SharpDevelop is an open-source (GPL) IDE for C# and VB.NET projects on the .NET platform (Mono port in the works). This 0.98 release has seen a complete rewrite of the text editor (it is now much faster), which also should be now much easier reuseable as a control in other applications. Also new by (very) popular request is the Tools/Options/Text Editor- Highlighting panel. It allows you to modify the syntax highlighting that is used inside #develop.

DirectX has been providing game developers with a great platform for rich and fast-paced games on Windows for many years. As these platform technologies advance to embrace the concepts of "Managed" programming, DirectX rises to meet the challenge head on.

LLVM is a new infrastructure designed for compile-time, link-time, runtime, and "idle-time" optimization of programs from arbitrary programming languages. LLVM is written in C++ and has been developed over the past 3 years at the University of Illinois. It currently supports compilation of C and C++ programs, using front-ends derived from GCC 3.4. New front-ends are being written for Java bytecode and CAML.

Qt 3.2.2 is a bugfix release and was released a few days ago. It maintains both forward and backward compatibility (source and binary) with Qt 3.2.1.

FreeBSD 4.9-RC4 is now available for testing from here. Mirrors to be synced shortly.

O'Reilly posted four interesting Mac dev articles on MacDevCenter: "Ten Things I Dig About Xcode", "Creating Easy-to-Deploy Unix Applications for OS X", "Start Me Up: Writing and Understanding OS X StartupItems" and "Programming REALbasic, Part 1: Syntax of the Language".

This set of documentation describes the new features of the C# language, including Generics, Anonymous Methods and Partial Types. Please note that this is a draft document intended to give you a preview of the "Whidbey" release of the C# language. Additionally, InfoWorld features an article which discusses the missing .NET implementation for Itanium.

SciTech has announced an agreement with ATI, which will enable advanced multi-OS (Linux X11, Qt/Embedded, OS/2, Athene, Amiga, SMX, and more) support for ATI's mobile, desktop and embedded visual processors in future versions of SciTech SNAP Graphics IES and ENT versions.

The next version of Windows isn't due out until at least 2005, leaving us to wonder: Will Microsoft address the big questions users have about stability, security, and features? In this special report, PCMag looks at where Windows is heading.

Just a couple of weeks into a new release, Mandrake Linux 9.2 users have encountered all sorts of problems. First, it was the problem of the missing kernel-source from the original ISO's as reported on the Mandrake Club site, then it was a slew of a major bugfix set of patches, including fixes to KDE and the kernel, and now reports are surfacing on Cooker (and which has been confirmed on Mandrake's site that Mandrake Linux 9.2 is killing some cdroms made by LG Electronics.

PC makers usually use the holiday season to tout the greatest and latest desktops and notebooks, but this year they will be hawking something different: consumer electronics, says C|Net News. Also, OSViews posted an editorial discussing "misconceptions of PC users regarding the Mac prices".

MSFN has posted a few shots of the upcoming Virtual PC 2004 runtime/emulator PC engine.

Barrett sat down with CNET News.com editors to discuss global economic issues, along with how Intel will deliver new technologies and why companies should adopt them. He also mentions that their interest to Apple's OSX is going down each year as Apple continues to lose market share with time.

Steve Ballmer has a hard job. Being the CEO of a company the size of Microsoft is brutal and exhausting. Against his nature, Ballmer has been trying to change his own persona and the company culture. So far, he appears to have made progress. In my mind, Microsoft is a more mature corporate entity that it used to be. The startup mentality is important to hold on to, but isn't functional as the core value of a $30 billion company. What Ballmer needs to do is hold on to the best of the existing culture, while transforming it into something new. Tough job. I couldn't do it.