OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Vista Graphics Tools to Reach Mac, Phones

Eugenia Loli 2006-03-22 Windows 18 Comments

Microsoft will bring some of the graphics destined for Windows Vista to the Macintosh, phones and older versions of Windows next year through a user interface toolkit. Company executives at the Mix '06 Web developer conference on Monday provided anticipated dates for delivery of Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere, or WPF/E, a user interface design software for operating systems other than Windows Vista.

OS X Sudo vs. Root: The Real Story

Eugenia Loli 2006-03-22 macOS 40 Comments

In Mac OS X, the root account is disabled by default. The first user account created is added to the admin group and that user can use the sudo command to execute other commands as root. The conventional wisdom is that sudo is the most secure way to run root commands, but a closer look reveals a picture that is not so clear.

Official: Windows Vista Available January 2007

Submitted by Bob Stein 2006-03-21 Windows 86 Comments

Microsoft has officially announced to ActiveWin (over a conference call) the release date of Windows Vista. Windows Vista will be made officially to consumers in January 2007, while making Windows Vista available to businesses only in November 2006. In addition, there will be a feature complete Beta 2 CTP released in the next quarter.

French Lawmakers OK Online Copyright Bill

Thom Holwerda 2006-03-21 Legal 49 Comments

French lawmakers approved an online copyright bill Tuesday that would require Apple to break open the exclusive format behind its market-leading iTunes music store and iPod players. The draft law - which also sets new penalties for music pirates - would force Apple, Sony, and others to share proprietary copy-protection technologies so that rivals can offer compatible services and players. An analyst expects that Apple is more likely to leave the French market, than to open its format in France. My take: Just buy CDs. They play in every CD player, and have no weird restrictions. In case you forgot, CDs look like this.

An Inside Look at Windows Vista

Thom Holwerda 2006-03-21 Windows 24 Comments

"The new OS is designed to offer a shiny new user interface, better security, improved data organization and near-instantaneous search. It will be a major gaming platform release because it includes DirectX 10, an upgraded and rebuilt collection of application programming interfaces that, according to Microsoft, will offer six to eight times the graphics performance of DirectX 9.0. We're opening our series of Windows Vista features with a look at the most striking feature of Vista, the 3D desktop and the new Aero interface."

Sun Expands OpenSPARC Program

Thom Holwerda 2006-03-21 Oracle and SUN 9 Comments

A month after releasing the architecture specifications and hypervisor APIs for its UltraSPARC T1 processor to the open-source community, Sun is putting out more information on the chip. Sun on March 21 will publish the hardware design for the T1 - formerly codenamed Niagara - and the Solaris operating system simulation specifications for the chip. The move is the latest in the company's OpenSPARC project, designed to enable hardware and software developers to build atop the new chip's architecture. The goal is to build an ecosystem around the processor that will expand the reach of the SPARC platform. In addition, Sun's grid will finally launch this week.

Novell Focuses on Open Sources

Thom Holwerda 2006-03-21 Novell and Ximian 21 Comments

Novell will support its NetWare network operating system at least until 2015. However, its focus will be open source. "While not abandoning its current NetWare users, Novell officials on Monday made it clear that the company's focus is on open-source and open-standards computing. Kicking off the annual BrainShare conference at the Salt Palace, Novell Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jack Messman and others praised how open source and open standards - and Novell products based on them - can help businesses work more efficiently, provide them flexibility and agility and save them money."

Review: Fedora Core 5

Submitted by Ki Mun 2006-03-21 Fedora Core 40 Comments

Lunapark reviews Fedora Core 5, and concludes: "I would only recommend FC5 to people who do not own Nvidia video cards or do not mind tweaking a lot default settings to get things working. Otherwise stay with what you are using and wait for SUSE 10.1 or Ubuntu’s Dapper. But if you do stick with FC 5 and get past the quirks, it is quite impressive and I am already eagerly awaiting FC 6."

Submitted by fylfot 2006-03-21 RISC OS 2 Comments

"Of the 344 functions in the Castle Shared C Library, Graham Shaw has so far managed to implement 200 in his alternative module. A hundred of those have been fully tested, and this is after six weeks of development. By Graham's reckoning, his target is to recreate the official SCL's 48 base functions, 185 C library functions, and 111 functions related to 64bit support, the C99 standard and other bits and pieces. The module is an open source affair, but will allow applications to use it without repercussions, such as requiring proprietary program authors to reveal their own source code. Developers can, it's expected, choose to use their own choice of 'stubs' library, as provided by the Castle C/C++ compiler kit, RISCOS Ltd's StubsG or with the GCCSDK."

