http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2008, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Fri, 16 May 2008 17:19:09 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/19730/Perceptive_Pixels_Magic_Wall_Finds_New_Niche/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19730/Perceptive_Pixels_Magic_Wall_Finds_New_Niche/ Multitouch has more or less turned into a buzzword these days - sometimes, its implementation makes sense and comes out as pretty useful (see the iPhone and Microsoft's Surface), however, other implementations turn out be debatable. There is another implementation out there, one that received a lot less attention from the press than the aforementioned cases: Jeff Han's Perceptive Pixel. Fri, 09 May 2008 21:46:03 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 10 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19707/Bringing_Down_the_Language_Barrier_-_Automatically/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19707/Bringing_Down_the_Language_Barrier_-_Automatically/ One of the biggest problems facing the European Union today is the fact that within its borders, 23 languages are spoken. This means that all the important documents have to be translated by a whole army of translators, which costs the taxpayer more than 1 billion Euros a year - and companies trading within the EU spend millions more. The EU-funded TC-STAR project aims to tackle this issue with technology: a system that eats speech in one language, and outputs that same speech in another. Fri, 02 May 2008 20:52:21 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 129 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News irbis http://www.osnews.com/story/19615/Ask_OSNews:_Use_of_Brain-Boosting_Drugs_in_Software_Industry_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19615/Ask_OSNews:_Use_of_Brain-Boosting_Drugs_in_Software_Industry_/ One in five Nature readers -- mostly scientists -- say they up their mental performance with drugs such as Ritalin, Provigil, and Inderal. [...] when asked how they felt about professional thinkers using drugs to enhance their cognitive performance, nearly 80% said it should be allowed. While this report reaches a different part of science, the usage of these drugs can be utilized by software developers alike. What is your opinion on this, somewhat new, development? Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:12:27 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia Loli-Queru) In the News 96 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19612/Microsoft_Honors_Contiki_Author_Adam_Dunkels/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19612/Microsoft_Honors_Contiki_Author_Adam_Dunkels/ Microsoft Research and EuroSys have awarded the 2008 Roger Needham prize to Contiki OS author Adam Dunkels for his open source Contiki OS, protothreads, and the uIP and lwIP embedded TCP/IP stacks. Dunkels is famous for writing code that runs in extremely small amounts of memory. Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:17:12 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 7 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News bndl http://www.osnews.com/story/19553/Windows:_a_Monopoly_Shakes/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19553/Windows:_a_Monopoly_Shakes/ "Windows' enterprise adoption declined in 2007, with the gains going to Linux and Mac OS. Vista is a bust. Forrester published the data on Thursday, but only released it publicly today. Forrester surveyed a whopping 50,000 users at 2,300-plus large to very large enterprises throughout 2007. Windows' enterprise adoption declined 3.7 percent, going from 98.6 percent in January to 94.9 percent in December. Mac OS gained 3 percent, going from 1.2 percent to 4.2 percent in the same time frame. Linux gained 0.5 percent in 2007." A classic case of 'do with it as you please'. Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:40:41 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 56 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19288/Who_Is_Really_Behind_Wikipedia_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19288/Who_Is_Really_Behind_Wikipedia_/ A revealing Computerworld feature dissects offers a rundown on how Wikipedia and its various sister projects really work - the ideals behind Copyleft and the GNU FDL license, the people that contribute, the policies and guidelines that determine contributions, dispute resolution, the Wikipedia Hierarchy, and an amusing summary of some of the major controversies and lamest edit wars that have occurred within the world of Wikipedia. These include the Siegenthaler incident, the real size of the Death Star, whether the C# Programming language should be written with a hash or the musical sharp symbol, the real height of Andre the Giant, and the eternal conflict between British and US spelling. The story also looks at what the future holds for Wikipedia. An in-depth, revealing look at how the world's largest encyclopedia really works. Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:15:09 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) In the News 4 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News lizarazu http://www.osnews.com/story/19099/Happy_New_Year..._Tell_Us_What_to_Expect_in_2008/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19099/Happy_New_Year..._Tell_Us_What_to_Expect_in_2008/ From all of us at OSNews, we'd like to wish you a happy and healthy new year. In honor of the new year, we'd like to ask you: what headlines do you expect to read in the tech world in 2008? Are you expecting iPhone rev2? Or maybe Vista SP1's success? Perhaps Hardy Heron's world domination? Will Google's Android swallow the cellphone market? Can Facebook continue to rule the roost in social networking? Tell us what you expect in the comments! Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:05:11 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Adam S) In the News 79 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 Feature http://www.osnews.com/story/19041/Apple_vs._Linux:_Which_Will_Win_Disgruntled_Windows_Users_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19041/Apple_vs._Linux:_Which_Will_Win_Disgruntled_Windows_Users_/ Apple and Linux are engaged in battle – a battle to win over disgruntled Windows users. But who will win, and what will the consequences be for the loser? The most commonly held belief amongst Apple and Linux fanboys is that both factions are engaged in some kind of a war with Microsoft. The truth is that if you look at the market share figure for Windows, Mac and Linux, both Mac OS and all the Linux distros that have ever been released are dwarfed by Windows. Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:02:20 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia Loli-Queru) In the News 187 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/18899/Microsoft_Novell_Extend_Alliance/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18899/Microsoft_Novell_Extend_Alliance/ One year after sealing their surprise alliance, Novell and Microsoft have announced an expansion of their technical collaboration to 'link together the existing Windows and Linux frameworks'. The firms will extend their existing collaboration to focus on virtualisation, standards-based management, directory and identity federation and document format compatibility. As part of this process, Microsoft said that both companies are 'now working closely' at the Microsoft and Novell Interoperability Lab in Massachusetts. Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:33:21 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 67 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News WillM http://www.osnews.com/story/18595/Compatibility_Problems_with_Vista:_Switch_to_Alternatives_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18595/Compatibility_Problems_with_Vista:_Switch_to_Alternatives_/ It does not happen every day that news related to computer technology - news we report on every day - makes its way to the headline news programs and newspapers here in my home country, The Netherlands. So when it does, I am usually on the edge of my seat, simply because it offers an interesting glimpse into how 'normal' people perceive our little world. The last few days, however, that casual interest has made way for something else - tooth gnashing irritation. Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:01:03 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 176 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 Editorial http://www.osnews.com/story/18320/Vista_Use_Grows_As_Mac_OS_X_Stays_Flat/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18320/Vista_Use_Grows_As_Mac_OS_X_Stays_Flat/ Break out the salt, boys and girls, it's time for some statistics again. "According to Net Applications, in June Windows Vista accounted for 4.52% of all systems that browsed the Web, up from January's 0.18%. Vista has grown its usage share each month since its release to consumers Jan. 30, hitting 0.93% in February, 2.04% in March, 3.02% in April and 3.74% in May. Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, meanwhile, accounted for 6.22% in January and hit its high point of 6.46% in May, but it slipped back to 6% in June. If Vista's uptake trend continues, it should pass Mac OS X in Web usage share by the end of August." Do with it as you please. Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:11:30 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 58 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News flanque http://www.osnews.com/story/18312/On_the_rPath_to_Virtual_Containerisation/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18312/On_the_rPath_to_Virtual_Containerisation/ "It's becoming increasingly clear that the most important use of virtualization is not to consolidate hardware boxes but to protect applications from the vagaries of the operating environments they run on. It's all about 'containerization', to employ a really ugly but useful word." Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:57:10 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 4 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News WillM http://www.osnews.com/story/18110/WebIS:_Open_Letter_to_Warez_Sites/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18110/WebIS:_Open_Letter_to_Warez_Sites/ Pocket Informant is one of the most successful PDA applications ever. However, it has not been immune to software piracy. The CEO of WebIS posted an open letter explaining how software piracy is hurting the industry, but also the consumer too and especially small software houses like his. Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:05:37 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia Loli-Queru) In the News 102 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News http://www.osnews.com/story/18069/IDC:_Linux_x86_Growth_Outpaced_by_Microsoft_Windows/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18069/IDC:_Linux_x86_Growth_Outpaced_by_Microsoft_Windows/ A recent IDC report showed Linux servers continuing to increase market share for x86 architecture with a second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, but the bigger news could be Microsoft's even bigger surge with Server 2003. The software giant's Server 2003 showed modest gains in Q1, with IDC reporting that Microsoft Windows Server revenue was USD 4.8 billion in Q1. This number represents 10.4% year-over-year growth and a gain of 1.9 points of revenue market share over the same period in 2006. Windows encompassed 38.8% of all server revenue in Q1 of 2007. Mon, 11 Jun 2007 17:08:50 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 48 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News E. Stride http://www.osnews.com/story/17324/Jobs_Gates_To_Appear_Side-by-Side_at_WSJ_D_Conference/ http://www.osnews.com/story/17324/Jobs_Gates_To_Appear_Side-by-Side_at_WSJ_D_Conference/ Apple chief executive Steve Jobs and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates have committed to a rare joint appearance at the fifth anniversary of the The Wall Street Journal's 'D: All Things Digital' conference later this year. The two men, both seminal figures in the development of the personal computer, will jointly discuss the history and future of the digital revolution in an unrehearsed, unscripted, onstage conversation on May 30 with D co-producers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:01:13 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) In the News 20 http://www.osnews.com/topics/51 News