"Need a teeny-tiny, business-card-sized, open source operating system that squeezes a lot of software into a little space? Take a look at DSL Linux. This quick review shows you how to use the miniscule OS, highlights the on-board applications, details how to load and start it, and explains how to save between sessions when using a bootable CD."

Oracle has finally, after much delay, released 10g for the Solaris x86 platform. This should be a big boost for Sun's Galaxy class servers as well as other Solaris x86 users everywhere. You can get your copy at Oracle's download page. On a related note, "this article is a step by step guide for tuning and optimizing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on x86 and x86-64 platforms running Oracle 9i (32bit/64bit) and Oracle 10g (32bit/64bit) databases."

Ars is contradicting the 60% claim made earlier today, stating: "Reportedly, the Media Center code in the OS is in shambles, and needs to be saved by the Xbox code team. Curiosity piqued, I contacted my usual sources. In short, the story is an extreme exaggeration. I suppose this much is obvious from the mere fact that what was once a late November shipping date has now moved to January 2007: would the revelation that more than half of the code is in need of repair only translate into a two month delay? Of course not. I suppose the cynic could still invest in this rumor by arguing that the delay will stretch into 2007, but that has yet to be seen, and it really amounts to FUD at this point."

Exactly five years ago, 24th March 2001, Apple officially launched its new operating system, Mac OS X, the highly anticipated (and highly needed) successor to Mac OS 9. From the official press release: "Apple today announced that beginning this Saturday, March 24, customers can buy Mac OS X in retail stores around the world. Mac OS X is the world’s most advanced operating system, combining the power and openness of UNIX with the legendary ease of use and broad applications base of Macintosh."

The first benchmark of Mustang (JDK1.6) versus Tiger (JDK1.5) shows that Java users are up for an agreeable surprise. According to this JavaLobby discussion the virtual machine raw speed has improved significantly (40-100%). Although, the core library implementation (e.g. collections) could also benefit from some rework/optimizations.

Microsoft appears to be in a state of panic, ordering 60 per cent of its new operating system to be re-written amidst a major shake-up of its troubled Windows division. According to a Volish denizen speaking to smarthouse.com, orders have come down from on high to rewrite more than 60 per cent of the consumer version of Vista in a bid to get it ready for the 2007 CES show in Las Vegas.

Anandtech reviews Sun's T2000 Coolthreads server, and concludes: "At first sight, Sun has won the performance/watt battle for now, but it cannot rest on its laurels. Low voltage versions of the Xeon 'Woodcrest' and Opteron might be able to come very close to the performance/Watt levels that the T1 offers. We also can't shake the feeling that the number of applications, which will really exhibit the kind of exceptional performance that Sun's own heavily optimised benchmarks show, will be quite limited. Last, but certainly not least, Sun's solid engineering has impressed us. Sun's meticulous attention to detail resulted in a sturdy, well-polished machine." More benchmarks here.

Reacting to US and Apple positions about the copyright law, french deputee Christian Paul, who worked hard to defend Free software during the debates, explains the parliament position. "We want to protect consumers' freedom of choice and privacy. We oppose the idea that the seller of a song or any other kind of work can impose on the consumer the way to read it, forever, and especially in consumer's home. It is essential to assure that the consumer can choose whatever device she likes, just as she can use her favorite hi-fi today and does not have to buy a new one for each vendor."

"I'm happy to announce today that ROTOR 2.0 has released to the web. You can download the release here. ROTOR contains most of the CLR and base class libraries found in our commerical product. It is released under the shared source program. There are several new things in this release: generics implementation; Lightweight Code Generation; stub-based dispatch support; new reflection and reflection emit; new C# features like Anonymous Methods, Anonymous Delegates and Generics."

Novell is talking to a number of OEMs about getting its upcoming SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 preinstalled on the hardware systems they ship. But while Ron Hovsepian, Novell's president and chief operating officer, said the company had nothing to announce in this regard at its annual BrainShare conference here, Novell is talking to a number of key vendors like Dell in this regard. "I know there is an opportunity here and we are working on the how and the when," he said in a media and analyst question and answer session. The delay of Vista could not have come at a better time for Novell, in this regard.

Hyperion, the company behind AmigaOS 4.0, has found at least one way to generate revenue from AmigaOS 4.0. "Hyperion Entertainment VOF announces that it has licensed its 3D driver technology for ATI Radeon 9000 chipsets to Smiths Aerospace LLC. Hyperion's 3D driver technology is OpenGL ES compatible and was originally developed for Amiga OS 4, Hyperion's multi-media centric, small foot-print embedded OS."