Submitted by Bink 2006-03-21 OpenBSD 49 Comments

OpenBSD has asked for donations: "To fulfill most development goals OpenBSD should be generating about $100K USD. With that amount of money the project can finance 1 large and 4 small hackathons per year. Pay the bills and a part-time developer to mind the shop when Theo isn't around. In an ideal world we would have a sponsor per hackathon and the CD sales would be paying for other expenses." On a very related note, pre-orders for OpenBSD 3.9 are now available.

Submitted by jayson.knight 2006-03-21 Internet Explorer 10 Comments

At the MIX06 conference, Microsoft handed out new builds of Internet Explorer 7. They now also made it available for people who will not attend the conference. Also MIX06, Bill Gates promised more frequent updates to Internet Explorer in the future.

Software Licensing Woes Still Dog Microsoft

Submitted by Bob Brown 2006-03-21 Microsoft 5 Comments

"Five years after Microsoft sparked a firestorm with new volume licensing and upgrade programs, customers are still struggling with the system many say is delivering less than promised. The programs have not adequately addressed the complexities of licensing, stemmed cost increases or provided a simplified upgrade path, customers say."

Submitted by Hakime 2006-03-21 Java No Comments

"The Java Native Interface lets developers mix Java code with C or C++ source code. It provides access to platform-specific features that Java does not provide, so that Java applications on Mac OS X can take advantage of the wide range of powerful Apple-only technologies to provide the best possible user experience. Using the JNI, your Java application can access a user's Address Book, make Spotlight queries, take advantage of Core Image and Core Video, and leverage many other rich features unique to Mac OS X. This step-by-step tutorial explains how to use the JNI to integrate Java and C code using a single Xcode project with multiple targets."

Why PostgreSQL Can Best SQLServer, Oracle

Submitted by Jane Walker 2006-03-21 Databases 9 Comments

The authors of "Beginning PHP and PostgreSQL 8: From Novice to Professional" explain how, when and why PostgreSQL tops commercial database systems, as well as its suitability for enterprises and why end users have more control with this open source DMBS.

FOX v1.6.0 Released

Submitted by Niall Douglas 2006-03-21 General Development 8 Comments

FOX v1.6.0 has been released with the biggest major new feature being Unicode support but also with a raft of new system code such as extra threading and I/O APIs. This should be viewed as an interim release as unicode keyboard input is as yet unfinished.

Haiku: Where Are We At, Pt II

Submitted by Tako Lansbergen 2006-03-20 Haiku 81 Comments

Studio33 has released part II in its series of articles looking at the current state of Haiku. "In the previous part I talked about the achievements of the Haiku Team since the project was first started, this time I will go deeper into the work that has been done lately and which parts need serious attention in the coming months." Screenshots o'plenty, boys and girls.

Ubuntu Dapper Delayed Six Weeks; New Release Date 1st June

Thom Holwerda 2006-03-20 Ubuntu 46 Comments

Not too long ago Mark Shuttleworth proposed a delay of six weeks for the release of Ubuntu Dapper Drake. Today, after discussion within the community, the delay was approved and announced. "June 1st 2006 is the updated release date for Ubuntu Dapper, Desktop and Server editions, a delay of 6 weeks over the previous release date of April 20." More information in the release schedule.

PS3: Holy Grail for Alternative Operating Systems?

Guest post by Ryan Thiessen 2006-03-20 Games 67 Comments

Sony's PS3, scheduled to be released near the end of this year, has been slated to have a hard drive that will support and will even include preinstalled Linux. This could be a breakthrough event not just for Linux but also for other alternative operating systems as well. The PS3 will almost certainly sell millions and millions of units, providing a unique opportunity for people to try something that would be more difficult on their regular computer.

OpenGL Enabled on Windows Vista

Submitted by Kap 2006-03-20 Windows 55 Comments

News has leaked that Microsoft has enabled support for OpenGL to work with the Vista compositing desktop, as of the most recent preview build. Previously Microsoft's plan had been to force OpenGL to be translated to Direct3D, reducing performance by 50% and locking the OpenGL version to 1.4 only.

Submitted by Linuxfanboy 2006-03-20 Rumors 33 Comments

LXer compares Ubuntu, Mac OSX, and Windows XP. "All three desktop operating systems have admirable qualities. Each has some weaknesses. Attending a recent User Group Fair, I had another chance to see them at work. Having used and programmed on each platform provides some unbiased insights."