For years the development scene has been dominated by the C family of languages, primarily C itself and its immediate successor C++. Recent years have given rise to other C-descendents, however, such as Sun's Java and Microsoft's C#.

On April 1, it was announced that Corel would start selling WordPerfect for Linux as a pilot project to assess customer demand. It is now available from the Corel store. This version is based on the WP8 for Linux series, which was alot more stable than the later winelib based versions. Linux Journal recently reviewed the updated WordPerfect for Linux. Editor's Note: The Corel site is a little misleading - as noted above, this is NOT Word Perfect Office 12 - it is an updated version of WordPerfect for Linux.

Apple today introduced Xsan, a high-performance enterprise-class Storage Area Network (SAN) file system priced at US$999. Xsan is a 64-bit cluster file system for Mac OS X that enables organizations to consolidate storage resources and provide multiple computers with concurrent file-level read/write access to shared volumes over Fibre Channel. A beta version of Xsan is available immediately to qualified customers. The final version of Xsan is expected to be available this fall. On other news, Apple introduced Shake 3.5, Final Cut Pro HD, DVD Studio PRO 3 and a new application named Motion. Go to MacMinute.com for up to the minute updates on the new products unveiled as we write this.

"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.

Underscoring Novell's commitment to the Linux operating system, the company's chief financial officer on Friday hinted at further acquisitions. Joseph Tibbetts, pointing to Novell's purchase late last year of two leading Linux companies -- Boston's Ximian and Germany's SuSE -- said the networking giant is on its way to becoming the world's leading Linux solutions provider. Elsewhere, alternative to Windows should play to its own strengths, says Novell Linux guru.

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.

Hyperion Entertainment and the Amiga OS 4.0 development team announced that after nearly 30 months of painstaking development the Amiga OS 4.0 Developer Pre-release has gone gold and will be sent to the duplication plant on Monday, April 19, 2004.

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

O'Reilly's latest entry in the "Pocket" series, "Linux Pocket Guide", bills itself as a "quick reference for experienced users and a guided tour for beginners".

"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.

For years, hope has ebbed and flowed among many in the computer business that Linux, a freely available computer operating system which uses a penguin as its symbol, would become a viable alternative to Microsoft's Windows, the near universal standard for the world's personal computers. The industry—excluding Microsoft and its founder Bill Gates, of course—is currently riding another wave of hope. Will disappointment follow?

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

The Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Platform Software Development Kit (SDK) contains the information you need to develop applications for Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

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.