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Cosmoe 0.5.6 Released

The new version of Cosmoe includes the following changes: doing a "make doc" in the libcosmoe directory will make html API documentation in the docs directory (you must have doxygen installed). Partially fixed a bug in LayoutView reported by James Dean Palmer, so that Guiprefs runs better. Here is a screenshot of Cosmoe running both locally and remotely, on single, dual, and quad CPU machines.
In related news, Syllable's web site has been updated to include screenshots of Syllable 0.4.1.

Microsoft Does Not Allow Installation of Windows on “Naked” PCs

Firms with valid Microsoft site licences cannot legally install Windows on PCs bought without the operating system, Microsoft has warned. Many companies with volume licences routinely apply a disk image over pre-installed software to achieve a standard configuration. But firms that try to cut costs by purchasing "naked" PCs, sold without an operating system, cannot legally install a Windows image because site licences only permit upgrading from a pre-installed version of Windows. Rob Enderle of analyst firm Giga Information Group warned companies not to ignore the small print. "By contract, have to report any customer that requests naked PCs and it often triggers a software audit by Microsoft. We've seen seven-figure bills go to those that were caught." Read the story at VNUnet.

Apple Updates 10.2 Development Tools

The August 2002 Mac OS X Developer Tools Update addresses issues with the July 2002 Mac OS X Developer Tools originally released with Mac OS X version 10.2 (Jaguar build 6C115 or later)." The download can be found at Apple Developer Connection (ADC login required). On other news, Apple says it's not just opening up the source code for its Rendezvous networking tool--it's actively courting open-source developers to work with the technology. Also, Apple now sells PowerMacs with MacOSX 10.2-Server pre-installed. Prices start at $3,000 USD for a dual 1 GHz G4 machine.

.Net Server’s New Name Suggests Delay

Microsoft has once again tweaked the name of the successor to Windows 2000 Server, in a move that suggests its official release won't come until next year. During the Redmond, Wash.-based company's annual employee meeting this week, executives revealed that the follow-up to Windows 2000 Server will be called Windows .Net Server 2003. Read more at ZDNews.

Netscape 7.0 Shrivels Under Mozilla’s Shadow

The fact that Netscape 7.0 arrives hot on the heels of the similar but superior Mozilla 1.1 only serves to illuminate the small but significant differences between the two: Mozilla is highly customizable and offers a number of user options (eg. pop-up ad blocking), while Netscape forces users to accept many features and functions (eg. spyware) they probably don't want while removing some they probably do. Read the article at eWeek. In other browser news, Galeon 2.0 readies and OmniWeb 4.1.1sp2 is released.

Ideas for Improving the MandrakeClub

"I like MandrakeSoft very much, but I have some concerns. Here is some constructive criticism. I do not oppose your core business model - in fact I like it a lot. My proposals here should be compatible with it. MandrakeClub has become a bit of a 'secret society'. Non-members have no idea of what's going on inside, so they see no point in joining. I think you should merge Mandrakeclub.com and Mandrakeforum.com." PCLinuxOnline's Yama writes an editorial for MandrakeForum.

Problems With Unix Utilities & HFS Forks in Jaguar

I arrive home to find a spiffy package from ADC... Look it's Jaguar! The excitement was racing to install this upgrade but then I thought what about my data? I wanted to partition my drive differently for Jaguar so I did what I would do on any of my systems. I tared my home directory double checking the file contents to make sure I got all my hidden files. I then uploaded the tar to my server via scp and checked the md5sum of the file. Everything looked good I was ready to go!

Apple: Burn DVDs–and We’ll Burn You

Apple Computer has invoked the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to prevent its customers from burning DVDs on external drives. At issue in the legal threat is Apple's well-received iDVD application, which permits users to burn DVDs only on internal drives manufactured by Apple. In unmodified form, it does not permit writing to external drives manufactured by third parties. That means Macintosh owners with older computers or laptop computers, or people who opted not to buy the "Superdrive"-equipped Macs, could not use iDVD to save movies.

XML Web Services: Is the End Near?

