OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Comparison: IE7, FireFox, Opera

Thom Holwerda 2006-05-01 Rumors 41 Comments

"In this mini-writeup, we will be discussing from a fairly objective position how Internet Explorer 7 now stands compared to the latest offerings from it's biggest competitors: Firefox and Opera. This isn't a comparison, there will be no 'winner', not in this article at any rate!"

The Increasing Importance of Community

Submitted by Shawn Jones 2006-05-01 Open Source 1 Comment

"Community has always played a central role in the Open Source landscape, and the term 'community' is bandied around almost as much as 'Web 2.0'. Unfortunately, as with 'Web 2.0', the term 'community' has become a vague descriptor for a collection of principles that represent similar things. As more and more disparate groups and organisations make use of any definition, meaning tends to be blurred by the exceptions to the rule."

Building a Low-Cost LAMP Server with CentOS 4.3

Submitted by Falko Timme 2006-05-01 Red Hat 3 Comments

"This is a detailed description how to set up a CentOS 4.3 based server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters (web server (SSL-capable), mail server (with SMTP-AUTH and TLS!), DNS server, FTP server, MySQL server, POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc.). This tutorial is written for the 64-bit version of CentOS 4.3, but should apply to the 32-bit version with very little modifications as well."

Detailing Structures in Linux File Systems

Submitted by Puru Govind 2006-05-01 Linux 1 Comment

"In our last article, we discussed the registering process for the file system and then mounting it accordingly. In this article, however, we'll discuss the two widely used structures (structures as in C) in implementation of a file system. And then we will delve on the operations on super block structure."

OpenBSD 3.9 Released

Thom Holwerda 2006-05-01 OpenBSD 21 Comments

OpenBSD 3.9 has now officially been released. Improvements were made accross the board. There's a detailed changelog, an errata page, and of course a download section. If you want to support OpenBSD, buy a CD set.

Monitoring and Optimizing Apps on Dual-Core and SMP Systems

Eugenia Loli 2006-05-01 Windows 27 Comments

Kurt Hudson explains tricks to optimize applications on multiprocessor computers, even if those applications were developed without such systems in mind.

Java EE and .NET Interoperability: Exploring Asynchronous Integration

Eugenia Loli 2006-05-01 Java 2 Comments

This chapter provides a basic introduction to asynchronous integration. Asynchronous integration occurs when a number of processes integrate but do not lock for the time of the transaction on which they are integrated. Also, "Exception Handling and Fault Tolerance in Java: Defect Removal vs. Defect Survival" and "Java EJB 3.0: A Hibernate Clone?".

Will Utter Nonsense for Ad Revenue

Thom Holwerda 2006-04-30 Apple 58 Comments

When I started this whole Sunday Eve Column thing, I was painfully aware I was basically doing the same thing as a certain other individual who somehow insists on using the first letter of his middle name (maybe because he thinks it makes him look cool?). I believe that person only writes his columns to make money. And that's just sad.

Submitted by Charles A Landemaine 2006-04-30 PC-BSD 27 Comments

After months and months of work, the PC-BSD team released v1.0 final. "PC-BSD software is pleased to announce the immediate availability of PC-BSD 1.0 for x86 based processors. This first 'non-beta' release of PC-BSD ushers in a new era of stability and simplicity for desktop operating systems based on UNIX. Powered by the latest FreeBSD 6.0 and integrated with KDE 3.5.2, PC-BSD provides a solid server base, while being user-friendly enough to run as a primary desktop system." Changelog, release notes, and download, of course.

Creating a Patched Fedora Core 5 Install DVD

Submitted by Rob Garth 2006-04-30 Fedora Core 11 Comments

"One of the things which has always ticked me off is making a clean Fedora install, and then having hundreds of megs of patches to download the first time 'yum update' is run. However, building a patched install dvd is actually pretty simple."

Submitted by Soulbender 2006-04-30 OpenBSD 15 Comments

"Freedom, openness, security - these principles lead OpenBSD development. The song for this release, Blob!, and the new artworks that promote them. Federico Biancuzzi interviewed OpenBSD's team of Blob-Busters and discussed new features of OpenBSD 3.9 along with freedom (and quality!) threats."

