"Red Hat has become one of the most widely deployed Linux distributions in the Enterprise space, and has long been a favorite of Linux devotees. Red Hat 8 introduced a new Gnome-based GUI that gave the OS a unique look and feel, and the company has continued to add more proprietary configuration tools designed to make system tweaking a graphical, rather than a command-line process." Read the article at ExtremeTech.

Microsoft plans to deliver two specialized versions of its Windows operating system software for AMDs' forthcoming 64-bit processors. Full announcement here.

Today, we host a mini-interview with Fink's project leader, Max Horn. The Fink project wants to bring the full world of Unix Open Source software to Darwin and Mac OS X. They modify Unix software so that it compiles and runs on Mac OS X and make it available for download as a coherent distribution. Fink uses Debian tools like dpkg and apt-get to provide powerful binary package management and you can choose whether you want to download precompiled binary packages or build everything from source.

On a normal system, if an attacker gains root or administrator access, he or she can run rampant. Not so on a trusted system -- at least so long as it is properly configured. Read the article at NewsFactor.

Dirk Meyer helped rescue Advanced Micro Devices from a tight spot once before. Now the company is hoping he can do the trick again. In his interview to ZDNet, he talks about the Opteron version of Windows, the Linux support for it, Athlon64 and more.

"Organizations can beneficially and successfully make the switch to Linux on the Desktop by keeping in mind two core factors. By applying the foundational principals behind two factors, even the most techno-phobic and proprietary software entrenched small sized companies can painlessly move to Linux on the Desktop." Read the story at ReallyLinux.

FWB, in response to Microsoft's acquisition of Connectix, has announced that it will again produce its Windows emulation product, RealPC, with the first release to be expected within 30 days.

The new The Rational Developer Powerpack has been released, it includes XDE - Java Platform, XDE - .NET Platform, Rational Rose Enterprise Edition, Rational Rose RealTime, PurifyPlus, software evaluation guide, technical articles and whitepapers, valuable code snippets and reference applications, a handy quick-reference posters and much more. Also take a look at this interview with Rational Chief Scientist Grady Booch, who offers insights on the future of software development.

Tests of final code show Microsoft's latest operating system is appreciably faster than its predecessor.

"... with Microsoft Corp. While it's doubtful that either company will be able to unseat Windows' monopoly status in the PC market, you've got to admire their pluck. Sun Microsystems Inc.'s attack on Microsoft's desktop fortress is called Project Mad Hatter and uses Linux combined with StarOffice and other open-source goodies. Although most of the attention has been given to Sun's embrace of Linux and open source, the real story is about hardware." Read the article at ComputerWorld.

"We often forget that that idea of software as a boxed, mass-market, proprietary product is only about 30 years old. During these three decades, the software industry has made a number of individuals wealthy. But this era may be over. The future of software may not have room for new billionaires, even though there is a growing demand for new software, and opportunities for people who write that software will continue to grow along with that demand." Read the article at NewsForge.

I'm going to warn you now - this editorial is as much rant as anything else, you have been warned! One of the things that really bugs me in the comments often found in articles is the "my OS can do this better/bst" type stuff, it's not just Windows or Linux Users, it comes from a lot of camps. And puts me in mind of Usenet at times it gets so bad.

Mandrake Linux 9.1 is in virtual lockstep with Red Hat and SuSE but offers cleaner fonts and support for partitioning NTFS drives, C|Net says.

Emanuel Chanampa writes: "E/OS LX 0.2.2 pre is now available. Based on the linux kernel and Wine, the user gets a free Windows-compatible system, capable of running programs and some games."