OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Review: SkyOS Beta 8.6 Alpha 2

Submitted by mattst88 2005-10-23 SkyOS 32 Comments

"This is a true gem for developers. SkyOS got a lot of under-the-hood work, the Integrated Streaming System and the networking stack have been reworked, the API has been standardised, missing libraries and functions have been added and a lot of bugs have been resolved. I think what we're seeing is a quasi-feature freeze. This actually serves its purpose, SkyOS is now much more stable, reliable and responsive than before."

Robin Williams Introduces You to Mac OS X

Eugenia Loli 2005-10-23 macOS 45 Comments

Tiger is the latest and greatest version of the Mac OS X operating system. But even though it's the latest and greatest, it's still Mac OS X. In this chapter, you'll become familiar with Mac basics as author Robin Williams shows you how to use the Finder, Dock, contextual menus, and keyboard shortcuts.

Using .NET Windows Forms Controls

Eugenia Loli 2005-10-23 .NET 13 Comments

There are more than 50 GUI controls available in the .NET Framework Class Library. This chapter takes a selective look at some of the more important ones. They all derive from the System.Windows.Forms.Control class that provides the inherited properties and methods that all the controls have in common.

FIT for Developing Software: Tests Involving the Date and Time

Eugenia Loli 2005-10-23 General Development 1 Comment

Testing time/date-specific functions can be complicated. Unfortunately, because of this, many companies don't bother testing these functions. This chapter will help you understand why testing these functions is critical, and how you can go about getting it done.

The Java Perspective: Cocoa’s Interface Builder

Eugenia Loli 2005-10-23 Java 19 Comments

Coming into Apple's Cocoa programming from the Java world has been a huge eye-opener for Marcus Zarra. Whenever he speaks with other developers who have worked with Cocoa, he hears praises about Apple's development tools. See if you agree with his conclusions about Apple's Interface Builder from a Java developer's point of view.

Mockup 0.2.0 Alpha 1.1 Released

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-23 Linux 7 Comments

Mockup 0.2.0 Alpha 1.1 has been released. Again, this release is solely for developers and not for the faint of heart. A roadmap is available in the release announcement. A guide on installing this latest Mockup snapshot can be found here.

Syllable Gets ACPI Support

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-23 Syllable, AtheOS 16 Comments

"I have started to port the linux ACPI subsystem because ACPI is becoming more important now and slowly replaces subsystems like the pci routing table, multi-processor table and apm. The Linux ACPI code is based on the os independent intel reference implementation and so the port has been very easy (and fast to do) so far. Currently the ACPI busmanager contains the basic acpi code (about 90% of the code)."

PC-BSD 0.8.3 Released

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-23 PC-BSD 13 Comments

"PC-BSD 0.8.3 was released today. This version offers some new visuals, new languages, as well as important bugfixes with systems that have had trouble booting after the install. The complete changelog is available here. Users running 0.8.2 may update to this version using the Online Update utility within the PC-BSD Config menu." Download here, release notes here.

Review: Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy Badger; Setting Up Ubuntu As Server

Submitted by linuxfanboy 2005-10-23 Ubuntu 40 Comments

"In the short time that I've spent using Ubuntu 5.10, I've really come to like it. The installation was painless, all my hardware was detected and configured correctly, package management was easy, and the clean-cut GNOME desktop is terrific." In addition, here's a guide on setting up Ubuntu as a server.

Submitted by morganth 2005-10-23 Gnome 109 Comments

Philip Langdale of the Galeon team just announced that some major Galeon developers decided at the GNOME summit that the way forward for Galeon (which hasn't gotten much development in the last few months) was to shift focus to expanding the power of Epiphany's extensions system, and coding Galeon functionality as Epiphany extensions.

Submitted by Saad 2005-10-23 Apple 29 Comments

"Dan Warne reckons Apple is about to deftly round-house kick Microsoft’s media center strategy for six. First Apple leaves a mysterious header on the Mac Mini motherboard for a non-existent iPod dock connector. Then it brings out media center software and a video iPod at the same time. Then it recruits the head of TV recording company ElGato. When you put the pieces together, it ain’t pretty for Microsoft." Elsewhere, the new iMac is not Apple's first attempt at entering your living room.

Why Is Microsoft Afraid of Google?

Eugenia Loli 2005-10-23 Rumors 57 Comments

In the few short years of its existence, Google has come a long way, simultaneously striking fear in the hearts of major players in the computer industry and also arousing their curiosity. While the company is keeping all competitors on their toes, it poses a special threat to one particular company -- Microsoft. Why? Because Google's existing and potential products -- as well as those of other firms -- raise the specter that Microsoft may witness an erosion of its control over the platform for the next generation of software application development, according to Wharton faculty members who follow the technology sector. Just how serious is this threat and what is Microsoft doing to combat it?

Major Layoffs Expected at Novell

Eugenia Loli 2005-10-23 Novell and Ximian 40 Comments

Novell is expected to initiate a major round of layoffs that could cut 1000 or more jobs in an attempt to restore the server software company's financial strength, according to employees familiar with the plan.

Where Linux 802.11x Support Needs Work

Eugenia Loli 2005-10-22 Linux 55 Comments

This is a comprehensive list of where Linux wireless support currently falls a bit short. This list of problems that should get fixed in Linux wireless grew out of Dan Williams' attempt to put a GUI on top of Linux wireless with NetworkManager.

Microsoft, OSI Discuss Shared Source Licenses

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-22 Open Source 22 Comments

Microsoft met with the OSI board this week to discuss their new Shared Source licences. "After their announcement this week, MS did meet with a quorum of the OSI Board and we discussed our commitment to equal application of the license approval process and gave them very preliminary feedback on the licenses as they appear on the MSDN Web site. So far, MS's licenses have not yet been submitted to License-Discuss for public discussion, but OSI is hopeful that they will be," OSI stated. Other OSS prominents, like Tim o'Reilly and, believe it or not, the FSF, have already been positive about the new licenses.

OpenOffice Packs a Powerful New Database Punch

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-22 Office 50 Comments

OpenOffice.org's latest update includes a database that matches Microsoft's popular and competing Access database, experts say. The stand-alone database rounds out the offering by bringing long-missing, important database power to users. Users will be able to create stand-alone databases, associated forms, reports and queries, much as with Microsoft's extremely popular and widely used Access database.

UniPKG: Package Formats Unification

Submitted by iSteve 2005-10-22 Linux 15 Comments

UniPKG (universal Package manager) is a modular package manager. It contains support for .rpm, .deb and Slack's .tgz package format. In future, ArchLinux's package format is planned as well. It doesn't depend on any of the distribution's tools; it's completely self-sufficient.