OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Mandrakesoft Raises 3.05 Million Euros

Submitted by Rahul Sundaram 2004-12-23 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 31 Comments

Mandrakesoft, the makers of Mandrake Linux, appear to be firmly out of the red. According to their site, "Mandrakesoft closed a 3.05 million euros increase of capital via subscription for 508,333 new shares at 6 euros per share, an increase in shares of 10.58%. Shares outstanding are now 5,312,889. The strengthened balance sheet reinforces Mandrakesoft's capacity to grow both organically and externally toward the corporate market."

OpenZaurus 3.5.2 Released

Submitted by ozone 2004-12-23 Wireless 12 Comments

OpenZaurus 3.5.2 has been released. Supported devices for this release are all available Sharp Linux Zaurus models except the SL-A300. It appears to be primarily for bugfixes and package updates.

Sun Microsystems’ x86 Strategy

Submitted by Usman Latif 2004-12-23 Oracle and SUN 32 Comments

Sun Microsystems is focusing on Opterons and Solaris x86 for a good reason. Sun has figured out a way to make x86 hardware cheaper than anyone else. Sun is hoping that by leveraging its cost advantages the company will be able to ensure the success of its x86 hardware and Solaris.

FSF Europe on Microsoft Ruling

Submitted by Rahul Sundaram 2004-12-23 In the News 22 Comments

The Free Software Foundation Europe has responded to Microsoft's failed appeal previously discussed here.

A lengthy RMS interview

Submitted by Rahul Sundaram 2004-12-23 Open Source 113 Comments

An interesting interview of RMS answering questions on Linux, HURD, free software on non-free OS, Solaris, BSD License, GCC and Standards amoung others.

Guerilla Software Development

David Adams 2004-12-23 General Development 32 Comments

This story is almost too cool to be true. A contractor working for Apple in the early 90s developed a graphing calculator application that took full advantage of the new PowerPC processor, but his project was cancelled while the software was in its early stages. He was out of a job, but his ID badge still worked. So he kept coming back to work, at no pay, for months, hiding from management, to finish the job, and dozens of Apple employees pitched in to help. In 1994, his app, "Graphing Calculator," shipped with the OS.

Thunderbird Ported to SkyOS

Submitted by Kelly Rush 2004-12-22 SkyOS 95 Comments

Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird have both been successfully ported to SkyOS. Additionally, a WindUI Firefox theme has been created, ensuring that Firefox will have a graphical style that matches the rest of the operating system. Screenshots of both applications are available at the website.

Security Risks In The Wireless Computing Environment

Submitted by LogError 2004-12-22 Privacy, Security 6 Comments

This article will address at a summary level the most significant security risks in the wireless computing environment. The purpose of the article is to introduce in a centralized fashion the scope of the problem and the most significant talking points on the issue of wireless security and to summarize where the industry is in addressing these problems and where it is going.

Qt 4.0 Beta 1 Released

Submitted by Anonymous 2004-12-22 Qt 63 Comments

Trolltech has released the first Beta version of the upcoming Qt 4.0. The final version is expected to be released in late first quarter of 2005. An updated online Qt Reference Documentation is also available.

MS loses Europe Appeal, Will Ship WMP-free Windows

Submitted by ozone 2004-12-22 Legal 86 Comments

Microsoft is to start shipping a cut-down version of Windows in Europe from January, following the failure of its appeal to the European Court of First Instance over penalties imposed by the Commission earlier this year. Microsoft hasn't run out of appeal routes, but the Court ordered the company to begin carrying out the Commission's decision immediately. Also see eWeek coverage.

Building Linux Monitoring Portals with Open Source

Submitted by Don 2004-12-22 Privacy, Security 3 Comments

Faced with an increasing number of deployed Linux servers and no budget for commercial monitoring tools, our company looked into open-source solutions for gathering performance and security information from our Unix environment.

FreeBSD Foundation Needs Donations

Submitted by 2004-12-22 FreeBSD 32 Comments

The law that governs nonprofit foundations requires that during its probationary period, at least 1/3 of its donations must be in the form of smaller donations from individuals, or it risks losing its tax-exempt status. Ironically, because of some very-generous donations, it now must make up for that with $30,400 in smaller donations by 12/31/2004. More info on their predicament an info on making donations are available on their web site.

Poland Comes Through! – Software Patents Off the Agenda This Year

Submitted by Rahul Sundaram 2004-12-22 Legal 29 Comments

There's been an important development in the EU software patents story we've been covering.Poland refused to go along with the software patent rubber stamp: "The Software Patent Directive has been withdrawn from the Agenda of the Agricultural Council. Poland's minister Marcinski requested it firmly at the beginning of the meeting. The Commissioner expressed regret, but the A-item has been deleted and will not be decided this year."

J2SE 6.0 (“Mustang”) Early Access Realease

Submitted by Sanjaya Sugiarto 2004-12-22 Java 17 Comments

Sun Microsystem has just released the early access editíon of J2SE 6.0 (Mustang).

Securing IE

Submitted by Gsurface 2004-12-22 Bugs & Viruses 31 Comments

There's been a lot of hoopla about Firefox lately, and its security/privacy benefits over IE. However, here this guide can lead you to tools and practices that will make IE safer to use, for those who don't want to stop using IE.

File Systems and Databases

Guest post by Slobodan Celenkovic 2004-12-21 Editorial 52 Comments

The topic of combining a database system (usually a conventional relational db system) with a file system to add meta-data, a richer set of attributes to files, has been a recurring discussion item on this and other sites. The article published last week, Rethinking the OS, under the heading "Where Is It Stored?" talks about the ability to locate a file without knowing the exact name or location.

Blast from the Past: Mac Portable

Submitted by Thomas 2004-12-21 Apple 40 Comments

Do you remember this one? It was pretty amazing when it came out. The Mac Portable was heavy, innovative, and mildly successful. The first portable to include a full keyboard, and trackball, the Portable also included a Lead Acid battery, providing 12 hours of battery life. Read the article at MLAgazine

Linux Versus Solaris – Linus’ Perspective

Submitted by anonymous 2004-12-21 Rumors 142 Comments

"Because I personally don't think they have anything left worth taking after I've applied the general Unix principles. I really do think Linux is the better system by now, in all the ways that matter." Read more here

Implications for Power Architecture

David Adams 2004-12-21 Hardware 25 Comments

Major electronics companies have come together to form a new standards body focused on Power Architecture technology. Power.org will create and promote a family of standards, reference designs, and more. Here's a developer's-eye view of the future and implications for Power Architecture standardization.

Major Security Bug in PHP

Submitted by Sanjaya Sugiarto 2004-12-21 Bugs & Viruses 16 Comments

A serious bug in the popular PHP development language, which affects php versions prior to 4.3.10 or 5.0.3, can leave databases wide open to intrusion if the proper security steps aren't taken.