Its Workplace package is catching on with clients, and more software makers are signing on. Still, it's no Windows smasher. IBM launched a bold foray into desktop computing last spring, when it took on Microsoft's desktop monopolies -- Windows and Office -- with its own Workplace product. Now it looks like Big Blue's package of collaboration, communications, productivity, and desktop management software has struck a chord.

No doubt, all of you have heard of Xfce and those who haven't will hear about it soon anyway. I remember trying out Xfce for the first time back on SuSE 9.0. I am not sure if it came with the distrobution or if I downloaded it. At the time 9.0 came out I remember thinking to myself "nice, good potential, could be eyecandy, fast..." but I still logged into KDE upon booting. Sure I tried Gnome but somehow for a windows-commer KDE was more user friendly at the time. Update: More screenshots of XFce.

Watson developer Dan Wood has released his popular Mac OS X application free of charge--sort of. Mac users who want a copy must find and download it off the Web. Elsewhere, according to sources, Apple has seeded the second external build of Mac OS X 10.3.7 and is actively distributing recent builds of Tiger on DVD discs.

QNX today announced that it is the first company to offer the new Intel C++ Compiler 8.1, a highly optimizing compiler specifically designed for embedded Intel Architecture application development.

"Show us the architecture of .NET on the whiteboard," is what Jason Zander was asked and that started out an interesting discussion of what .NET is.

Intel has begun an effort to make it easier for sales partners in China and India to sell desktop computers running Linux, starting a more active phase in the company's help with the open-source operating system.

Reacting to claims by Sun COO Jonathan Schwartz that Red Hat is a proprietary incarnation of Linux, Red Hat's vice president of open source affairs Michael Tiemann believes Schwartz should get his facts straight and expressed doubts over how open any open source Solaris is likely to be.

A flaw in Sun Microsystems's plug-in for running Java on a variety of browsers and operating systems could allow a virus to spread through Microsoft Windows and Linux PCs.

Linux distros are advancing everywhere. Not only servers but also on the desktop pc and notebooks. There are wild discussions, if Linux-Distributions are ready for serious business work or personal use. This critical review will deal with two long awaited Linux-distributions, Fedora Core 3 and Ubuntus Warty Warhog. Why these two? Because both feature Gnome 2.8 and it would not be a comparision on equal terms to compare Gnome to e.g KDE. Also, both use kernel 2.6.8+ and have their very own theme for the default desktop. Bluecurve for Fedora and Human for Ubuntu.

Itix has released a first version of OS4emu, an AmigaOS4 emulator which makes it possible to run OS4 programs on MorphOS.

Linus Torvalds and two other European software luminaries have thrown their weight behind a campaign to block software patents from being legitimized in Europe, ahead of a critical European Competitiveness Council decision later this week.

Already well-regarded as a security-focused network OS, OpenBSD stands to further upgrade its reputation with ver. 3.6, which combines enhanced services with wider hardware support. OpenBSD 3.6, which was released last month, will be a good fit for companies that wish to put services at the network edge, such as firewalls & VPNs, with more flexibility than appliance-based options could provide.

A report has predicted that more than one in seven ERP servers will be running the open-source operating system by 2007. Companies running ERP systems are increasingly choosing the Linux operating system, rather than Windows or Unix, according to a report published on Friday.

The next version of McOS Re is now avaiable. McOS Re 0.4.2f has been released in two StuffIt archives: "Boot" (for users) and "Build" (for devs). The project's website is now featuring FAQ and Progress pages. Please note that this project is still not at "pactical use" stage, it's more at "demo" stage.