"As more computer users move to larger, wide-screen monitors, Microsoft is staking a claim to that added real estate. Windows Vista, the update to the operating system due this year, will add a feature called Sidebar. Sidebar is a small panel at the side of the monitor that can be used to view photo slide shows, RSS feeds and other small programs, dubbed gadgets."

We barely got time to install the first one, the second one is still in the donwload queue, but the third one is already here. OpenSUSE Linux 10.1 Beta 3 has been released , and it includes a number of bug fixes - however, we can't really tell which since they placed the changelog on the first CD. Here's to hoping this won't set a trend.

RISCOS Ltd. detailed that "the full launch of the A9 computer, and then Select 4, are currently targetted for around May this year", perhaps at the Wakefield show, "and once completed attention can be focussed on the Iyonix." They will also issue new shares to fund the development of RISC OS 4.

"The United States-based body responsible for protecting the 'Linux' name appears to be making a renewed push to register it as a trademark in Australia. The nation's intellectual property regulator, IP Australia, turned down an initial bid by local body Linux Australia to register the name on behalf of Linux creator Linux Torvalds in September 2005, saying the name was not distinctive enough to be trademarked. But the US-based Linux Mark Institute, which acts for Torvalds worldwide appears to be in the process of appealing the decision."

VMware, an EMC subsidiary whose software lets multiple operating systems run on the same computer, is expected to announce next week that it will begin giving away one of its key products for free, CNET News.com has learned.

This article goes into the motivation and architecture for DTrace -- and describes some of the problems that remain to be solved in system observability. The article also includes a short case-study on using DTrace to find a real problem -- a problem that was ultimately due to some seriously fugly code in a monitoring app.

Microsoft's long-awaited Windows Server 2003 R2, the update to Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, is finally generally available, the company said on Feb. 1. This widespread availability follows the December 2005 release to manufacturing of the final code for this server software. Microsoft customers will now be able to buy Windows Server 2003 R2 pre-installed on hardware through companies such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, and Microsoft's enterprise Software Assurance customers will get their Windows Server 2003 R2 updates in the near future.

For years computer interfaces have been held back by two dimensions. The power and flexibility of three dimensional interfaces have remained the stuff of science fiction movies, video games and very custom high-end applications. Aoren Software now brings that power to everyday applications and operating systems through a window server and framework technology called Vision. Vision was designed from the ground up to break away from old paradigms and provide the interface needs of the next generation. Application developers can get their hands on the technology with the developer preview release and start creating programs that have previously resided only in the imagination.

GNOME 2.13.90 has been released. As always, the odd-numbered branches indicate dev-branches, and as such the 2.13.x series is the step-up to the GNOME 2.14 release, planned for March this year. The 2.13.90 release is the first beta. Release notes: platform, desktop, and bindings; downloads: platform, desktop, and bindings.

"The first security and stability update to Mozilla Firefox 1.5 has been released. It is recommended that all Firefox users upgrade to this latest version. Downloads are available from GetFirefox.com. The update is also available for other systems and languages. More details can be found in the Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.1 release notes."

Fedora Core, a popular flavor of Linux being developed by the open-source community, is hardly hefty by today's operating system standards. But to fit the tight specs for the $100 laptop being designed by MIT's One-Lap-Per-Child group, Fedora will need to go on a crash diet, concedes its overseer, Red Hat. The Linux software maker confirmed today that it has donated $2 million to the OLPC and joined as a corporate member and said it plans to put some of its brightest engineers to the task of slimming down Fedora before the laptops debut in early 2007.

After two years of work, since the 3.50 release, Fyodor announced the Nmap Security Scanner version 4.00. Changes since version 3.50 include a rewritten (for speed and memory efficiency) port scanning engine, ARP scanning, a brand new man page and install guide, runtime interaction, massive version detection improvements, MAC address spoofing, increased Windows performance, 500 new OS detection fingerprints, and completion time estimates. Dozens of other important changes - and future plans for Nmap - are listed in the release announcement. Fyodor also gave an interview on 4.00.

A demonstration of the next release of Novell's Linux for desktops drew cheers and applause Wednesday, although the final version of the software is not expected for some months. Nat Friedman, the company's vice president of Linux desktop engineering, showed Novell Linux Desktop 10 playing videos and MP3 music files, and exchanging music and photos with an iPod and a digital camera, in a keynote presentation at the Solutions Linux conference and trade show on the outskirts of Paris.

"AMD has been a leader in getting 64-bit technology off the PowerPoint and into servers, desktops, and wherever else they can put it and has a clear-cut technology advantage over most of the current crop of Intel processors. For a company that likes to 'Think Different', Apple chose a conservative path in selecting Intel processors to power its latest generation of computers." In related news, our favourite Windows Apple fanatic Paul Thurrot wonders why there's no PC equivelant of Apple's iLife.