OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Microsoft’s Nightmare Inches Closer to Reality

Thom Holwerda 2005-09-23 Microsoft 83 Comments

As early as May 1995, three months before Netscape initial public offering sparked the dot-com boom, Microsoft executives were worried that the nascent WWW could one day become a significant threat to the Windows franchise. Another memo is also making the rounds. This internal memo, written in 2005, argues that Google threatens Microsoft and the company's crown jewel, Windows.

Submitted by Eugenia Loli 2005-09-23 Wireless 35 Comments

The wraps have been taken off of new Palm PDAs. The most notable one is the new Treo 700w: a 1.0 megapixel camera, EV-DO, Bluetooth, 64MB of memory, and, most notably, Windows Mobile 5.0. A new Zire (Z22) and Tungsten (TX) have also been revealed.

SymphonyOS in the Words of its Developer

Submitted by Josh 2005-09-23 Linux 54 Comments

"Usually, a distro's most recognizable feature is the desktop environment. With SymphonyOS, the screenshots are the first hint that this is not your ordinary remix. SymponyOS is a bold step into a new desktop paradigm. It features such innovations as the Mezzo desktop environment, the Orchestra application environment, and the apt-plus software installation tool. Ryan Quinn, the lead developer of SymphonyOS, took some time out to talk with me about the distro and a few other subjects."

A View of Win Mobile 5.0 from 10,000 Feet

Eugenia Loli 2005-09-22 Windows 6 Comments

This is a series of articles exploring the new tools and APIs that developers will find in Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, Visual Studio 2005, and the .NET Compact Framework version 2.0. The series begins with an introduction to Windows Mobile 5.0 and the tools needed to get started developing for Windows Mobile 5.0 today.

Ajax Paves the Way for Better Web Applications

Eugenia Loli 2005-09-22 Internet 25 Comments

This article gives you a good understanding of the fundamental principles of Ajax and a nuts-and-bolts knowledge of the client and server side components that participate in an Ajax interaction. These are the building blocks of a Java-based Ajax Web application. In addition, you will be shown some of the high-level design issues that come with the Ajax approach.

RISC OS 5.10 Readied for Release

Thom Holwerda 2005-09-22 RISC OS 7 Comments

Castle have issued a new RISC OS 5 ROM for brave Iyonix users to beta test. Version 5.10 is mainly a bug fixing exercise, and coincides with a USB mass storage update that also corrects a few glitches. "It is intended that these updates will go in general circulation in a few days time, unless anything hugely untoward crops up. We have been running these for a while now," said Castle's John Ballance. This update also includes the updated GeForce 2 driver, bringing 3D acceleration to RISC OS.

Touring Red Hat Network 4

Submitted by Jan Stafford 2005-09-22 Red Hat 30 Comments

"I've used Red Hat Network successfully in the past, so I was happy to get my hands on a demo of Red Hat Network 4, which is in the process of being released. Before I drill down into RHN4, I have to say RHN4's new features are cool, particularly the ones that enable you to manage Unix-based Solaris servers and monitor systems more effectively."

Object Code for the PowerPC 405 and 440 Core Models

Thom Holwerda 2005-09-22 Hardware 3 Comments

As of September 20, 2005, you can download object code (free reg. req.) for the PowerPC 405 and PowerPC 440 core models for Open SystemC-compatible EDA design tools. The code is useful for software engineers interested in developing boot firmware, operating system, or application code for a PowerPC-based chip. Also, for hardware engineers interested in architecture decision support, early benchmarking, or high-level system design trade-offs.

Submitted by kellym 2005-09-22 Windows 59 Comments

"The amazing thing isn't that Windows beat the pants off Unix; it's that so many of the Unix companies survived until today. Linux came into the field though with two big advantages over the Unixes. The first was that it was open-source. The second advantage was it had Linus Torvalds." In other news, here you can read what various people have to say about the restructuring operation at Microsoft.

First Komodo Snapshots Released

Submitted by William Lahti 2005-09-22 Linux 86 Comments

The first snapshot release of Komodo, a next-generation Linux/.NET-based operating system, is now available. "A new desktop environment codenamed Dagon is now being developed with to bring a new face of Linux to users. The environment is being developed around the Emotion graphics/UI toolkit to best make use of these new display and communication technologies as well as to provide a solid and useable interface for casual users." Get the latest snapshots from their FTP servers. Read more information for developers, users and enterprise users.

