posted by Thom Holwerda on Sun 28th Jun 2009 17:22 UTC, submitted by Jim Hall
MS-DOS is an old piece of work, a long line of operating systems dating back to the early '80s. First a stand-alone operating system, it would later work as a base for Windows, and starting with Windows 95, it became integrated with Windows and was no longer developed as a stand-alone operating system. To fill the gap the end of MS-DOS left behind, the FreeDOS project was started. Today, FreeDOS turned 15.When Microsoft announced it would move away from MS-DOS as a stand-alone operating system, Jim Hall figured it would be a good idea to start an open source project to re-implement MS-DOS so that it would continue to exist. He announced the project on June 28 1994 as PD-DOS, later renamed to Free-DOS, which even later turned into FreeDOS. FreeDOS is GPL software.
FreeDOS is actually more successful than many people realise. It's used by businesses, gamers, and it's even sold pre-installed on laptops and desktops by companies like Dell and HP. There was also a GNU/DOS distribution, but this one got discontinued in 2006.
Even though MS-DOS 6.0 and 6.22 are still available through MSDN, volume licenses, and OEM deals (it's used in embedded systems for its simplicity) FreeDOS is obviously a very good alternative for those of us who don't have MSDN accounts or enough money for volume license deals. Happy 15th, FreeDOS!
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/02/12 23:11 UTC, submitted by fran
"Google has added an automated scanning process that is designed to keep malicious apps out of the Android Market , the company announced today. The new service, code-named 'Bouncer', scans apps for known malware, spyware, and Trojans, and looks for suspicious behaviors and compares them against previously analyzed apps. Every app is then run on Google's cloud infrastructure to simulate how the software would operate on an Android device, he said. Existing apps are continuously analyzed, too."
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/02/12 11:26 UTC
Apple has released Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 (by far Apple's most inelegant product name). It's a whole bunch of under-the-hood stuff, mostly bug fixes. It adds support for Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukrainian. It's all in Software Update.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/01/12 22:29 UTC
So, this is apparently a big thing, but because of my perpetual state of total boredom with regards to social networking, I really don't have the will to turn this into a proper item. So, here you go: Facebook is doing its IPO thing. Eh. In any case, lots of new rich people. Maybe the wealth will trickle down this time.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/01/12 21:46 UTC
"The Electronic Frontier Foundation, supported by Carpathia Hosting, today announced its plans to assess the scope of the issue facing Megaupload users who are at risk of losing their data. Carpathia has created this website to assist users in contacting EFF. EFF will review the factual situations shared by users and, if possible, try to resolve their issues." I <3 EFF. Seriously. These guys are universally fighting the good fight.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/01/12 21:39 UTC, submitted by rhavyn
"The European Commission has opened a formal investigation to assess whether Samsung Electronics has abusively, and in contravention of a commitment it gave to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), used certain of its standard essential patent rights to distort competition in European mobile device markets, in breach of EU antitrust rules. The opening of proceedings means that the Commission will examine the case as a matter of priority. It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation." Maybe Samsung should've added '...with rounded corners' to their patent applications.
Linked by snydeq on 02/01/12 21:36 UTC
InfoWorld's Rick Grehan takes an in-depth look at Opa, MLstate's attempt to provide a single language for Web app development, and one of 10 cutting-edge programming languages that could shake up the future of IT. "With Opa, you write your Web application as though it were a single-tier program, and the compiler handles the knotty details of partitioning your program and deploying the resulting components to their proper domains. The compiler also builds the communication infrastructure among application components, and that infrastructure is invisibly managed by the runtime. The security weaknesses inherent in today's Web applications are virtually eliminated."
Linked by lemur2 on 02/01/12 21:36 UTC
Firefox 10 Arrives Today with Extended Support for Businesses. Though the software does bring an array of tweaks and enhancements for both users and developers, it's perhaps most notable for the fact that it marks the debut of the business-oriented Extended Support Release (ESR) program. One can check out whatâs new and known issues for this version of Firefox by reading Mozilla's release notes. Perhaps the most important change from a user's perspective is that add-ons and themes are assumed to function, rather than not function as assumed by previous Firefox versions, meaning that the update process won't leave a user with familiar extensions disabled and needing updates.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/01/12 21:19 UTC
"Barnes & Noble's claim that Microsoft is misusing patents to undermine competition from Google's Android operating system was thrown out by a U.S. trade judge. U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Theodore Essex rejected today Barnes & Noble's arguments the patents should be held unenforceable, Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Howard said in a statement. Essex's decision is subject to review by the six-member commission, which has the power to block imports of products that violate U.S. patent rights."
Linked by David Adams on 01/31/12 23:50 UTC, submitted by Michael
This weekend at FOSDEM 2012 what Kristian Hogsberg is expected to say in Brussels will surprise many of you: Wayland 1.0 is gearing up for release as their first stable release. Wayland [a new X server for Linux] is supposed to be ready to take on the Linux desktop world.
Linked by David Adams on 01/31/12 23:46 UTC, submitted by sawboss
When the Raspberry Pi ships later this year, it will be delivered to your door as a finished unit. The more adventurous tinkerers among you, as well as adept system builders, have asked the Raspberry Pi Foundation why they canât get them in kit form instead. The reason why that wasnât considered is demonstrated in an image released by Broadcom . . . they are tiny. And unlike a typical system build using an x86 chip that just slots into place, installing these chips requires a very steady hand and just the right amount of solder.More News »
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