Microsoft may be pulling out all the stops for its 64-bit database Thursday, but if you ask Oracle, this is a non-event. In a series of interviews with CRN Tuesday, one executive after another repeated that the company plans no direct response to Microsoft's 64-bit SQL challenge. Microsoft has positioned that database as proof that SQL Server is ready for the enterprise.

Microsoft says that the release of Windows Server 2003 and a 64-bit SQL Server proves it can compete with Unix vendors in datacentre computing. But analysts say that the products will appeal mainly to NT4 users looking to move to newer versions. Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer today launches software that the company says builds on three years experience with its first datacentre product, Windows Server 2000.

Since the introduction of the UFS2 filesystem (to the general public) in FreeBSD 5.0, there have been many questions from BSD users asking what does it actually mean for them. Recently when browsing the freebsd-current mailing list, I stumbled across a micro-FAQ about UFS2, which might be of interest to OSNews readers.

Very few IT-companies get as much fanatic anticipation from their customers as Apple does. Lots of words have been written about that, including cheers, rants and advice as to what Apple should do next to make the Macintosh experience even nicer for its fans. Whether it's about product pricing, quality or all in all product range, Apple polarizes its users and those who wish they were. It would be foolish for me to take the same approach as anybody else and give Apple some piece of advice. So that's actually what I'm going to do now.

Apple and AMD have been working together of late, a senior AMD official admitted at the launch of the chip maker's 64-bit Opteron processor this week. Also, The Register is hosting an article about Piles, a feature to reportedly be found on 10.3 Pather: They were developed by Gitta Salomon and her colleagues at Apple's Advanced Technology Human Interface Group and announced to the world at the CHI conference in May 1992.

More than 60 partners participate in early Development Program helping to propel Windows Embedded to No. 1 industry position, Microsoft said. Also, Windows Server 2003 by the numbers: One of the biggest product launches in Microsoft History.

In this first installment in a series of excerpts from 'Practical Unix & Internet Security', 3rd Edition, you'll find tips and general design principles to code by that will help you avoid security-related bugs.

In 2001, less than 20% of new AD involved Web Service application programming models such as .NET and Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE). By 2005, however, Web services will be the predominant programming model, used for at least two-thirds, and perhaps as much as 80%, of new applications -- Gartner, Inc., Web Services are the next evolution of the Web and are almost guaranteed to be the future of distributed applications worldwide. The following reference collection represents the "editor's choice" of the 100 most representive and popular articles selected from a list of more than 300 from the Web Services Zone.

DistroWatch reports that a new development release of Lycoris Desktop/LX is out, Build 75. Several package updates have been noted; the more prominent among them are gftp 2.0.14, licq 1.2.6 samba 2.2.8a, wget 1.8.2 and xawtv 3.85.

Get an overview of how to use the Eclipse Platform in your C/C++ development projects. Though Eclipse is mainly a Java development environment, its architecture ensures support for other programming languages. In this article, you'll learn how to use the C/C++ Development Toolkit (CDT), which is the best C/C++ toolkit available for Eclipse.

TomsHardware has an extensive benchmark of the AMD Opteron system, Extremetech has a long analysis of the CPU itself, while NewsForge reviews SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8.0 on AMD Opteron hardware. Read more for the Mandrake press release about their 64-bit version of Linux for the Opteron.

vbRad.com has an article detailing how modular nature of Linux is causing it to have difficulties penetrating the home desktop market. "Bottom line. Most of these problems can be traced to lack of integration between components in Linux. Until there is some integration Linux is unlikely to gain a foothold in the desktop market" the author concludes.

Apple is readying to launch an online service that will cut straight to the core of digital music distribution, winning the praise of some record executives who see it is as a weapon against online piracy. Apple's new service will feature songs from all five major record labels, link with its iTunes music software and allow for easy downloading to the iPod, Apples popular digital music player, people familiar with the matter said.

The paper discusses various aspects of the waved water surface and underwater bottom video representation simulation and also expands on the math models and algorithms of the following related tasks: waved water surface simulation; calculation of reflected and refracted rays directions in 3-D space; underwater caustics (extra illuminated areas) forming; refractive distortion of the bottom view account; reflected skylight addition.