OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Advanced Window Managers in the UNIX World

Guest post by Martin Stubenschrott 2004-05-06 Desktop environments 72 Comments

In the Unix world of computing, it is possible to exchange your window manager with an advanced one. The window manager's main purpose is to move/resize windows on the screen. These improved window managers differ from the way people are used to interact with windows in the Microsoft Windows world.

Deploy a C application as a grid service

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-06 General Development No Comments

The new programming model of grid services allows applications to be abstracted through their interface, enabling cross-platform and cross-programming language interoperability. This article demonstrates this by showing how to implement and deploy an existing application as a grid service using the IBM® Grid Toolbox for Multiplatform.

Microsoft Plans Laptop Tune-up with Longhorn

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-06 Windows 24 Comments

With the next version of Windows, Microsoft is looking to add a number of laptop-specific features designed to make portable machines both more powerful and at the same time as easy to use as consumer devices such as portable DVD players.

UnixReview: Sun Java Desktop System

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-06 Oracle and SUN 19 Comments

Zonker wrote a review of the Sun JDS 1 at Unixreview, in the dawn of the JDS 2 release.

Microsoft: Full Steam Ahead for Palladium

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-06 Privacy, Security 31 Comments

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.

Repeat After Me: Apple is a Business

Guest post by Aaron Vegh 2004-05-05 Apple 165 Comments

Is there no larger contingent of armchair corporate CEOs than Apple fanatics? Let's examine the so-called wealth of opinion out there and see how it measures up.

DWM Enabled in Longhorn; Exploring Windows Longhorn 4074

Submitted by Gsurface 2004-05-05 Windows 34 Comments

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

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-05 Fedora Core 28 Comments

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."

Repetitive “Software” Injury: The Responsibility of the DEs

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-05 Graphics 13 Comments

Jono Bacon believes that all DEs should include a utility that reminds the user of taking a break every so often, in order to escape RSI. Workrave (with the cute sheep mascot) is a good example.

Microsoft Shelves NGSCB Project As NX Moves To Center Stage

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-05 Privacy, Security 17 Comments

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.

A Peek at PhOS: BeOS-Dan0’s Unapproved Brother

Guest post by Thom Holwerda 2004-05-05 Haiku 48 Comments

I am one of those remaining BeOS addicts. I love the BeOS' responsiveness, its short boot-up/shutdown times and its, well, overall feel. But no one can deny the fact: BeOS 5.0.x PE is getting old. Very old, with a kernel build-time of around May 2000.

SuSE CTO: Novell gives Linux ‘muscle’

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-05 SuSE, openSUSE 16 Comments

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.

MS Word Vs OOo Writer: A Word of Difference

Submitted by R. Kirk McPike 2004-05-05 Office 94 Comments

R. Kirk McPike wrote a comparison between Microsoft's Word and OpenOffice.org Writer based on his experience writing a term paper. It's an attempt to consider the end usability of both products, and how OpenOffice.org's challenge should be responded to by Microsoft.

Reboot Linux Faster Using kexec

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-05 General Development 12 Comments

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

Submitted by Hacktisvmo 2004-05-05 Mono 41 Comments

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

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-05 Windows 29 Comments

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.

The Challenge Apple Faces in Enterprise Computing

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-05 Apple 50 Comments

Today, MacOS X has made Apple the world's largest Unix workstation manufacturer while Microsoft advertises (but can't yet deliver) a reinvented Pick OS for the Internet age. As someone like Dave Barry might say, you couldn't make this stuff up on a bet.

Wave Goodbye to the Old User Interface; Windows Forms 2.0 Preview

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-05 General Development 20 Comments

This article discusses a "Minority Report"-alike user interface developed at Microsoft (video here). In the meantime, Windows Forms 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005 (both codenamed "Whidbey") are the next release of Microsoft’s smart client platform and tools.

Linux in “battle of the century,” MontaVista CEO says

Eugenia Loli 2004-05-04 Linux 37 Comments

This interview with MontaVista CEO and embedded pioneer Jim Ready explains why Ready is preparing his small, privately held company for the "battle of the century."

OpenTracker Compiles and Links on BlueEyedOS

Submitted by jeanmarc 2004-05-04 Haiku 10 Comments

BlueEyedOS reports that after a few weeks of hard work, compilation and linking of OpenTracker is now complete, and seems almost ready to make it work properly. In the meantime, OpenBeOS gets some ethernet drivers and the ability to run BeOS-native command line apps.