Programmers new to the Mac platform, as well as newbie Mac coders often ask (or complain) about available development tools.

Damn Small Linux 0.8.4 was released recently. Now, the Siag Office word processor and spreadsheet are included, there were adjustments to smbclient GUI; adjustments to the control panel for backup and more. We talked to John Andrews, founder of the DSL distribution last week and he opened up to us with enthusiasm on the project's future. UPDATE: Many screenshots of DSL.

Client and server implementations of the 9P and 9P2000 distributed file system protocols for Unix-based operating systems. Download the latest from here.

OneStat.com today reported that Mozilla's browsers have a total global usage share of 7.35 percent. The new Mozilla's Firefox has a total usage share of 4.58. Microsoft's Internet Explorer still dominates the global browser market with a global usage share of 88,90 percent which is 5 percent less as at the end of May.

As promised earlier this month, ISO images of the recently released Yellow Dog Linux 4.0 are now available for free download from Terra Soft's FTP site and mirrors, as well as via BitTorrent.

Sometimes you need to develop code when you don't have access to user profiles. This chapter will help you develop security code for the .NET Windows environment, even if you don't have administrative privileges.

Connecting users to your network requires more than plugging in a network cable. Learn the specifics of authentication under Windows XP, and whether you need total authentication services or interoperability with Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003.

According to a post in the Dropline forums (*unconfirmed*), Pat's situation is not getting any better. Apparently his treating doctors at the Mayo Clinic are becoming convinced that Pat suffers from Marfan's syndrome, a rather serious genetic disorder. We hope the best for Pat.

BeOS was the brainchild of former Apple executive, Jean-Louis Gasse, who founded Be inc. in late 1990. Read the article at Macreate, a quick intro to the BeOS world.

For those interested in a deeper, more technical look at Solaris Zones, the Solaris team presented a detailed paper on Zones at USENIX's LISA '04 conference. The paper is available for download.

Big update while moving over completely to the Haiku kernel:

The first release candidate of Python 2.4. Python 2.4 is now close to release- there should be few or no new features, merely bug fixes.

The operating system family that powers the lion's share of servers is losing ground to Windows and Linux. Unix is losing so much ground that IT research firm IDC is predicting Windows will take over as the dominant server operating system by the year 2008.

Linspire, Inc. today introduced native support for Windows Media Player versions 8 and 9 on its operating system. Beginning immediately, all Linspire versions in all languages will include Windows Media support -- users will now have in-line playback of audio and video on popular sites like FoxNews.com and Movies.com, all with codecs legally licensed and fully integrated in the OS.