Google’s Summer of Code Concludes

Thom Holwerda 2005-09-22 Google 12 Comments

Google's Summer of Code, a program that matched computer science students with free and open source software projects and paid for results, is over. Despite some organizational problems, the SOC attracted an overwhelming response from both students and projects, and early indications are that the program has produced a wide range of projects and attracted a number of promising students to the FOSS communities. Whether the program will be repeated, however, remains undetermined.

Low-Spec Niagara on the Way

Thom Holwerda 2005-09-22 Oracle and SUN 14 Comments

A senior Sun executive has indicated versions of his firm's latest server chip that aren't fully functional could find their way into commodity servers as a cheap option. Sun's forthcoming Niagara chip has eight cores, but the company will sell versions with six or possibly even four, the company's top Sparc server executive said Tuesday.

Jobs: Microsoft and Dell Copy Us But Won’t Beat the iPod

Thom Holwerda 2005-09-22 Apple 98 Comments

Speaking yesterday at Apple's European conference, Apple Expo in Paris, Jobs said: "Microsoft is copying us with its operating system... Dell's trying to copy us with its hardware. That's fine but we'd like to not give them a map and show them where we're going to go. At least they can follow our taillights." Update: More from Jobs here.

Submitted by kellym 2005-09-22 Google 11 Comments

Rumors are swirling around a FAQ page for Google Secure Access Beta (of course) software that appears to be a VPN client. "If you choose to use Google Secure Access, your internet traffic will be encrypted and sent through Google's servers to the Internet. The data that is received will then be encrypted and sent back through our servers to your computer."

Submitted by kellym 2005-09-21 Oracle and SUN 67 Comments

Sun CEO Scott McNealy likened himself to Steve Jobs and his company to Apple Computer on the brink of launching the iPod at a convention Tuesday, suggesting the server maker is poised for take-off. Sun has been on a five-year stock slide, having lost about 90 percent of its share price since January 2000. It has not had a year of positive net income since its fiscal year 2001. In the meantime, shareholder activists are calling for Sun to do away with its "poison pill" takeover defense and realign its executives' stock option plan to be more performance-based, according to a Sun proxy filed Tuesday.

How Good Are Low-End Digital Cameras?

Guest post by Jean-Baptiste Queru 2005-09-21 Hardware 62 Comments

As a photographer, with some high-end equipment, I used to look down on point-and-shoot digicams, putting them in the same category as camera phone, i.e. not capable of taking any picture worth keeping. I was wrong. My experience with a Kodak CX7220 (sells for about $70), graciously provided by Geeks.com, turned out to be unexpectedly positive.

Google’s Grand Ambition

Eugenia Loli 2005-09-21 Google 27 Comments

Google's one-of-a-kind computer network gives it a chance to surpass Microsoft to become the most dominant company in tech, according to the author of a recently published book on the search giant.

Submitted by Mitarai 2005-09-21 Gnome 38 Comments

Ken Mays of Blastwave.org has ported GNOME 2.12.0 to Sun Solaris x86 and has stable packages available for downloading here. Instructions for downloading other Blastwave packages are available in the user guide and mirrors section of the Blastwave organization's website.

Submitted by kellym 2005-09-21 .NET 30 Comments

Specialized programming languages and their supporting environments have always been tightly coupled: SQL and the database; business rules and the rules engine. It's tempting to wish for an überlanguage or one syntax to rule them all, but what really matters is a common environment. At its 2005 Professional Developers Conference, Microsoft showed that it's finally putting all of its eggs into the .Net basket.

Python: Scaling a New PEAK

Thom Holwerda 2005-09-21 General Development 4 Comments

The Python Enterprise Application Kit (PEAK) is a Python framework for rapidly developing and reusing application components. While Python itself is already a very high-level language, PEAK provides even higher abstractions. One fairly recent capability added to PEAK is the capability to create generic functions and specifically to dispatch them on predicates, not simply on type. Sounds mysterious?