Interview with Matthew Kille – AmigaOS 4.0 GUI Designer

AmigaWorld.net has interviewed Matthew Kille, the founder of the software company Zeoneo who is also the designer of the default AmigaOS4 graphical user-interface. His company developes both for AmigaOS4 and the Amiga Digital Environment. Please note however that the currently presented AmigaOS4 GUI at various 'OS4 on Tour' events is not yet finalised. This includes a couple of the common UI components and the main overall color scheme.

Trolltech to Release Qt/Mac Under the GPL

From the dot: "Trolltech announced today that they will release a GPL version of Qt/Mac on June 23rd at the Apple's World Wide Developer Conference in San Francisco taking their successful dual licensing strategy for Qt/X11 to the Mac. Also the upcoming Qt Script for Applications (QSA), Trolltech's scripting toolkit for Qt-based applications, will be available under a dual license on Mac OS X. Sam Magnuson from Trolltech already got much of KDE building on Qt/Mac a while ago (screenshots showing Konqueror, Kontact, Games and KOffice). The new license now offered allows to distribute binary builds of KDE for Qt/Mac soon." KDE aside, this will help many other developers to deliver multi-platform apps.

BeOS MaxEdition 3-b1 Released; OpenOffice.org Donation Project

BeOS MaxEdition 3-beta1 is released (260 MB). This distribution of BeOS, based on BeOS 5 PE, has support for more hardware than the normal BeOS 5.0.3, including support for P4s and new AthlonXPs. Burning the booting image is a bit more involved than usual, as it is not a plain ISO image, so please read the readme file before burning the file. Elsewhere, there is a new donation project to help get OpenOffice ported over to the BeOS.

Editorial: Why You Should Support YellowTAB’s Zeta

In light of our world's first preview of YellowTAB's Zeta OS many readers have completely misunderstood a few of the key points presented in the article. Instead of weigh the advantages and disadvantages of Zeta, they only kept in their minds the (so far) negative points. Zeta is still in beta and there is quite some work to be done to clean up before release. I compiled for you two sets of Top-10 reasons why all ex-BeOS users and all other OS enthusiasts should take a good look at Zeta and another set of 10 reasons of why Zeta might not be what you are looking for.

SCO Owns Your Computer

Here is a must-read article in the SCO-Linux-IBM situation. SCO says that Linux uses inappropriate code on IBM's JFS, NUMA, RCU and SMP. Additionally, they are looking into firing against FreeBSD (related info here) while they might even hold Microsoft responsible for some things: "Microsoft merely licensed an applications interface layer." So it is SCO against everyone. Huh, wait. Except Sun: "Sun is clean" SCO's CTO says. SCO also explains the GPL "deal". Update: How appropriate: Looking to capitalize on IBM legal dispute, Sun is readying a new AIX-to-Solaris migration program. Update2: SCO suit now seeks $3 billion from IBM.

Forbes: The Limitations Of Linux

"There have been so many glowing stories on the use of Linux that one might come away with the impression that Linux is an elixir that solves myriad business problems, and that it is always cheaper than alternatives. But like a lot of technologies before it, Linux has, to some degree, been overhyped." Read the story at Forbes.

Unununium Gaining Momentum

Unununium, and interesting project which aims at producing an 'organic' operating system where all components are interchangable at run-time, recently put a screenshot online.They have been making a lot of progress lately, with the website becoming increasingly active and filled with content. This project is a bookmark must-have for any assembly buffs out there as it is entirely written in assembly.

SCO CEO: Why we’re Suing IBM; SCO Revokes IBM’s AIX License

A few years ago, Caldera Systems was bobbing along as one of the last software companies to claim a piece of the Linux land rush, scoring a successful IPO that raised $70 million. McBride spoke with CNET News.com about the origins of the IBM dispute, the side effects and what comes next.
UPDATE: It's official: SCO announces immediate termination of IBM's right to use and distribute AIX and files for permanent injunction. UPDATE 2: IBM says SCO has no right to revoke AIX license.

Sun to Add Scripting on Java; McNealy: Java’s Got a Hold on Microsoft

Sun Microsystems is working with numerous industry partners to support the use of scripting languages in its Java platform. Sun and Zend are leading the effort, which will create a way for developers to write Java applications using popular scripting languages like PHP, ECMAscript, and ASP. According to O'Reilly, Sun could boost its number of Java developers by another 3 million in this way. Elsewhere, Sun's CEO Scott McNealy defended the business merits of his company's Java effort, saying that, despite disappointing sales of Sun's own Java software, the effort has helped keep Microsoft at bay.

Emulate Legacy Operating Systems on Linux; SourceMage 0.6

This article shows you how Linux is used to emulate a wide variety of operating systems. More than mere academic exercises, these "hosted OSes" are practical investments for many server rooms. One of the best things to do with a Linux box is to run programs for other operating systems on it. It can simplify your life considerably. On other Linux news, the SourceMage 0.6 distribution is released.