I was quite excited about the release of Slackware 10.1, the same way I was excited about 10.0 and versions before that. As a self confessed 'Linux Desktop Dabbler', to date, I've found Slackware my favourite Linux flavour to Dabble with.

Boo is a new object oriented .NET language, heavily inspired by Python's syntax, that supports static typing for speed and duck typing for dynamic late-binding, python-style coding; there is full type-inference and closure supoprt, also.

Believe it or not, a Windows Web server is more secure than a similarly set-up Linux server, according to a study presented yesterday by two Florida researchers. The researchers, appearing at the RSA Conference of computer-security professionals, discussed the findings in an event, "Security Showdown: Windows vs. Linux." One of them, a Linux fan, runs an open-source server at home; the other is a Microsoft enthusiast. They wanted to cut through the near-religious arguments about which system is better from a security standpoint.

Today the Mono project release news versions of the stable and developer's branches. Now there are encouraging devs to switch to the 1.1.4 release over the 1.0.6. The OS X Mono framework now includes a functional Cocoa#. On Linux the number of dependencies was reduced. New Managed WinForms are now installed by default.

Nat Friedman discusses Hula and other linux issues on the latest episode of The Linux Link Tech Show: episode 71.

On drobe.co.uk, Chris Williams again investigates the role of RISC OS and RISC OS machines in the real world. At stake is traditional claim of platform fans that running a RISC OS system is cheaper than other systems - something that may have been true during the 90s, but perhaps now has the platfom at a disadvantage. Decide for yourself in Chris' article.

Michael Carrillo has written a small first impressions review and report after being voted AmigaWorld.net's 'Moderator Of The Year' and winning a new MicroA1. However for more in depth pre-release information turn to the recent Ars Technica review. And for Amiga users who need to use Windows but don't want to leave their Amiga environment there's a new Remote Desktop client available (Screenshot).

Its all over the blogosphere: 25,105,560 downloads in just 99 days! Even Scoble's congratulated the project: "In just a few months your app has become one of the most used Windows applications in the world. My hat's off to you!"

An encryption standard widely used in digitally signing documents and programs has a flaw in it that could allow for the creation of forgeries, sources said Wednesday.

Microsoft plans in April to offer developers an updated test version of Longhorn, along with more details on what's in store with the next major update to Windows.

CGChannel.com reports the immediate release of Maya 6.5, an award winning professional grade 3D Suite and a major part of the IRIX culture. Of interest is that this release marks the final release of the once SGI-owned software for Irix. It is sad to see the OS lose support as SGI has shifted focus to Linux.

One of the most prolific games of the BeOS platform was SpaceGirl (later renamed to "No Gravity"). The game is now being ported to Windows and Mac OS X (using DX and, software GL and GL) and also it has been fully open sourced. Hopefully, we will see a Linux/Unix and a PocketPC port soon (for the 2700G Intel accelerator found on Dell or other VGA-capable PDAs, e.g. the VGA Zaurus).

The Red Hat 'Network' systems management tool is to gain the ability to manage software distribution and configuration for Solaris, with Red Hat claiming the features are the "the final nail in the coffin" for Sun's operating system. However the software could be four months away from release.

Accelerate your porting efforts by following this six-step guide. Learn the differences between Solaris and Linux on POWER, and see how SUN's compiler/linker switches compare with those of GNU GCC and the IBM native compiler.