Can Microsoft Read Chicken Scratch?
The Tablet PC operating system matches people's scrawls against the company's own database of handwriting samples. But there's some debate as to whether to tailor it to the individual. Read the report.
Poll: Do you Favor Red Hat or KDE in the UI Issue Raised Recently?
Countless things have been said from both camps about the changes Red Hat did to both Gnome and mostly KDE for their upcoming OS, Red Hat 8.0, codenamed "Psyche". Read more to vote if you favor the UI changes needed to make a desktop OS to look and feel unified troughout the whole spectrum of applications it comes with, or you are favoring the idea that... Red Hat just tries to hurt KDE, possibly on purpose, just for the kicks of it... Let the community of users decide!
Mandrake 9.0 Dolphin Released
From MandrakeLinux.com: Mandrake 9.0 is out and it's been certified LSB 1.2-compliant today (ProSuite Edition). It's called + Dolphin. It's a major evolution in the Linux-desktop field, and will also empower your servers like never before. Read the press-release, discover all the great and unique features, pre-order it at MandrakeStore.com. Download is available through the usual mirrors, and Club Members benefit from an extended range of download places.
One PC, Six Hard Drives, 37 OSes
"This project started with a simple dual boot between Windows 98 and 2000. Then I added some Linux distributions and BeOS. Somewhere along the line, adding operating systems became an obsession. I wanted to see exactly how many I could stuff in one box. It also became a project to prove people wrong. Many people told me that what I achieved could not be done." Read the original article at TechTV and the interview with the OS geek, Richard Robbins, at MaximumPC.
Apple Open Sources Rendezvous
From MacMinute: Apple today announced that it is "open-sourcing" the code for the company's Rendezvous networking technology. Rendezvous, based on open Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Standard Protocols, uses industry standard networking protocols and zero configuration technology to automatically discover and connect devices over any IP network.
Sprint PCS’ Vision 3G Phone Service: A Closer Look
The information that I could find on the web about Sprint’s new '3G' high-speed data service was a little short on solid information, so I spoke with Kevin Packingham, Senior Manager of Business Marketing for SprintPCS’ new Vision service. I sought him out because Ubiquitous, affordable high speed wireless data services are something of a holy grail for tech-savvy road warriors like myself, so I received each morsel of information about Sprint’s new service with great interest. Mr. Packingham spoke over the phone and he clarified many of the questions that I had about the new service.
Employee Leaves Red Hat upon Disagreement for KDE’s Crippled State
Popular KDE developer and Red Hat employee Bernhard "Bero" Rosenkraenzer left Red Hat today upon disagreement with their leadership direction regarding KDE. Bero cited reasons that Red Hat made KDE "crippleware" so he does not agree with this company line. We have already reported on the issue here, while Red Hat's UI team recently posted an explanation for the much-discussed issue. In other Red Hat news, the official date for the full release of Red Hat 8 is Monday, Sep 30th.
Is Debian Losing Mindshare?
Woody has received scant attention from Linux websites compared to other recent Linux distributions. Debian "Woody" 3.0r0 was released on July 19, 2002; but months later, there have been few reviews of Woody online (one, in French). Read more for the link to the full DebianPlanet.org editorial.
A Deeper Look Into LindowsOS 2.0
The Linux community has been buzzing about LindowsOS since its original announcement over a year ago. With Michael Robertson, founder of mp3.com, at the helm, it was heralded as a Linux that could seamlessly run all of your Windows applications. As details became available, the skepticism of the community grew and with the LindowsOS general release only months away, no one is quite sure what to make of Lindows.com and their product, LindowsOS. We tested Lindows 2.0 and we today present the most in-depth review ever written for this much-talked OS, accompanied by a number of shots.
Microsoft Posts Steps to Change XP Keys
An interesting turnabout took place over last weekend when Microsoft Corp. posted on its Product Support Services Web site a detailed knowledge base article that provides step-by-step instructions on how to change volume-licensed product keys for Windows XP. But the move, which started as a customer service to help users legitimately change keys, could actually serve as a blueprint of sorts for hackers to access XP keys, some said.
New Cosmoe Release
Cosmoe version 0.5.7 was released on Monday, September 23rd. A snapshot of the progress on DirectFB-based Cosmoe 0.6 is also available for developers who wish to work on it. Check the mailing list for more information.
Opera 6.1 for FreeBSD, Linux; Phoenix 0.1 Released
Opera Software has posted some preview versions for Opera 6.1, both for FreeBSD (natively) and Linux. In other browser news, Phoenix 0.1 was released, which is meant to be a lighter version of Mozilla. Update: Opera 6 for Mac is now also available.
Multidimensional Clustering for Linux, Unix, and Windows
This is an interview with IBM's expert Matt Huras on DB2. He shares a sneak preview of the new release of DB2 version 8 and its technical highlights, including it's high-availability features, improved administration tools, performance advice, and multidimensional clustering, which allows data to be clustered according to several different "dimensions" simultaneously. There's a free download of DB2 v8.
Ballmer: United, We’ll Stomp on Linux
Linux is the only serious threat to Microsoft's increasing dominance of the market for server operating systems, according to new research from IDC. Although Microsoft cannot compete against Linux on price, the company will use its community of professionals to outsmart the open-source movement, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer told an audience of Microsoft Most Valued Professionals (MVPs) in London on Monday.
Lindows Teams Up with AOL
Lindows, the maker of a consumer-friendly version of the Linux operating system, announced that it would bundle Netscape's Web browsing and communication technology into its software.
IBM Releases WebSphere Studio 5.0
Version 5.0 OF IBM's WebSphere Studio software for developing Web applications is scheduled for release Tuesday, featuring new tools for working with legacy applications written in Cobol and PL1 and support for the latest batch of open-source standards and software.
Writing a BeOS Replacement
Daniel Switkin, a long time BeOS developer and former Be Inc. employee, has submitted an editorial on "Writing A BeOS Replacement". It aims to bring together the various efforts out there and define a plan which has the greatest chance of success. Click Read More to see the entire article from Daniel.
OEone HD: A New Experience for Linux Desktop Computing
Linux Orbit reviews OEone's HomeBase DESKTOP: "Unlike Ximian GNOME, the HomeBase DESKTOP product doesn't take over the default GNOME installation included with Red Hat 7.x versions. It will create it's own session type in the graphical login (gdm) used with Red Hat 7.x systems. Why is this important? Well, from my experience, this makes HomeBase DESKTOP the most painless test drive of any Linux desktop product I've tried to date. If you don't like it, just go back to GNOME or KDE or whatever else you use, since nothing has really changed in those installed environments."
SkyOS 3.9.1d Released
Robert Szeleney released version 3.9.1d of his OS, SkyOS, including a number of fixes, while he ported the first game to SkyOS, Quake I (screenshot). In the meantime, Syllable also recently got a port of Doom and Quake. In other small OS news, ReactOS has a preliminary graphics system able to run simple Windows binaries (screenshot, running inside the Bochs emulator). The team expects more and better compatibility to come when the WINE port gets finished.
The Future of Windows
"Have you ever wondered what operating system you will be using in 2005? Australian tech writer Andrew Parsons investigates the future of Windows, code named Longhorn." Read it at ZDNet Australia.