Although Sun Microsystems Inc. discontinued sales several months ago of its customized Linux distribution, the company hasn't entirely abandoned its do-it-yourself Linux strategy: In its forthcoming bundle of desktop software, code-named Mad Hatter, the included Linux OS will be Sun's own.

In an excerpt from the forthcoming book ShaderX2 - Introduction and Tutorials with DirectX 9, Craig Peeper and Jason Mitchell present a detailed introduction to the Microsoft DirectX High Level Shading Language, including a number of example shaders and optimization strategies.

This download is a self-extracting archive of the beta copy of the Windows Services for UNIX 3.5 product.

"As most Encompass members know, HP has promised — at some point in the future — to integrate Tru64 RAS components, DLM support and TruCluster software into HP-UX. As for HP’s "Consolidated Enterprise UNIX," the effort will be infinitely more difficult, and HP’s progress in this regard bears close attention. SKHPC advises current Alpha/Tru64 users to "stay the course" with Tru64 UNIX V5.1B." Read the analysis at EnompasUS site, an HP User Group.

DesktopLinux recently contacted ELX Linux to learn about the company's desktop strategy, market conditions and business activities. PCTechTalk features an interview with Knoppix's main developer.

Xandros, Inc. has released a 1.1 edition of Xandros Desktop Deluxe. Version 1.1 enhancements include: Support for Microsoft Office XP and Adobe Photoshop 7.0, Mozilla 1.3.1 with spell checking and spam filtering, OpenOffice.org office suite 1.0.3, Evolution groupware client 1.2.4, enhanced hardware detection, Intel i830/845/855 graphics drivers. Xandros Desktop Deluxe 1.1 includes a printed user guide, a Technology Preview CD, and 30 days of e-mail installation support.

SGI and OpenGL architecture review board announced the OpenGL 1.5 specification, introducing support for a "revolutionary" OpenGL Shading Language. Also, SGI and Sun Microsystems' Software Platforms to work seamlessly together with Java bindings to OpenGL. I wonder if this new OpenGL 1.5 spec clashes with 3DLabs' suggested 2.0 specification somehow.

Red Hat has released a public beta of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.9.95 (Advanced Server and Workstation versions) for i386, ia64 and AMD64.

From our sister site, NewMobileComputing: PPCW.net has a review of the new version of Windows Mobile 2003 operating system running on PocketPCs.

Internet-based product activation of Windows XP involves transmitting an amount of data to the Microsoft activation servers. Is this a threat to the users' privacy?

Another test release of Linux's next incarnation, 2.6 has been released today. The full release is available here as well as a patch for those who prefer it. Check out kernel.org for details.

This article is aimed at Unix developers who already have some experience with programming languages and want to start developing GUI applications. It may also come in handy if you have used a particular GUI toolkit for some time and want to know whether others might suit your needs better.

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said the intellectual property battle between SCO and IBM is hurting the business of Linux. Gates said the SCO controversy has exposed a fundamental weakness of Linux--that the General Public License (GPL) makes it difficult for companies to engage in the cross-licensing deals that have become standard in the software industry. That's a big Achilles heel, Gates said.

Misinterpreted. I think that is about the best word around to describe the reactions to my previous article. Whether it has been misinterpreted due to people only reading what they want to read, due to an unclear choice of words on my behalf, or other factors, I am going to try it again. I will try to explain my position, again. Now, more stable, the code has been rewritten from scratch!