Nokia released today a number of updated development PDFs on their 'S60 3rd Edition' platform on top of Symbian OS v9.1: "S60 2nd/3rd Edition: Differences In Features", "Introduction To The S60 Scalable UI", "S60 Platform: Scalable UI Support", "S60 Platform: Source And Binary Compatibility", "S60 Platform: Avkon UI Resources". Nokia also released a new web browser based on KHTML. Except the innovative zoomable interface, the browser also supports pop-up blocking, visual history, find-as-you-type, integrated RSS support, DHTML with AJAX support and Netscape-style plug-ins for Flash Lite, SVG-tiny and audio. The new web browser (check the flash demo) is available to all new Nokia phones using the 'S60 3rd Edition', like the impressive and newly announced N80.

NexentaOS, Debian-based GNU/Solaris, has opened a pilot-program. "We'll open Nexenta web developer portal completely for the general public by mid-November. Today we are launching a Pilot Program. Solaris developers and the entire OpenSolaris community - you are welcome to participate in the Pilot!"

Silicon Graphics Inc. today issued a melancholy press release confirming that it has been kicked off the New York Stock Exchange, and will now trade as a 'penny stock'. SGI was the high-bandwidth, visualization-rich, media-savvy computer systems company that flourished in a decade when media pundits clamored for a winner in what they called 'the convergence space'. SGI obliged, and spared nothing - for a while its budgets were flush for R&D and fancy architecture. "Oh, SGI, we loved you and you screwed up. Bigtime."

Finding an entry-level home PC that doesn't have a Windows XP sticker on it requires consumers to search through a maze of Web sites. Or if they try calling a major PC maker, the agent is likely to have a hard time steering them toward a Linux-based or bare-bones system.

The Schillix OpenSolaris project has announced its second release, SchilliX 0.2, and a Live CD available for download. Highlights of 0.2 include 30 second boot time, boot from CD or USB-stick, installation to hard drive, and self-healing services. Software includes cdrecord, star, bash, bz2, fakeroot, gmake, gpatch, gtar, gzip, pod2man, texinfo, unzip, wget and much more.

"Aside from the general unwillingness of VCs to invest in startups, Linux is a no go. Many factors come into play with the primary lack of an exit strategy topping the list. When will Linux companies see the light at the end of the tunnel? Or will they?"

Glynn Foster wrote on his blog that Sun's throwing away the desktop which is based on GNOME because of different problems they see in maintaining it. There is also a full article about it on LXer.

"This article describes the features and capabilities of MiniGUI, a lightweight graphics framework for embedded systems based on uClinux, Linux, eCos, or proprietary real-time OSes. The article is written by Wei Yongming, who wrote MiniGUI for a CNC (computer numerical control) system, then released it to open source seven years ago."

As a kind of follow-up to ArsTechnica's previous round of technical articles on the hardware that powers the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, they decided to step back a bit from the technical details and take a broader look at how the next generation of consoles fit into the home entertainment picture.

Nokia rebranded its 'Series 60' platform as simply S60. They also released an overview of the 3rd edition Feature Pack 1 of the Nokia UI for the Symbian-based S60, with a new security framework and built-in content protection improve developer investment protection, while still enabling freeware applications. FOTA enables software upgrades to be performed over the air, initiated by either the user or operator. POC brings "walkie-talkie" functionality to mobile devices without the limitation of distance. There are also enhancements to the XHTML browser, a flexible XML based framework for UI customization, stronger multimedia features and improvements in performance. Elsewhere, Palm's CEO says that Palm won't use Symbian because "Nokia owns Symbian", while he claimed that the Palmsource spin off from Palm was a mistake.

The release of the software giant's new operating system will be one of Microsoft's most important product launches this decade, when it goes live next year. But despite the product's myriad new features and functionality, current market trends could inhibit initial adoption of Vista, PC industry analysts say.

The Open Source Business Conference here will open on Tuesday to the news from the Free Standards Group that the Linux Standards Base has been approved as an ISO standard.

"Comparing AmigaOS and RISC OS is an interesting exercise, especially when it provides inspiration for things like scripting languages, friendly internationalisation configuration, and transparent file format handling. However it also shows areas where RISC OS is grossly under-selling features we take for granted every day, but are seen as almost revolutionary elsewhere: For instance, being efficient on a sub-1GHz RISC CPU, anti-aliased fonts, supporting virtual disc labels, using a RAM-based temporary disc, and providing an iconbar."

Open standards and open source software got political on Monday when Linda Hamel, the general counsel for the Massachusetts Information Technology Department, suggested that groups that oppose the OpenDocument file format standard might be influenced by Microsoft. Hamel was testifying before the Senate's committee on Post Audit and Oversight at a hearing regarding the state's switch to the OpenDocument file format.