Syllable 0.5.3 is out and much faster than previous releases, due to a new ATA disk driver, faster graphics rendering and the use of a newer compiler. There are new drivers for ATi Radeon and VMWare video, Yamaha DSE/DSE1 audio and a new USB UHCI driver. Libsyllable and the Appserver have been given an overhaul which gives them a cleaner and more flexible API. More info here.

This beta of BeOS LiveCD(XBEOX) contains the BeOS 5 Personal Edition with some drivers. It is the first BeOS live CD since the 4.5 days in 1999. The LiveCD includes the "Installer" application so users can install the full BeOS PE on its own hard drive partition if needed. To get to the internet you will need a normal floppy drive (no external USB ones). Apparently, the upcoming BeOSMax Edition 3.1 will be a LiveCD too in addition to being a normal installer bootable CD.

This article is about Open Source software development. Given the unrelenting ideal of better software that remains the guiding principle of the Open Source world, it is inevitable that it crosses paths with Xtreme Programming, in philosophy to a large extent and in practice to some. The author also examines some "Xtreme" influences on F/OSS development -- what these are and what these can be.

The Cocoa Bindings system is a toolset available in Panther which allows you to define relationships between user interface and data objects. This means a lot less code, and a lot more functionality for free. This tutorial walks you through the conversion of a standard application into a bindings application.

Sun Microsystems may be selling servers running Linux, but that doesn't mean it is cutting back on the evolution of Solaris. Among its plans, the company is considering offering a free, open source version of its flagship operating system, said Jonathan Schwartz, the company's recently appointed president and chief operating officer. "Maybe we'll GPL it," Schwartz said of Solaris, referring to the GNU General Public License under which the Linux operating system is distributed. "We're still looking at that."

Most are aware of the success C# is enjoying in the Windows community, and we have been hearing about how the Open Source Community fears the technology in Longhorn enough to take the drastic step of co-opting Microsofts strategy and doing it first. But what about the Apple community? Turns out they have the same idea according to DrunkenBatman. Our past commentary is here.

GTK+-2.4.1 and GLib-2.4.1 are now available for download. This is a bug fix release.

We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 3.5. This is our 15th release on CD-ROM (and 16th via FTP). We remain proud of OpenBSD's record of eight years with only a single remote hole in the default install. As in our previous releases, 3.5 provides significant improvements, including new features, in nearly all areas of the system. Read the official release announcement and changelog.

Worldwide PDA shipments declined 4.6 percent in the first quarter of 2004, but the battle for the PDA operating system market has heated up as PalmSource and Microsoft were in a virtual tie in shipments in the first quarter of 2004, according to preliminary results from Gartner, Inc.

"Look at the first desktop screenshot at left. It looks like a Mac OS X machine, right? Wrong. It's a Windows XP box made up to look like a Mac. Look closely, and you'll see that its creator has done a very good job; although the machine is running Windows XP, the interface is almost indistinguishable from an OS X machine. Notice the dock, desktop background, menus, system font and icons for applications and folders. Even the keyboard shortcuts belong to the Mac OS X." Read the rest of the article with screenshots at Wired.

Version 1.5 of Sun Microsystems' Java Development Kit (JDK) is set to be released this summer and promises a list of features to ease the development of your Java applications. In this article DevChannel introduces you to many of the new features and provide code samples, so you can hit the ground running when the final release becomes available.

You can easily surf the Web and run a spreadsheet on a Linux-powered PC, but good luck if you want to balance your checkbook. Linux has more fans all the time, but a lack of familiar applications is slowing adoption, says News.com. Major software makers say they're waiting for more Linux users before bothering to adapt their products to open-source--but Linux advocates say the window of opportunity is closing. Not even Linux guru Bruce Perens can find all the open-source software he needs: "I admit it--I still have a Windows machine that I use solely to run Quicken and TurboTax once a year."

"In a recent weblog I highlighted Sun's odd status in the industry's evolution to free software. I pointed out there that Sun has a verbally ambivalent and even fearful attitude toward free software, and that they still take strong actions in support of it, including their heavy investment in GNOME and their choice to release the overwhelming bulk of StarOffice as the open source OpenOffice.org." Read the editorial by Andy Oram here.

In The SCO Group Inc.'s latest U.S. District Court filing as it battles IBM over Linux, the company is no longer using the affirmative defense that the GNU General Public License (GPL) is unconstitutional. SCO president and CEO Darl McBride took aim at the GNU General Public License, under which Linux is distributed, in a December open letter. He said the GPL violates the U.S. Constitution as well as U.S. copyright and patent laws.