Jamie Zawinski wrote an editorial regarding the status of video playback under Linux (note: strong language is used). My take: The guy is my hero (he could use better language though). This is exactly the status of usability on Linux, and not just with video players...

HelloWorld is a software application with a visual approach to connecting people, online messaging, search and transfer operations, and personal publishing, in a decentralized network environment that is owned and operated by the network community. The application (soon to be released for Windows, Linux and Mac) is literally an alternative user interface for our online needs.

What OS is used most? Where? By Whom? Participate and shape the OS Worldmap.

In a Microsoft mailing list posting sent yesterday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates reports that the company is making progress on its initiative to make its products more secure, though he also notes that the demand for security has risen since Microsoft began the initiative. New versions of Windows Server 2003, SQL Server, and Exchange Server will have all passed the new, more stringent, testing, and users will notice that vulnerable services will be turned off by default. Gates also promoted the use of smart cards for authentication in the email. Read more in this PC World article.

Most of you probably remember the Moho competition we ran about a month ago. After that article, our friends over at PCLinuxOnline ran a story asking Lost Marble to port Moho to Linux. While the popular cartoon-making application runs fine under WINE, Lost Marble actually did the full port with the help of GTK+ 2.0. The (small) company recently released version 4.0.2 for Windows, MacOS9/X and now, for Red Hat Linux 8.0. They are looking for feedback, bug reports and they would like to know if their port actually works on other distros additionally to Red Hat 8.0. Here is a screenshot under Red Hat 8.

The Issue 34 of OpenBeOS' newsletter is out. Topics discussed is VM2, is a newly designed virtual memory system designed specifically for OpenBeOS. It is completely object oriented and designed for easier maintenance. Another topic is "Beatrice: Coordinates, Views and Messages" and the commentary "The Fate of Microsoft".

"Apple needed to ensure that Microsoft would continue to provide MS Office for Mac, or we were dead," Fred Anderson, Apple's chief financial officer, testified in U.S. District Court. "They were threatening to abandon the Mac." When the five-year deal expired last summer, neither company expressed interest in renewing it. Pundits speculated then that Microsoft was planning to abandon the Mac. Now, it appears the opposite is true.

Speaking at the Oracle Appsworld here, the 58-year old Ellison, said he hoped that Oracle would soon be able to run its desktop applications on Lindows. The shrewd Ellison was however quick to sense the skepticism among the audience about the concept to make a cheap open software that runs both Linux and Windows code, but that looks and runs like Windows. "Lindows may not succeed, but it's at least possible. Even if Lindows comes close to success, the product could beget the massive transition that Microsoft perpetually fears," Ellison said.

In his latest Michael's Minute, Lindows.com founder and president Michael Robertson announced the forthcoming LindowsOS MP3.com Edition, which appears to be the Membership Edition bundled with 12 complete CDs. A collaboration between Robertson's previous effort and his current project, it's the first mainstream Linux distribution to focus on audio as a major component. Though it doesn't appear to be as complete as the Red Hat and Debian multimedia editions currently in beta, once again, Lindows.com is directly addressing the needs of a standard desktop user.

Now that the Justice Department and Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly are content with the wrist-slapping meted out to Microsoft, few expect any abatement in the company's abuse of its monopoly power. Although many argue that, eventually, the markets themselves will bring about more balanced competition, the markets that Microsoft dominates operate on different economic principles than most others. The last twenty years brought such dramatic technological change that it'll be much harder for competitors to dislodge Microsoft from its perch atop the industry than it was for Microsoft to dethrone IBM a generation ago.

The SCO Group is working on a new platform, known as SCOx, that it hopes will drive the next generation of applications on both the network and the server, across both Unix and Linux. McBride also addressed the controversy surrounding SCO's plans to make users pay for some Unix software they're running, unlicensed, on Linux. McBride said it was "very widespread and would generate a revenue stream in the millions of dollars. We know who they are."

IBM and Hewlett-Packard garnered billions of dollars in revenue from Linux-related products in 2002, the companies said this week. Update: IBM: 'Linux is here to stay'.

Apple Computer originally created its new Keynote software to allow its boss, Steve Jobs, to make it through speeches without a hitch. But now that the company has released the presentation program to the public, early customers say it is anything but bug-free. Some from people who say the program is the first they have used that can bring Apple's Mac OS X operating system to its knees. "I've never had any OS 10 app crash the whole system before," reads a posting from "Yikesboy."

SciTech Software, Inc. today announced that it has completed the initial release of SciTech SNAP Graphics for QT/Embedded. This release is based on SciTech latest System Neutral Access Protocol (SNAP) architecture and shows SciTech's resolve to further enable the emerging embedded market with a level of graphics performance usually reserved for mainstream desktop machines. Additionally, SciTech began alpha testing on a new Linux version of SciTech SNAP Graphics.