OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Review of SCRIBUS 1.0 – a Free DTP for UNIX

Guest post by Roberto J. Dohnert 2003-07-17 Office 67 Comments

On July 15, 2003 the Scribus project had a milestone release. They released Scribus 1.0. I have used Scribus both personally and professionally since the early development times. 8.0 was when I first used it. 1.0 came with so many bug fixes and has become so refined I decided to do a review of it.

Torvalds: Integrity Of Linux Intellectual Property Is Well Documented

Submitted by Nicholas James 2003-07-17 Linux 105 Comments

Linux creator Linus Torvalds defended the integrity of Linux intellectual property in an interview with CRN Editor Heather Clancy and Editor/News Steven Burke at the CA World conference. Torvalds--who recently left Transmeta to work on Linux full-time at the Open Source Development Lab--talks about Read Copy Update code, copyright protection and SCO during the half-hour interview. Elsewhere, IT-Director has an article titled "Linux To Become A De Facto Standard".

Leostream Keeps VM Systems in Check

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-17 Windows 1 Comment

Large enterprises that plan to use virtualization software to consolidate server capital and lower operating expenses have a powerful management ally in the latest edition of Leostream Inc.'s Leostream Virtual Machine Controller. eWEEK Labs' tests show Leostream VMC Version 2.0, which was released this month, can provide a comprehensive, easy-to-use management solution for handling day-to-day operations and provisioning Windows-based virtual machines.

Microsoft Making Java Noise

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-17 Java 28 Comments

Microsoft Corp. has been busy on the Java front recently, with the release of a new version of its Java conversion tool and enhancements to its Java development environment. Microsoft Tuesday announced Version 2.0 of its Java Language Conversion Assistant (JLCA). The JLCA is based on ArtinSoft Inc.'s migration technology for converting Java code to Visual C# .Net code.

Happy 10th Birthday to all Slackware Fans

Guest post by Delian Krustev 2003-07-17 Slackware, Slax 33 Comments

One of the oldest GNU/Linux distibutions, Slackware, is ten years away from it's v1.00. You could read the announcement here. Slackware has proven to be one of the most stable distros in these 10 years. It has clean design, and by rule avoids unnecessary changes to the prepackaged software. It's package management is elegant and fault tolerant. Slackware is also known to be the closest cousin to UNIX from all the Linuxes. We wish bright future and tons of new users to Slack!

yellowTab Goes KHTML

Submitted by Prognathous 2003-07-17 Zeta 85 Comments

As seen on the yellowTab website: "JavaScriptCore and WebCore are two technologies, ported from Apple's work on KHTML (the engine from Konqueror, a "modern Net+" for Linux's KDE), by YellowTab. These components will allow both developers and users to take advantage of the latest technology available, in their everyday Zeta usage." The article can be found here.

Microsoft Admits and Fixes Windows Flaw

Submitted by Kevin Tham 2003-07-17 Windows 36 Comments

Microsoft has admitted to a serious flaw in their windows sharing component that affects nearly all Windows version, including the latest "most secure" Windows server 2003. The flaw was discovered by Polish researchers, known as the "Last Stage of Delirium Research Group". This comes as a big blow to the since Windows Server 2003 was the first product sold under a high-profile "Trustworthy Computing" initiative organized last year by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Original article here.

FreeBSD 4.x Forked Into DragonFly

Submitted by RJW & Jon 2003-07-17 FreeBSD 51 Comments

DragonFly is an operating system and environment designed to be the logical continuation of the FreeBSD-4.x OS series. Prominent former FreeBSD developer Matthew Dillon is a major player in the development. According to the website, DragonFly gives "the BSD base an opportunity to grow in entirely new direction from the one taken in the FreeBSD-5 series."

Book Review: Core Mac OS X and Unix Programming

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-16 Office 19 Comments

Aaron Hillegass' new book, titled "Core Mac OS X and Unix Programming", is now available in the stores. In the past, we reviewed his previous book "Cocoa Programming for MacOSX" and we got a good idea of Aaron's elegant writing style, descriptive chapters and advanced development under Mac OS X. In this book, he goes down under, teaching us how to handle and develop for the underpinnings of OSX, the core of the OS.

