Microsoft on Wednesday announced plans to launch the cheap, easy-to-use version of Windows XP in five emerging markets. In a report published this week, Gartner analysts Dion Wiggins and Martin Gilliland noted that missing features in the Windows XP Starter Edition would frustrate users. Also, Gartner has labeled Microsoft's upcoming version of Windows for developing countries as a product with good intent but poor execution.

Some, quite legitimately wonder if certain wording on the MySQL site might indicate the company is backing away from Free Software, and the GNU General Public License. OfB wanted to know, so Timothy R. Butler contacted MySQL AB, the FSF and others to find out; read what he found at OfB.biz

The new print path in Longhorn, called the NextGen print path, addresses many limitations of the current print path, which is based on the Windows GDI. The NextGen print path will also coexist with the GDI print path. This coexistence ensures applications and devices a smooth migration over time by providing critical backward compatibility.

Engineer Adhamh Findlay sent us in the first status report and screenshots of the Cocoa# toolkit community project: Cocoa bindings for the Mono runtime. Adhamh writes:

Mad Penguin has posted a three page review of GraphOn's Go-Global for Windows.. software which allows you to run published Win32 applications on Linux.

I manage computers running BSD variants every day, at work and at home. After many man page and RTFM iterations to support vital administrative aspects, a desire grew to understand what lay beneath my level of expertise. As eager as I was, I found the prospect of simply plunging into a lengthy code review unappealing.

With its low cost, growing catalogue of desktop software, and backing from business, Linux could finally pry the PC market from Microsoft's grasp.

I thought some users might be interested in the editorial I wrote on my blog about Icon Based Menus. A new idea for freshing on the menu system since MacOS 1984. The same site includes more UI articles.

With Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Microsoft is introducing a set of security technologies that will help improve Windows XP-based computers' ability to withstand malicious attacks from viruses and worms. These technologies include: Network protection, Memory protection, improved email security, safer browsing.

Last week the GNOME project released the second edition of their Human Interface Guidelines (HIG 2.0). The HIG is an effort to push a more consistent look and feel on the GNOME desktop, and it's worthwhile reading for other projects as well.

Organizations that want to use a public Unix variant have two solutions from which to chose: Linux and BSD. The much talked about Linux camp contains a variety of distributions that include different utilities and tool sets. The same is true of the less frequently covered BSD camp. This article compares and contrasts the four main BSD variants and offers recommendations for both server/desktop solutions.

"A couple of years ago I wrote a paper about what I'd do if I were asked to design a window system today. I never published it other than to hand it around to a few friends. So now, it's here," Java's James Gosling writes.

Following months of beta testing, the Omni Group today announced the availability of OmniWeb 5.0, a major update to its Mac OS X Web browser.

Nat Friedman posted recently some new screenshots from within his Novell Desktop showing Beagle, the Dashboard evolution. Beagle indexes the file system for intelligent searches similar to Apple's Spotlight solution. It is also capable on searching the internet while integrates well with many Gnome apps like Evolution and Gaim, including file selectors. Notice how the spatial Nautilus opens a new window for each search, containing only the search results.