OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Windows CE-Based Feature-Phone OS in the Works

Submitted by Anonymous 2005-10-06 Wireless No Comments

Intrinsyc Software this week closed an $8.0 million (E6.8 million) financing round with Wellington Financial Fund II. The company plans to use the funds to accelerate development of a software stack for mid-range mobile phones - typically called feature-phones - based on Microsoft's Windows CE.

Write Your Own Visualizer for VS Debugging

Submitted by esther schindler 2005-10-06 General Development 4 Comments

The new Visualizer feature in Visual Studio 2005 lets you see the data as the user sees it, or as the application uses it. And that will save you time and frustration. This article shows how it's done.

Java API Framework Uses Hamlets

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-06 Java 3 Comments

The Servlet-Based Content Creation Framework is an easy-used and easily-understood compact, content creation framework utilizing hamlets; a servlet extension that reads XHTML and uses the simple API for XML. Read this article on introducing Hamlets and learn how they can be used to separate Java and HTML in the same source file.

Submitted by Walter 2005-10-06 SuSE, openSUSE 44 Comments

SUSE Linux 10.0 has been developed with the same goals of stability and usability, the most current and comprehensive selection of open source packages. As you would expect, when you purchase SUSE Linux 10.0, you'll receive more than 4000 software packages as well as a printed user manual, extensive online help resources and 90 days of free installation support.

Gnome 2.12.1 Released

Eugenia Loli 2005-10-05 Gnome 54 Comments

The first point release of the stable 2.12.x series of Gnome has been released. This release includes the latest bugfixes and other improvements such as updated translations.

Microsoft Hones High-Performance Offering

Eugenia Loli 2005-10-05 Windows 32 Comments

With the first beta for Microsoft's upcoming Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Solution barely out the door, the development team is already thinking seriously about features and functionality designed to make the next version of the product even easier to use and manage than its Linux competitor.

Keeping Pace with Robots

Eugenia Loli 2005-10-05 Geek stuff 4 Comments

The robots are among us, but they're not exactly the stuff of science fiction. At least, not yet.

A Slacker Tries His Hand at Gentoo

Guest post by Steve Husted 2005-10-05 Gentoo 150 Comments

I've been wanting to try Gentoo for some time, but always had to roll my eyes at the pages and pages of installation instructions. This time, however, I rolled up my sleeves and buckled down. Minutes later, I was on my way.

Linux on Desktop Is a Diverse Market – Really

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-05 Linux 25 Comments

Don't expect hegemony from a single Linux vendor on the desktop comparable with Microsoft's Office, as rival frameworks and implementations tackle different markets. That's according to Red Hat fellow Alan Cox, who said research indicates users are adopting KDE and Gnome to serve different scenarios. Evidence from different reports suggests KDE is more widely used in Europe and Gnome in the US.

Microsoft: No Office on Linux ‘at This Time’

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-05 Microsoft 54 Comments

Microsoft has rejected porting its Office productivity suite to Linux anytime soon, despite the growing popularity of open source on the desktop. Speaking at the LinuxWorld conference in London on Wednesday, Microsoft's head of platform strategy, Nick McGrath, said that the software maker had no intention of porting Office to any of the Linux desktop distributions.

Analyzing and Improving GNOME Startup Time

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-05 Gnome 31 Comments

"The time it takes to log in to GNOME has not improved much in recent years and does not compare favourably with other systems, especially closed-source systems. This work attempts to determine what causes GNOME startup to be slow and what can be done to address the problem."

Apache’s Beehive 1.0 Generates Buzz

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-05 Java 1 Comment

The Apache Software Foundation has announced the release of Beehive 1.0, its component toolkit for J2EE and Struts. Beehive is aimed at making it easier to develop Web applications in Java by reducing the amount of coding needed to produce a working application.

Microsoft FAT Patents Get Thumbs Down

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-05 Microsoft 20 Comments

The US Patent and Trademark Office has rejected two key Microsoft patent applications relating to its File Allocation Table file system. But Microsoft officials still hold out hope that the company ultimately will succeed in the quest to patent FAT. Open-source vendors are holding their breath.

An Embedded View of the Mac Mini: Working with USB

Submitted by anonymous 2005-10-05 macOS No Comments

"This installment takes a fairly detailed look at USB drivers. The primary application is of course the Mac OS X driver architecture, but the test program I used was actually developed in parallel on Mac OS X and NetBSD."

Submitted by DigitalDame 2005-10-05 Apple 16 Comments

"Apple has updated its .Mac suite of online tools, giving subscribers more for their $99.95 yearly fee. They'll now get more storage (1GB, up from 250MB), a new service called Groups for creating instant online shared spaces, and a simplified backup tool. .Mac has always been good, but Apple has never committed the resources to make it great. More storage and top-notch backup and antivirus tools would seem essential. The suite no longer offers an antivirus utility either."

YellowTAB ZETA: An Alternative to Desktop Linux?

Submitted by Swank1 2005-10-05 Zeta 31 Comments

"When looking for an alternative to Windows most people think of either Apple's OS X or Linux. Of course, these are both viable alternatives but they are not the only options. One way to go is with yellowTAB's ZETA operating system. Though it is not yet very popular, ZETA is the successor to BeOS, the highly regarded OS from Be, Inc. This is a very interesting and beautiful operating system which may not presently be a threat to Linux but it does have more than a few things going for it."

Best Practices for Apache Derby and J2EE Servers

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-05 Java 1 Comment

Cloudscape is a freely available repackaging of the Apache Derby relational database manager. Its implemented in Java, and integrates cleanly and will run unaltered anywhere a J2EE Server will run. Most J2EE applications require that a JDBC-compliant database be integrated with the Server to store information. This article shows how to best fit Cloudscape or Derby into a J2EE environment.

Common Malware Enumeration Initiative

Submitted by LogError 2005-10-05 Privacy, Security 5 Comments

The Common Malware Enumeration Initiative was just announced. Headed by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) and supported by an editorial board of anti-virus vendors and related organizations it should provide a neutral method for malware outbreaks.

Is Desktop Linux Stuck on Stupid?

Submitted by Magnum 2005-10-05 Linux 101 Comments

"So how's that look-like-Windows thing working for the Linux community? Is the wave of desktop adoption far ahead of where it was in 2001 and 2002 when this started? And, if not, why don't we stop doing it? Is it because we're stuck on stupid?"

‘GoogleOffice’: A Microsoft Office Killer?; Free StarOffice 8

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-05 Google 34 Comments

"If 'GoogleOffice' ever materializes, it won't be going head-to-head with Microsoft Office. Instead, expect some new MSN services in the pipeline to emerge as Redmond's secret weapons." On a related note, Sun's StarOffice 8 is now available as a free download for teachers and students.