OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Guess What? Microsoft Won

Eugenia Loli 2003-08-01 Microsoft 138 Comments

CNET News.com's Charles Cooper says the "end of Microsoft as we know it" crowd must face the post-antitrust reality that the company is confident and stronger than ever.

Interview with Asa Dotzler of Mozilla

Submitted by jeremy 2003-08-01 Mozilla, Gecko 24 Comments

In an interview with LinuxQuestions.org Asa discusses the formation of the the Mozilla Foundation, the direction Mozilla is headed, Microsoft's decision to no longer offer IE as a standalone product, acceptance of the browser as a client interface to applications and more. Additionally, Mozilla 1.5A, Mozilla Thunderbird 0.1 and Mozilla Firebird 0.6.1 were released recently.

XPde Team Releases XPde 0.4.0

Submitted by José León Serna 2003-08-01 Desktop environments 65 Comments

The XPde Team released XPde 0.4.0, a major upgrade to the XPde desktop environment and window manager. Check out the announcement, view the screenshots or read the detailed ChangeLog. Go to the downloads section to get the binaries and sources.

VectorLinux-4.0-rc1 Available

Eugenia Loli 2003-08-01 Linux 9 Comments

The VectorLinux project released 4.0-RC1, more information is available here.

Technoids Interviews Axel Dörfler, OpenBFS Creator

Eugenia Loli 2003-08-01 Haiku 25 Comments

The online German magazine Technoids features a long and interesting interview with Axel Dörfler, OpenBFS developer of the OpenBeOS project. The magazine can be downloaded in PDF format and it is in German language as of now (some translations are planned, hopefully english too). Update: In another interview, at BeOSJournal, Nathan discusses his personal life, loves and hates, and getting in shape so as not to end up like some programmers.

MSDN TV: 64-bit Common Language Runtime and the .NET Framework

Eugenia Loli 2003-08-01 .NET 15 Comments

The next release of the .NET Framework will include both 32- and 64-bit native support. Christopher Brown discusses how developers writing managed code today will be able to easily port and, in many cases, just copy existing applications to this new environment.

HP Taps Mandrake for Desktops

Eugenia Loli 2003-08-01 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 26 Comments

"For a Linux distribution, the soul is the Linux kernel, the brains are the GNU system services, and the look is a function of the desktop manager. So what differentiates one distribution from another? It’s about "feel" and that's no mean matter. For Mandrake the feel is overwhelmingly one of high security for business." Read the article at Open Mag.

B-Free 0.0.20 Released

Eugenia Loli 2003-08-01 OS News 5 Comments

The B-Free project is a collaborative work aimed at creating a BTRON operating system from scratch, with free distribution. It is a preemptive multitasking operating system constructed through micro-kernel technology, which assumes 32-bit or higher CPUs. The BTRON operating system is a subset of the TRON project, which in turn, is a worldwide open Real Time Operating System (RTOS) specification.

Updated Java 1.3.1, SNAP Ethernet Gigabit Drivers for eCS, OS/2

Eugenia Loli 2003-08-01 OS/2 3 Comments

IBM updated the Java Development Kit (javaintk) and the Run Time (javainrt) files which are distributed through Software Choice for OS2. These files are now available on the eComStation site. Two drivers were also updated, the SciTech SNAP SE 2.1.5, to include support for ATI Radeon 9000 Pro and the NVidia GeForce4 MX440 8X, and the OS/2 Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Adapter Driver, which provides support for select Intel PRO/1000 Fiber Ethernet controllers (82542 / 82543GC / 82544EI). Additionally, Serenity Systems announced the release of the eComStation 1.1 German Beta CD1. It is accesible for those who are registered Upgrade Protection customers.

The Future of OOP UIs is Coming Soon: DesktopX 2

Guest post by Brad Wardell 2003-07-31 Graphics 64 Comments

After over a year of work, we're almost ready with DesktopX 2. We even have a public beta of it now here. Here is a Windows media video with DesktopX 2 in action. I've also written an article for the OSNews readers about DesktopX 2.

McNealy: “Don’t Touch” Linux Without Legal Guarantees

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-31 Legal 129 Comments

Scott McNealy, the chairman, president and CEO of systems vendor Sun Microsystems, has dramatically warned companies of the legal dangers of using open source software such as the Linux operating system. Following on from SCO Group's threats to sue Linux users over its intellectual property claims, McNealy told an audience of UK businesses that they should steer clear of open source software unless their suppliers can offer insurance against such legal action.

Microsoft Gives 12 Governments a Peek

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-31 Windows 18 Comments

Microsoft said Thursday it has now let a dozen national governments see its Windows source code in its battle to win lucrative public-sector contracts and to muffle mounting hype over rival OS, Linux.

Learn about JNode

Submitted by Valentin Chira 2003-07-31 Java 36 Comments

JNode is a java-based OS. Learn more about it and check out shots, here.

Reflections on a Microsoft-funded anti-embedded-LInux Report

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-31 Windows 11 Comments

In this editorial, LinuxDevices.com founder Rick Lehrbaum offers his "reflections" on the recently published (Microsoft-funded) Embedded Market Forecasters (EMF) report which claims embedded development projects based on Microsoft's "Windows Embedded" operating system platforms (specifically, Windows CE .NET and Windows XP Embedded) are completed 43% faster and at 68% lower cost, on average, compared with similar projects using Embedded Linux.

Sun, SuSE Make Java/Linux Pact

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-31 Java 10 Comments

Sun Microsystems Inc. and SuSE Linux A.G. have entered into a global alliance that calls for Sun to preinstall SuSE Linux's Enterprise Server 8 on its commodity x86 hardware systems, while SuSE becomes a Java 2 Standard Edition source licensee and will distribute Sun's Java Virtual Machine with all its Linux products, the two companies announced Thursday.

Benchmarking Linux

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-31 Linux 2 Comments

Choosing the benchmark tests for this year's Ultimate Linux Box becomes a project unto itself.

Lycoris Update 3-RC0 Available

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-31 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 37 Comments

The Lycoris Development Team is hard at work finishing Desktop/LX Update 3. Release candidate 0 is now available and all users can use the Update Wizard to update their systems to build 119 or install anew. Desktop/LX now can read/write Windows shares. Download the 613 MB ISO from here.

Is McNealy’s Vision Realistic? The Future of Sun

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-31 Oracle and SUN 46 Comments

On a major visit to the UK this week, taking in customers, media briefings and other events, even including a dawn-'til-dusk day of golf with Gary Player, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy has been doing his witty best to talk up his company's long-term prospects. But, Tony Hallett asks, does his vision of vertically-integrated technology and simplified computing stack up?

Libranet: TCO-friendly GNU/Linux

Submitted by Timothy R. Butler 2003-07-31 Debian 21 Comments

Libranet is a bit different than the other GNU/Linux distributions we are considering this time around. In an era when distributions are often judged by the glitz that their installer and customized desktop provides, Libranet has neither glitz nor much of a customized desktop. Read more at OfB.biz.

Graphics Conference Plays up Interaction; Sketch Recognition

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-31 Graphics 5 Comments

Hay Young, a researcher at the Center for Media Arts at City University of Hong Kong, believes computing should be a full contact sport. Elsewhere, this article describes work being done at MIT on Multi-Domain Sketch Recognition software. The technology allows users to draw basic shapes, and then applies rules to determine what objects the shapes represent and how these objects should behave.