http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2012, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:52:41 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/25540/Why_People_Troll_and_How_to_Stop_Them/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25540/Why_People_Troll_and_How_to_Stop_Them/ Why do people troll? Can we prevent trolling or limit the damage trolls do? Here are some thoughts on trollology derived from academic studies and web research. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:58:57 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Howard Fosdick) Editorial 85 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 Feature http://www.osnews.com/story/25449/More_Free_Online_Technical_Courses/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25449/More_Free_Online_Technical_Courses/ M.I.T. has just announced it is expanding its list of free online courses anyone can take. Attendees earn completion certificates. M.I.T.'s OpenCourseWare project already offers 2,100 courses used by 100 million people. OpenCulture, Free Ed, E-learning Center, and Alison offer competing free online courses, including many on computing and IT certification. Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:39:45 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Howard Fosdick) Editorial 24 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25442/The_Future_of_Computing_in_China/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25442/The_Future_of_Computing_in_China/ Ethnologist Tricia Wang, via TechRice, writes on The Future of Computing in China. Touching upon such issues as culture, cloud vs super computing, and Silicon Valley vs Massachussetts's Route 128, she builds a case that, despite great strides and individual successes and brilliance, China's computing future will move in a different (perhaps slower) direction compared to the West Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) Editorial 6 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 News KLU9 http://www.osnews.com/story/25422/How_Much_Should_an_OS_Vendor_Own_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25422/How_Much_Should_an_OS_Vendor_Own_/ I was reading today about how Linux Mint developers altered the Banshee music player source code to redirect affiliate revenue from Amazon music orders to them instead of Banshee. They've reportedly made less than $4, which has caused a kerfluffle among those paying attention to that corner of the world. But it raises a larger point that has been swirling around for a couple of decades: an OS vendor has a lot of power to influence, and even monetize their user base. Where should they draw the line? Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:12:59 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Editorial 50 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25421/Open-Source_webOS_Is_Dead_on_Arrival/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25421/Open-Source_webOS_Is_Dead_on_Arrival/ The more I look at what HP has had to say about webOS; the more I think the project's as dead as a doornail. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:41:17 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Editorial 34 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 News sjvn http://www.osnews.com/story/25420/HP_Leaves_webOS_Wounded_Not_Even_Dead/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25420/HP_Leaves_webOS_Wounded_Not_Even_Dead/ When HP announced it was releasing webOS to open source on Friday afternoon, it surely didn't kill it, but it left the operating system badly wounded with few prospects for success. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:40:15 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Editorial 8 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 News Ron Miller http://www.osnews.com/story/25376/Ask_OSNews_Hackintosh_Legality/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25376/Ask_OSNews_Hackintosh_Legality/ A reader asks: "Can someone comment on the legality of using my brother's old Snow Leopard DVD to install OS X? My brother has Lion, so why can't he choose to give it to me? It doesn't violate Apple's 1 license per 1 computer policy." Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:23:44 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Editorial 51 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 Feature http://www.osnews.com/story/25378/The_Personal_Computer_Is_Dead/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25378/The_Personal_Computer_Is_Dead/ The PC is dead. Rising numbers of mobile, lightweight, cloud-centric devices don’t merely represent a change in form factor. Rather, we’re seeing an unprecedented shift of power from end users and software developers on the one hand, to operating system vendors on the other--and even those who keep their PCs are being swept along. This is a little for the better, and much for the worse. Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:16:35 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Editorial 53 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25358/Tech_Stocks_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25358/Tech_Stocks_/ My previous article described how you can use your tech knowledge to profit from the stock market -- if you combine it with financial analysis and careful research. This article analyzes several tech stocks. The goal is to start a useful discussion. What is your opinion of these companies? Even if you don't invest, this matters if you are in employed in IT. You're betting your career on the companies in whose products you specialize! You don't want to pick losers. Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:04:28 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Howard Fosdick) Editorial 24 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 Feature http://www.osnews.com/story/25304/How_to_Invest_in_Tech_Stocks/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25304/How_to_Invest_in_Tech_Stocks/ We've all had the idea, even if we've never pursued it. We just know we could make money in the stock market, based on our tech knowledge. We live and breathe tech. Why not profit from it? Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:17:35 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Howard Fosdick) Editorial 43 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 Feature http://www.osnews.com/story/25194/How_Adobe_Flash_Lost_Its_Way/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25194/How_Adobe_Flash_Lost_Its_Way/ Despite early successes on the Web, the latter years of Flash have been a tale of missed opportunities, writes Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister. 'The bigger picture is that major platform vendors are increasingly encouraging developers to create rich applications not to be delivered via the browser, but as native, platform-based apps. That's long been the case on iOS and other smartphone platforms, and now it's starting to be the norm on Windows. Each step of the way, Adobe is getting left behind,' McAllister writes. 'Perhaps Adobe's biggest problem, however, is that it's something of a relic as developer-oriented vendors go. How many people have access to the Flash runtime is almost a moot point, because Adobe doesn't make any money from the runtime directly; it gives it away for free. Adobe makes its money from selling developer tools. Given the rich supply of free, open source developer tools available today, vendors like that are few and far between. Remember Borland? Or Watcom?' Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:22:42 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) Editorial 9 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 News snydeq http://www.osnews.com/story/25089/Red_Hat_CEO_Thinks_the_Desktop_Is_Becoming_a_Legacy_Application/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25089/Red_Hat_CEO_Thinks_the_Desktop_Is_Becoming_a_Legacy_Application/ In five years, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst sees the traditional desktop becoming obsolete. Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:38:11 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Editorial 92 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 News sjvn http://www.osnews.com/story/25017/How_to_Save_Energy_When_Using_Your_Computer/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25017/How_to_Save_Energy_When_Using_Your_Computer/ Your computer is an important energy consumer in your home. Can you save energy when using it? This article offers a few tips. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:18:19 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) Editorial 84 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 Feature Howard Fosdick http://www.osnews.com/story/24829/iCloud_s_Real_Purpose_Kill_Windows/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24829/iCloud_s_Real_Purpose_Kill_Windows/ Bob Cringeley makes a bold statement in a blog post responding to Apple's iCloud announcement: "Jobs is going to sacrifice the Macintosh in order to kill Windows." He says, "The incumbent platform today is Windows because it is in Windows machines that nearly all of our data and our ability to use that data have been trapped. But the Apple announcement changes all that. Suddenly the competition isn't about platforms at all, but about data, with that data being crunched on a variety of platforms through the use of cheap downloaded apps." Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:54:40 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Editorial 100 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 News http://www.osnews.com/story/24739/VMware_Is_The_New_Microsoft_Just_Without_an_OS/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24739/VMware_Is_The_New_Microsoft_Just_Without_an_OS/ In the past 10 years VMware has executed a remarkable strategy to topple enterprise software incumbents and emerge as an ecosystem kingpin. More recently, the company has plunged head first into cloud computing from infrastructure to applications. Time and again, it seems as though VMware is beating Microsoft at its own game. But a look deeper reveals that is no surprise. Mon, 16 May 2011 01:24:09 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Editorial 8 http://www.osnews.com/topics/5 News