Bill Gates: Unplugged

Microsoft 44 Comments
For two decades, Bill Gates has used his Comdex keynote speech to mark out his vision for technologies from the Internet to XML. This year he used the bully pulpit to make it clear that the industry is at one of its perennial crossroads. CNET News.com caught up with the Microsoft co-founder and chairman earlier this week to talk about the leadup to his "seamless computing" speech.
Read More

A Switcher’s Story and his review of the new iBook G4

Apple 71 Comments
I had been keeping a watchful eye on the developments in the Apple world ever since Steve Jobs’ revamped company revealed the first fruity iMacs in the mid-90s. Mac OS 8 and 9 never really appealed to me, and Windows ran all my games and software, so I never thought about making a switch any time soon. Then one day I met Unix for the first time in my life.
Read More

Bill Joy on Linux, Apple, and Technology

  Submitted by Charlie In the News 64 Comments
Sun refugee Bill Joy talks about greedy markets, reckless science, and runaway technology. He goes on to describe his new love of Apple's OS X by stating that "For kids who are 20 years younger than me, Linux is a great way to cut your teeth. It's a cultural phenomenon and a business phenomenon. Mac OS X is a rock-solid system that's beautifully designed. I much prefer it to Linux."
Read More

Basic Concepts of Real-Time Operating Systems

OS News 9 Comments
This article by veteran real-time trainer David Kalinsky provides an introduction to real-time operating system (RTOS) kernel services. The paper is of particular interest to developers new to real-time concepts and vocabulary. Kalinsky begins by offering a comparison of RTOSs and general-purpose operating systems. He then covers real-time kernel services including task scheduling; fixed-time task switching; intertask communication and synchronization; determinism and high-speed message passing; and, dynamic memory allocation.
Read More

Why SCO will Soon be Going After BSD

  Submitted by Alex Alvarez SCO 85 Comments
"Since they cannot show infringement of SCO Unix code, SCO now plans to challenge the 9-year-old settlement between AT&T and BSD. If it can successfully do that, then its claims that Linux contains tainted code can be substantiated. If it can't, SCO is dead meat." Says NewsForge. *Updated*
Read More

What Belongs In an Operating System?

  Submitted by Ian Christie OS News 71 Comments
From Newsforge: "This question is behind most of Microsoft's recent antitrust problems. Microsoft's defenders often point out that Linux distributions include not just Web browsers and multimedia software, but office suites, graphics packages, and many other programs that are not "part of the operating system."
Read More

Sun Wins Big in China

  Submitted by Deniz Kaan Çopur Oracle and SUN 36 Comments
From Internetnews: "Shares of Sun jumped 10% after hours Monday on news that the company will help build a nationwide standard desktop software system in China. Sun said the China Standard Software Co. (CSSC) will use Sun's Java Desktop System as the foundation for standard desktop development and deployment in the People's Republic of China. CSSC is a consortium of Chinese technology companies backed by the Chinese government to produce a nationwide standard desktop software system, and Sun said it is now the CSCC's preferred technology partner for reaching this goal."
Read More

IRIX 6.5.22 Released

SGI and IRIX 20 Comments
IRIX 6.5.22 is releasing with all new systems shipping from SGI worldwide manufacturing centers. The IRIX 6.5.22 release contains both maintenance and feature updates. This release continues the focus on stability, reliability, security and compatibility required in the IRIX 6.5.XX quarterly release process. Approximately 121 customer-reported incidents are fixed in this release.
Read More