From NeoWin: "We have released the latest version of the DirectX D3D API to compliment the Beta 2 documentation. We recommend you review both the SDK documentation and this specification to assist development using Beta 2 DirectX D3D. The document includes: D3D-9 specs, D3D-9 shader specs, API changes explained, miscellaneous changes explained, sample code."

The article explains Linux debugging tools and techniques in various scenarios. It reviews debugging problems, including segmentation faults, memory overruns and leaks, and hangs. This article also appears in the August 2002 issue of the IBM developerWorks journal.

The exclusive news we broke last Monday, regarding gobeProductive going GPL in the very near future, have been going around the biggest sites on the web. We hear that the C++ source code of GP3 is of exceptional quality, and its creators are hoping into a broad participation of developers after its release. Because of its very clean codebase, GP3 is many times smaller and easier to handle, programming-wise, compared to, let's say, OpenOffice.org. We asked Bruce Hammond, now CEO of FreeRadicalSoftware, regarding the general portability of the software and the possibility of an OSX port. Bruce replied: "A port to OS-X is possible and very likely in the near future (8 month timeframe). We are starting a project to clean up the cross-platform engine and make moving GP to new platforms simpler."

So, ReactOS 0.20 was released very recently, the guys seem to make strides. NewOS had a new version too. Syllable is set for a new release, 0.4.1, in two weeks time, with lots of changes on the desktop part of the OS. Kurt Skauen, the AtheOS creator, is now presumed alive, he was just flying around! The MenuetOS web site has lots of new screenshots, they now have implemented skinning. SkyOS now has a sound API, based on OSS. FreeType 2.1.2 was released, and it is presumably much faster than before. A new IDE for Linux, named Anjuta, seems very interesting too, while mySQL, Lua and GnuCash had new versions too. On the downsides, we had Maarten Hekkelman quitting the Pepper business, while the guy who released ReBorn 1.0 just a week ago - a ReBirth clone, we were the first to report on it -, was instructed from Propellerhead Software to remove ReBorn from his site. Sad.

"Microsoft Corp. said yesterday that the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) flaw recently uncovered by an independent researcher is in multiple versions of the Windows operating system, not its Internet Explorer Web browser. Company officials added that the flaw isn't in Microsoft's CryptoAPI application program interface (CAPI) either, which would have left a number of applications and Windows services vulnerable, not just Internet Explorer." Read the report at ComputerWorld.

A few days back we hosted an interview with one of the two big names of the hobby Linux gaming houses. Today, it is time to interview the other big name, Bill Kendrick of NewBreedSoftware.

DistroWatch reports that the Mandrake beta announcements seem to come on Mondays only, but the beta 3 ISO images are already up for grabs: MandrakeLinux-9.0beta3-CD1.i586.iso (702MB), MandrakeLinux-9.0beta3-CD2.i586.iso (699MB) and MandrakeLinux-9.0beta3-CD3.i586.iso (412MB). Update: Announcement has arrived in our mailboxes and it is also live on the Mandrake site.

FreeBSD 4.6.2 is released. Download from here, release notes and changes done here.

The GNOME 2.0.x Desktop and Developer Platform releases are devoted to bugfixes, translations, user interface consistency, and general polish of our major 2.0 release. In GNOME 2.0.1, you'll see the results of our user interface review and continued performance and stability fixes.

This GCC release is based on the GCC 3.1 sourcebase, and thus has all the changes in the GCC 3.1 series. In addition, GCC 3.2 has a number of C++ ABI fixes which make its C++ compiler generate binary code which is incompatible with the C++ compilers found in earlier GCC releases, including GCC 3.1 and GCC 3.1.1.

San Francisco, Wed. 14th Aug 2002. This was my first Linux-related exhibition, so I did not exactly know what to expect. Jill from DesktopLinux came by the house and picked me up this morning (thanks Jill :) and we arrived there around 10:40 AM, with lots of enthusiasm and some expectations for a nice geek show. However, it seems that this year's LinuxWorld is much more corporate than expected. Which is both a good and a bad thing for the Linux universe.

Xandros announced today the release date for its first-generation Linux desktop product, Xandros Desktop 1.0. The product, due to be released on September 30, 2002 and available for purchase within three weeks after that date, is built upon Linux kernel 2.4.19, XFree86 4.2, Debian 3.0, Corel LINUX 3.0, and enhanced KDE. It features the Xandros Install Express, Xandros File Manager, and extensive configuration panels and wizards. Xandros Desktop 1.0 also includes Xandros Networks - an application that enables users to obtain feature enhancements, bug fixes, and the latest Xandros news via a single mouse click. Read the rest of the press release here. Our two previous interviews with Xandros VP Michael Bego, filled with more information, can be found here and here.

A PC World article reports (thinly) on the Sergey Brin speech at LinuxWorld. Google certainly stands as one of the most high profile and impressive implementations of Linux on a massive scale. The Google co-founder attributes some of Google's success at building a cost-effective platform to the Linux OS.

In a move that could have repurcussions in the alternative OS world, Microsoft has pulled the free web fonts (Verdana, Courier New, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS etc.) that were downloadable from its site for some time. This is significant since several Linux distributions provide automatic installers for these fonts to improve the default fonts. Also, these fonts are essential for a bettet web browsing. Hopefully, distributors will now spend some money to design a good standard set of free fonts of their own.