In the past, SELinux has been critized for being too dificult to configure. To solve this, the SELinux policy editor was created: A GUI-oriented editor with a simplified policy description language (ala Apparmor). According to the announcement, this new version includes a much improved user interface and some improvements to the "Policy description language".

Interesting read over at Switch To A Mac about a Windows Migration Assistant in OS X Leopard. Other Apple news: portents of Mac growth, antiVirus company suggests home users switch to Macs.

Microsoft plans to issue patches for 'critical' Windows and Office security problems as part of a regular update scheduled for Tuesday. The software company said in an advisory Thursday that it will issue four bulletins for Windows flaws and three for Office. At least one Windows and one Office problem are deemed 'critical', Microsoft's highest-risk category for security vulnerabilities, according to the advisory.

Ars reviews the Dell Inspiron e1405-- a Core Duo laptop priced at USD 800. It concludes: "Taken for what it is, the Dell e1405 performed well in our testing. It's suited to general-purpose use of all kinds, but its integrated video will leave gamers cold and its all-plastic construction might keep true aesthetes at a distance. Still, for general use, it's not clear what others features could possibly be expected at this price point, and the machine is especially recommended to those who need power on a budget."

Microsoft has reworked the PC assessment tool in Windows Vista after fielding complaints from hardware makers - but the changes may not be enough to completely quell concerns. In May, the software maker promised to make changes to the Windows System Performance Rating tool, which aims to assess how capable a machine is of harnessing the upcoming operating system's new features. Critics were unhappy with the way it presented scores and how it came up with its ratings.

"Recently I had a chance to spend some time with the second version of the Das Keyboard. While this product is still plain black like its predecessor, a number of other changes were made in order to get it more in line with what consumers are looking for from an elite keyboard. The Das Keyboard is designed for power users who have the layout of a traditional keyboard memorized and interested in doing two things- increasing their typing speed and impressing their coworkers."

Addison-Wesley sent us in the fourth edition of one of the most highly acclaimed user interface & usability books ever published: "Designing the User Interface", by Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Read more for a quick review.

Mono 1.1.16 is now released. The inlining optimization is now turned on as well as a number of other small optimizations that enhance inlining and the results are excellent and ASP.NET/Windows.Forms have seen a big step forward.

Apple is being sued over its awarding of stock options. Two separate suits have been started by shareholders which make claims against current and former officers of Apple, the company announced. The California computer maker has been caught up in a widening Silicon Valley controversy over the awarding of stock options during the dot.com boom. Some firms have already admitted awarding options at lower than market values in order to maximise their worth to employees. Apple is the biggest name to be involved in the growing scandal.

SGI hopes to emerge as a leaner, meaner organisation by the end of the third quarter. The hardware maker this week filed an amended reorganisation plan that calls for it to finish off bankruptcy proceedings by September. If all goes as expected, SGI will trim its total debt down to USD 70m from USD 345m. Some of the debt will be removed in exchange for the privilege of investing more money in SGI 2.0.

"The Java community has used JavaServer Pages technology through most of the last decade, but signs of rust are starting to show. Longstanding conventions inhibit Java programmers from using Java code within Web pages now, and extending even simple components is a chore. Frameworks that take Java Web development beyond JSP programming have emerged, but they fall short of dynamic languages' capabilities. This article shows you Ruby's Web page development strategy and touches on Seaside's radical approach."

Last week, I wrote about my first impressions of SUSE Enterprise Linux Desktop 10, after only a day of usage. I was quite impressed by the whole package, claiming that "I can confidently say that this release candidate outshines Windows Vista's beta" and "I'd even go as far as to say that even Apple should be worried". I still stand by those two statements, but after a week of daily usage, some reflection on just how much it outshines Vista or how worried Apple should be are justified.

Yet another review of Opera 9. "There is a lot more to this feature rich, standards compliant web browser and each day I find new ways of using Opera to heighten my browsing comforts. Definitely the developers of Firefox - another web browser that I am really fond of - can imbibe a couple of the path breaking features found in Opera."

"OpenSolaris is not only powerful, but it is very innovative. Somebody smart figured that simplistic chroot or BSD jail concepts could be extended to the level where every single part of HW is virtualized. The Linux kernel also offers somewhat similar proposition called vserver, but we all know that until a proposition is not a part of main-line kernel tree it will never be a solution. Well, forget about Linux, we have OpenSolaris now and it truly opens new horizons for us to explore."