OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Sun targets HP-UX and Windows with software subs

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-27 Oracle and SUN 6 Comments

Sun Microsystems has finalized a plan to put more pressure on rivals by porting its entire JES (Java Enterprise System) software line to the HP-UX and Windows operating systems. Bits and pieces of JES - a package that includes an app server, directory server, clustering software and 11 other items - already run on Windows. Sun, however, has now vowed to have the whole enchilada running on Windows and HP-UX by January.

VG.net 2.1 Released: Vector Graphics in Visual Studio .NET

Submitted by Frank Hileman 2004-07-27 .NET 10 Comments

Version 2.1 of the VG.net vector graphics system was released today. With this version, you can build animated vector graphics displays in Visual Studio .NET and deploy them to web pages in Internet Explorer. Read more at the VG.net 2.1 release announcement. See a sample animated vector graphics web page on the VG.net development blog.

Opinion: Why Linux isn’t ready for the Desktop

Guest post by Ernesto Garbarino 2004-07-27 Linux 231 Comments

First of all, we should agree on what the definition of "ready for the desktop" stands for. For some of us it refers to a graphical user interface in which applications have icons and can be launched in an intuitive manner without the need of complex commands. Even a Commodore 64 running Geos could be "ready for the desktop" by this definition, but the fact is that when we read "ready for the desktop" we understand "ready to replace Microsoft Windows".

Komodo 3.0 Released

Submitted by tk421 2004-07-27 General Development 7 Comments

For many developers, there's usually more than one dynamic language that they use to do their jobs. It's also ActiveState's job with its latest IDE release for professional developers using open source dynamic languages, Komodo 3.0. Dynamic languages such as Perl, PHP, Python, Tcl and XLST are all part of the Komodo IDE, which strives to make developers lives easier by offering a common interface and toolset to develop in multiple languages.

Demo of C# Express; .NET Framework v2.0 Beta 1 Released

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-27 .NET 6 Comments

Dan Fernandez, here, demonstrates how to build a cool little application in Visual C# Express Edition (you can download that from the Channel 9 Express site). Follow along as Dan takes you through the demo's source code and gives you a visual tour of C# Express. Elsewhere, the .NET Framework version 2.0 beta redistributable package is the most recent update to the Microsoft .NET Framework and includes everything you need to run applications developed using the .NET Framework.

KMOS acquired Amiga Inc

Submitted by Dennis Trabandt 2004-07-27 Amiga & AROS 27 Comments

At the AmiWest 2004 show in Sacramento KMOS CEO Garry Hare announced that KMOS has acquired Amiga Inc. A few months ago we reported that KMOS acquired AmigaOS4 assets, but now it seems that the whole Amiga, Inc. belongs to this not-so-public company.

FreeBSD: May-June 2004 Status Report

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-27 FreeBSD 4 Comments

FreeBSD core team member Scott Long posted the latest bi-monthly status report, covering FreeBSD development for May and June of 2004. Scott begins: "May and June were yet again busy months; the Netperf project passed major milestones and can now be run with the debug.mpsafenet tunable turned on from sources in CVS. The ARM, MIPS, and PPC ports saw quite a bit of progress, as did several other SMPng and Netgraph projects. FreeBSD 5.3 is just around the corner, so don't hesitate to grab a snapshot and test the progress!" Read the rest over at KernelTrap.

Patents in an open source world

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-27 Legal 1 Comment

Open source appears challenged by patents but that fear is often exaggerated. Lawrence Rosen, technology attorney and author of "Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law" (Prentice Hall, 2004), offers a calming view of the patent situation. He describes reasonable steps we can take to prevent patents from interfering with software freedom.

Solaris to be Ported to Itanium and POWER?

Submitted by Terry C. Shannon 2004-07-27 Solaris 17 Comments

Sun COO Jonathan Schwartz aired the idea of porting Solaris to two additional architectures during his 20 July earnings concall. "We’ve begun looking at Solaris on Power as well as Solaris on Itanium as a way of delivering incremental volume," said Schwartz, who apparently believes that POWER and Itanium support is just the Solaris volume exopansion solution Sun needs.

Novell eyes lean, mean Linux

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-27 Novell and Ximian 40 Comments

Novell is developing a slimmed-down version of SuSE Linux especially designed to desktop enterprise deployments easier to support. SuSE Linux 9.1 Professional, the latest version of the desktop OS, comes with 3,000 packages and seven web browsers, according to Novell. Steve Brown, Novell’s European VP, said there was a danger of the OS becoming too "top heavy".

eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 SP4 Released

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-27 General Development No Comments

Service Pack 4 (SP4) allows existing eVC4 users to target Windows CE 5.0 based devices. In addition to supporting the new Windows CE 5.0 platform, SP4 is cumulative in nature and includes support for Windows CE 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2 based platforms as well. This download must be installed on top of existing eVC4 installations (the full eMbedded VC++ 4.x is free to download).

IBM Readies Dual-Core PowerPC G5 Processor

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-27 IBM 15 Comments

Moving off IBM's drawing board into testing stage is code-name Antares, a dual-core version of the PowerPC 970. The forthcoming PowerPC 970MP chip will join AMD & Intel in the race for dual-cores.

Building The Next Generation, Part 3: Security and Files

Guest post by Nicholas Blachford 2004-07-26 Privacy, Security 64 Comments

This series explores the sort of technologies we could use if we were to build a new platform today. The first 2 parts covered the Hardware and core OS. In this third part we look at security, the file system, file management and throw in a couple of other random ideas for good measure.

DirectX 9.0c Redistributable for Software Developers

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-26 3D 18 Comments

This download provides the DirectX 9.0c end-user package that devs can include with their product.

Local company develops FreeBSD-based radars

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-26 FreeBSD 17 Comments

Being freely available, easy to develop for, secure, and stable made FreeBSD the operating system of choice for Adelaide company Genesis Software's radar systems which are now being exported around the world. Genesis software and network engineer Daniel O’Connor said FreeBSD was the best choice when research and development on the radars began eight years ago.

Microsoft releases SQL Server 2005 beta

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-26 Databases 20 Comments

Microsoft began a wide beta testing program of its forthcoming SQL Server 2005 database on Monday, a much anticipated--and delayed--product central to the company's server software line.

Review: Best Damn Windows Server 2003 Book Period

Guest post by Will Senn 2004-07-26 Office 12 Comments

When I was first asked to review this book, I was somewhat taken aback by the title. I wondered if it could be construed as blasphemous. The dictionary came to my rescue with this definition: damn, adj., beyond doubt or question.

Comparison of PHP and ASP.NET

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-26 Internet 50 Comments

Oracle published a comparison article between PHP 4/5 and ASP.NET concluding that PHP is better, while there are counter arguments that ASP.NET is better. And here's a user's benchmark on the issue.

Distribution Release: Gentoo Linux 2004.2

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-26 Gentoo 59 Comments

Today marks the release of Gentoo Linux 2004.2 for the AMD64, HPPA, SPARC and X86 architectures.

yellowTAB has Kicked Out their First Development Contest

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-26 Zeta 13 Comments

Are you in for some coding this summer? yellowTAB has today started their first development contest. The price for the first one to develop a fully working ICH AC97 driver, is 300 euros and a free copy of Zeta from yellowTAB. yellowTAB is a small company with few resources, so this contest is a promising call out to the dev community.