WinFS seems to have been cancelled-- sort of. "These changes do mean that we are not pursuing a separate delivery of WinFS, including the previously planned Beta 2 release. With most of our effort now working towards productizing mature aspects of the WinFS project into SQL and ADO.NET, we do not need to deliver a separate WinFS offering."

"This HowTo is about creating a user-session-safe directory which offers security on- and offline. This is done with PAM, a module named pam_script and Encfs ('Encrypted Filesystem'). This safe directory is used to store credentials and other sensitive information during a session. When a usersession is ended, in the worst case an encrypted directory remains on the harddrive. In the best case everything is removed. This construction is only meant to store information during a session, not for documents or any other valid information."

After a long period of silence, finally some news on SkyOS. SkyOS now has a dock-like launcher application, written by Lukas Linemayr. Other than that, the core components of the operating system are now available in a staggering 27 languages. The translation from PE to ELF is almost complete, and a new release, with desktop compositing, should be released shortly.

"Could it ever happen? Is there even a possibility that we will see OS X on the PC? To be honest, I believe there is. But unlike others who believe that it will happen on a large scale, what I foresee instead is OS X on a very select number of Apple approved PCs. And as great as this could potentially be, here comes the rub: if we do in fact see OS X on the PC platform, Steve Jobs would only allow it just for the press - nothing more."

Linux isn't a threat to Windows on the desktop and is losing steam on the server as customers separate the operating system from the development model, according to Microsoft's chief platform strategist. Bill Hilf, general manager of competitive strategy at Microsoft, said pundits have predicted for years that Linux will gain momentum on the desktop, but that won't happen because of the complexity involved in delivering a tightly integrated and tested desktop product.

"When one takes the seamless integration, stability, ease of use, quality engineering, the TCO, and the ability to boot Windows, one can easily conclude that a Mac is not necessarily a more expensive proposition. The argument that Mac’s are too expensive no longer applies. Although you can spend between $600 and several thousand for a Mac, stay within your means and purchase a system that meets your computing demands."

In a blow to Microsoft, Belgium's government departments will be instructed to use an open file format for internal communications. The OpenDocument Format is to be the standard format for exchanging documents within the government, according to a proposal that is expected to be approved by Belgium's Council of Ministers on Friday. The plan increases the pressure from governments worldwide on Microsoft to embrace open standards.

Red Hat announced compatibility certification with Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language definitions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and 4 security advisories. Red Hat will now produce and support OVAL patch definitions to provide a structured and machine-readable version of advisories, allowing OVAL-compatible tools to accurately test for the presence of vulnerabilities.

After Arno Klenke already ported GCC 4.0 to the Syllable desktop operating system some time ago, the Syllable team has now integrated the port and updated it to version 4.1.1. Many other ports, like BinUtils, are also being updated to the latest versions. Work is now underway to update Syllable itself to compile it with GCC 4. Please note that if you compile programs with GCC 4.1.1, any users of your binary will need to have GCC 4.1.1 installed as well - or wait for Syllable 0.6.2.

It was announced back in February that Opera would be coming out for the Nintendo DS. Opera and Nintendo announced a release date of July 24th for Japan (with the US and Europe to follow soon after) and a price of around $30 at a special this last weekend. But just how good is this pint sized web browser on Nintendo's hot new handheld? Check out the first hands-on review for some juicy details.

eWeek reviews Opera 9, and is full of praise: "It's a good bet that if you want to see the features that other Web browsers will be adding in a year or two, you should download Opera 9, which was released on June 20. The free Opera 9 is available in Windows, Linux, Solaris, BSD and Mac OS X versions. In our tests, we found Opera 9 to be one of the best Web browsing tools we've used in a long time, which is why we are giving Opera 9 an eWEEK Labs Analyst's Choice award." They have a set of screenshots as well.

"The first development ISO images of Mandriva Linux 2007 have been released for download and testing. At the time of writing only Mandriva One live CD images for the i586 and x86_64 architectures are available, but expect the usual full (4-CD) installation sets to appear on Mandriva mirrors in a day or two. The new release ships with kernel 2.6.16.20 and includes glibc 2.4, X.Org 7.1, KDE 3.5.3, GNOME 2.15, OpenOffice.org 2.0.2, Firefox 1.5.0.4 and many other open source software packages." Screenshots.

Xandros has announced the immediate availability of Xandros Desktop 4. You can get the two different version from their online store. A set of screenshots is also available. "Xandros Desktop Home Edition and Xandros Desktop Home Edition - Premium provide a complete media experience on the secure, stable Xandros Linux operating system. The new products cover the digital home lifestyle spectrum with music management, wireless networking, photo management, Internet calling, DVD burning, iPod support, and more." Update: More screenshots.

Novell's board of directors on Thursday named Ron Hovsepian CEO and president to replace Jack Messman, and ousted the company's chief financial officer. In a conference call on Thursday, company executives said the changes were made to accelerate the growth at Novell, which has had disappointing financial results, particularly in its Linux business.