WindowsForDevices has published an extensive interview with Scott Horn, director of marketing for Microsoft's Embedded Devices Group, in which Horn discusses the embedded marketplace in general and Microsoft's strategic roadmap. The interview is interesting to developers for its discussions of the embedded market as a whole, and for the view it provides of Microsoft's competitive strategies.

For almost 20 years, Windows has been an ever-evolving graphical environment which has focused on providing users, as well as developers, easy access to the latest technologies, hardware, and services. "Longhorn", the codename for the next version of Windows, represents a significant jump in the definition of what a Windows Application is, and is capable of achieving. In this episode of the .NET Show, MSDN TV provides a general overview of the larger technology "pillars" of Longhorn, introducing their concepts, as well as showing some of the coding techniques for gaining access to them. Use Windows Media Player on Mac/Windows or Win32_Codecs on Unix/Linux to view the videos.

"I'm a long time Linux user. Let there be no mistake. I have Linux servers out the ying yang. But, two years ago I was smitten with OS X and the easy wireless connectivity that iBooks could give me. Two years later I'm abandoning OS X and Apple. Let me paint the picture." Read the the article at OSDir.

The respected German computer news site heise.de reports that the next version of java (java 1.5) will have a mechanism to share native code between multiple virtual machines. The feature, which is called class data sharing, will improve start times and reduce memory consumption for people who run multiple java VMs at the same time. This is especially important for client side java programs which use large gui libraries such as Swing.

Sun Microsystems Inc. plans to release midyear the second version of its Java Desktop System, featuring new tools for centralized management of client systems -- and a higher price tag. Sun released last year the debut version of the Java Desktop System (JDS), its attempt to win a share in the desktop operating system (OS) and applications market away from Microsoft Corp. The software is currently selling at a promotional price of $50 per user, per year, but the cost will rise to the product's planned selling price of $100 per user with JDS' second release, according to Peder Ulander, Sun's desktop products marketing director. MadPenguin posted a review with screenshots of JDS.

A new product arises from Genesi: The Open Desktop Workstation is based upon the Genesi Pegasos, a CHRP based motherboard. Integrating selected Open Firmware and running multiple (15+) operating systems, the Workstation is an extremely efficient, very expandable hardware solution for personal and business computer requirements. Both IBM and Motorola feature the new product in their pages.

ZetaJournal posted parts 1 and 2 of their YellowTAB Zeta 1.0-RC2 review. Part 3 of the review will be published freely later today (already available in their forum -- to view, requires free login).

CodeTek Studios is now shipping version 3.0 of VirtualDesktop, software that lets Mac OS X users work on multiple projects on separate—as the name implies—"virtual desktops." The latest version, which runs on both Mac OS X 10.2 and 10.3, adds support for Apple's X11, Panther's Expose feature, an auto-hide pager, enhanced hotkey support, improved AppleScript support and more. Check the differences between Lite and Pro versions here and read the rest of the report at MacMinute.

"For those of you expecting a rundown of all the features in Mandrake 9.2 or a large number of screenshots, this is probably not the right article for you.

Linux has a unique opportunity to take advantage of its open source nature by offerings its users greater integration than even proprietary software can due to the fact that developers have access to both the code from the operating system as well as a large assortment of bundled applications. The following osViews editorial contribution is the fifth piece to a multipart series, ( | | | ) which outlines the framework for a consistent, full-featured Linux desktop platform that would help grow the operating system's desktop install-base among new users and Windows converts.

The European Commission has reportedly reached a decision that Microsoft broke anticompetitive law and will face stiff fines, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Microsoft would not comment on the report but maintained that negotiations with the European Commission are still ongoing.

As Microsoft prepares developers and independent software vendors for Longhorn, the next version of its Windows operating system, the company wants to wean them off older Windows programming models. Elsewhere, Microsoft's Bill Gates took centre stage at yesterday's software developer day in London to convince UK software developers to stick with Microsoft, even though Longhorn, its next-generation operating system platform, is two to three years away.

Red Hat Inc. joined the growing number of server makers and Linux distributors that are offering some sort of financial protection for its customers against legal action by the SCO Group last week prior to LinuxWorld. In this interview, Red Hat vice president of engineering Brian M. Stevens talked to SearchEnterpriseLinux.com about the distributor's new Open Source Assurance program, the addition of a server provisioning module to its Red Hat Network, the 2.6 kernel and the SCO lawsuit.

Anders Hejlsberg, the lead C# architect, talks with Bruce Eckel and Bill Venners about C# and Java generics, C++ templates, contraints, and the weak-strong typing dial.