Interview: Debian’s Branden Robinson

  Submitted by Vincenzo Ciaglia Debian 25 Comments
Here's an interview with Debian's Branden Robinson. From the interview: "I think Debian's success stems from its dual commitments to userempowerment through free licensing of the works we distribute, and to high quality through careful design and integration decisions. Not everyone is a software freedom fighter, nor is everyone a software perfectionist – but we can accommodate both of those passions pretty well. Debian is an exciting and rewarding place to be if you want to help shape the future of the Free Software landscape."
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NetBSD 3.0_RC5 Binaries Available for Testing

  Submitted by Jan Schaumann NetBSD 21 Comments
On behalf of the NetBSD Release Engineering team, Matthias Scheler announced the availability of NetBSD 3.0 RC5 for testing. NetBSD 3.0 RC5 is available in the "daily builds" section of your local FTP mirror, and users are encouraged to test it out and report any bugs using send-pr(1). A brief summary of changes from NetBSD 3.0_RC1 to 3.0_RC5 is available in Matthias's announcement (a list of changes from NetBSD 2.0 to NetBSD 3.0 can be found here).
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Genesi Launches ‘Home Media and Communication System’

Morphos 35 Comments
Genesi has announced a new product this weekend. "The Genesi Home Media and Communication System is built on the PegasosPPC platform, utilising the Freescale G4 processor for outstanding media performance. Enclosed in a fully aluminium case which will fit in with your existing Hi-Fi amplifier or TV, and featuring a VFD status display under mirrored acrylic glass." Software-wise, the machine will only feature open-source software. Genesi also made the EFIKA 5K2 available.
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ReactOS Weekly Newletter

  Submitted by TwoTailedFox ReactOS 27 Comments
"Welcome to Issue 7 of the ReactOS Weekly Newsletter, as persistant as a Jehovah's Witness. This week, I'll be taking a look at the NDK used by the ReactOS developers, covering WINE 0.9.2, and detailing the latest SVN activity."
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Research OS Singularity Revisited

Microsoft 36 Comments
Charles Torre again sits down with some of the people behind MSR's Singularity research OS. This time, they drill down into the architecture of Singularity and discuss design decisions, usage of safe code, Channels, SIPs, etc. They even manage to get Galen Hunt, the OS Guy, up to the white board to map out some of Singularity's architecture.
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Vista’s Transactional File System

Windows 76 Comments
Surendra Verma, Development Manager on the Vista Kernel team, digs into Vista's new Transactional File System with Charles Torre. TxF, as it is referred to internally, is a new kernel construct that is part of an updated Vista NTFS. Surendra provides a high level overview of TxF in this video. Elsewhere, Microsoft is serious about meeting its ship date for Windows Vista during the second half of 2006.
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A Sneak Peek at Novell Linux Desktop 10?

  Submitted by Carondelet Novell and Ximian 118 Comments
An observing poster at the Ubuntu forums unearthed what he says are screenshots of the upcoming Novell Linux Desktop 10. "I was snooping around for details about Novell Linux Desktop 10 and stumbled upon an internal Novell Desktop Design wiki. Most of the pages were unavailable without logging in but I found a few pics by going through their 'Recent Changes' page." So, are they for real? My take: Whether these are real shots of NLD 10, or just 'mere' mockups, they in any case show that Novell is willing to differentiate itself from its competitors. Which is a good thing.
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Installing SUSE Linux 10.0 on a Laptop

  Submitted by anonymous SuSE, openSUSE 33 Comments
"All in all, SUSE Linux 10.0 OSS is the best Linux system I've used. It's easy to install and has a large selection of both desktop and server software. It has been extremely stable during my use. It is clearly an excellent choice for Linux beginners, with its fine documentation, easy installation, and comprehensive graphical configuration tools, while also offering software selection and powerful tools for the experienced user."
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Red Hat’s New CTO Talks Government

  Submitted by anonymous Red Hat 20 Comments
As if his promotion to chief technology officer weren't demanding enough, Red Hat's Brian Stevens must also lead a revolution of sorts. After all, open source is changing government, and Red Hat shoulders a good deal of that direction. Stevens sat down with GovernmentVAR senior editor Jill Aitoro to discuss what's next for open source in government including Red Hat's work on SELinux in partnership with NSA and open standards.
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Apache 2.2 Released

  Submitted by Witek Wasilewski Internet 14 Comments
Apache HTTP server 2.2.0 has been released. This version of Apache is a major release and the start of a new stable branch. New features include Smart Filtering, Improved Caching, AJP Proxy, Proxy Load Balancing, Graceful Shutdown support, Large File Support, the Event MPM, and refactored Authentication/Authorization.
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Apple’s New Media Experience Coming Soon?

  Submitted by Anonymous Apple 29 Comments
Is Apple planning to unveil a robust new content distribution system in January at Macworld Expo alongside its revamped media-savvy Mac mini? apparantly Think Secret believes they are going to do just that. The new content system and related media deals, which will include feature-length content, expanded televisions offerings, and more, will further cement Apple's increasing lead in digital media delivery.Apple's new technology will deliver content such that it never actually resides on the user's hard drive. Content purchased will be automatically made available on a user's iDisk, which Front Row 2.0 will tap into.
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ToothMote 0.1 Released

Wireless 4 Comments
ToothMote is an application to control Linux computers using a BlueTooth-enabled cell phone. It provides a basis for communicating with a connected cell phone, and then uses a plugin architecture to easily expand the amount of functionality it provides. Other similar applications are Salling Clicker for Mac OS X and Bluemote for Linux.
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Film Documents Software Creation, the Fun Way

Multimedia, AV 10 Comments
When Lerone Wilson saw the ad for a director interested in doing a film on software development, he was skeptical, to say the least. Wilson's resulting "Aardvark'd: 12 Weeks with Geeks," the story of intern programmers at New York-based Fog Creek Software creating a product from scratch to shipping, is now finished, one of the first films to delve wholly into the life and culture of coding.
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Microsoft Touts Vista’s Restart Manager Feature

Windows 148 Comments
Microsoft is working on a significant new feature for Windows Vista, known as Restart Manager, which is designed to update parts of the operating system or applications without having to reboot the entire machine. "If a part of an application, or the operating system itself, needs to updated, the Installer will call the Restart Manager, which looks to see if it can clear that part of the system so that it can be updated. If it can do that, it does, and that happens without a reboot." And here & here are some more shots of Vista build 5259.
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