Vista is all the rage at the moment (and now even the Sunday Eve Column is about it). I don't think there's a single piece of beta software that has ever been discussed as much as Windows Vista. Obviously this makes sense, since Windows powers roughly 95% of the world's desktop computers; hence an update to that system will surely spark some heavy debates. Personally, I'm indifferent towards Vista. Read on for why.

x64bit.net has a review of the (K)Ubuntu Dapper Drake beta. "Please note Ubuntu/Kubuntu 'Dapper Drake' is not yet a final product and the available previews do not reflect the quality of the final product. This quick review is not meant to divide Ubuntu and Kubuntu into separate distros. They are almost identical to each other, except the default desktop for Ubuntu is Gnome, whereas KDE is Kubuntu's default desktop." Lots of screenshots, boys and girls.

Linspire has announced an update to their 5.0 release. According to the release notes v2 includes OpenOffice.org 2.0 as well as numerous bug fixes and new drivers; however, no new features have been introduced. Existing 5.0 customers can download the ISO here (no additional purchase required).

"This tutorial shows how to configure a MySQL 5 cluster with three nodes: two storage nodes and one management node. This cluster is load-balanced by a high-availability load balancer that in fact has two nodes that use the Ultra Monkey package which provides heartbeat (for checking if the other node is still alive) and ldirectord (to split up the requests to the nodes of the MySQL cluster)."

The latest release candidate for SUSE Linux OSS 10.1, RC2, has been released. "I'm glad to announce SUSE Linux 10.1 Codename 'Agama Lizard' RC2. We have fixed the majority of bugs from RC1 and will release an RC3 next week. During the RC phase, we only provide delta ISOs of the media and update the factory tree as well."

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, the Linux world's very own Thurrot-before-he-lost-his-faith, writes: "People tell me I bash Microsoft too much; that Microsoft's products really are great. OK, so I won't bash Microsoft this time around. I'll let Microsoft's own friends do it."

"One area of Web design that is going to become more important in the coming years is high DPI. For those of us working on WebKit, this will also become an issue for WebKit applications and for Dashboard widgets." Why? "On a screen with 1920x1200 resolution the Web site is going to be tiny, taking up less than 50% of the screen's width and half the screen's height. In terms of absolute size, the text will be much smaller and harder to read."

Secunia said there are potential vulnerabilities in the Mac OS X operating system, first noticed by Tom Ferris. The firm described the holes as 'highly critical', meaning that systems could be compromised if crooks dive in. Secunia said the potential holes are in version 10.4.6, but other versions might be affected too.

"There are a lot of Linux filesystems comparisons available but most of them are anecdotal, based on artificial tasks or completed under older kernels. This benchmark essay is based on 11 real-world tasks appropriate for a file server with older generation hardware (Pentium II/III, EIDE hard-drive)."

The latest issue of the GNOME Journal has just been published. It features insights into the Portland Project which were gained from a conversation with one of its lead architects, Waldo Bastian, an introduction to GNOME's new deskbar, an interview with Elijah Newren, GNOME's release manager, and three simple tips for designing application interfaces you should know. Writers in this edition are Sri Ramakrishna, Davyd Madeley, Lucas Rocha, and Claus Schwarm, respectively.

"Knoppix comes bundled with a bucket of tools, and although 1.7GB of uncompressed space goes a long way, you might hit the problem of having to use software that Knoppix doesn't include by default. Additionally, you may make changes in configurations that you want to keep when you reboot, or store data between Knoppix sessions. Thankfully, there are a few different ways to solve this problem, some being easier to use and more successful than others. This article shows you how to use and modify Knoppix to save your data and install new software."

"The latest release of the Java platform includes a number of new system monitoring and management features. In this article, three developers from the IBM Java Technology Centre team up to get you started using this API. After a quick overview of the java.lang.management package, they guide you through a number of short practical scenarios to probe the performance of a running JVM."

"The 17" iMac has almost everything a silencer could want. It's quiet, efficient, good value, and can even run Windows. the iMac is a computer for the connoisseur, just as Apple intended. Power users, enthusiasts, anyone who wants to tweak the hell out of everything should probably stick to building their own systems - they'll be happier molding the computer to their own personal quirks. However, for someone who wants to use a computer, not take up computer building as a hobby, the iMac is among the best there is."

"We are pleased to announce that the first public beta release of Xubuntu, the latest official addition to the Ubuntu family of derivative distributions has arrived. Xubuntu is built around the solid Ubuntu core and the friendly and relatively lightweight Xfce desktop environment, with the specific goal of providing a nice user experience even on older hardware." Screenshots o'plenty, boys and girls.