Just a Thought: Could Multi-CPU Machines do Business for Apple?

Apple 73 Comments
I was reading this morning an editorial at BusinessWeek regarding Apple being "too cool" but not delivering new PowerMacs. I have heard that the G4 CPUs are already close to their limit regarding the speeds they can deliver. In the past I wrote an editorial regarding Apple creating "Macs based on x86/Opteron" but seeing Apple staying faithful to the Motorola CPUs, could the development of multi-CPU Macs could be a (temporary) answer to the G4 speed limit (especially when the G5 is nowhere to be seen)?
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Intel Unveils Linux Developer Tool

Intel 3 Comments
"Intel Corp. on Wednesday is releasing a Linux version of its technology designed to enable software developers to better analyze and optimize their applications. Using the Intel VTune Performance Analyzer 1.0 for Linux, developers should be able to determine how to get the most out of their Linux applications using Intel's Pentium 4 and Xeon chips, according to the Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker." Read the short story at eWeek.
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A Senior Citizen’s Introduction To Linux

Linux 44 Comments
"Terry Hatfield introduced Linux to a Senior Citizen in response to her ongoing Windows system woes. Hatfield proves that Linux can be used successfully by anyone wanting to perform simple tasks -- in this case browsing the Internet, using email, and playing solitaire. After a one month trial, Hatfield asked the elderly woman if she wanted Linux removed from her system, and she affirmed that her new OS of choice was Linux" Read more at DesktopLinux.com
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Intel Adds Punch to Notebook Chips

Intel 7 Comments
"Intel introduced six new chips for notebooks on Tuesday, not long after cutting prices on its mobile processors. The chipmaker, which slashed prices on its mobile Pentium 4 and Celeron chips on Sunday, launched a new flagship 2.4GHz Pentium 4-M chip for notebooks. The chipmaker also boosted the clock speed of its mobile Celeron processor, issuing a new 2GHz mobile Celeron." Read more at ZDNet. On other CPU news, Transmeta is embedding security in its new chips.
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MandrakeSoft Mulls Chapter 11 Style Escape, Says Email

Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 46 Comments
MandrakeSoft is looking at a Chapter 11-style bankruptcy, to solve its financial difficulties, according to a leaked email from one of its executives. New MandrakeSoft CEO Francois Bancilhon says the liabilities total about €2 million, but that he's weighing all possible choices for resolving the problems. The leaked email, however, paints a different picture. It describes specific plans to go with either Chapter 11 or its French equivalent. TheRegister has the story and NewsForge as well.
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Why Automatic Information Management is Doomed to Fail

  Submitted by Jared White General Development 8 Comments
There has been a growing movement in the computer industry as of late towards exploration of more database-like filesystem paradigms - the reason being that today's filesystems are primitive, scattered, and cannot efficiently manage the immense amount of information that computer users have to work with on a regular basis every day.
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Poll: My Favorite MacOSX Graphical Web Browser

Internet 112 Comments
My husband and I made it back from Europe just last night (after an adventurous trip back) so today I was finally having access to my G4 Cube in order to test Safari, the new Apple browser based on KHTML. I like what I saw on Safari. The browser is simple (I like simplicity) and indeed loads the web pages fast (even faster than Gecko browsers on my PC) by using some techniques on rendering the page almost immediately after receiving the data from the web. With Safari, MacOSX has now seven "native" graphical browsers. Read more and vote for your favorite OSX browser! Update: A relevant article is posted on News.com regarding the reasons Apple chose KHTML and not Gecko.
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Hyper-Threading Speeds Up Linux

Linux 25 Comments
The Intel Xeon processor introduces a new technology called Hyper-Threading (HT) that makes a single processor behave like two logical processors. The technology allows the processor to execute multiple threads simultaneously, which can yield significant performance improvement. But, exactly how much improvement can you expect to see? This article gives the results the investigation into the effects of Hyper-Threading (HT) on the Linux SMP kernel. It compares the performance of a Linux SMP kernel that was aware of Hyper-Threading to one that was not.
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AmigaOS4 Feature Set: Release 1

Amiga & AROS 63 Comments
Amiga Inc has revealed more details on the new Amiga Operating System: "Amiga is pleased to publish this first version of the feature set of the up and coming AmigaOS4.0. The document will undergo revision in subsequent issues but because of the massive demand for information made by the public, we have decided to release it in its current state." The official launch of the PPC based AmigaOne platform together with AmigaOS4.0 is sheduled for March at the upcoming CeBit tradeshow in Germany.
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Programming Languages Will Become OSes (But Are Not Quite Yet)

General Development 29 Comments
A couple of months ago, at the Lightweight Languages Workshop 2002, Matthew Flat made a premise in his talk: Operating system and programming language are the same thing (at least "mathematically speaking"). I find this interesting and has a lot of truth in it. Both OS and PL are platforms on which other programs run. Both are virtualizing machines. Both make it easier for people to write applications (by providing API, abtractions, frameworks, etc.)
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