KDE 3.1 vs. GNOME 2.2, Part II

Rumors 78 Comments
"KDE is delivering a better version of what GNOME's goal has apparently morphed into: becoming a great component framework that you can write to in multiple languages. Nicholas Petreley rebuffs the common GNOME battle slogans and explains why the window-manager's name needs reworking." Read the article at LinuxWorld. Commentary Update by Eugenia: The author of that article advocates that Gnome is... lame, but I would just say that these wars "gnome vs kde" are the lame ones.
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Apple Must Innovate

Apple 79 Comments
"Going by the numbers, Apple Computer Inc. appears headed for trouble again. While CEO Steven P. Jobs engineered a remarkable comeback after retaking the helm in 1997, one-time expenses, such as plant closures, have pushed the company into the red for two quarters running." Read more at BusinessWeek.
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NeoWin Exclusive: Longhorn Build 4008 Leaked

Windows 86 Comments
NeoWin reports that they got their hands on a new leaked version of Windows Longhorn, the next big version of Windows. Commentary: The reporter insists that these are original shots. Lots of grandients are going on in the UI and while this is an alpha and the final version might look different (that's what happened with XP's Luna, MS only revealed XP's final design only a few months before the release, while most betas used another theme), these shots showing there are just pretty ugly IMHO. Bad taste on colors, no easy distinction between elements, it all looks like a big bad web page.
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Gates Reveals Windows Source Code to China

Windows 63 Comments
"Microsoft on Friday signed a pact with the Chinese government to reveal the Windows source code, making China among the first to benefit from its program to allay the security fears of governments. In addition, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates hinted that China will be privy to all, not just part, of the source code the government wishes to inspect. " Read the rest at ZDNet.
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Perceptions: Is Linux a Suitable Desktop Platform?

Linux 73 Comments
In this guest column at DesktopLinux.com, former SCO evangelist and Samba.org team leader John H. Terpstra weighs in on market perceptions about Linux and its suitability for the desktop. Interviewing a sample group –- that included 30 people evenly split in the Linux and MS camps -- Terpstra discovered each group cited the very same arguments in defending their OS of choice! The author sought definitive answers about the state of Desktop Linux and reasons for and against a switch to Linux. The results, and key factors, were not as expected.
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Editorial About Lycoris on a Blog Entry

  Submitted by Corey H Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 67 Comments
"Lycoris does what I mentioned a few days ago on this site. It lets a person sit down and gets some work done without ever needing to crack the hood. Mandrake, Red Hat, and many other Linux versions are equivalent to buying a kit full of parts and tools and building your own car. Lycoris is like going to the dealership, plunking down the cash, and driving away. Lindows offers the same thing. But Lindows costs $129, rather than $29. And Lindows requires a yearly subscription plan of $99 a year. Whereas the Lycoris plan is included in the one time purchase price. And Lindows is proprietary, you cannot download it for free. Xandros also claims to be aimed at the windows user. But Xandros costs $99 and is proprietary. You can't get it for free either. So much for choice. Lycoris is now running on both my systems." Read the blog entry at TheForge, by Barry Smith.
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IBM PowerPC 970 Blade Reaches 2.5 GHz in Lab

IBM 88 Comments
The new IBM PowerPC 970 is the heart of the PowerPC Blade. It is based on the 64-Bit Power 4 architecture which is also used in the processors of the IBM eServer pSeries. The 64-bit microprosessor offers full symmetrical multi-processing, has a high reliability (with parity L1, ECC L2 and parity checked system bus) and is manufactured in the latest 0,13 micrometer Copper/SOI CMOS technology. The CPU runs at frequences ranging from 1.8 GHz - 2.5 Ghz, therefore the IBMPowerPC 970 is the fastest PowerPC so far. It also features onchip 512 KB L2 Cache, Altivec Vector/SIMD unit, 6,4 GB/s I/O system bus throughput. Rumors want that chip to be the next CPU used by Apple when it's out.
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Putting Microsoft Brand on a New Breed: Longhorn

  Submitted by sunlit mechanism Windows 44 Comments
"The new operating system is expected to be a key weapon in Microsoft's battle against low-cost software based on freely shared code. Although various versions of Windows run more than 90 percent of the world's computers, software developers are increasingly drawn to open-source software such as the Linux operating system". Read the article at SeattleTimes by Brier Dudley.
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Novell: Getting its Story Straight

Novell and Ximian 7 Comments
"Nearly every IT director is familiar with Novell's NetWare operating system and its strong network directory. But despite a string of reorganizations and refocused marketing messages, Novell's fortunes remain tightly hewed to its base of NetWare customers, which has shrunk substantially at the expense of Windows. Chris Stone is out to change that. Stone rejoined Novell nearly one year ago as vice chairman after a three-year hiatus. His mission: explain how Novell's trove of slick networking technology solves thorny business problems, like security and identity management." Read the interview at C|Net News by Martin LaMonica.
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Linux: Where The Anticipatory Scheduler Shines

  Submitted by Bascule Linux 19 Comments
Andrew Morton recently posted some interesting benchmarks comparing the current 2.4 IO scheduler, a "hacked" version of the deadline IO scheduler in 2.5.61, the CFQ scheduler, and the anticipatory scheduler. Offering a succinct "executive summary" of his results, Andrew said, "the anticipatory scheduler is wiping the others off the map, and 2.4 is a disaster." Indeed, in many of the tests the other IO schedulers were measured in minutes, whereas the anticipatory IO scheduler was measured in mere seconds. Read the report at KernelTrap by Jeremy Andrews.
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The Creative Penguin: The GNOME Art Duo Speak

  Submitted by Timothy R. Butler Gnome 33 Comments
After spending time with Torsten Rahn and Everaldo Coelho earlier this year, we continue our Creative Penguin series in a discussion with Tuomas "Tigert" Kuosmanen and Jakub "Jimmac" Steiner of Ximian. If you've ever admired the beautiful artwork of GNOME, these are the gentlemen responsible for it. How did they get involved? Why should you be interested in desktop artwork? They now discuss all of this and more with Open for Business' Timothy R. Butler.
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Before Linux Is on Every Desktop…

  Submitted by sunlit mechanism Linux 35 Comments
It's more likely to keep making greater strides in single-use areas, such as cash registers, than in consumers' PCs says BusinessWeek. However, the future of Linux probably rests with corporate IT departments says Will Harvie in his talks to Kiwi organisations about using open-source operating systems and software.
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