OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

12 Reasons Andreessen Is Hot On Open Source

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-22 Open Source 49 Comments

Marc Andreessen, co-founder of trailblazer Netscape Communications, can spot a long-term trend. So when Opsware Inc.--another company Andreessen co-founded and chairs--introduced its Opsware System 4 software on Linux in December, some of his faithful fans doubtless took the move as a sign of things to come.

Systems Management Server 2003 Administration Feature Pack

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-22 Windows No Comments

The SMS 2003 Administration Feature Pack contains three tools: the Manage Site Accounts Tool, the Transfer Site Settings Wizard, and the Elevated Rights Deployment Tool.

On the Button Order of Gnome 2

Submitted by Anonymous 2004-03-21 Gnome 125 Comments

"Mr Shrap" has written an interesting write-up on a (still) touchy topic: the button order adopted in Gnome 2 and why he doesn't like it.

The Future of OSS Desktop Development, Part II

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-21 Rumors 48 Comments

The open discussion about how the future of desktop development for Linux should look like is continued between Novell's Miguel de Icaza and Red Hat's Havoc Pennington with multiple posts in their blogs.

GCC 3.3.3pre1 Released for Risc OS; First Big Release in Two Years

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-21 RISC OS 3 Comments

A public pre-release version of GCC 3.3.3 is now available on the RISC OS website. The project considers this release to be "stable enough for general use but may contain a few rough interface edges that need polishing". It's also described as the biggest, official update to RISC OS GCC in two years.

Two New SkyOS 5-beta4 Videos

Submitted by Proph3t 2004-03-21 SkyOS 54 Comments

Two new videos showing some of the new features and programs on SkyOS are now availiable on SkyOSnet. The new beta4 video shows off the crystal icons, OpenGL, SkyKruzer, the fileselector, popup dialogs, and the terminal. Keep in mind its a beta, and it was recorded in Vitual PC, so the speed does not accurately reflect the real running speed.

Why Writing Software Still Stinks

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-21 General Development 53 Comments

Programming must change -- but how? At a reunion of coding pioneers, answers abound.

Graphical Composition in Avalon

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-20 Windows 45 Comments

Longhorn introduces significant new graphics technology, currently known by its codename, "Avalon." Avalon renders an application's visual elements onto the screen using a much more sophisticated approach than Windows has previously used. In this article, Ian Griffiths shows how this new graphical composition model solves various limitations of Win32, what new user interface design techniques this enables, and what it means to developers.

Introducing Longhorn for Developers: Communication

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-20 Windows 6 Comments

Indigo is the "Longhorn" general-purpose messaging framework that you can use to build a wide variety of rich communication-based applications. You can build stateless, Web service applications and clients for such applications. You can build RemoteObject services and their clients. You can establish reliable and durable communications sessions. Indigo is a communications framework that you can use to build interesting and powerful collaboration applications. Read the article at MSDN.

An Advanced File System for Linux

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-20 Linux 26 Comments

As Linux made its way further into the enterprise, a key feature that it was lacking at one point in time was a journaling file system. This was true in 1999, but today there are four journaling file systems that can solve enterprise server requirements. This article focuses on one of them: JFS.

WinFS 101: Introducing the New Windows File System

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-20 Windows 22 Comments

Tom Rizzo launches his new colum with an overview of why the new "Longhorn" storage subsystem (code-named "WinFS") is needed, what WinFS promises to do to help solve our data-overload problems, and what his column promises to deliver in the coming months.

Windows XP variant is embedded in EU probe

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-20 Microsoft 20 Comments

Microsoft software designed for, of all things, cash registers and slot machines played a persuasive role in the European Union's landmark antitrust case labeling it an abusive monopolist.

Java’s Skills Gap

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-20 Java 32 Comments

Research firm Gartner says only 32% of the 2.5 million Java developers in the world have genuine knowledge, which means there is a serious lack of high-level development skills.

The PalmOS Cobalt Advantage: Ford vs Chevy

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-20 Wireless 11 Comments

Since PalmSource's DevCon last month, there's been a lot of bickering about PalmOS Cobalt's ability to multitask compared to Windows Mobile. It's not really an issue, and here's why. Get more at NMC.

NEC Pushes the Envelope with a New Design for Computing

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-20 Geek stuff 2 Comments

At ITU Telecom World, WaveReport got a sample of another view by NEC. It is based on the pen and called P-ISM. This concept is so radical that WaveReport went to Tokyo to learn more.

KDE 3.2: Full sKale Release; Interview with George Staikos

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-20 KDE 24 Comments

Recently KDE 3.2 has hit the full-release stage. Previously, LinMagAU interviewed one of KDE's chief programmers, George Staikos about the upcoming version.

Mandrakelinux 10.0 Beta for AMD64 Released

Eugenia Loli 2004-03-20 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 7 Comments

Distrowatch reports on the first Beta release of Mandrakelinux 10.0 for AMD64 (Athlon & Opteron). In addition to Mandrakelinux 10.0 common features, it provides improved support for Serial ATA support, and an experimental support for 32-bit GL acceleration.

Ryan Gordon on the Mac, OS X, UT2004 and more

Submitted by charlie 2004-03-20 Games 28 Comments

"Epic Programmer Ryan Gordon burst onto the Mac scene last year with the successful port of Unreal Tournament 2003 to the Mac. A man with many talents, Gordon then went on to port America's Army to the Mac and has just completed work on the Mac version of Unreal Tournament 2004. IMG recently spoke with Gordon to get his thoughts on UT 2004, the Mac, Mac OS X, and more.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Technology Preview Available

Submitted by C/C 2004-03-19 Windows 55 Comments

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides an enhanced security infrastructure that defends against viruses, worms, and hackers, along with increased manageability and control for IT professionals and an improved experience for users. To aid IT professionals in planning and testing for the deployment of Windows XP SP2, Microsoft is making available this preview, based on RC1 of the SP2.

SkyOS 5.0 beta4 Release and SkyDeveloperStudio

Submitted by Nathan Palmer 2004-03-19 SkyOS 38 Comments

SkyDeveloperStudio is available. This IDE makes it possible to create C, C++, Perl and Java projects with syntax highlighting, intergrated source level debugger and an intergrated profiler. Also, SkyOS 5.0 beta4 will be released today to the beta testing team including: SkyDeveloperStudio, GTK, Abiword, and The Gimp. On other hobby OS news, the AROS team gets nVidia support.