Prof. Andreas Zeller from the Saarland University, Germany, announced his Tool Igor: "Your program does not work? The 'AskIgor' Web service automatically finds out why. Researchers of Saarland University, Germany, have started a Web service that automatically finds out the causes for program failures – automatically, quickly, and for free. At www.AskIgor.org, programmers may submit buggy Linux programs; Diagnosis tools for Java and Windows programs are underway." Read more here.

AmigaWorld has interviewed Alan Redhouse, the managing director of the Eyetech Group, regarding the AmigaOne motherboards. Alan is trying to push AmigaOS4, LinuxPPC and the AmigaOne boards into new markets. For instance earlier this year he did presentations in Taipei and Beijing.

OSNews sent over to Sun Microsystems ten questions for a Q&A session with Sun's product team working on Java Desktop System. Read more for the full Q&A.

"A reasonably good start for a very promising Linux distro. Tinkerers should give it a shot. Those wanting a bug-free experience should skip this version and wait for the next release" says ZDNet's Jim Lynch (our review is here). "Red Hat's Desktop Linux Isn't Going Away" says eWEEK too, while a Linux developer and user wrote an Open Letter towards Red Hat.

ReactOS 0.1.5 has been released, featuring many improvements and fixes. The new release includes lots of work on the graphical DLLs, as well as all round work on the system. French and German keyboard layouts are now also available.

"Windows is the McDonald's of operating systems. You know it's not good for you, but you can't help but buy it at least once in a while. And it's the same everywhere you go, which is the real key to Microsoft's success." eCommerceTimes says. Elsewhere "Less than two years ago, Lynanne Fowle, a Holly Springs charter high school director and mother of five, made the switch. She said that security and costs were the two main reasons she jumped ship from Microsoft" the LinuxInsider says.

Apple has released a Security Update via its Software Update. According to the release notes: "Security Update 2003-11-19 includes the following updated components: OpenSSL, zlib "gzprintf()" function" (for 10.3 and 10.2.8). Yesterday, Apple released an update to its Bluetooth drivers and stack too.

I recognize that Open Source folks are passionate. I understand and I applaud the dedication and fierce loyalty. But for the love of all that is warm and fuzzy, could you please give it a rest? Just for a little while? There is something else that really needs some attention: proper documentation.

DB2 Universal Database Express Edition is a new specially tailored full feature relational database for small and medium business.

Without announcing to the press, the GNOME project released GNOME 2.4.1 a few days ago. (Note: Epiphany was updated once more since then). Update: New GtkFileChooser shot for Gnome 2.6.

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."

Jonathan Schwartz, Sun Microsystems Inc.'s executive vice president of software, took time after his quarterly Town Hall in San Francisco to sit down with eWEEK Contributing Editor Steve Gillmor in a conversation about Microsoft Corp.'s Longhorn Wave and the market challenges and opportunities it may present for Sun.

Recently, I have been working on several large SQL projects, so when I was given the opportunity to write a review for theKompany.com's Data Architect software (especially now that its little brother Rekall has being open sourced), I knew exactly which wretched projects to test it against; mine.

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.