For the second day in a row at the XML Web Services One conference here, a keynote speaker got up and signaled the impending end to the Web services era, at least on a standards level. Don Box, an architect in Microsoft Corp.'s developer division told an audience of Web services conference attendees Wednesday: "The end of the XML Web services era is near. I predict two years from now we won't have this conference." Read the story at eWeek.

Easy Hack to Enable Quartz Extreme on G3s with PCI Graphics Cards

It is possible to easily enable Quartz Extreme (QE) on G3s or G4s that do not have a QE compatible AGP 2x graphics card. The hack is described here. From some tests that users did, it seems that only the G3/G4 machines with 66 MHz PCI bus saw some acceleration. Machines with 33 Mhz PCI bus, did not. The hack would work only if you have a Radeon or a GeForce2MX+ card, because they share the same driver with their AGP versions (QE only works on Radeons and GeForce2+ -- ATi Rage cards do not work at all with QE, with or without hacks). Also, please note that users who enabled QE on their unsupported PCI machines, had major artifacts on some applications, most notably iTunes' visual playback (quite possibly because the PCI bus is not fast enough for what is required).

SciTech to GPL its Proprietary Device Driver Architecture

SciTech Software, Inc. today announced the intention to release the bulk of its proprietary device driver development tools under a new dual license structure. SciTech’s commercially available graphics driver pack, SciTech SNAP Graphics, currently supports nearly 180 graphics chip sets on multiple OS’es with full 2D acceleration. Access to all existing SciTech SNAP drivers will remain available under SciTech’s commercial license and will not be Open Sourced due to existing NDA’s with chip vendors.

Microsoft to Release XP SP1 within 10 Days; Judge on the Java Issue

Microsoft Corp. said it plans to distribute an update of the Windows XP operating system within 10 days as part of an effort to comply with the terms of an antitrust agreement with the U.S. Justice Department. Also, the judge overseeing Sun Microsystems Inc.'s antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp. said he will consider ordering the world's largest software company to include Sun's Java programming language in its Windows operating system.

IE on the Rise; Netscape’s Share Continues to Shrink

Netscape browsers have continued to lose market share at a steady clip, falling to a new low of 3.4 percent as of this week, according to new figures. A year ago, Netscape's market share stood at 13 percent, but fell steeply to 7 percent by March, as IE 6 gained popularity. IE has now reached 96 percent market penetration, according to StatMarket, up from 87 percent a year ago. Mozilla gained some market share when it finally reached a 1.0 release earlier this year, but browsers such as Mozilla and Opera still only accounted for less than 1 percent of the market, StatMarket said.

A Linux PPC Developer Favors MacOSX Jaguar to Linux

"Jaguar is the desktop that Linux should have had. I mean, don't get me wrong, KDE3 is very cool if you soup it up a bit, and I'm really enjoying GNOME2 on my actual cooker-based workstation. But OS X, and Aqua, have an elegance and refinement that KDE and GNOME are just lacking. Which leads me to believe that Linux has no future on PPC hardware as a desktop. Apple has that covered. Unless you're absolutely against commercial software, you don't need to use Linux." Read Vincent Danen's article. Vincent is a co-owner Danen Consulting Service and a Linux Mandrake employee.

QliTech Announces Choice of Linux Preloads on Apple Macs

An Illinois company that has shipped Linux preloaded on PCs since 1998 now offers a choice of four Linux distributions on Apple machines, the company has announced. QliTech Linux Computers will ship Apple notebook and desktop systems with SuSE PPC, Mandrake PPC, Debian PPC, or Gentoo PPC configured to dual boot with OSX, says QliTech's Ray Sanders. Recently, Terra Soft Solutions, Inc. announced the availability of Apple computers with Yellow Dog Linux pre-installed as well.

Microsoft Discloses More Windows Code

Microsoft on Tuesday disclosed technical information vital to allowing third-party developers to create software that works well with Windows. Completion of the disclosure clears the way for the release of Windows XP Service Pack 1, the first major update to the operating system Microsoft launched in October. Among other things, Service Pack 1 contains a new control for setting default middleware programs, such as Web browsers and instant messaging software.