Xandros Corporation has announced the availability of Xandros Server, the company's inaugural release of a high-end server distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux: "Xandros becomes the first Linux platform to provide a 'Debian Enterprise' end-to-end desktop and server platform."

"FreeBSD 6.1-RC2 is available for download. This is the last RC before the release. Please test it to make sure that there have been no regressions since the last RC, and to make sure that it there are no new problems with installation. Other than a few cosmetic tweaks, there will be no more changes."

Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.3 has been released. This update fixes a publicly disclosed denial of service weakness. All users are encouraged to upgrade to this version. The bugfixes previously planned for Firefox 1.5.0.3 were shifted to 1.5.0.4, and a quick update was released shortly after the recent 1.5.0.2 release to address the publicly reported issue.

SoftwareInReview reviews OpenBSD 3.9. "The improved package tools make OpenBSD much easier to install, upgrade, and maintain. For those who need to install several programs on top of the base system, the new package tool functions are priceless."

Developers of the popular Debian Linux distribution are ramping up coding efforts as they plan to release the next version of their operating system in December this year. The schedule was today outlined in an e-mail to the Debian community from developer Andreas Barth, a member of the team which coordinates the process by which Debian is formally handed over to the public. "We expect to release Etch as planned in the beginning of December 2006," Barth wrote.

CNet compares Acer's TravelMate 8200 to apple's MacBook Pro, and concludes the Acer wins; but only by a small margin. "The Acer pulled ahead with ample features and superior performance and battery life, then sealed the deal with its lower sticker price. If you're looking for the most connectivity and fastest performance for your dollar, the TravelMate 8200 is the laptop to buy. The MacBook Pro's strengths clearly lie in aesthetics, from its lightweight, eye-pleasing design to its graphics-friendly display to its elegant operating system. And Apple's superior software package could be said to offset the price differential between the MacBook Pro and the TravelMate 8200."

Microsoft has shelved plans to include built-in support for RSA Security's tokens in Windows Vista, even though the company has been testing out the authentication technology for almost two years. In February 2004, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said that Windows would be able to support easy integration with RSA's popular SecurID tokens. That meant businesses would find it far easier to deploy a two-factor authentication system for logging on to networks and applications. However, almost two years after the SecurID beta-testing program kicked off, RSA's chief executive, Art Coviello, disclosed that Windows Vista will not natively support the technology.

"The Swing UI toolkit makes it possible, though not always easy, to update user interfaces dynamically in response to events or user actions. This article reviews some of the common ways you can build UIs that update dynamically, a few pitfalls you might encounter along the way, and some principles to help you decide when this is the right approach for the job."

Microsoft's long-awaited release of the upgrade to its flagship Windows operating system will likely be delayed again by at least three months, research group Gartner said on Tuesday. The research note, released to clients on Monday, said the new Windows Vista operating system is too complex to be able to meet Microsoft's targeted November release for volume licence customers and January launch for retail consumers. A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company disagreed with the Gartner report and it was still on track to meet its launch dates.

"Just because you use a Macintosh, don't think you're any more secure than a Wintel user. A sharp increase in the number of flaws being discovered in Mac OS X suggests that the Apple operating system may soon be every bit as prone to malicious attacks as Windows systems, according to a report from the SANS Institute, a security training and research firm." This time no MSNBC, boys and girls, this is MacWorld.com. In the meantime, have fun with Apple's new commercials.

Google has made informal complaints to competition authorities in Europe and the US about default settings in Microsoft's IE7. The latest Microsoft browser includes a small window so users can search without opening up a specific page. The default setting sends users to MSN for searches - just as equivalent features in Opera and Firefox send browsers to Google. A spokesman for the search giant told the New York Times it was concerned Microsoft was limiting choice. My take: ...

While there is a lot of buzz about Apple using ZFS, Solaris express of course uses it, and soon Solaris regular will use it (as of Solaris update 2). Yet there are many people that say ZFS is great for servers but people don't need it at home. This blog entry seeks to clear up this falacy. ZFS is possibly more needed at home.

The day when WiFi cards 'just work' under Linux may be fast approaching. WiFi software stack specialist Devicescape has released its 'Advanced Datapath' 802.11 driver stack to the open source community under the GPL, and the Linux kernel developer community appears to be working to adapt it for mainline inclusion.

"Compiled programming languages and scripting languages each have unique advantages, but what if you could use both to create rich applications? Lua is an embeddable scripting language that is small, fast, and very powerful. Before you create yet another configuration file or resource format (and yet another parser to accompany it), try Lua."