Microsoft: Full Steam Ahead for Palladium

Microsoft officials poured cold water on a published report that said its Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB, code-named Palladium) project is being canned. "The project is continuing full steam ahead. It's alive and kicking and we're very excited about it. The vision has been refined over the last year but it's absolutely not true that it's being killed," MS product manager Mario Juarez said.

DWM Enabled in Longhorn; Exploring Windows Longhorn 4074

It would appear that a little tinkering with Longhorn's DLL files allows users to enable a few DWM effects. These include fancy drop shadows on windows, and nice longhorn style icons are noticable on the left of the title bars. Also, animation is visible when opening windows. Also, this review takes a look at what is new in the recently released Longhorn build which was given to WinHEC attendees. Update: Screenshots of Longhorn Build 4074. MSDN subscribers can now download an ISO of the build.

Revealed: how Fedora and the Community Interact

Konstantin Ryabitsev sent a funny message to the development discussions related to Fedora Core, published at LWN. In the meantime, Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik answered to this querstion: "So is Red Hat Consumer Desktop next?": "Now that's interesting. That won't be function-based, it'll be form-based. And when you look at the computing you and I will be using over the next 10 years, we won't have software resident on our hard drive. You'll go to somebody -- it may well be Red Hat -- and you'll get an e-mail package, a calendaring function, and it will be a subscription-based Web service. It's not that far away, look at what people do with their cellular phones today."

Microsoft Shelves NGSCB Project As NX Moves To Center Stage

After a year of tackling the Windows security nightmare, Microsoft has killed its Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) project and later this year plans to detail a revised security plan for Longhorn, the next major version of Windows, company executives said. On Tuesday, Microsoft executives confirmed that NGSCB will be canned. The project, dreamed up with Intel in 2002, was once code-named Palladium.

SuSE CTO: Novell gives Linux ‘muscle’

Novell Inc. is banking its re-entry into the consciousness of IT shops on Linux. Through its acquisitions of Ximian and SuSE Linux AG last year, Novell is working hard to regain its stature as a major technology player. In this interview, SuSE chief technology officer Juergen Geck touches on Novell's Linux strategy, starting with its recent release of the YaST (Yet another Setup Tool) management tool to open source, his thoughts on back-porting features from the 2.6 kernel and SuSE's product road map for the rest of 2004.

Reboot Linux Faster Using kexec

Even if your work doesn't require you to reboot your Linux machine several times a day, waiting for a system to reboot can be a real drag. Enter kexec. Essentially, kexec is a fast reboot feature that lets you reboot to a new Linux kernel -- without having to go through a bootloader. Faster reboot is a benefit even when uptime isn't mission-critical -- and a lifesaver for kernel and system software developers who need to reboot their machines several times a day. Kexec is currently available on the x86 32-bit platform only.

Mono Beta 1 Released

Mono Beta 1 has been unleashed onto the public. This is the first of two planned public betas before Mono 1.0 rolls out the door. The public betas are approaching an offical "production quality" state, and by 1.0 should be stable enough for corporate and coder consumption everywhere. This version includes a GAC (global assembly cache) implementation.

Gates Promises Longhorn Beta In 2005; Speech Transcripts

Microsoft has recommitted to releasing Longhorn, its next-generation Windows client and server, into beta testing in 2005 even though its chairman acknowledged that security concerns threaten his dream of enabling seamless connectivity and Web services. Here is the transcript of Gates' speech yesterday and here is Jim Allchin's. Also, Microsoft combined the Windows CE, Windows Mobile departments.