OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

An Introduction to KiXtart

Submitted by esther schindler 2005-08-02 General Development 8 Comments

A Windows domain administrator needs to accomplish quite a bit in a given day: map user shares at login, run hardware and software audits; install the new corporate wallpaper (or other such important software). And do it all transparently to the users. Simple, right? It is, if you use a secret weapon: a login script. In this DevSource article, Lynn Greiner demonstrates how the free language, KiXtart, can help you get the job done.

Hacking Mac OS X Tiger’s Video Desktop

Submitted by Jeremy Atkinson 2005-08-02 macOS 7 Comments

ExtremeTech is running a how-to on hacking OSX Tiger. The article shows how Video Desktop works and how you can display a video camera's output in a view using QuickTime's Sequence Grabbers.

Novell Lays Claim to SCO’s IP License Revenue

Submitted by Rob 2005-08-02 Novell and Ximian 16 Comments

Novell has filed its response to SCO Group slander of title case against it, making the same claim against the Unix vendor and adding that it believes it is entitled to 95% of SCO's intellectual property licensing revenue. This legal filing is the latest twist in the long-running argument between SCO and Novell over which company holds the copyrights to the UnixWare operating system and Unix System V code base, and could have a financial impact on SCO's other legal claims.

Apple’s Move to PowerPC

Submitted by Saad 2005-08-02 Apple 13 Comments

Apple's transition to the PowerPC processor, which began publicly in 1994, began in an IBM lab in the mid seventies. Read about Apple's move to RISC at Low End Mac.

Apple’s New Mouse

Submitted by meianoite 2005-08-02 Apple 152 Comments

In a move sure to spark tons of heated "toldja so" debates, Apple has released a new mouse, Yahoo reports. Aptly named Mighty Mouse, it got a touch-sensitive top shell which works like left/right buttons, a pair of force-sensing side buttons, and a 360-degree scroll button which doubles as the third button.

Linux Trademark Enforced Down Under

Submitted by Georgina 2005-08-02 Linux 18 Comments

A lawyer acting for Linus Torvalds has contacted Linux vendors in Australia and asked them to sign a legal document relinquishing any legal claim to the word "Linux" and demanding they purchase a licence for its use from the Torvalds-created Linux Mark Institute, which administers the Linux trademark. The effort is part of an 18-month struggle to get 'Linux' registered as an Australian trademark.

Poll: Your Thoughts on Macs and DRM

Eugenia Loli 2005-08-02 Apple 173 Comments

So, how does the news of Apple and DRM change, or not change, your purchasing habits regarding x86 Macs? Let us know by participating in our following poll:

Review: SCO OpenServer 6

Eugenia Loli 2005-08-01 SCO 58 Comments

The SCO Group's OpenServer 6 inherits a new kernel from its UnixWare sibling that significantly boosts the product's scalability. Although SCO seems like an unlikely outlet for open-source software, the company has extended OpenServer with updated versions of Samba, Perl, PHP and other key components, and it has given this operating system a more modern interface option.

General Electric Selects Sun Microsystems

Adam Scheinberg 2005-08-01 Oracle and SUN 36 Comments

It has been a big day for Sun Microsystems today, who, after announcing their largest deal ever, now report that General Electric has selected Sun's Java System Identity Manager, "the provisioning component of the Sun Java Enterprise System, across all GE business units and 450,000 users on a global scale."

The Whys, Whats and Whens of Vista

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-01 Windows 35 Comments

Head of all things Windows at Microsoft, Jim Allchin provides a heads up on the operating system formerly known as Longhorn: "Most of the stuff that we would expect that tech enthusiasts and consumers will be interested in will happen at Beta 2. Beta 1 is not what I would call deeply interesting unless you are a real bithead".

Mac OS X for Intel To Use DRM

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-01 macOS 107 Comments

Slashdot reports: "Several people have discovered that the new Intel kernel Apple has included with the Developer Kit DVD uses TCPA/TPM DRM. More specifically, it includes "a TCPA/Palladium implementation that uses a Infineon 1.1 chip which will prevent certain parts of the OS from working unless authorized."

Birth of the IBM PC

Submitted by Saad 2005-08-01 IBM 1 Comment

The release of the IBM PC proved revolutionary for the then tiny microcomputer industry, and for IBM itself. Read about the birth of the IBM PC 5150 at Braeburn.

JUnit Nail-Guns Antipatterns

Submitted by anonymous 2005-08-01 General Development 4 Comments

The advent of JUnit has been a boon to developers. Unfortunately, many think it's enough to learn the JUnit API and write a few tests in order to have a well-tested application. This idea is worse than not testing at all because it leads to a false sense of code health. Learning JUnit is the easiest part of testing. Writing good tests is the hard part. This article presents some common JUnit antipatterns and shows how to resolve them.

Interview: Jonathan Riddell, Kubuntu

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-01 Ubuntu 24 Comments

"The Kubuntu distribution is a partner project of Ubuntu Linux. Designed for those who prefer KDE over GNOME, Kubuntu maintains the usual high development standards of its parent project, while providing users with the latest KDE packages throughout the distribution's release cycle. We caught up with Jonathan Riddell, the initiator and lead developer of Kubuntu."

Tutorials on WonderBrush and im_kit

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-01 Haiku 13 Comments

Two BeOS tutorials have been released. The first one explains which settings to use with WonderBrush when working on icons. It is available in English, Dutch and German. The second one is a complete set of instructions on how to get the unique im_kit working. This one is available in English and Dutch.

Developers Get New Tools for Vista, Vista on Video

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-01 Windows 19 Comments

Along with the release of the new Windows Vista beta, developers are being treated to technologies to create applications for the new operating system. Microsoft last week gave developers access to the WinFX Runtime Components Beta 1 and the WinFX SDK. FlexBeta has a video of Vista beta 1.

Anti-Phishing White Paper

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-01 Internet Explorer 5 Comments

The focus of this white paper is to describe the basic workings of a new capability, the Microsoft Phishing Filter, that will be included in the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 7. The Microsoft Phishing Filter will help provide consumers with a dynamic system of warning and protection against potential phishing attacks.

Assess System Security Using a Linux LiveCD

Submitted by anonymous 2005-08-01 Privacy, Security 8 Comments

Want to assess security vulnerabilities on your Linux system without lengthy installation and configuration efforts? We introduce four packages -- Auditor, Whoppix, Knoppix-STD, and PHLAK -- that bring you that ability through the magic of LiveCD.

Submitted by sonic1001 2005-08-01 Java 14 Comments

Sun and General Motors have announced that GM will be building its entire SOA system on JES, which will be the largest single Java deployment ever. This marks both a victory for Sun's new licensing policies, as well as makes Sun's recent acquisition of SeeBeyond pay off. The new agreement will deploy Java's full line of identity management services and development tools, running on Solaris 10.

Cisco Losing Battle to Censor Blackhat Researcher

Submitted by george 2005-08-01 Privacy, Security 12 Comments

It looks as if Cisco's cease and desist letters to Web sites hosting Michael Lynn's banned Blackhat presentation detailing a critical flaw in the company's IOS operating system are not having the effect the company desires. An increasing number of other Web sites are now making available Lynn's presentation to whomever cares to read or download it.