There are a couple of exciting new software releases that I am anticipating:

• Thunderbird 1.5: Firefox's little brother is finally getting some major updates, some of which have been sorely needed from the beginning. The brand new software updating system introduced with Firefox 1.5 is coming to Thunderbird, which should be a great way to stay on top of critical security updates. Inline spell checking is also coming to town. Other great features include: auto-complete ordering based on address usage, built-in phishing detector, deleting attachments from messages, auto-save email drafts, and more! I'm really looking forward to this release. Thunderbird is an awesome client, and these updates should make it even better.
• WordPress 2.0: A major update to an excellent blog publishing system is coming soon, and it's going to make some great changes to the way things are handled. This feature list highlights the best parts of this upcoming release. Of interest to me: the improved post-preview, the theme previewer, and a built-in plugin for backing up your database. I'm going to give this a few weeks for any major bugs to shake out, but I'll eventually update this site to 2.0. It should be well worth it!

I feel like there was something else on the horizon that looked great, but at the moment I can't remember what it was. Anyways, with an exciting lineup like this already forming, 2006 should be a great year!