WinBeta.org features a preview article of the new server operating system by Microsoft, Windows 2003 Server, accompanied by a number of screenshots.

Yar Tikhiy has ported Apple's HFS and HFS Plus filesystem module and tools from Darwin to FreeBSD 5. He says that the port is experimental - he is looking for your help with testing and feedback. Read the announcement at BSDForums.

NewMobileComputing reports: "Danger made available their HipTop/Sidekick SDK free of charge. Also, latest reports say that the new version of HipTop will feature a color screen." Please note that the OSNews web site supports the "Danger Device" (a nickname ex-Be/Danger engineers gave early on to HipTop/SideKick), so no ads or vertical bars will be displayed, making the browsing experience pretty good with its native web browser.

LinuxInstall.org 3.0rc2 is now available. Changes: "Kernel 2.4.18-27.8.0 with NTFS support; security updates (Total 31); Mozilla 1.3.0; Evolution 1.2.3; complete set of Red Hat 8.0 manual documents in HTML; Acrobat Reader 5.06 with Mozilla plugin; Real Player 8.0 with Mozilla plugin; Flash Player 6.0.79 with Mozilla plugin; Microsoft TrueType Core Fonts for web; Xmms 1.2.7 (music player) with MP3 support; Xine 0.9.19 (DVD/VCD/CD player) with libdvdcss; dual-boot configuration with NTFS/FAT32 support..." Changelog, screenshots.

Now, that was an interesting reading in the XFree86 forum mailing list. We get individuals, companies like Sun, SciTechSoft, Red Hat etc. 'fighting' for issues varying from what XFree86 really needs, down to replacing fontconfig with Sun's stsf, XFree86 co-founder David Wexelblat saying that XFree is today obsolete and that needs to be replaced with a direct-rendered model (by retaining backwards compatibility), Keith Packard replying as to why a new organization to handle X is needed, and more.

Apple today announced that it has rescheduled its 2003 Worldwide Developers Conference in order to provide developers with a more complete preview release of the next version of Mac OS X, code named "Panther." Originally scheduled for May 19-23 in San Jose, the conference will now be held June 23-27 at San Francisco's Moscone Center. "Moving to June ensures that every developer will leave the event with a copy of Panther in their hands" said Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. As for the July Macworld Expo in New York City it is rumored to be no Jobs keynote, expo name change and fewer exhibitors.

The Inquirer reports that SuSE is ready to release its full X86-64 version of Linux, version 8.2, quite a time before the official launch, for the AMD Opteron architecture. Additionally, MandrakeSoft released their Mandrake Linux 9.0 version for Opteron recently. However, Microsoft has yet to set a date for Opteron 64-bit support, while it will roll out specifically for Itanium two high-end versions of its Windows Server 2003 operating system, its first major server OS update in three years.

"As Microsoft and Sun Microsystems prep new Web services development platforms for debut this spring, Linux developers can expect the Mono Project to be completed not long after--by early fall. At Web Services Edge East here, Ximian CTO and Mono Project leader Miguel de Icaza told attendees that the version 1.0 server-side components of the software will be delivered in September." Read the report at InternetWeek.

In Las Vegas for Microsoft Management Summit 2003, Microsoft Senior Vice President Brian Valentine revealed that plans for the next two Windows releases--code-named Longhorn and Blackcomb--are very much in flux. Microsoft officials also say they are again considering shipping a server version of the Longhorn operating system after announcing late last year that it would be released for the desktop only. Read the reports at WinInformant and NWFusion.

The OpenQNX website reports that the QNX 6.2.1 Non-Commercial is released quietly.

Kde 3.1.1 has been released today. Here is the announcement and the Changelog.

Tux Reports has posted a series of screenshots from Mandrake Linux 9.1 final release.

From Slashdot: "Keith Packard wants to fork the XFree86 effort. The XFree86 team is trying to become more open, to combat the fork. Keith is a capable developer, having worked on FontConfig, Xft, the X render extension etc. Meanwhile, All is not good in how XFree86 drivers are being developed."

Qt is a a cross platform graphical user interface toolkit. Kuro5hin features an introductory article to Qt. On other toolkit news, GNUstep-base 1.6 was recently released.