Torvalds Gets Down to the Kernel

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-16 Linux 11 Comments

At this week's CA World 2003 show in Las Vegas, Torvalds sat down with InfoWorld to talk about the completion this past weekend of Version 2.6's first test release; what will keep him up at night worrying about that test release; his thoughts about the impending SCO-IBM suit and possible impact on Linux development; and something of a wish list of technologies to be included in upcoming versions of the open source operating system.

Report: Embedding Windows Costs Less than Embedding Linux

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-16 Windows 60 Comments

Market research firm Embedded Market Forecasters released a report today with data that indicates that embedded development projects using Microsoft's "Windows Embedded" operating system platforms (including Windows CE .NET and Windows XP Embedded) is 43% faster and costs 68% less on average than projects using Embedded Linux. Further background, an executive summary, and a link for free downloading of the full report are available in this WindowsForDevices web site.

Current Status of Amiga OS4

Submitted by Stéphane Guillard 2003-07-16 Amiga & AROS 17 Comments

Stéphane Guillard published recently a comprehensive report of the current status of the Amiga OS4 project. The documents are available in English and in French, in PDF/JPEG or PowerPoint.

Windows Server 2003 Approaching 100,000 Active Sites

Guest post by Mike Prettejohn 2003-07-16 Windows 19 Comments

When Netcraft first reported on Windows Server 2003 they gave an indication on the numbers of sites that had been put up prior to the official launch. In the three months since the launch the number of active sites has increased by over 300% and now stands at 88,400. Microsoft will take some considerable encouragement at the number of sites that have switched from Linux (8,000).

TRON Man Shuns Gates-like Fortune

Submitted by Mark Hill 2003-07-16 In the News 35 Comments

He could have been as rich as Bill Gates, but Ken Sakamura says he's fine earning enough to lead an "ordinary life." In the world of computers, the obscure Japanese engineer stands in the top rank along with Gates, having developed an operating system that is more widely used than even Microsoft Corp's Windows. Sakamura's system, TRON, is used to run items ranging from digital cameras to car engines, just as Windows operates personal computers.

A Quantum Leap in Cryptography

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-16 Privacy, Security 7 Comments

Visionaries are using photons to develop data-security systems that may prove the ultimate defense against eavesdropping hackers.

Researchers Delve into the Human Factor

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-16 Geek stuff 8 Comments

Researchers are trying to get a grip on one of the problems with computers:the human on the other end.

One State Left in Microsoft fight

Eugenia Loli 2003-07-16 Legal 36 Comments

The Justice Department and 19 states have made peace with Microsoft Corp. over its monopolistic misdeeds. But Tom Reilly is still on the company’s case. The Massachusetts attorney general is the lone public sector holdout who has refused to settle with the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant over allegations that it attempted to crush competitors with monopolistic tactics.

Should your Application be on the Grid?

Submitted by Frank 2003-07-16 General Development 3 Comments

A Grid computing environment provides the virtual computing resource that will be used to execute applications. The functional components(security, resource managament, informations services, and data managament)of a grid environment, as well as non-functional considerations such as performance requirements or operating system requirements, must be well understood when considering enabling an application to execute in a grid environment. This article helps you determine whether an application is a good candidate to execute in a grid environment.

Apple Offers Premiere-Trade-In Program

Submitted by Alexei Barr 2003-07-16 Multimedia, AV 46 Comments

In response to Adobe's decision to drop the Mac version of Premiere, Apple now offers a trade-in program to entice Premiere users to move to Final Cut Pro/Express. If Adobe users trade in their disks with Apple, they will receive a free copy of Final Cut Express, or a $500 rebate for Final Cut Pro. In other Apple multimedia news, Apple released Soundtrack for $299, a music composing application.

Apple Games: Leveraging Small Market Share

Guest post by Kevin M. Arvin 2003-07-16 Apple 85 Comments

How many hardcore gamers do you know who are also avid Mac users? Probably not many. Windows users have thousands of titles to choose from, and cheap hardware to run their games on. Despite the many virtues of the Mac platform, it is not the first choice of serious gamers. Even the speedy new G5’s will not change that.