Without tip-toeing around the matter, Linus Torvalds made his preference in the GNOME vs. KDE matter quite clear on the GNOME-usability list: "I personally just encourage people to switch to KDE. This 'users are idiots, and are confused by functionality' mentality of Gnome is a disease. If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will use it. I don't use Gnome, because in striving to be simple, it has long since reached the point where it simply doesn't do what I need it to do. Please, just tell people to use KDE." Also, "Gnome seems to be developed by interface nazis, where consistently the excuse for not doing something is not 'it's too complicated to do', but 'it would confuse users'." Update: More of the discussion here.

"Though most people don’t know it, Microsoft has, not one, but two new operating systems that it is working on. The first, Vista, many people have heard of. Currently scheduled to ship just after the second coming of Christ, Vista has garnered most of the spotlight. However there is another OS lurking in the basement in Redmond and its name is Singularity (.pdf). So what does Singularity look like? A joke, at least at first glance. But taking a moment to analyze the situation I came up with some interesting observations which I will now share with you."

The most full-featured smartphone in the world, the Nokia N80, is previewed by AllAboutSymbian. The SymbianOS 3rd Edition S60 phone has all modern features a user needs (including WiFi, 3G, VGA videoconf camera in addition to a 3MP camera, UPnP, Bluetooth 2.0 with the A2DP and printing profiles, 352x416 screen, stereo FM radio etc) and it's short only to DVB-H TV reception and a more powerful 3D accelerator. The russian site Mobile-Review previewed the S60 3rd Edition a few days ago too showing off the immense visual and other differences of the operating system compared to the older version.

VMware has released VMware Player version 1.0.0-final for Windows and Linux. VMware Player runs virtual machines (VM's) created by VMware Workstation, GSX Server or ESX Server. It also supports VM's created with Virtual PC and Virtual Server from Microsoft. VMware also released version 1.0.0 of their free Browser Appliance VM running Ubuntu Linux 5.10 with Mozilla Firefox 1.07 and 1.5.

The Amiga. A platform with a history. Today, we are reviewing Amiga Forever, which was kindly provided by Cloanto, its manufacturer. The question I tried to answer during the usage of Amiga Forever was: does it have anything to offer to OS enthousiasts today? Of course Amiga Forever offers great functionality for Amiga fans, but what about the rest of us? Can Amiga Forever cater to more people than just Amiga fans?

"Red Hat is a completely different company than it was five years ago," insisted Brian Stevens, the company’s new chief technology officer. Stevens himself is a 14-year DEC veteran who lives in the Boston area. He's been charged with shepherding open-source technologies (not just Linux) toward mission-critical readiness. At DEC, he was an architect for the company's Tru64 Operating System. He also helped develop the X Window System, widely used as the graphical interface for Unix. Stevens stopped by the GCN offices and spoke with associate writer Joab Jackson.

"AMD’s drive to 64-bit processors surprised everyone with its speed, even as detractors commented that there would be little or no performance gain on the desktop without a 64-bit OS and 64-bit applications. Whatever the doubts within the industry, Intel lost little time in offering its own version of AMD64, in the form of the EM64T extensions. Traditionally perceived as the under-dog in the cutthroat world of microprocessors, AMD managed to take the design initiative at exactly that moment Intel was fixated on power consumption and the move to dual cores. DigiTimes recently had an opportunity to discuss AMD’s approach to microprocessor design with Dr. Raghuram Tupuri, Design Engineering, AMD."

"Don Box is an architect assigned to the 'Indigo' project at Microsoft, where he is working on next-generation Web services protocols and plumbing. Box recently spoke with eWEEK Senior Editor Darryl K. Taft about upcoming technologies from the company such as the Language Integrated Query project, Windows Workflow Foundation and Windows Communication Foundation (Indigo)." In addition, here's an interview with Ray Ozzie, who Bill Gates is counting on when it comes to Internet services.

"After spending a few days using the 770 intensely, I feel conflicted about it. I want to love it, and some aspects of it exceeded my expectations. At the same time, the 770 has some serious shortcomings that need to be addressed in v2.0 of the 770 (or in the 771) if it is going to have wide success." More reviews: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6. Update by ELQ: And another one too.

"GOK is the GNOME On-Screen Keyboard. As the title implies, it is a keyboard that appears on the display as an alternative for those who are not able to use a regular keyboard. This report highlights some general usability issues with GOK as it appears in Ubuntu (5.10). Some of the issues highlighted here may be bugs (In which case I will file them), while others will be design features that I have not grasped the purpose of (most likely in support of hardware that I do not have). Some of the issues highlighted here will relate to the general GNOME a11y infrastructure and some may be related to the way things are set up on Ubuntu."

"What possible rivalry could there be between two companies, out of which one has been founded over 30 years ago and is running the global software show, while the other is just seven years old and has the purpose to help users search the dense jungle of today's Internet? If we were talking about any other companies, I would have advised you to bet on the first one, but when we're talking about Microsoft and Google, no rules apply."

Internet search is reaching an important pivot point, where market leaders are rewarded by Wall Street, laggards are punished, and start-ups try to fill niches left empty by the major players. Though the market has seen a few leaders come and go over the last decade - anyone remember AltaVista? - few would doubt that a distinct top tier has emerged, occupied by Google, Yahoo, AOL and MSN.

Route maps are similar to access lists; they both have criteria for matching the details of certain packets and an action of permitting or denying those packets. This chapter explains the basics of Route Maps. Included are sample exercises to help you practice administration and use of Route Maps.

Derek M. Jones looks at low-level coding errors and the use of coding guidelines as a cost-effective means of avoiding some of the more common instances of such errors.