Skype recently released Skype 2.0 beta for Linux, which includes the ability to make video calls, a feature the Windows and Mac versions have had for some time. I tried the beta on two systems running Ubuntu 7.10 -- my desktop PC with a USB webcam and a MacBook Pro with its onboard iSight webcam -- with mixed results.

Nearly five months after the release of the first beta, the Skype for Linux developers have announced the availability of the second beta for version 2.1 of their Linux Skype client.

Skype has released a new Beta version of it’s VoIP client for Linux. The new release comes with video support.... I know this is proprietary software but it is about time they supported GNU/Linux. Bury it if you don't care.

Skype 2.1 Beta vor Linux has been released yesterday, bringing a lot of new features, including:

* High Quality Video support.
* Skype's SILK audio codec.
* PulseAudio support.
* SMS sending support.
* Chat messages editing/removing support.
* Contact groups support.
* Typing notification in chat.

Skype seems to be following a tradition. They had first introduced Video chat with 2.0 Beta version for Windows. They followed the same version pattern and introduced Video chat in Linux with version 2.0 Beta for Linux

The Bordeaux Technology Group released Bordeaux 2.0.0 Beta 2 for Mac today. Bordeaux 2.0.0 Beta 2 marks major progress over the older Beta 1 release. With this release we now support Leopard and Snow Leopard.

Mozilla's released a few weeks ago version 3 beta 3 of it Email Client, Thunderbird. This beta release still full of bugs and should not be used on a production box or as used as your principal email client. See the list of bugs in Thunderbird 3 beta 3 before going ahead to install.

Six years after the project was launched, developers at the Xiph.Org Foundation have released a beta version of the free video codec called Ogg Theora. The source code of the libtheora 1.0 Beta 1 codec library can be downloaded from the developer website.

Not long ago Mozilla changed the release cycle of Firefox, so that major new versions (Firefox 5, 6 and so on) will be released every 2-3 months. Currently, the latest alpha release is Firefox 6 Aurora, while the latest beta development version is Firefox Beta 5, which has made it into the Firefox Next PPA already. Installing this version should be very easy if you follow the next steps.