The Linux 2.6 production kernel promises to be the most advanced open-source platform developed to date, according to computer scientists who have been putting the 2.5 development kernel through its paces. Read the article at eWeek.

Researchers at IBM have used carbon molecules to emit light, a breakthrough that could replace silicon as the foundation of chips and lead to faster computers and telecommunication equipment. The focus of the research team was ultratiny, tube-shaped carbon molecules, or nanotubes, that are more than 50,000 times thinner than an average human hair, according to a statement from IBM this week.

Within last week's Q&A session Amiga's CTO already cleared up the strategic reasoning behind transferring the AmigaOS4 ownership to Hyperion. Within this week's Q&A Fleecy clear's up some more misconceptions regarding Amiga's influence on the AmigaOS4 development. Other questions relate to the AmigaDE, future hardware and software development for AmigaOS4.

Robert McMillan has written a feature article regarding Linux storming into the financial computing industry. Robert expects that 2003 will be Linux' make or break year regarding financial applications.

From the press release: Under the terms of an amended licensing agreement with Geoworks of Emeryville, California, effective April 1, 2003, Breadbox Computer Company, LLC of Port Richey, Florida, has obtained the worldwide exclusive and perpetual rights to the patented Geos operating system for all hardware platforms.

A Belgian developer has ported parts of the OpenBeOS/BeOS toolkit and API to Windows. This is not the first time something like this is being done, but possibly it is the most advanced of the efforts. This is also similar to what the B.E.O.S. team does, trying to port the BeOS API to Linux. Update: Xentronix project leader seems to have stop developing BeOS apps and the Sequel OS, citting personal reasons.

Ingo Molnar has announced a new kernel-based security feature for Linux/x86 called "Exec Shield". He describes the patch, which is against the 2.4.20-rc1 kernel, as, "The exec-shield feature provides protection against stack, buffer or function pointer overflows, and against other types of exploits that rely on overwriting data structures and/or putting code into those structures. The patch also makes it harder to pass in and execute the so-called 'shell-code' of exploits. The patch works transparently, ie. no application recompilation is necessary."

The 90th issue of Linux Gazette is out and it includes articles like "Software development for a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 Linux PDA", "The CUPS printing system" and "Programming with User Mode Linux".

"With Windows Server 2003 behind us, it's time to turn our attention to the more exciting world of desktop computing, where Microsoft is slowly plowing through pre-beta milestones of Longhorn, it's follow-up to Windows XP. Due in late 2004 or early 2005, Windows Longhorn will offer sweeping changes over its predecessors and be the most significant release of Microsoft's desktop operating system since Windows 95. For developers, consumers, and business users alike, Longhorn is going to be huge." Read the article at WinSuperSite.

Red Hat announced the availability of our AMD64 technology preview. This preview is for those who are interested in early access to a Red Hat distribution for the AMD64 platform.

Microsoft will demonstrate its much debated Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) security initiative for the first time next week at an event in New Orleans, and will also provide further details on its plans for managing IT systems. Read the details at InfoWorld.

Microsoft is touting Windows Server 2003 as an operating system capable of pushing aside Unix and mainframes. But most customers will be upgrading from Windows NT 4--and at a slow pace, analysts say at News.com.

In a posting at ANN.lu, ex-Amiga, Inc. employee Bolton Peck breaks his silence. He reports about his time at Amiga Inc., the court trial against his former employer and informs us who is the real CEO of Amiga. Moreover, Bolton gives a general overview into what has happened behind the scenes during the past 3 years. Where does this situation leave the upcoming AmigaOS 4.0 remains to be seen. Update: AmigaWorld.net has a thread about the situation as well.

The L4Ka team is pleased to announce the first release of the L4Ka::Pistachio microkernel. L4Ka::Pistachio is the latest L4 microkernel developed by the System Architecture Group at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, in collaboration with the DISY group at the University of New South Wales, Australia. It is the first available kernel implementation of the L4 Version 4 kernel API.