This article guides you through the steps to install IBM DB2 Universal Database Personal Edition V8.1.6, as well as the IBM Java™ Runtime Environment (JRE), with minimal fuss and frustration. Developers who are new to Linux or UNIX-based operating systems will get the most out of this article.

Lately posted on Slashdot, an article written by Joel Spolsky mentioned the trouble through which Microsoft went to make each version of Windows backwards compatible. In one case, for the game Simcity, they even changed the way memory handling was done when running that application. You can find additional stories of software tricks that recent versions of Windows have to perform in order to run these bug-dependant applications on the web. After reading the story, I discussed with a couple of friends how weird this was and how Free Software completely avoids this problem.

Although most people use PHP primarily as a Web development scripting system, it possesses all the characteristics of a proper general-purpose language that can be useful in a variety of other environments. In this article, Marco Tabini illustrates how it's possible to use the command-line version of PHP to perform complex shell operations, such as manipulating data files, reading and parsing remote XML documents and scheduling important tasks through cron.

Linuxlookup.com is reporting Lindows, Inc. today announced that it has elected to postpone the previously announced initial public offering of its common stock due to current adverse market conditions.

Along with the new Mozilla-Japan initiative and the release of Mozilla 1.8a3 (vote for it at GnomeFiles), the Mozilla team released Mozilla Sunbird 0.2a, a stand-alone calendaring application similar to iCal. These builds are the first to feature a new default theme, a new logo and the customizable toolbar functionality. Note that Sunbird is still an experimental technology preview that contain bugs.

Updated builds of Windows XP/Windows Server 2003 64-Bit are now available for download: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Customer Preview and Windows Server 2003 for 64-Bit Preview.

The creator of Linux says "I can't be nasty" when leading the open-source movement since it's all built on trust and teamwork.

The recent book C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3 contains complete distributions of a relatively-current (3.2.1) version of Qt for Linux, Mac and Windows. Installing Qt on Windows wasn't easy, though--certainly not as easy as one would expect. I ran into a number of little quirks that took a surprisingly long time to resolve. These issues aren't Trolltech's fault, just little gotchas to be aware of--but they are frustrating if you don't know how to deal with them.

The long awaited Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 has been officially released. Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 is available in two editions - Desktop (US$40) and Deluxe (US$50).

Explore the design and rationale for the new C++/CLI language introduced with Visual C++ 2005. Use this knowledge to write powerful .NET applications with the most powerful programming language for .NET programming.

In this article at DesktopLinux.com, Tom Adelstein says that UserLinux marks an important step for Linux. Commercial versions are available from big name vendors with support packages. But what happened to the roots of Linux and a freely available version that is standards-compliant and does not carry a large support price tag? Enter UserLinux and the spirit of open source.

I had bitter feelings about RealNetworks products and practices years ago, but over the last couple of years I find that RealPlayer8 is one of the first apps I open on my linux machines. I confess I am a BBC Radio addict living in the USA and streaming audio is my only way to listen.

Microsoft is delaying distribution of Windows XP Service Pack 2 via its Automatic Update service by at least nine days in order to give corporate customers more time to temporarily block automatic downloading of SP2 by their employees.

The new version of KDE has a completely new email client, in one of many improvements designed to close the features gap with Windows. The final release of KDE 3.3, an open-source Linux desktop environment, is due in a few days and will give users greatly improved email facilities.