Submitted by Mitarai 2006-04-30 Open Source 126 Comments

"When Richard Stallman learned that a compiler architect from ATI would be speaking at MIT, he immediately started organizing a protest against ATI's damaging free software policies. It all started, like most good protests, with a trip to Kinko's printing to make a sign. The request came from Richard Stallman for a 3'x2' sign, mounted and able to be carried with one hand easily. Several frustrating minutes with Inkscape, two trips to the store and one foam-core backing later, we had our sign, and it stated our message clearly in black letters on white background."

Introducing LKM Programming

Submitted by Mark 2006-04-30 Linux 3 Comments

"This is the first part of a series of articles regarding Linux Kernel Modules. In this series we will see some examples of module programming and some techniques and general rules that we must keep in mind when we work in kernel mode. This is not an in-depth series of articles, but and introduction for those people who want to know more about kernel internals. A background in C programming will be helpful."

Apple Interested in Solaris’ ZFS

Thom Holwerda 2006-04-29 macOS 85 Comments

Apparantly, Apple is interested in porting Sun Solaris' ZFS to Mac OS X. From the zfs-discuss mailinglist: "Chris Emura, the Filesystem Development Manager within Apple's CoreOS organization is interested in porting ZFS to OS X. For more information, please e-mail him directly at . Speaking for the zfs team (at Sun), this is great news and we fully support the effort."

Microsoft Releases First Beta for Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1

Thom Holwerda 2006-04-29 Microsoft 7 Comments

Microsoft has released the first of two betas planned for its Virtual Server 2005 R2 service pack 1 product. Virtual Server 2005 R2 service pack 1 will support AMD Virtualization and Intel Virtualization Technology, giving customers better interoperability, strengthened isolation to prevent corruption of one virtual machine from affecting others on the same system, as well as improved performance for non-Windows guest operating systems.

Jobs Touts Product Pipeline to Apple Shareholders

Thom Holwerda 2006-04-28 Apple 38 Comments

Apple CEO Steve Jobs touted the company's forthcoming products as "the best I've ever seen in my life", and told Apple shareholders that the Mac's transition to Intel processors will pay off in the long run. Jobs, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller answered investors' questions Thursday during Apple's annual shareholder meeting at its Cupertino campus.

Microsoft Earnings Slip Below Targets

Thom Holwerda 2006-04-28 Microsoft 25 Comments

Microsoft said the weaker earnings came as it invests money in its services push and also as it tries to ramp up production of the Xbox 360 games console. Microsoft on Thursday reported third-quarter sales and earnings that were below what some analysts were expecting, and said future earnings will be dented as it aims to boost its Windows Live Internet services and other new businesses.

Submitted by ormandj 2006-04-28 Solaris 20 Comments

Solaris Express 4/06 has been released. You can click here to download this release. There have been some minor bugfixes and some relatively noteworthy additions in this release (including PostgreSQL and PCIe support). Sun has a nice, detailed list of new features for this release.

Introducing OpenBSD 3.9

Submitted by nitsudima 2006-04-28 OpenBSD 20 Comments

Open source expert David Chisnall gives us the ins and outs of where OpenBSD has been, where it is now with the new version 3.9, and what lies ahead in the future. "OpenBSD began life as a fork of NetBSD, the oldest of the currently active BSD projects. A personality clash between Theo de Raadt and the rest of the NetBSD team lead to Theo’s access to the project’s CVS tree being revoked."

Submitted by DigitalDame 2006-04-28 Google 23 Comments

PCMag reviews Google's SketchUp beta. "Google SketchUp Beta, the brand new, free 3D drawing tool isn't an obvious fit for the Google desktop application canon. However, this blend of vector-based 3D drawing and CAD-like control lets you rapidly build 3D models that can be exported to numerous bitmap and compressed file formats and, more importantly, geo-coded and shared on the company's Google Earth satellite imagery program, which is also free. So, it's a undeniably cool, oddball app that has the potential to turn one of Google's most popular services, Google Earth, into an even more powerful and personal tool."