"I'm a switcher. My main personal computer system is now an Apple Macintosh. It began innocently enough. Over a period of several months after Apple's new OS X Jaguar operating system was released last year, I tested a variety of iBooks, iMacs and G4s. I was playing with fire." Read the confession of a Detroit Free Press columnist who switches to the Mac.

"They started queueing at 2.30am. By 8.30am the line continued for hundreds of yards, snaking down an escalator, under a road, up another escalator and along the other side of the street. The first MacWorld Expo of the year had arrived at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. And chief executive Steve Jobs' keynote speech was the hottest ticket in town." Read Guardian's and Ars' report from MacWorld.

"Linux's dreams for the desktop died today with Mandrake's bankruptcy filling. Yes, it was a worthy cause, and we fought hard, but now it is time to admit it -- it is over. No more. Finished. Done. Kaput. GNU/Linux's true place is on the server, and its time for everyone to recognize that. Is everyone with me? Yeah, right. Just to be clear, I don't agree with a single word I just said..." Read the full commentary at OfB.

One of the most important visual parts of any operating system is of course, the fonts. Many times users on the net have argued about bad quality fonts used (installed by default) on alternative OSes. For the companies or individuals who would like to resolve such issues and create original and high quality fonts for their OSes (and not just for OSes), I would like to introduce them to FontLab 4.5.1.

Microsoft "Media2Go" is a platform for portable media players that will begin shipping from OEMs such as Viewsonic in late 2003. The Media2Go software platform is based on the next version of Windows CE .NET, code-named Macallan. Read the story at WinSuperSite.

Linux will emerge as the dominant operating system in corporate data centers, according to a new study by Goldman Sachs. According to the study, IT buyers will use Linux to take advantage of lower-cost, higher-performance Intel-based servers -- and to avoid "premium-priced proprietary systems." Eventually, systems running Linux will displace systems based on Unix and RISC processors.

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)?

Sun Microsystems officials on Wednesday presented a laundry list of technology and promotional efforts planned for the Java language, including the February release of Version 1.4 of J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition), featuring integrated Web services support.

Nokia, the top seller of mobile phones, has released software to let Linux programmers develop Java software for its cell phones, the company said on Tuesday. Read the article at News.com.

"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.

Matthias Schonder writes "Check out this article. Maybe Gobe for OS X is closer than we think". I don't know if the momentum of OpenOffice.org can be stopped, but how could anyone not welcome Productive to their suite of tools?

Microsoft Corp. has stated that the company will open its source code to governments and international organizations worldwide. This move follows various government requests and government announcements of adopting open source strategies, mainly for security and integration reasons. Update: The Register also posted an interesting article regarding this announcement.

"Today's operating systems are conceptually upside-down. They developed the hard way, gradually struggling upwards from the machinery (processors, memory, disks and displays) toward the user. In the future, operating systems and information management tools will grow top-down." Read the editorial at ComputerWorld by David Gelernter (CS professor at Yale and chief scientist at ScopeWare).

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.