"New Linux distros still fail a task that Windows 95 -- yes, 95! -- easily handles, namely working with mainstream sound cards. That sends the cost of commercial, paid versions of Linux dramatically higher", says Fred Langa for InformationWeek.

Sun's recent cancellation of many UltraSparc chips is clear evidence that Sun is finding UltraSparc a huge resource drain. But, the company is still averse to porting Solaris over to Itanium (however they did port it to AMD's 64bit architectures). This article is an analysis of the rationale behind such bizarre moves, according to the author, and Sun's alternatives to this self-destructive strategy.

With increased laptop, notebook, and Tablet PC sales, Microsoft recognizes the value of improving mobile PC use. Longhorn will emphasize a number of mobility scenarios that application developers should be aware of as they design Longhorn-compatible software.

Mac OS X has been able to do COM for quite some time. The thing is, no one has really broadcast this -- until now. You can write COM components that have the potential to run on both Windows and Mac OS X with no code changes. This is another reason for Mac OS X to be considered as a serious platform for enterprise applications.

MadPenguin takes a look at the upcoming Personal edition of SUSE Linux 9.1.

"On balance, it's hard to see how this isn't a runaway success for Sun. After all, they got everything they wanted, plus $1,950,000,000 in found money. But somehow most of the press managed to see it as McNealy surrendering to Microsoft. Rationally, I don't see how anyone could read even just the press release and believe this." Read the editorial at the LinuxInsider.

"Once we break the metaphor that each window needs to belong to one particular application and instead rely on the idea that an object is self contained, free to be embedded in drawers and tabs, rows and columns, docks and icons, or even inside other objects. A new user interface environment could be created, enabling our independent objects to be represented in the best layout according to the user's needs and desires." Read the editorial at TheMacMind.

Trolltech made available online an article from their print publication "QT Quarterly" (usually only made available to Trolltech customers only) previewing the new features, optimizations, and improvments that QT 4 will have to offer.

Robert Burns wrote a review of his experiences with Arch Linux 0.6. Review is here, discussion is here.

Cloanto released today version 6.0 of Amiga Forever, the Classic Amiga emulation, OS, connectivity and support suite officially licensed by the Amiga companies. Amiga Forever is available in a downloadable Online Edition and in a CD Edition which includes premium content of historical interest (all Amiga OS versions, gallery, videos, games) and KX Light.

If autonomic computing is the process of making computers behave like living, sentient creatures, then you, as a developer, are the doctor who makes sure your products and systems are performing properly. If there's an area of concern, you must diagnose it and make sure it has what it needs to function properly. The article gives a roadmap to integrate autonomic computing concepts into your products.

Imagine this scenario: you need to run your favorite application under Linux but the application has not been ported to Linux yet and there is no other alternative that would completely suit your needs. Or you need to work with several operating systems.

MyXaml is making available a free designer that generates MyXaml compatible markup. You can lay out controls in the designer, switch to the MyXaml view, edit the markup, switch back to the designer view and see your markup changes. This is an early prototype, so quite a few features are missing, but we're moving forward with a fully functional MyXaml Studio. Our Take: I would also like to see the MyXaml technologies ported to Mono in association with Novell.

The new MenuetOS 0.76 release offers DHCP and NNTP news clients, Improved process and memory management, RT improvements and faster userspace drivers. Screenshots here.