the new Google Chrome browser.

To get a feel for why Chrome is destined to grab a very large slice of the browser pie, you really need to download it yourself. To tap an exhaustive resource of all things Chrome you need browse no further than the excellent ZDNet Business Toolkit. But if a quick rundown of the best bits is all you want, then let me tell you: it's fast, intuitive, open source, W3C compliant, combines address bar and search intelligently, includes tab-by-tab resource monitoring and crash control, builds genuinely useful thumbnail homepages, offers 'incognito' browsing, creates shortcuts for web apps, cherry picks the very best bits of IE, Firefox and Safari, and boasts a slick drag and drop interface that brings a smile to your face.

Despite my techie heart, I usually maintain a healthy scepticism towards new software launches, especially beta releases, certainly until all the creases have been ironed out. However, after only 24 hours Google Chrome has already become my favourite browser for all things fun. My Outlook webmail server still craves IE for some of its bells and whistles, I'm not entirely happy with the flexibility of its pop-up blocker, and there are a few rendering issues here and there with sites that already had problems with Firefox and Opera, but overall, the speed, functionality and design frills of Chrome have got me hooked and anticipating the full release.

---

"Happy birthday to GNU! Happy birthday to GNU..."

By Dave Wilby

GNU, the licence and Unix-free open source operating system created by influential software developer and activist Richard Stallman, celebrated its 25th anniversary this week. So who better to sing its birthday praises than national treasure Stephen Fry?

Fry has a longstanding passion for the open source technology ethic, is a particular fan of the GNU OS, and was only too happy to have the opportunity to share his sentiments by recording a special birthday video greeting for the GNU Project website.

The short film is more than just congratulations, however. Fry used the platform to give a potted history of GNU, exalt Stallman's contribution to open source and deliver a rallying cry for a non-proprietary software future generally.

"All knowledge is free and all knowledge is shared in good science. If it isn't, it's bad science, and really a kind of tyranny," Fry proclaims in the clip, and frankly, I'd love to see any proprietary software company CTO attempt to stand up to the great man in debate.

---

Hacker's final appeal to Home Secretary

By Kathryn Cave

Gary McKinnon, a British man dubbed by US police as "the world's most dangerous hacker", has appealed to the Home Secretary against being jailed in the US. McKinnon, who recently lost his chance to refuse extradition, could face life imprisonment if convicted of "the biggest military hack ever".

The US government claims he stole passwords, deleted files and left 300 computers paralysed at a US navy weapons station immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks. McKinnon, who admits to the hack, maintains he was seeking information on UFOs and only got in because of lax security.

McKinnon's lawyer Karen Todner argues he should not face imprisonment in the US because the crime was committed on British soil. She asserts that his human rights would be breached if he does not return to the UK after a trial.

The BBC reports that James Welch, legal director of human rights group Liberty, says: "Clearly it is time to re-think summary extradition when US prosecutors threaten to 'fry' a non-violent computer hacker. It is a shame that the Court of Human Rights will allow his extradition even as they consider whether US extradition measures were fair."

---

Nokia Comes With Music, first to UK

By Sally Forge

Nokia is gambling on music and providing a year's worth of unlimited downloads for purchasers of the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic 'Comes With Music' edition. The phone, available only in the UK through an exclusive deal with Carphone Warehouse, allows users to download as much music as they like for a whole year. Crucially, the music will still be available to listeners even if the subscription is ended, unlike with other music download services such as Napster in the UK.

Nokia will make music from Universal, Sony and Warner artists available to download by phone or PC. The service bundled with phone is 'free'. However, as Music Ally and Wired magazine discovered, users will have to pay for data transfer costs.

---

Blogger arrested for leaking Guns N' Roses content on his site

By Sally Forge

Also trialling new ways of distributing music to fans, blogger Kevin Cogill posted nine allegedly unreleased Guns N' Roses tracks on his site. Cogill was arrested by the FBI and could now face a prison sentence and a fine. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Cogill says he is confident about his prospects in court as the situation with downloads is still a "grey area". But CMU reported that the band's guitarist Slash had a less forgiving view, telling the LA Times: "I hope he rots in jail. It's going to affect the sales of the record..."

---

Red Hat's Project Spacewalk could take open source out of this world

By James Gerber

Red Hat's brilliantly-named Project Spacewalk has been taking off lately, bringing open source applications together. Spacewalk is the result of an effort by Red Hat to open source the code of Red Hat Network, which it began planning in early 2007. In June of this year, Red Hat announced that Spacewalk would be the open source version of Red Hat Network Satellite, a systems management project.

Spacewalk allows users to inventory software and hardware information, install and update software and monitor systems, among other features. It's a platform that aims to make it easier for users to bring all of their various open source software together and monitor how it's working. Red Hat released some impressive statistics, including 120 people on the development list. Matt Asay makes a great point when he says that Red Hat's Project Spacewalk is a good way to monetise commercial open source.

By being an entry point to various applications, it will make it easier for companies to integrate their different software products and also help people to get support easily. It reduces the risk of open source, which will make it more palatable to a wider enterprise audience.

---

Commodore takes it back to the old school

By Sally Forge

With the decrease in processing power and memory heralded by new low-cost laptops comes a return to eighties design – this week Retro To Go featured the new Commodore UMMD 8010/F netbook. The computer, which comes in multiple colours including beige and brown, features the old Commodore logo and will, no doubt, be able to run Jet Set Willy and Lode Runner. The machines will run both Windows XP and GNU.