This is the third installment of ThinkSecret's "Inside Panther" series, covering Mac OS X Version 10.3. Elsewhere, TheAge has a Panther article too, titled "Panther makes things purr".

Lindows.com, which tries to make the Linux operating system more consumer-friendly, has introduced a version of the OS that runs directly from a CD-ROM, for $30 USD.

Prescott, the next big desktop chip from Intel, is slated to come out at 3.4GHz, while Dothan, an energy-efficient chip for slim notebooks, will have a server-size cache and is expected to debut at 1.8GHz, according to computer industry sources. Read the report at C|Net News.com.

This article started life when I was asked to write a comparison of x86 and PowerPC CPUs for work. We produce PowerPC based systems and are often asked why we use PowerPC CPUs instead of x86 so a comparison is rather useful. While I have had an interest in CPUs for quite some time but I have never explored this issue in any detail so writing the document proved an interesting exercise. I thought my conclusions would be of interest to OSNews readers so I've done more research and written this new, rather more detailed article. This article is concerned with the technical differences between the families not the market differences.

The Icon Bar currently has a few responses to the recent buyout of RISC OS from Pace by Castle Tech.

SuSE Linux plans to start shipping its Linux-based Standard Server 8 software worldwide in September. Beta version will be available next week.

SGI recently completed its port of OpenOffice.org 1.0.3.1 to IRIX. It's available in tarball format here or with IRIX desktop integration and in inst format here.

Today we host an interview with Christophe de Dinechin, Software Architect in HP-UX (Software business unit, Infrastructure Solutions). Most of you already know HP-UX, the leading "traditional" UNIX today feature-wise (second only to Solaris in Unix market-share, mostly competing with AIX). With Christophe we discuss HP-UX's competition, the other... 5 OSes HP supports with its various products, the Itanium platform and more.

HP announced the evaluation release of OpenVMS version 8.0 for Itanium-based HP Integrity servers. This release is for selected ISVs including BEA, Cerner, Computer Associates, Brooks Automation, Attunity, Synergex, Legato and TECSys. These partners have begun porting their applications to the OpenVMS Industry Standard 64 (OpenVMS I64) operating system, utilizing the HP rx2600 server. In addition, HP partners have committed porting over 450 applications to this new version to date.

"New tech" release supports more platforms but is less stable than 4.8, says eWEEK for FreeBSD.

"Our clients have signed purchase orders for RedHat Linux ES, but the SCO upgrade path was a cheaper cost option." Read the story at LinMagAU.

Slashdot first reported that Jim Gray (a Microsoft researcher) explains the relative cost of supercomputing/clustering/gridding for various types of task.

The biggest new feature in both Ozone and v.Next is the .NET Compact Framework in ROM. This is a run-time layer that isolates applications from the operating system, managing memory and enforcing security. It should prevent buggy apps from crashing the device. Read the article at NewsFactor. Head over at NewMobileComputing for more mobile technology news. In another market arena, the market share for Windows in Network Attached Storage devices rose 8 percent in the first quarter to 41 percent.

Eleven software products planned for initial OS bundle. After two delays, Sun Microsystems intends to debut a beta of its much-hyped Project Orion later this month, with a formal introduction of the product bundle at September's Sun Network show at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CRN has learned.