OpenOffice.org announced the release of the 1.1.2 version which introduces the FontOOo Autopilot (downloads and installs fonts from various sources). In addition, this release provides improved support for dBase database files, additional language support, and improved XML export facilities.

According to BeGroovy, "With the start of WalterCon 2004 comes the new name for OBOS, Haiku. Too late for complaining, the t-shirts have been made." In related news, the BeUnited JAVA port was demonstrated and will be released soon. Also see coverage on IsComputerOn.

Ximian's Jeffrey Stedfast blogs on algorithm optimisations on binary search trees. Update: More of this.

Corey Touchet just finished up my review of the state of 64bit Linux on the desktop. He is focused on the problems he experienced and the total user experience while usable, does leave a bit to be desired.

IBM likes to talk about "autonomic computing," in which at its core is a self-management mechanism for a system or systems. Sun, which is normally good at dreaming up such monikers, doesn't hang a name like that on Solaris 10, which is available now in beta and will be generally available in September. But "autonomic" would certainly describe some of the key features in the upcoming release.

Opinion at eWEEK: "It sounds like a small milestone, but the second release candidate of Service Pack 2 is a big deal—it's the last rehearsal for the pack's significant turns in security."

While server virtualization is nothing new, with the forthcoming release of Virtual Server 2005, an application that virtualizes the Windows 2003 Server operating system, Microsoft promises to ease server application migration and simplify testing environments using a unique take on the technology. Read the article here.

Mozilla 1.7 was released along with the mail client Thunderbird 0.7 and Mozilla 1.8a1.

Today we features a mini-Q&A with Alex Roedling, MySQL's Senior Product Manager, about all things MySQL, the competition, technology, licensing and more.

"I ran starry-eyed into the arms of Java 9 years ago. I build enterprise Java applications in my sad day job. I think I can speak with authority to Java's failings. Both authors of the original documents made claims of 'solution'. I assert that all software exists for the end-user, and a 'solution' that helps the developer, or requires arcane knowledge, solves nothing. Toolkits that allow developers to rapidly create portable code are a necessity to meet business and user needs." Interesting editorial by C.C. Hovey.

SharpDevelop Fidalgo (1.0) has now entered Release Candidate status with this RC1 release. As with Beta 1, no features have been added, only two existing ones have been improved to be more useful: you now can convert entire projects from VB.NET to C# (and vice versa), as well as import ASP.NET projects from VS.NET. Other than that, we have worked on two major areas (and will continue to work on): Bug fixes and performance improvements (for details please see the Subversion change log). Its Mono port, MonoDevelop, had version 0.4 releasing yesterday.

From Slashdot: "There are more than 2,500 documented programming languages and O'Reilly has produced a poster called History of Programming Languages, which plots over 50 programming languages on a multi-layered, color-coded timeline."

Window management becomes even more important as you add screen space. WindowSizer, the tiling window manager for Microsoft Windows now allows you to create a tiled layout on each display of a multiple monitor setup. Apply arrangement commands globally or to a specific display. See release notes for a complete list of changes.

Neural nets, also known as artificial neural networks, mathematically model bioelectrical networks in the brain. Massively parallel and more inductive than deductive, they are used for everything from voice and character recognition to artificial intelligence. Python developer Andrew Blais introduces you to the simplest of the neural nets, the Hopfield -- and his net.py application gives you a hands-on opportunity to explore its ability to reconstruct distorted patterns.