LinuxEdge has posted the videos of the presentation of Novell Desktop Linux 10 by Nat Friedman. "A preview of Novell Linux Desktop 10 was shown to an audience at the Solutions Linux conference this week. We have a selection of videos which display a variety of amazing effects through the use of XGL, including transparency, wobbling windows, a 3D cube for desktop switching, and a task switcher which displays a preview of windows."
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Member since:2005-06-29
That is one of the things that always annoys me about Linux, I love the OS but having to install codecs myself isn't something I think I should have to do. I don't know about anyone else but I've even had applications become much less stable on me because I installed the third party codecs. Novell has money, maybe we should ask them if they'll license and include more media support. With the internet, digital cameras and all those other fun gadgets used in homes and businesses these days better multimedia support is an absolute must.
Member since:2005-07-06
But you have to do the same with XP? By default, you can only play wma and mp3 out of the box. You need to install video codecs to play anything other than wmv and simple Intel video / basic avi's and mpg.
The one saving grace of both Linux and Windows is VLC - fits both platforms and plays most formats reliably. Saves having to download codecs 
Edited 2006-02-04 01:23
Member since:2005-07-07
That is one of the things that always annoys me about Linux, I love the OS but having to install codecs myself isn't something I think I should have to do.
Everytime after installing distro, I just installed mplayer. Codecs? Never. Works, everything. You can install vlc or xine too. GStreamer? Different media support sucks for me there. I still hope that media support will actualy get better there too.
In windows or Apple actualy almost nothing works out of the base. On Windows one can at least install codec pack, at least it is easy. On my Mac actualy almost nothing still describes best my current Mac media state. Tried MPlayer OSX, Media player. All suck. VLC is probably the only decent OSX player with at least good media support
Member since:2005-11-02
the videos don't play in OpenSUSE 10.1 - xine just says it doesn't have the XvID codec and it may be missing due to patent concerns.
From http://www.xvid.org/ :
"XviD is copyright-protected program code and is released under the terms of the GNU GPL license, which means you can distribute it freely, e.g. on a CD-ROM, provided that you meet the restrictions of the GPL license. For example, if you distribute the XviD codec in binary form, you have to add the source code to the CD-ROM, too."
So its a free software codec why OpenSUSE 10.1 does not include I dont know why. But there may indeed be some patent questions as the site does not download binaries only source code.
BTW I cannot view the videos either. I am at work using my XP box and the company firewall is preventing media player from downloading and installing the XvID codec. I will have to wait til I get home to see if I can play them on my Linux box. I have downloaded most of the codecs available from the PLF servers so I should be OK.
Edited 2006-02-08 13:29
"In the first episode of Microsoft's new film series 'On the Whiteboard', Editor Pamela Woon chats with two-time Oscar winner Randy Thom about the (often underestimated) importance of sound in human-technology interactions. Thom, the lead sound designer at Skywalker Ranch who worked on films such as The Incredibles, Castaway and Forrest Gump, says that people rarely consider the significance of those signature sounds that come from their trusty devices, whether it be a cell phone, a computer or a tablet."
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move."A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it."I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.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."MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Member since:
2005-12-31
the videos don't play in OpenSUSE 10.1 - xine just says it doesn't have the XvID codec and it may be missing due to patent concerns.