If you've used Linux for more than ten minutes, you've almost certainly come across the nightmare that is package management. You know what I mean - dependancy hell has become legendary and it's no exagguration to say that one of the most offputting aspects of Linux for a new user is the lack of InstallShield type 3 click installs. This article looks at how we ended up in the quagmire of RPM and dependancy hell, and then moves on to talk about a possible solution in the form of autopackage. It takes a high level overview of how autopackage works and what it's capable of. If you want more technical details, check out the website. Finally, this article assumes only that you're interested, not that you have any Linux experience.

Andreas Girardet writes: "Yoper limited (a New Zealand Operating System Company) is proud to announce the first public release (release candidate) of Ydesktop. This is the first part of Your Operating System that Yoper Limited ("Yoper") is developing."

It’s easy to grow increasingly cynical the more you follow “innovation” in operating systems and software. New releases often turn out to be nothing more than reinventing, or repackaging, the wheel, with new icons and steeper system requirements. Yet every now and then persistence pays off and that lengthy download or poorly written web site delivers something truly amazing and faith in the future of computing is, albeit temporarily, restored. I experienced such a sensation a couple of months ago when I downloaded the CD-ROM based, Linux distribution known as Knoppix.

The Aberdeen Group has issued a report on Big Blue and its Linux products and strategy today for the enterprise today. The report -- An Assessment of IBM's Enterprise Linux Strategy -- says that the firm has so far spent billions in an attempt to lead the industry on Linux related technology. But it questions whether IBM will be able to sustain this strategy over a long period of time. Read the news report.

I'm a long-time Windows user, but for years I've been searching for an intelligent alternative. Macs are actually a great choice, but have you priced them lately? I don't have two grand to spend for another system. I had been reading all the hoopla surrounding Xandros Desktop for a number of months and decided to take the plunge. I had been burned two times previously trying to install other Linux distributions. Their tech support was non-existent. I'm essentially working in a vacuum. When something has gone wrong in the past, I've found that I was on my own.

Two of the year's most user-friendly Linux distributions--SuSE Linux 8.1 and Red Hat Linux 8.0--have closed the gap between Windows and Linux. For those who have at least a few years of PC experience, it's now feasible to switch from Windows to Linux or, at the very least, use both--in a dual-boot environment or on separate machines. So, which of these alternatives should you choose? Read on.

Sun Microsystems loaned OSNews the high-end version of the new Sun Blade 150 series workstation, which sells for $3,395 USD (no monitor). Since this Solaris 9/SPARC machine is intended as a workstation, it is here reviewed as such in this article and not as a server.

"The latest gcc holds it own against Intel C++, winning some benchmarks it lost previously. There are still applications where Intel shines, but the differences between the compilers have narrowed. So which compiler is better? Like Einstein, I have to say the answer is relative." Read the article here.

As the open-source movement is gains momentum, the debate over its future heats up. Can this loosely-formed coalition be able to withstand the pressure of Microsoft and other big companies that live off proprietary software? Read about it at ZDNet.

The leading OpenBSD programmer, Theo DeRaadt, has accused Sun Microsystems of hindering development of the open-source software for its newer computers, causing Sun to scramble to cooperate with the project in response.

When it comes time for you to buy toys for all the good little boys and girls on your shopping list, don't forget OSNews' price comparison engine. It will help you find the best price on electronics and computer stuff, even factoring in shipping charges. There's even a new feature that allows you to search for mail-in rebate information. If you've never used the price comparison engine before, give it a try, and let us know what you think.

"Slackware 8.1 is a four-disk set. The first disk in the set is the only one you really, absolutely need to install Linux. The second CD is a live filesystem CD that can be used to boot into Linux without installation. Disks three and four contain source code and the "contribs" — software that's not part of the main distribution, but that you might want anyway." Read the review at UnixReview.

Red Hat Chairman and CEO Matthew Szulik said Microsoft's legal efforts to challenge open source by employing patent infringement law represent a big threat. "It's a credible threat, no doubt about it," said Szulik. "We see the threat of costs of litigation could be harmful, cause a disenfranchisement of the global collaborative community and disrupt the speed of innovation. Yes, I think it's quite credible." Read the report at CRN.

Bochs, the x86 emulator, will celebrate its version 2.0 soon. Changes include: CPU optimizations boost simulation speed by around 2x, Bochs now supports up to 8 hard drives, or 8 CDROMs, or any combination, added support for the AMD x86-64 instruction set used in their Hammer processor, added support for MMX instructions, added support for SSE and SSE2 instructions, remote GDB stub support.