"That's it for 3.9! Tree locks are upon us so unless something critical breaks, nothing will go in anymore. For me and Jordan this means to stop ACPI development until the tree is unlocked. So now it is of to test, test, test! That goes for you too; if you are reading this you should stop and install snapshots on as many machines and architectures as possible. We always appreciate test reports from folks in the field."

Deskbar is an applet which sits in the GNOME panel and which integrates quite seamlessly with different search tools like Beagle and the Google search API to bring the same functionality of OSX's Spotlight to Linux/GNOME. This article explains how one can set up this applet to among other things, provide Google web search on the Linux/GNOME desktop. In related news, this article takes a look at the major new features of... Gedit 2.14. No kidding.

"Libre Graphics Meeting will bring together developers and users of the best of free software graphics applications - GIMP, Inkscape, Scribus, Blender and more. It promises to be a fun ride, with tutorials and presentations of applications, and lots of time and space to chat, meet up with old friends, make new ones. Plans will be made, hacking and drawing will be done, fun will be had. The conference is free to attend, and open to all."

At first blush, the past two weeks have not been good for the image of Apple's Mac OS X: Public descriptions of two worms and a trivial exploit for a serious software issue in the operating system appeared on the internet. However, the three programs are hardly a threat to systems running Mac OS X, according to security professionals. CNet covers the same topic.

Microsoft has released beta 3 of their Monad shell. "Windows 'Monad' Shell is a new interactive command-line and task-based scripting technology in Windows that enables administrators to more efficiently and securely automate and control system management tasks on both desktops and servers. 'Monad' Shell provides powerful task-based control (via built-in command line tools and utilities) and a powerful scripting language that enables comprehensive scripted control of the Windows operating system and applications."

"Since its ISSCC talk early this month, IBM POWER6 did capture the imagination of quite a few processor buffs around there - not me, yet, as I'm used to see great CPUs failing since the Moto 68K and Alpha days - and also raise debates on several tech forums. While IBM still keeps most of the official POWER6 data closely guarded - I'd expect more during Hot Chips or Fall Processor Forum some six months from now - there is enough right now to assemble a rough picture of what may be in for the users of the new chip."

"The thing I find most interesting in battle of silicon supremacy is just how unbelievably thick (or perhaps slow) AMD has been lately. For the entire life cycle of the Pentium 4 family, AMD was far ahead. The company made the best processors in terms of performance with cost efficiency in mind. However, it had a nice 1-1.5 years of time span where it could've evolved or innovated enough, but it didn't. Granted that AMD is still leading the desktop and server markets in terms of performance, it's not the point. The point is the lack of evolution and innovation from AMD."

"The Amadeus project was initiated by USL as a successor or alternative to UNIX. As well as SCO other industrial contributors include USL, Novell, Chorus Systemes, Unisys1, Fujitsu and Sequoia. Amadeus has existed as a labs project for many years with Unisys being the first to put it into production usage in their OPUS high end database server." Read more .

"Virtual Bugzilla server is a virtual machine with pre-installed Bugzilla. Instead of spending hours (sometimes days) installing Bugzilla, why not just download a ready-to-use server? Virtual Bugzilla server is a VMWare virtual machine. You will need a free VMWare Player to run the server."

3D graphics on X11: XGL vs AIGLX. This article delves into the inner workings of XGL and AIGLX. It shows that there are many similarities between these two competing/co-operating "rivals" and plenty of room for growth.

The Gentoo Release Engineering team announced the release of Gentoo Linux 2006.0. Gentoo Linux 2006.0, the first release in the 2006 series, represents improvements across many architecture. Major highlights in the release include KDE 3.4.3, GNOME 2.12.2, XFCE 4.2.2, GCC 3.4.4 and a 2.6.15 kernel. This is also the first release with the Gentoo Linux Installer officially debuting on the x86 LiveCD, which will fully replace the Universal and PackageCD set.

Data is valuable only if it can be stored and accessed. With multiple vendors of directory services solutions competing for your business, you may worry that their disparate systems will not be able to interoperate and that it will be difficult for clients to support multiple vendors. This chapter will help you to store and access data on Mac OS X server.

ActiveWin reviews Office 2007 beta 1, and concludes: "It's an innovative interface yes, but will the benefits outweigh the changes? That's for users to decide. Yes this early code does have glitches and performance issues left to be ironed out; right now the focus is on reliability and stability. The BETA 2 release should provide us with an early glimpse of what's in store in the final product. My personal say is getting used to interface should not be a problem for many since the familiar tools are organized in ways that makes it convenient for the user, and new tools make the interface more intelligent and more aware of what the user is doing, presenting the right tools for the task at hand."

"Microsoft lately has been challenging Linux's suitability for older hardware, so it seems like a good time to look at Linux distributions that can run on older machines. I took six distributions for a test run on an old machine, and also tried software that turns old hardware into a thin client. The bottom line: Linux is still quite suitable for older hardware. It might not turn your aging PC into a powerhouse, but it will extend its lifespan considerably."