Mono Playing Catch-Up

Mono 47 Comments
While a 2-year-old project to develop an open-source version of Microsoft Corp.'s .Net Framework is making progress, it's still a long way from prime time. "Yes, of course it's late," said Miguel de Icaza, Mono project leader, last week. "We were supposed to release the ECMA components, but the project has grown." Some Mono observers say they are watchful of Microsoft in this situation, wondering whether the software company is merely tolerating Mono now. "They will either outpace it with rapid-fire revisions to .Net or simply let Mono languish," said an anonymous observer. Read the article at eWeek.
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Lindows 4.0: Getting Better

  Submitted by Reet Wildered Linspire 37 Comments
"I always keep a number of machines around running different versions of Linux and one of them is a Lindows box. Lindows 3.0 was pretty good, but it had a bunch of shortcomings. But the new version, Lindows 4.0, is a much improved, desktop OS with a lot more polish." Read the review at MSNBC.
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Create Debian Linux Packages

  Submitted by Irish Debian 4 Comments
The Debian packaging system is one of the most elegant methods of installing, upgrading, and removing software available. Learn the basics of creating Debian packages for distributing programs and source code. This article shows all the necessary components of a package and how to put them together to end up with a final product.
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L4Env and DDE 0.1 for L4 released

  Submitted by Anonymous OS News 7 Comments
The L4Env, the L4 Environment, and DDE, the Device Driver Environment. L4Env is a programming environment for application development on top of the L4 microkernel family. DDE is an environment for Linux device drivers for using native Linux 2.4 drivers together with L4Env.
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SkyOS USB Support Improved

  Submitted by Jonathan SkyOS 32 Comments
Following features are supported in the upcoming SkyOS 4 version: Multiple UHCI controllers, common HCD driver, USB Driver and interface, USB HUB Class driver and Mass storage class driver. So you can use you USB harddisks/floppy/cdrom/card-readers or digital cameras already. The USB/UHCI driver supports all transfer types (Interrupt, Control, Bulk, ISO). Additionally, the USB system is intergrated into SkyOS. Just plug your device into your USB Hub's, it will be detected and initialized automatically.
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Apple Attempts to Patent Fast User Switching

Apple 268 Comments
"Apple has filed for a patent that suggests the company is working on a new mobile device capable of supporting multiple users. Either that or it's cunningly trying to outflank Microsoft's lead on fast multi-user switching by retrospectively patenting the technique as its own. The application, number 0030107606, is entitled 'Multiple personas for a mobile device'. It describes how a computer system's settings can be immediately changed to reflect a new "persona" when the user chooses from a list of available personae using a graphical user interface displayed on the computer's screen." Read it at The Register. Elsewhere, Think Secret published the fourth installment of its "Inside Panther" series.
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Linux: The Desktop; 2.6-pre Kernels Soon; Ark, Mandrake News

  Submitted by Michael Fraser Linux 111 Comments
In this keynote, OSAF founder and chair Mitch Kapor asks if the same collaborative development methods that created success in the corporate arena can now make open source software central to the consumer desktop. ZDNews TechUpdate has an article on the subject too. Elsewhere, Linus Torvalds has published the last release of the current Linux development kernel, clearing the way to start work on the long-anticipated 2.6 kernel. And, this is an interview of the Ark Linux core team and a couple of contributors, while Gaël Duval tells why Mandrake Linux is better than Windows.
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Native Win32 Port of Qt3 GPL Started

Qt 41 Comments
From the DOT: The KDE on Cygwin project, which produces ports of Qt and KDE to Windows using Cygwin and Cygwin/XFree86, announced that the native Win32 port of the Qt3 GPL library has been started, mainly driven by Richard Lärkäng at the moment. The plan is to provide a base for a future native KDE port. Several screenshots of the ongoing port are available. Richard is seeking developers, who don't have access to the original Qt Windows sources, to help him.
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Thoughts on Mac OS X 10.3: Counting the Bits of a Panther

macOS 152 Comments
A recent article by Tony Smith from The Register titled "Mac OS X 10.3 Panther will not be a 64-bit OS" caused a good deal of confusion with many people, including me. It is also caused a heated argument here on OSNews. The basic point of the article is that Mac OS 10.2.7 and 10.3 are not "true" 64-bit OSes, but the article does not clearly explain what a "true" 64-bit OS is. This had led to a lot of claims that the article is false or misinformed, rather than just unclear, which is certainly is.
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ReactOS 0.1.2 Released

  Submitted by Jason Filby ReactOS 21 Comments
ReactOS 0.1.2 has been released and features many improvements. Basic Java (console and AWT)/Mono (console) apps can run, several 3rd party video drivers for Windows NT 4 can be loaded - and there are many other improvements.
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Microsoft Unveils New Speech Software; Why IT Still Matters

Microsoft 9 Comments
Microsoft released a test version of its new speech-recognition server software, hoping to stake a claim in the market for companies wanting to automate customer service and other functions. Elsewhere, Wading into a debate triggered by a recent Harvard Business Review article, Microsoft's Paul Flessner says the proffered policy prescription won't cure what's really ailing the computer industry.
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