InternetNews talks to developers and vendors about the rise of Btrfs as a successor to Ext4. Though Ext4 adds extents, Chris Mason, Btrfs developer noted that BTRFS adds a number of other features beyond that. Among those features are items like snapshotting, online file consistency checks and the ability to perform fast incremental backups. BTRFS (pronounced better FS) is currently under development in an effort led by Oracle engineer Chris Mason. With the support of Intel, Red Hat, HP, IBM, BTRFS could become the engine that brings next generation filesystem capabilities to Linux.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Right on! It's exactly these things that make the Linux community look childish and ignorant of other proven technologies. Until they get over themselves and start implementing what their users (not only developers!) want, Linux will always remain a niche, at least in the desktop arena.
Then again, this happens to all O.S. to some degree. I still can't understand why Microsoft has taken a perfectly good-working TCP/IP stack from BSD and botched it up with inefficient, proprietary code and implemented that mess in Vista...
Member since:2005-07-06
ZFS is licensed under CDDL. This license is GPL incompatible and apparently deliberately designed to be so, because some of Sun folks were worried about losing their technology to Linux and some developers threatened to quit if their work was put under GPL (by far the most used foss license. refer http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.html ).
You can find a reference in this video linked from
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/09/msg00002.html
Linux developers cannot possibly just take code and ignore the licensing incompatibility. So they are being prudent and implementing things from scratch in Linux taking advantage of existing Linux kernel API including the vfs and block layer. Yes, it is unfortunate that license incompatibility between free and open source software prevents it from being reused but when vendors do it deliberately, not much can be done about it
Member since:2005-07-09
But BTRFS developers *are* implementing what their users want. Look at all the companies involved. Linux has a different user base than Solaris and as such, have different priority. In the Solaris world, staying with the same OS version for 10 years is not unusual. In the Linux world, staying with the same OS version for 4 years is. Neither OS is wrong for its focus. They just fill different niches.
Member since:2006-01-02
Member since:2006-07-26
Two different implementations. ZFS is one huge piece of software that does everything. Much of what ZFS does is already implemented in a modular way in the Linux kernel.
The architectures are completely different.
If Oracle was trying to create a huge monolithic system then you'd have reason to complain...but I welcome options like this.
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A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)"."The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
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Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight.""And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.
"The key takeaway we've reached (after two less than 24 hours playing with the iOS 7 Beta release) is this - every App must consider even basic updates to its UI to survive in a post-iOS 6 world." Great. Telling developers to update their entire application - user interface and behaviour alike - to target a look and behaviour that isn't final yet. Seems like potential for a lot of wasted work here."Overall the app is really basic, and designed for on the go editing. Microsoft says it's not planning to create an iPad version, noting that tablet users can utilize the Office Web Apps instead. We'd like to see some additional options for editing, including more clear options for text formatting and the ability to insert and change images, but it's a solid attempt for something you're only really going to use for editing in emergencies." A resounding meh can be heard from all over the world."Today, most people are using modern browsers that support the majority of the latest web technologies. Better yet, the usage of legacy browsers is declining significantly and newer browsers stay up to date automatically, which means the leading edge has become mainstream. Given these factors we've decided to retire Chrome Frame, and will cease support and updates for the product in January 2014." Eh.
Member since:
2006-12-26
It is a terrible shame that ZFS is even better, and also more mature, but won't get into the linux kernel.
Edited 2008-10-31 22:06 UTC