http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:01:02 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/21632/Swedish_Pirate_Party_Wins_Seat_in_European_Parliament/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21632/Swedish_Pirate_Party_Wins_Seat_in_European_Parliament/ The pro-internet file sharing Pirate Party yesterday scored a big win by securing a seat in the European parliament. It pulled in 7.1 per cent of votes in Sweden, which handed the party one of the country's 18 seats in the European parliament. "Privacy issues and civil liberties are important to people and they demonstrated that clearly when they voted today," Pirate Party candidate Anna Troberg told Swedish TV on Sunday. Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:50:31 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 28 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/21609/OSNews_History_June_4_2005/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21609/OSNews_History_June_4_2005/ Five Four years ago today, OSNews published some interesting articles. Apple announced it was dropping PPC for x86 (that one was a bombshell). That news was met with fear, excitement, and a fair bit of skepticism. Five Four years later, that decision has gone down as one of the smartest, gutsiest moves in computing business history. Congratulations to Apple's engineers for making it go so smoothly. We also examined whether "soon" personal computers will have the ability to respond to stimuli from the outside world, by seeing and interpreting video or other signals. We're still waiting on that one. (And the project we linked to is now a dead link). Note: due to a back-end Snafu, this one didn't post until the fifth, but it's still an interesting date in OSNews history, so enjoy. Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:41:34 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) In the News 17 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/21582/BBC_History_of_Home_Computing_Special/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21582/BBC_History_of_Home_Computing_Special/ Let's get thoroughly British! What what. Digital Planet, BBC's technology podcast walks through the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park (Home to code-cracking Station-X during WWII), taking a simultaneous trip down memory lane discussing the general history of home computing. The podcast also talks to "Pixelh8" a chip-tune composer who has put together "Obsolete?" 'composed using some of the oldest and rarest computers in the world such as the WWII code-breaking machine Colossus Mark 2 Rebuild'. [Downloadable MP3 version of the podcast here] Thu, 28 May 2009 19:53:50 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Kroc Camen) In the News 3 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/21563/Psystar_Files_for_Chapter_11_Bankruptcy_Protection/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21563/Psystar_Files_for_Chapter_11_Bankruptcy_Protection/ The news has been out for a few hours already, but we were waiting for some official documentation and sources until we would publish it: Psystar, the Macintosh "clone" maker, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Apparently, the small company has a debt of USD 259000. The filing was made on a voluntary basis, and according to Psystar the financial troubles arise from the economic downturn. Tue, 26 May 2009 19:13:28 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 35 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News Governa http://www.osnews.com/story/21509/_Different_Business_Models_Common_Concerns_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21509/_Different_Business_Models_Common_Concerns_/ "On May 14, Microsoft and the Linux Foundation sent a joint letter to the American Law Institute to express our shared concerns with the group’s draft Principles of the Law of Software Contracts. The ALI Principles are meant to provide guidance to judges and others as they interpret software licensing agreements. While the Principles reflect a lot of hard work and thought by the ALI, Microsoft and the Linux Foundation believe that certain provisions do not reflect existing law and could disrupt the well-functioning software market for businesses and consumers, as well as create uncertainty for software developers." Mon, 18 May 2009 18:28:40 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 1 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News poundsmack http://www.osnews.com/story/21399/Time_Warner_Plans_to_Spin_Off_AOL/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21399/Time_Warner_Plans_to_Spin_Off_AOL/ US media giant Time Warner has said it anticipates spinning off one or more parts of AOL as advertising sales decline at the internet business. The announcement came after Time Warner posted stronger-than-expected profits and reaffirmed its full-year forecast. Net profits for the first quarter came in at USD 661m (GBP 448.8m), a fall of 14% from the USD 771m reported a year earlier. Revenue at the company, which owns Time magazine and the CNN and HBO television networks, fell by 7% to USD 6.9bn. Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:36:27 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 13 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News Adurbe http://www.osnews.com/story/21341/Prof_Hawking_Admitted_to_Hospital_Hawking_Now_Comfortable_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21341/Prof_Hawking_Admitted_to_Hospital_Hawking_Now_Comfortable_/ After being admitted to the hospital earlier today, the health situation of Professor Stephen Hawking has improved, and he is now "comfortable" according to a spokesperson of the University of Cambridge in the UK. He was admitted into the hospital today after "chest problems", and university spokespeople stated he was "very ill". Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:46:27 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 13 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/21333/Apple_Trumps_PC_Makers_in_Customer_Experience_Study/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21333/Apple_Trumps_PC_Makers_in_Customer_Experience_Study/ "A Customer Experience Index report from Forrester Research came to the conclusion after studying almost 4600 computer users' experiences from 2008 and asking them to score the ease of use of their computers, how enjoyable the experience is and whether or not the systems fulfill their owners' needs. Apple's overall score reached 80 and was not only enough to give it the lead but also leave it as the only company to earn a 'good' ranking in Forrester's view. Every other manufacturer in the list scored significantly lower, with Acer's American label Gateway being closest with a score of just 66; the standing is only 'okay' in the research group's chart." Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:13:29 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 23 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News Hakime http://www.osnews.com/story/21280/Sun_Board_Meets_Discuss_Next_Steps_in_IBM_Acquisition_Attempt/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21280/Sun_Board_Meets_Discuss_Next_Steps_in_IBM_Acquisition_Attempt/ If all this works out, then IBM will be one of the luckiest companies in the world. eWeek has learned a lot of details regarding the IBM-sun acquisition talks, as well as that today, the Sun board is holding another meeting to discuss the talks. The outcome could be that IBM would buy Sun after all - but at a much lower price since Sun's shares fell 25% after it had broken off the negotiations with IBM. Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:27:32 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 25 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/21274/Self-Migration_Thesis_Wins_EuroSys_Award/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21274/Self-Migration_Thesis_Wins_EuroSys_Award/ The live migration work in the L4-based "NomadBIOS" hypervisor, which inspired Xen's live migration and the influential "Live Migration of Virtual Machines" USENIX NSDI 2005 paper, also resulted in a Ph.D. thesis called "Virtual Machine Mobility with Self-Migration". The author of the thesis, Jacob Gorm Hansen from the University of Copenhagen, was recently awarded the EuroSys Roger Needham Ph.D. Award for best European operating systems thesis in 2008. Last year's award winner was Adam Dunkels, author of the uIP/LWIP embedded TCP/IP stacks. See this link for more information. Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:38:52 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 0 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News Jacob Gorm Hansen http://www.osnews.com/story/21260/NYT_IBM-Sun_Deal_Is_Off/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21260/NYT_IBM-Sun_Deal_Is_Off/ We've been following the recent news about IBM potentially buying Sun, and the internet had more or less accepted that big blue was going to be the new owners of Sun Microsystems. However, the omnipresent "people close to the matter" have told the New York Times that IBM has withdrawn its offer, and that the deal is now off. Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:04:08 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 47 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News google_ninja http://www.osnews.com/story/21250/Report_IBM_Eyeing_Sun_Buyout_at_USD_9_55_a_Share/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21250/Report_IBM_Eyeing_Sun_Buyout_at_USD_9_55_a_Share/ After weeks of negotiations, IBM reportedly is eyeing a $9.55-per-share buyout for Sun Microsystems, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Such a price would value the deal at roughly $7 billion and offer Sun investors nearly double the price of the stock before reports surfaced earlier this month that the parties are in buyout talks. A report in The New York Times, meanwhile, notes the parties are discussing a purchase price of $9.50 a share. In either case, Sun's investors haven't seen the hardware maker's stock trade at those levels since August. Last spring, Sun was trading at a 52-week high of $16.37 a share. Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:57:59 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 41 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/21196/Intel_CEO_Confirms_IBM-Sun_Acquisition_Talks/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21196/Intel_CEO_Confirms_IBM-Sun_Acquisition_Talks/ A week ago, we reported that IBM was in acquisition talks with Sun. Sun has been in trouble for a while now, and has been shopping around the Valley for a potential buyers for the company. This report came from "people familiar with the matter", but it seems that we now have a confirmation from none other than Intel's CEO, Paul Otellini. Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:18:27 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 37 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/21154/WSJ_IBM_in_Talks_to_Buy_Sun_Microsystems/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21154/WSJ_IBM_in_Talks_to_Buy_Sun_Microsystems/ In a move that would certainly shake up the computer industry quite a bit, IBM is reportedly in talks with Sun Microsystems about the possibility of IBM acquiring Sun. Sun is going through hard times at the moment, and has been actively looking for someone to be acquired by. Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:48:32 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 133 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News PLan http://www.osnews.com/story/21148/Apple_US_Mac_Sales_Down_16_Windows_PC_Sales_up_22_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21148/Apple_US_Mac_Sales_Down_16_Windows_PC_Sales_up_22_/ During these financially dire times, it's always interesting to keep en eye on the sales figures of computes, to see if the downward trend is still running. Sales figures from February analysed by NPD indicate that while Mac sales went down, sales of Windows PCs went up. Mind, though, that these figures are US-only. Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:00:29 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 60 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News