The popular alternative web browser from Opera Software today reached version 7.20.

A few months back Jag wrote this article on OSNews about my travails in my first encounter with Linux. Now, that Jag has been using it for a while, he has written a new article detailing steps required to convert an out-of-the-box Red Hat 9 system to a working and useful desktop system. Linux veterans will probably not find anything surprising here, but for someone trying Linux for the first time, this should save a significant amount of time and effort.

For almost a week now, I've been using Slackware 9.1 (RC-1 released today), and I am having a blast. Slackware doesn't have more than 6-8% of the Linux market these days, but it used to be one of the most-used distros back in the day. Today, many think of Slackware as a true classic, a thought that is often accompanied by a feeling that Slackware is not a user-friendly or an uber-modern Linux distribution. There is some truth in that statement, but there is always the big "But". Read on for our very positive experience with Slackware 9.1-pre. Update: In less than 24 hours since the RC-1, Slackware 9.1 RC-2 is out.

Vasper released today BeOS Max Edition v3.0. The compressed file weighs about 280 MB and includes third party software in addition to the tweaked core of BeOS 5.0.3 PE. BeOS Max is patched and supports AthlonXPs/Pentium 4s and installs on its own partition. Burning the ISO is not as simple though, as it has to be burned as BFS ISO format. More info on how to properly burn it here and here.

The KDE Project's KDE 3.2, which eWEEK Labs previewed in its initial alpha release, should impress companies countenancing desktop Linux deployments, they say. On other KDE news, KDE 3.1.3 built with Sun Forte on Solaris.

Bertrand 'Frodon' Presles of ASUM has made two little videos (MPEG4 format, first, second) demonstrating GUI reactivity and solid moving/resizing on MorphOS.

OneStat.com today reported that Microsoft's Windows dominates the operating system market with a global usage share of more than 97 percent. The leading operating system on the web is Microsoft's Windows XP with a global usage share of 38.48 percent. Microsoft's Windows 98 has a global usage share of 22.56 percent and is the second most popular OS on the web. The global usage share of Apple's Macintosh operating system is 1.49 percent and the global usage share of Linux is 0.51% (that's double since last year's 0.26%) on the web. Google also has some stats on the same subject.

There is an interesting article on Gamespy about sales of console game units. This is relevant to an OS oriented forum because of the underlying struggle for real estate. Both Sony and Microsoft covet the space on top of your TV. The so-called "set top box" is seen by both as the key to dominating the converging worlds of entertainment, communication and computing.

The impending release of a new stable kernel promises greater adoption for Linux, as it becomes more reliable and scalable over a larger variety of processors. This is a new article that highlights some of the changes, both big and small, with some code samples.

In a move to extend its business beyond the Linux operating system, Red Hat Inc. announced an initiative to deliver open source application server, clustering and systems management software that works seamlessly with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

wxWindows 2.4.2 has been released. This is a bug fix release.

Pat Volkerding has announced the release of Slackware 9.1 Release Candidate 1. The changelog has all the details.

KernelTrap has interviewed Rusty Russell, a humorous and productive contributer to Linux Kernel development. Author of ipchains, netfilter/iptables, futexes, per-cpu counters, hot pluggable CPU support, and the new in-kernel module loading code, Rusty's efforts have had a significant impact on the upcoming 2.6 kernel. For a humorous sample of Rusty's wit, one only needs to look at his email signature which reads, "Anyone who quotes me in their sig is an idiot. -- Rusty Russell."

Sun has awarded a scholarship worth several hundred thousand dollars to the ObjectWeb Consortium, a nonprofit organization based in France, so it can begin certification testing on its JOnAS (Java Open Application Server) J2EE implementation.