OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Microsoft Virtual PC 7 for OS X available now

Submitted by James Kahan 2004-08-31 Microsoft 34 Comments

Microsoft updated it's Virtual PC website today with a flash demo and FAQs about VPC 7 for Mac. On the "How to Buy" page it says that the full package with XP Pro is available for purchase now. All of the other packages are available through pre-order (estimated to be released on October).

Sun sales tactic targets Linux

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-31 Oracle and SUN 39 Comments

Sun Microsystems will begin compensating its sales staff for Solaris deals that involve hardware from other manufacturers, as part of the company's efforts to fend off competition from low-cost servers running Linux.

Longhorn Delay Stirs Dismay, Delight in Developers

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-31 Windows 31 Comments

While many applaud the timely release of Avalon & Indigo and MS' decision to "stop dreaming and wake up," others warn the company that it is eroding its credibility and letting Linux make usability gains.

Build code with lex and yacc, Part 2

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-31 General Development No Comments

The second article of this two-part series explores more advanced lex/yacc development and introduces basic troubleshooting techniques. See e-mail headers parsed before your very eyes! Marvel at cryptic error messages! See a computer actually compute something!

The New iMac G5 Unveiled

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-31 Apple 247 Comments

Apple unveiled the new G5-based iMac, an all-in-one computer with 17/20" LCD screens. My Take: The product looks good visually, but I would have preferred if the bottom border of the screen wasn't as long compared to the other three, slicker, border sides (mockup). To customers, I would recommend the middle model: 17" LCD, 1.8 GHz G5, Superdrive, for $1499 US (just add Bluetooth). Good value.

Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1 Available

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-31 .NET 11 Comments

The primary focus of Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is improved security. In addition, the service pack includes roll-ups of all reported customer issues found after the release of the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1. Of particular note, SP1 provides better support for consuming WSDL documents, Data Execution prevention and protection from security issues such as buffer overruns. XP version, 2003 Server version.

Interview: NX – Revolution of Network Computing?

Guest post by Tom Chance 2004-08-30 Original OSNews Interviews 74 Comments

Golem.de talked to Fabian Franz and Kurt Pfeifle. NX, developed by the NoMachine aims for nothing less than to revolutionize network computing. The software allows to connect and work on remote desktops even across low bandwidth links such as ISDN or modems.

Building Plugins with C# Part 1

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-30 General Development 2 Comments

Interested in building plug-ins, but not sure where to start? In this first article in a four-part series, you'll learn how to put together a simple authentication plug-in for a project in C#.

Will XP update give tablets a boost?

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-30 Windows 31 Comments

After nearly two years on the market, makers of tablet PCs based on Windows XP Tablet PC Edition have yet to prove that the pen is mightier than the keyboard.

Das U-Boot Surfaces — Open Source BIOS

Submitted by Curt Brune 2004-08-30 Linux 15 Comments

Check out the comprehensive introduction to Das U-Boot: The Universal Boot Loader. U-Boot eases the pain of embedded board bring-up for new platforms running GNU/Linux.

Switching to Linux picks up steam; Exploiting the Potential of Linux

Submitted by Mark 2004-08-30 Linux 24 Comments

About a third of businesses plan to migrate at least some Windows machines to Linux, according to a recent survey, but adoption will continue to slow and cautious, as companies evaluate a maze of economic factors.

FreeBSD 5.3-BETA2 Released

Submitted by Matthew Baulch 2004-08-29 FreeBSD 21 Comments

FreeBSD 5.3-BETA2 is now available directly or via ISO images. Release notes have changed little since BETA1 but several showstopping bugs have now been swatted. Much of the recent work has centered around the network and filesystem layers, ACPI and testing of the ULE scheduler which will become the default in 5.3. Elsewhere, Open For Business, Ed Hurst has another in a series of articles introductory articles describes describing FreeBSD; for email (part 5) purposes.

Jim Allchin – The Longhorn Update

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-29 Windows 51 Comments

Jim Allchin is the Group Vice President for Platforms at Microsoft. The Channel 9 team sat down with Jim yesterday and asked him to share his thoughts on the updated Windows "Longhorn" plan and schedule that was announced on Friday. Jim gives an overview of the updates to the plan and schedule, how Microsoft reached the decision, and how it affects developers.

Poll: FreeBSD’s Popularity

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-29 FreeBSD 228 Comments

FreeBSD is the most popular BSD flavor, however, it is not as popular as Debian/RH/Fedora/SuSE are even individually. Vote below to give us your take as to where do you pinpoint the roots of this fact.

People watching for fun and profit

Guest post by Jono Bacon 2004-08-28 Editorial 18 Comments

I have just written an entry in my O'Reilly Weblog about the similarities between people with similar technical interests. Why do these patterns occur and what is it about certain people that binds them to certain technologies?

Microsoft overhauls Longhorn plans

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-27 Windows 106 Comments

In order to get the next update of its Longhorn operating system out on time, Microsoft will delay some planned feature improvements, sources close to the company said Friday. Also, now that XP's SP2 has been released, Microsoft is considering what other changes are needed to the XP operating system.

Improve collaborative build times with ccache

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-27 General Development 13 Comments

The ccache tool improves the build performance by caching the incorporation of header files into source files and therefore speeds the build time by reducing the time required to add in header files with each compilation stage. In this article, learn how to build and install ccache, how to use it with your existing environment, and how to improve the build times in group development projects.

Microsoft Windows CE 5.0 Device Emulator

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-27 Windows 10 Comments

The Device Emulator contains the emulator technologies featured in Windows CE 5.0. By using the Device Emulator, you can run emulated-based images created by Windows CE 5.0 without installing Platform Builder, its platform development tool.

Strict Open Source Kernel Policies Give an End to a Driver

Submitted by uberto barbini 2004-08-27 Linux 224 Comments

Linux kernel maintainers removed hooks from a semi-binary driver (half open, half closed) for Philips webcams. This has angered the developer of the driver who have worked on the driver for 5 years, resulting on removing the driver completely from the kernel and his site. The developer has an NDA with Philips and he can't fully open source the driver, even if he wanted to. The losers from the whole story, are the users.

OpenBSD 3.6 Announcement Posted

Submitted by smeg lister 2004-08-27 OpenBSD 19 Comments

The OpenBSD 3.6 announcement is available here. It will be released on November, you get an early look of what's new.