Techworld just released an updated version of their Report on Windows vs. Linux. This report tries to separate myth from reality... In particular, we have looked at new technological developments since the last survey. We offer no blanket conclusion that Linux is better than Windows, or vice versa, but point out the technological areas where one scores highly and the other less well.
According to Distrowatch an evaluation edition of the Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 has been released. The edition only contains GPL components and the license prevents its use after the initial 45-day evaluation period. Get more information via their press release here and their sneak peak page. Update: 100 Lycoris screenshots.
The second beta of Arch Linux 0.7 code named Wombat has been released for public consumption and testing. Kernel 2.6.9 is included. Get it from the download mirrors.
BeOS/Zeta user group JPBE.net recently exhibited at the Kansai Open Source 2004 show held in Osaka, Japan, inviting yellowTAB Senior Development Engineer Bruno G. Albuquerque to host a seminar on OpenBFS, and to demo the latest version of Zeta OS. News site www.iscomputeron.com now carries a report of Kansai Open Source 2004, while videos of the OpenBFS session and an on stage Zeta demo are also available from JPBE.net. Also, C# for BeOS.
Here's the only recent and still valid book for Mono: "Mono: A Developer's Notebook" by Edd Dumbill and Niel M. Bornstein. The book is under O'Reilly's "notebook" series, which are meant to be books mainly consisted by notes. Here's our quick review.
The long anticipated update to Portable.NET has been released. The new version features important patches and fixes for Serial I/O, threading support, sockets and many more - read the full announcement for details or download the source code now (binaries will be available shortly).
OnLAMP features a new article on how to use a simple implementation of DBC with C code. If you ever wanted to know what designing by contract is, and why C's assert is not enough read this.
Viruses could stop you getting cash from an ATM
Cash machine networks could soon be more susceptible to computer viruses, a security firm has warned. The warning is being issued because many banks are starting to use the Windows operating system in machines.
DesktopLinux has published a detailed and lengthy eight page review of SimplyMEPIS 2004. In the review, SimplyMEPIS is declared "the absolute masterpiece of desktop Linux distributions." There are several screen shots to go along with the article. Update: More Mepis screenshots here.
Apple's worldwide market share fell to 1.8% in the third quarter of this year from 2.1%, and dropped to 3.2% from 3.6% in the U.S., according to figures from research company Gartner. The numbers also showed dramatic declines in the quarter-to-quarter growth rate of Macs sold while Apple's Windows-based competitors saw double digit increases in the U.S and an almost 10% rise worldwide.
VB News has posed the Mono question to Microsoft and gotten an answer. Microsoft's position appears to be that Mono is an unlicensed attempt to reverse-engineer .NET but otherwise remains noncommittal. In the meanwhile, Novell is conducting a formal patent review of Mono to settle the question once and for all.
