Apple demonstrated Tiger and XCode's new capabilities and features at the O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference tuesday. "I know you've heard statements like this before, but this is without a doubt going to be the biggest release for developers in Mac history," said Apple's Chris Bourdon.

Often the solution given to newbies in response to their computer programs is to format c:. However funny the theoretical outcome of this action may be, this suggestion is often made without the suggester really knowing what will happen. This afternoon I decided to look at format c: and it's cousin rm -Rf / and found some pretty interesting results.

In an announcement today on the offical Haiku website, Axel Dörfler provides an update on the status of the Haiku kernel. Most notably it now has the ability to run Bash, boot to a graphical console from a hard drive on real hardware, and view files on other BeFS-formatted partitions.

Harman (maker of Harman Kardon and JBL audio gears) has bought QNX.

Dear Mandrake,
I used to be both a user of Mandrake (from v7.2 -> v10) as well as a renewing member of their Club. For various reasons, both personal and not, I decided to switch distros in August of this year. I wanted to try a Debian distro and experience that side of Linux .

Builder AU have an article testing four Web development tools based on ease of use, features and functionality, User interface development, code development, platform and language support, and documentation. Products tested include Zend, ASP.NET WebMatrix, Dreamweaver MX, and NitroX.

SUN Microsystems Java and Microsoft's .NET platforms are no more than programming languages that exploit network potential with the idea that the same software should function on different platforms. Both systems are centered around the principle of running software that doesn't reside on the client machine to provide greater functionality or faster execution, saving connection time and improving public perception of the server to which the client connects. Read Article

Many users submitted the news of the release of Mandrake 10.1 Official. Mandrakelinux 10.1 includes Linux kernel 2.6.8.1, Gnome 2.6, KDE 3.2.3, and GCC 3.4.1. Mandrake touts the benefits of better Centrino support, expanded Bluetooth support, and improved laptop support, which includes ACPI and wireless chip support. Mandrake 10.1 Official can be purchased now.

MySQL announced the general availability of MySQL 4.1. Certified by the company as production-ready for large-scale enterprise deployment, this significant upgrade to the MySQL database server features advanced querying capabilities through subqueries, faster and more secure client-server communication, new installation and configuration tools, and support for international character sets and geographic data.

Miguel de Icaza has just posted his minute of second mono summit. This provides a lot of interesting information about mono improvements. Among others mentions "stetic" the new Gtk# GUI designer, Gtk# databindings, and a better way to package mono.

Microsoft plans a Dec. 1 release for the latest version of its server software that aims to give companies more secure instant messaging and other corporate communications tools.The standard version of Microsoft's Live Communications Server 2005 will start at around $750, said Taylor Collyer, senior director of product management, about the same as the previous version. An enterprise edition, which can be coupled with other servers to allow for many more users, will start at $3,000. Microsoft also released on Tuesday a preview version of new tools intended to make it easier for companies to create custom Web applications.

The software industry is undergoing a gradual transformation, and consumer fatigue is at its root. The licensing model that has formed the basis for the modern software industry is facing challenges on many fronts, and the industry is scrambling to keep its footing. Where this period of change may lead software producers and consumers isn't quite clear, but some trends are emerging. Since the proliferation of the internet, unauthorized redistribution of digital goods has become rampant. But although software sharing probably won't kill the software industry, the reasoning behind it shares some pedigree with the customer revolt that promises to transform the way software is sold.

My preferred way of installing Debian is booting from a livecd like Knoppix and then using debootstrap. This is a fast and flexible way of getting a system running and results in a very clean installation. Unlike the old Debian installer and the New installer, this makes setting up an entire system on a software RAID 1 system very easy. Besides that, Knoppix supports more hardware than Debian installation CDs. I documented very simply and clearly how I prefer to install a basic Debian system.

Companies that are running customized applications may find a migration to Linux too costly or complex notes Pete Morgan, a VisualBasic/Access developer. Morgan offers a few solutions to help overcome the challenge. Without compatibility, Morgan says, a significant number of businesses may not see the benefits in moving to Linux desktops.