The OpenBSD project hopes that new changes to its latest release will eliminate "buffer overflows," a software issue that has been plaguing security experts for more than three decades.
NetBSD's main claim to fame, so to speak, is its portability. Although ports of Linux are available for several platforms, NetBSD blows the penguin's doors off when it comes to platform support. Read the article at NewsFactor.
Sun Microsystems made strides this week with its Linux strategy, releasing updated Sun ONE compiler code for both its low-end SPARC and Intel's x86 platforms, and adopting common Linux distributions instead of pushing its own version.
"I'm tired of reading on an almost monthly basis articles asserting that Linux isn't yet ready for the desktop. Nonsense! Linux is about as ready for the desktop as Windows is. It's simply a matter of corporate and user inertia that's keeping Linux marginalized."Read the editorial at NewsForge.
The Liberty Alliance next week will announce two new draft specifications and for the first time turn over a portion of its work to a standards group providing the first evidence that efforts to create a standards-based identity management framework may be fragmenting.
It's worth watching for, as indications are that X# would be used to treat XML as a first-class citizen in the .Net programming arena. Read the article at TechUpdate.
Open source never stands still. Even the flexible and mature BSDs are continuing to evolve. In this article, Michael Lucas looks at the NetBSD upgrade process, demonstrating the most common steps to stay abreast of the current source code.
Mandrake Linux 9.1 for PPC is out and is based on Linux kernel 2.4.21 and includes XFree86 4.3.0, KDE 3.1, GNOME 2.2, OpenOffice.org 1.0.2 (semi-related note: OOo 1.0.3 has just come out), Mozilla 1.3, Apache 2, and Samba 2.2.7. Specifical features for this PPC version include: MOL Mac-On-Linux, pbbuttonsd/gtkpbuttons, BenH based alternate kernel.
MySQL is aiming for speedier development cycles than most database companies. The company is currently focusing on two products: MySQL versions 4.1 and 5.0. It released the binaries of 4.1 this week and plans to unveil a final version in about eight months. A final version 5.0 should be available about six months after that. Read the report at News.com.
The up to now highly anticipated Red Hat Linux 9 is finally released. OSNews had its hands to the final version of Red Hat Linux 9 for over 3 weeks now and we were able to evaluate it in a number of ways. The final version is not too different than the Phoebe-3 beta for which we wrote a preview recently.
Mac OS X 10.2.5, now available via Software Update and through the Apple Store, delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for the following applications, utilities, services, and technologies: Address Book, AirPort, AppleScript, Bluetooth, Classic compatibility, Disk Copy, Disk Utility, Finder, iChat, Image Capture, IP Firewall, Kerberos, Mail, OpenGL, Print Center, Rendezvous, and Sherlock.
The GNOME Development Series Snapshot 2.3.0 "Mighty Atom", is ready for your bug-busting and testing. A few new modules were added to this dev beta of Gnome for testing: battfink (energy saving and battery tool), fontilus, galeon, gcalctool, gnome-mag (desktop magnification tool), gok ('GNOME On-screen Keyboard', an accessibility tool), gpdf, gucharmap (unicode character map tool), nautilus-cd-burner, themus (theme management), zenity.
"When I interviewed Sun chief engineer Rob Gingell last August, he hinted at a blurring of the lines between Linux and Solaris, if not an outright merger. Said Gingell: "Five years from now, when all the tribes intermarry, who is going to know what's Solaris and what's Linux, and who's going to care?"Read the editorial at ZDNews.
"Sure, Microsoft has its own table comparing the various Windows Server 2003 editions, but that version is incomplete, hard to read, and poorly organized, especially if you're interested in the features that are specific to the 64-bit editions of this product family. So here is my own comparative table, which I think you'll find to be much more readable."Check it out over at WinSuperSite.
I was desperately looking for something to write about when I happened to chance upon Apple’s new shipping system – a dual 1.42GHz Power Mac G4. A new system, a faster system, but does it mean a brighter future for Apple?
Microsoft Corp. "dropped the other shoe" today, as it were, announcing the first source code sharing program for its Windows CE embedded operating system that allows developers and manufacturers to actually redistribute modified OS code in real products. Read the report at WindowsForDevices.
It's still a ways off, but when Solaris 10 arrives, Sun Microsystems will ship the OS with a new type of partitioning technology called Solaris Zones. Read the report at TheRegister.