Programming languages may be used to build a variety of solutions. Each language contains unique features and benefits that make it best-suited for certain kinds of applications. Microsoft offers a rich palette of four programming languages which together provide developers with the functionality necessary to build robust .NET-connected software. Read the article at MSDN.

Here are some screenshots of Sun Microsystems' Mad Hatter Linux-based desktop. The original Mad Hatter was supposed to be based on Red Hat Linux, but these screenshots show that Sun has taken the project in its own hands. The product was created originally so that Sun had a cheap and modern workstation/desktop solution to offer to its existing costumers who were a step from leaving the more expensive Sun Solaris solutions for the overall cheaper and uber-hyped Linux.

Libranet today released version 2.8.1, which is an update to their earlier 2.8 release. Libranet is a Debian-based Linux distribution. The newest update contains the Linux 2.4.21 kernel, with XFree86 4.3.0, GNOME 2.2.2, and KDE 3.1.3, as well as Mozilla 1.4 and OpenOffice 1.0.3. Some improvements have also been made to the installer and Adminmenu.

A new version of Mono is available, the new features include: Cairo support, Remoting.Corba support, as well as a managed XSLT implementation. Existing features have been improved vastly: better Windows.Forms, runtime, faster compiler, web services, better compliance to the spec and more. On other C# news, the .NET Compact Framework 1.0 SP1 Redistributable is available.

The Supercomputer industry is alive and thriving, as researchers design simulations and other processor-intensive tasks to drive demand. A recent ZDNet article covers some of the latest advances in supercomputing application.

In order to protect itself from DDoS attacks, Microsoft is using the Akamai service to distribute its load. Ironically, as a result, the domain www.microsoft.com is now listed in the Netcraft report as being Linux running IIS. Netcraft has received so much mail asking about that, and the irony of Linux-bashing Microsoft now depending on "enterprise-class" Linux servers has generated so much discussion, Netcraft has posted a page explaining what's happening.

This article describes the Service Web, outlines the key standards of SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI, and discusses new tools for developing Web services. Armed with this information, you should be able to understand how Web services can enhance your business and how you can begin developing them.

Throngs of people flooded into the Moscone center in San Francisco to get a glimpse at what is new in the Linux world. Once again, the Linuxworld Expo came to the West Coast making a stop at the Moscone center in San Francisco August 5-7. The show floor was filled with a mix of software and hardware vendors. Somehow, I was not expecting to find so many hardware vendors at what is otherwise a show about simply an operating system. Editor's Note: Mr. Wread sumbitted this report the day after the expo, and it has been stuck in mailing list server purgatory.

"Sure, people will rail against Bill Gates every chance they get. But when it comes time to put up or shut up -- to remove all traces of Microsoft software from their hard drives -- you better believe they'll think twice." Read the editorial at eCommerceTimes.

This is a review of the recently released version 1.4 of MorphOS running on the Pegasos computer system written by Kelly Samel of Emerald Imaging.

Ernie Ball is a company that makes guitar strings. In 2000 the Business Software Alliance, supported by Microsoft and other proprietary software companies, raided their offices without warning and found a few unlicensed copies of software. They ended up paying $100,000 for their mistake. But CEO Sterling Ball vowed not to give another cent to Microsoft and within 6 months had the whole company switched to Red Hat Linux, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla, and other free software. In the C|Net News.com article he laughs when people call them "trendsetters" for doing what any company can do if it just decides to do it.

Today at NewMobileComputing there's a feature article about a prototype Wireless LAN-based open alternative to traditonal woreless networks. There's also some info on Palm's OS marketshare, a PalmOS 6 preview, and a $299 Linux PDA.

We all know about the recent virus that is floating around, the W32.Blaster.Worm. Obviously, this worm was major threat--Symantec raised it from a level 3 to a level 4. You can't help but read about it on sites like osnews.com or Slashdot.com. But I noticed that one thing that seems to be missing a lot of times, at least with this latest worm. People don't want to take the responsibility for updating their computers when the update was available a month ago.

Linux guru Alan Cox is taking a year off from RedHat and kernel development to get his MBA (and learn Welsh). Alan has offered quite a lot to the Linux community, including work on the kernel itself, contributions to the Gnome project, and much more. He will be missed in his absence.