IDC analyst Al Gillen questioned the effectiveness of Lindows' Wal-Mart distribution strategy: "I don't understand why the Linux buyer is going to be ... at Wal-Mart," he said. Hmm, maybe because Lindows does not market itself as a Linux distribution, but simply as a cheap home computer solution (which fits perfectly to Wal-Mart)? Anyways, you can read the article at NewsFactor.

Robert Szeleney will never cease to amaze us. After developing a software OpenGL stack and porting Quake 1&2 on top, this time around he has a preliminary JavaVM core running simple Java programs for his OS, SkyOS. Indeed, SkyOS has gone where no other hobby OS has ever gone before with these new features (not even AtheOS ever had such goodies).

Just like Blender did a few months ago, Hekkelman Programmatuur are now following the same approach to open their product's sources (development has stopped in the meantime). Pepper 4.x is a programmer's editor, running on Unix/Linux, Mac/X, Windows and it has already a lot of BeOS-specific code to kickstart a BeOS version too (I personally have a BeOS beta of Pepper 3.5 on my hard drive from the times I was beta testing it, a version that was never released). A small team of developers and users are trying to open its source so they have made an offer to Maarten Hekkelman for $11,000 USD and they would appreciate your donations (screenshot of Pepper running under Gentoo Linux).

"A few weeks ago, I got my hands on the latest release from SuSE. After using it steadily since then, I can say that I'm pleased with 8.1, though it could use some refinements. Read on to find out what's in store for you with SuSE 8.1 Professional." Read the review at UnixReview. Update: "SuSE goes for the desktop" at Geek.com.

In the Advanced filesystem implementor's guide, Daniel Robbins shows you how to use the latest filesystem technologies in Linux 2.4. In this conclusion to the AFIG series, Daniel continues his discussion of the Enterprise Volume Management System for Linux, or EVMS. He shows you how to use evmsn to take a new hard drive, partition it, and create LVM volumes on it. Along the way, he fills you in on important EVMS concepts that you'll find essential as you continue your exploration of this powerful technology.

MandrakeSoft and Pearson Education sent us over a copy of their latest "pro" edition of the popular Linux Mandrake 9.0. We already wrote a review about Linux Mandrake 9.0, so this is going to be a review of the ProSuite deal specifically and what you get for $199 USD RPP (easily found for around $175 USD in the market). Update: Apparently, StarOffice 6.0 is included in its full version with the distribution. Too bad Mandrake does such a poor job and include its RPMs along with some hundreds other demos in the two Commercial CDs, without saying a word about it (or where to find it) in the "Commercial Software Guide" booklet or another really prominent place.

"Red Hat is the biggest bandwidth user on the East Coast," company vice president Mark de Visser said. "If we wanted to make a killing in the retail market, we could, but that's not the intent. The intent is to get it into the hands of the most people." Read the article at NewsFactor. The article in a single sentence: Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the upcoming leader of the Linux market: Red Hat.

This is old news, but still, everyone should be aware of it. And on a theoretical basis, the co-creator of UNIX, Ken Thompson wrote a paper on which he explains that it is possible to add a backdoor to a closed source compiler and when you first compile any other compiler (e.g. GCC), any concequent compiles from this new compiler, would include the backdoor by default. Pessimistic thought of the day: nothing is safe. Neither Windows or Unix. I wonder how "safe" the Security-Enhanced Linux from NSA is. It might secure you from others, but does it secure you from NSA itself? ;P Update: More info here (Ms reply on the issue) and here.

"Mounting anger over Microsoft's business tactics could hamper uptake of its .NET application development platform. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates claims to have "bet the company" on .NET, which is both an over-arching business strategy and a software development platform to rival Sun Microsystems' Java technology. But Gartner research shows resentment of Microsoft's licensing practices and fear of relinquishing control is feeding scepticism of .NET among IT executives." Read the report at News.com.au.

The GCC 3.2.1 release is to provide a stable platform for OS distributors to use building their next OS releases. A primary objective was to stabilize the C++ ABI.

"I am impressed with Lycoris. They have made a good start at making Linux accessible to the casual user. There is a long way to go yet but the makers should be proud of the work they have done. It is capable of competing with Windows in the home, something which other distro's of Linux have not yet achieved. However Lycoris could not compete with Red Hat or similar distro's in a workstation environment. Then again, you wouldn't use XP Home edition as a workstation OS. Lycoris is to XP Home what Red Hat is to XP Professional." Read the review at TechSeekers.

"Okay, I'm playing with your head today, but I expect to write that headline for real sometime in 2003. We're seeing an explosion in the number of Linux distributions meant specifically for desktop users, and not all of them are going to survive." Read the editorial at NewsForge.

"An internal alpha build of Microsoft's next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, made its way onto the Internet early Tuesday. The leaked build, which is numbered 3683, appears to be from late September and sports quite a few new feature concepts—although many are not yet functional. The oft-rumored Longhorn Sidebar can be enabled via Taskbar settings and uses XML to display customizable tiles such as a clock, virtual desktop manager and Internet search. The Start Menu can also be docked within the Sidebar, completely removing the Taskbar that has been a staple of Windows since 1995." Read the eWeek article for more information.

Under the leadership of CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft is free to turn its attention to such initiatives as acquisitions, .Net, shared source code and a more componentized Windows. Ballmer addressed these issues and others, including why Office 11 requires Windows XP, in an interview at Microsoft headquarters, in Redmond, Wash., with eWeek. Read the interview at eWeek.