Several new releases of ByzantineOS have been made this month. The ByzantineOS distro is now in its first stable release. ByzantineOS is a software Internet Appliance with a home entertainment bias, based on the OEone's engine. It is based on a networked Linux distribution/bootable system with Mozilla providing access to a range of services and applications. ByzantineOS fits in 32MB (or 48MB) of media and should work on most PCs (Pentium Pro/Celeron or better).

You can download the recently released DirectX Media 6 SDK here (93 MB). The SDK can be installed on any recent version of Windows.

Aqua Data Studio is a SQL editor and developer tool that allows developers to easily create, edit, and execute SQL scripts, as well as browse database structures. Aqua Data Studio provides an integrated database environment with a single consistent inferface to all major relational databases. This allows the DBA or developer to tackle multiple tasks simultaneously from one application. The application is multi-platform as it is written in Java. Screenshots here.

"The U.S. Defense Department should think twice before embracing open-source software, a trade association is advising. The Initiative for Software Choice, which counts Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Intel among its backers, said in comments filed Tuesday that the department should "avoid crafting needless and potentially detrimental IT policy to promote the use" of open-source software." Read the report at News.com. At a time that countries like Germany and Japan begin to invest in OSS/GPL, Microsoft tries to hold US back. Are the Group's worries justified? Discuss.

A new company, 91:E computers has entered the market with Linux-based PCs -- preloaded with Xandros Desktop 1.0 (review here). Xandros 1.0 comes with a thirty day installation support via e-mail plus a 250-page manual. 91:E's computers come with a manual for setting up your desktop and a one year limited warranty. 91:E is working exclusively with Xandros. Read more at DesktopLinux.com.

You can read all about the new features here, download here. This bug is still there though (Win2k/XP).

"If the UnitedLinux developers don't recognize the folks who made most of the software in the first place, I'd say they're quite likely to fail -- and deserve to do so." Read the editorial at OSOpinion.

And the winner of yesterday's Rekall competition is... Craig Knox (cknox AT environcorp DOT com). Congratulations Craig! Thank you everyone for participating!

A lot has been said about Lindows. We will talk about some of these issues here and debunk them. Update: Read more and scroll down for the update of the article!

Let's all have some fun and leave a comment about what we liked most in the OS scene this year!

Unlikely? A cyclic downturn perhaps, but when good times will return? My view is not in our lifetimes...at least not in the same vain as the computer industry experienced over the last 20 odd years. The recent Gartner survey on mobile phones vs desktop computers is extremely illustrative.

Rekall is a database front-end. It is not itself a database -- data is stored somewhere else, in an SQL server, and Rekall is fundamentally just a tool to extract, display and update that data (of course, it does lots more than that, it does forms and reports and scripting and so on). It is database agnostic, and does not have any preferred database in the sense that Access uses the Jet database engine. TheKompany is giving away a free copy of the packaged version of Rekall (normally costs $80 USD) to a lucky winner. Read more to participate to the competition!

Microsoft Corp. last week announced the final beta of its Visual Studio .Net 2003 product -formerly known by the code name Everett- and released its .Net Compact Framework. New features include: Availability of .Net Compact Framework, Improved scalability with support for up to 32 processors, Improved performance, Support for new Web services specifications: WS-Security, WS-Routing and WS-Attachments, 98 percent conformance with the International Organization for Standardization's C++ standard, Integration of Visual J#.

"One of the most intimidating things to new users about Linux is the layout of the file-system. Users who are learning to hack Linux have to just clench their teeth and learn their way around, but what about a user who just wants to send e-mails, browse the web and type up a few documents?" The rest is here.