MacOSX 10.2.4 Released

The MacOSX 10.2.4 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for the following applications, services and technologies: Address Book, Classic compatibility, Finder, FireWire, Graphics, OpenGL, and Sherlock. It includes AFP and Windows file service improvements, as well as audio, disc recording, graphics, and printing improvements.

Review of WinBackup

LIUtilities's WinBackup is a backup program for Windows 98/NT/ME/2000 and XP. Despite it's low cost ($50 boxed, $30 for a downloadable version) and small size (under 2 Mb) WinBackup has a ton of features including built in CD/DVD burning support and 256-bit encryption.

2002: The Year a Revolution Took Place in Desktop Computing

Now that the usual round of end of year regurgitations of the past years IT events has ended we may further indulge ourselves by examining the pundits procastinations for their worthiness, or lack thereof. As ever, we were dished up a list of happenings which the IT scribes believed warranted our special attention. What our computers feel about such matters remains to be seen but some brave souls did manage to come up with various musings on what the future may hold for us, and them, (our computers that is) in this age of technical speculation. Whilst these ritualistic utterings have become a feature of the holiday silly season, why not build on this truly great and ancient tradition and comment on the level of veracity of the scribes from our much beloved land of nerds? They got it all wrong.

OSNews’ Support for Konfabulator on OS X and Mobile Devices

There's a cool little app called Konfabulator for Mac OS X that allows you to display, build, and modify little "widgets" for your desktop, like the weather, a clock, or the OSNews top stories, updated continuously! Screenshot here. Thanks to Adam Pearson for the source sample. Additionally, we added support for a truckload of mobile devices and we would need your help testing them.

Red Hat OK’ed for US Government Use

"Red Hat Linux Advanced Server is the first Linux platform to receive certification for the Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment, the company’s chief technical officer announced..." This GCN article reports that Red Hat secured Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) approval to become an official DII COE 4.x kernel next to Sun Solaris 7, Hewlett-Packard HP-UX 10.20 and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. Read more at GCN.

Xandros: Delivering the Corporate Desktop

DesktopLinux.com discovers what Hilton hotels recently learned -- Xandros delivers the corporate desktop. Emphasizing solutions that offer a smooth transition for companies migrating from Microsoft Windows and a significant cost savings (reportedly millions for Hilton alone), Xandros is paving the way for Desktop Linux. This in-depth interview with Xandros' Chairman Frank Berenstein and VP of software development, Ming Poon walks us through the global corporate transition to Linux, Xandros' corporate strategy, open source philosophy, and much, much more.

Fair Queuing Disk Schedulers

Following the recent release of an anticipatory IO scheduler, Andrea Arcangeli started a lengthy thread in which he proposed an SFQ (Stochastic Fair Queuing) disk scheduler. The idea was picked up by Jens Axboe who had evidently worked on a similar idea earlier. Jens quickly posted two different disk schedulers utilizing "fair queuing" algorithms, more commonly used in handling network traffic. Read the full story at KernelTrap.

The OSNews Powerbook Wars: Continued — Dave’s Review

We've had quite the Powerbook-fest here on OS News over the past few days. I also ordered a 12" Powerbook, and I would have received it several days before Eugenia if Airborne hadn't sent it to the wrong state and then lost it somewhere between Ohio and my house. But it finally arrived, and mine is the hot commodity, a 12" Powerbook with Superdrive (DVD Burner), 640 MB RAM, Airport Extreme (802.11g), and a 60 gig HD. My impression is a little different than Eugenia's and I'm approaching from a different angle.

Microsoft Peeks at Visual Studio.Net’s Future

Microsoft on Tuesday will offer a glimpse at future versions of its Visual Studio.Net development tools and highlight a number of additions to the product line. In the meantime, support grows for .Net: A number of Microsoft partners will announce at VSLive products targeted at Microsoft's .Net. Also, Microsoft Corp. on Monday renamed its XDocs application to InfoPath, but declined to say whether this information-gathering tool would ship as part of Office 11, the code name for the next version of Office, or if it would be sold as a stand-alone product.

Revisions Extend Linux’s Reach

"There's a strong argument to be made that all the pieces needed for an effective Linux desktop system for the enterprise now exist. Less clear, however, is whether a Linux vendor can collect and package those elements into something that's ready—right out of the box—for the mainstream corporate desktop. This is what SuSE Linux Inc. set out to do with its SuSE Linux Office Desktop." Read the article at eWeek.