The GNOME 2.4 Desktop & Developer Platform is the latest release of the popular, multi-platform free desktop environment. GNOME 2.4 includes 11 new applications and more than 100 user-requested enhancements. You can use a script like Garnome, CVSGnome or (if on Slackware) Dropline to build. Update: Ximian releases beta of its upcoming Ximian Desktop 3 product, currently losely based on Gnome 2.4, but targeting 2.6 for its final release.

The end of an era for BSD/OS: Yesterday, on the bsdi-users mailing list, it was reported that Wind River Japan had announced that they will be discontinuing BSD/OS Internet Server Edition (ISE) on Dec. 13, 2003. The final version of BSD/OS, BSD/OS 5.1 ISE, will be available as an upgrade for 5.0 ISE customers in October with sales ending on December 31, 2003. This will be available in binary and binary with source code, as with previous releases.

If there's one trend that exemplifies the entire state of the application-development world, it's the transformation of Linux from a curiosity to a core competency. And in the process, Linux has gone from an open-systems destination to a solution providers' competitive operating-system weapon of choice with which to design, build and deploy applications and solutions. Read the article at VARBusiness.

Every tier-one computer company has a core of individuals who act as the company's Big Brains. At IBM and Novell, they are known as "fellows." Same for Microsoft. More often than not, company Big Brains hole up in labs and rarely make public appearances. Not Jonathan Schwartz, one of the Big Brains at Sun Microsystems. Recently, VARBusiness senior executive editor T.C. Doyle caught up with Schwartz to learn more about his dual mission. Also, Sun Microsystems may add a provision to some of its Java licenses to protect consumers from Linux-related lawsuits filed by the SCO Group. "You license Java--we will indemnify you on Linux," says Sun's Jonathan Schwartz.

Microsoft launched on Wednesday the Windows Storage Server 2003 operating system, accompanied by support from companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Veritas Software.

Jono Bacon has published his articles he wrote for LinuxMagazine.UK: "Getting started with Qt", "Qt Designer and KDevelop for beginners", "Using Qt Designer", "Getting to Know Debian" and other articles. Jono recently gave us his opinion in the current... non-competiveness between Gnome & KDE.

Warpstock 2003 will be at the Doubletree Airport Hotel in San Francisco, California, the weekend of October 18 and 19. So far, there are several great presentations scheduled on, read about it here.

Tonight we had a quick chat with YellowTAB's Bernd Korz over the Zeta OS. The German engineer, manager and spokesperson of YellowTAB is speaking of the release date, the changing goals of Zeta and more. Read more for the interesting transcript.

"GNOME 2.4 brings to the Linux desktop considerable polish, accessibility and consistency. This release is a culmination of the work done by commercial vendors and the GNOME community, as evidenced by the fact that three vendors--Sun, Red Hat and Ximian--have already shipped desktops focused on the GNOME 2 platform. The end result is a pleasant desktop that is nimble, attractive and unobtrusive. While it's not perfect, the foundation is now there and the overall product has matured." Read the in-depth review of GNOME 2.4 at ArsTechnica.

"As a long time Linux user, and being somewhat of a geek, I personally would not run Lindows. That said, I must admit that I was extremely surprised at what I found after finally installing Lindows for myself. For the most part this is a well thought out Linux distribution targeted at new computer users and windows converts." Read the review at PhatViBez by Brad Chamberlin.

This press release announces SGI's coming debuts at the IBC in Amsterdam. These include several new workstations and InfiniteStorage, which seems to be a new fileystem for transparently sharing media files across operating systems (Linux, IRIX, Windows NT, OSX).

AWK may not be the first language that comes to mind when you need to write a program, but its flexibility may surprise you. The article is at LinuxJournal.

"Lindows is heading in the right direction when it is going towards the home user market. Lindows is by far the easiest distro of Linux I have tried to date, and yes I've tried Mandrake 8.x/9.x and RedHat 8. Some aspects of Lindows are a bit confusing like the network printer share and no network wizard to share your internet connection." Read the short review at TheSoftwareCorner.

You may have noticed that we've implemented a system that allows readers to report comments that abuse our forum rules, in an effort to improve the quality of the conversation and make the job of moderating the comments a little easier for OSNews volunteers. However, this reactive solution is only half of the effort that will be required to make OSNews a better place for reasoned debate. The proactive, and more important, effort is the responsibility of all those who use the comments system. It involves showing a little restraint before being lured into the fray and contributing to a negative atmosphere.