Slashdot runs an (unconfirmed so far though) story regarding Dell and other PC sellers, literally taking orders from Microsoft, that effectively from Aug, 26, are not allowed to sell PCs without an OS pre-installed. The rule does not specifically speak about not installing alternative OSes, but about having an OS always installed in the sold hardware. We should not forget the related Be, Inc.'s suit against Microsoft for the destruction of Be's business resulting from the anticompetitive business practices of Microsoft. Our Take: IF true, Microsoft is gone too far and they should answer for it or recall this rule to the hardware vendors immediately. I like some of Microsoft's technology, but their business practices continue to be as smelly as ever. UPDATE: We contacted MicroTel's Rich Hindman regarding their "no OS" PCs sold through Wal-Mart, and here is what he replied for the OSNews readers:

Browsing Freshmeat tonight, the premier online Linux software repository, I came across to these two great (and brand new) applications, ReBorn and ReZound. Reborn, a Rebirth clone that will soon become open source according to the developer, provides a software emulation of three of Roland's most famous electronic musical instruments. It got me thinking as to how much more viable Linux is today as a professional (or semi-professional) audio platform than it used to be two years ago. Update: On a related multimedia notice, WinAMP 3.0 for Windows was released yesterday.

Terra Soft Solutions, Inc., the leading developer of integrated PowerPC Linux solutions announced today availability of Apple computers with Yellow Dog Linux pre-installed. Terra Soft, an Apple Authorized VAR, is able to provide custom configured stand-alone units or clusters while maintaining the full Apple warranty. While installation of Linux on PowerPC has greatly improved, pre-installed systems boot directly to Yellow Dog Linux, saving time with installation and configuration.

A while ago I wrote a short article on a rumour about Apple potentially using a POWER4 derived CPU. Since then there has been a lot of talk of Apple switching to an x86 based solution and now a desktop POWER4 derivative has been announced. Some people suggest this will be too expensive and in it's cut down form slower than a x86. What is Apple more likely to go for?

IBM is disclosing the technical details of a new 64-bit PowerPC microprocessor designed for desktops and entry-level servers. Based on the award winning Power4 design, this processor is an 8-way superscalar design that fully supports Symmetric MultiProcessing. The processor is further enhanced by a vector processing unit implementing over 160 specialized vector instructions and implements a system interface capable of up to 6.4GB/s. Read more here and here. The first article speculates that Apple might find a future in these new IBM CPUs. Update: News.com has an article too.

Amiga Inc have posted the list of changes for AmigaOS 4. The main point is that the Exec kernel, which is currently in 68k assembler, is being rewritten in C with major enhancements. Update: The Register is also covering the latest news regarding AmigaOS4 and other Amiga related products.

Lindows has extended the membership of all Insiders to a two year period starting at the general release. The price still remains at $99 dollars but now it is extended for two years. After the general release the price for the distribution and the subscription will be $129 dollars. The insider program will go up to $299 for a year. New ISO Build Updated to Xfree86 4.2 and added nVIDIA Detonator Driver 1.0-2960. Read the rest at PCLinuxOnline.

A security expert makes the case that Windows' architecture encourages insecure applications and is vulnerable to the 'Shatter Attack' but Microsoft disagrees. Read about it at ZDNews.

"The ability to share disks, directories, and files over a network is one of the most significant advances in modern computing, reducing local disk space requirements and making it easy for users to collaborate without ending up with hundreds of versions of the same files. Personal computers running Microsoft Windows and Apple's MacOS and Mac OS X inherently support sharing disks and directories with other systems of the same types. Linux and Unix systems traditionally use the NFS network filesystem in order to do the same sort of thing." Read the article at LinuxPlanet.

As the founder and leader of the GNOME Foundation, Miguel is one of the foremost luminaries in the Linux development community. He brings this same excitement to his role as CTO of Ximian. Miguel was instrumental in porting Linux to the SPARC architecture and led development of the Midnight Commander file manager and the Gnumeric spreadsheet. He is also a primary author of the design of the Bonobo component model, which leads the way in the development of large-scale applications in GNOME. Today, his primary project is Mono. Read more for an exclusive mini-interview with Miguel.

"This paper presents a new generation of attacks against Microsoft Windows, and possibly other message-based windowing systems. The flaws presented in this paper are, at the time of writing, unfixable. The only reliable solution to these attacks requires functionality that is not present in Windows, as well as efforts on the part of every single Windows software vendor." Read the paper over at Tombom.co.uk. In the meantime, another flaw affects Windows 2000, Linux and MacOSX.

Linux sales lost some ground to Windows last year, but are expected to climb in coming years as distributors create new revenue streams. Meanwhile, Windows showed hefty gains. Read it at ZDNews.

"A lot has been said about the upcoming Lindows OS. Most of it has been either overblown hype (it will let you run ALL Windows programs! Yee-ha!) or anti-hype (it's not a real Linux distro, it's for Windows losers!). Lindows has polarized opinion in the Linux community while simultaneously setting up huge expectations for non-techy Windows users desperate to free themselves from Microsoft's iron grip. " Jim Lynch's Lindows editorial for ExtremeTech.

"Borland Software Corporation today announced Borland Delphi 7 Studio, featuring full support for new and emerging Web Services, integrated model driven development, and preview capabilities for the Microsoft .NET Framework. Using Delphi 7 Studio, the estimated one million Delphi developers can begin developing their skills for .NET and preparing applications for .NET without abandoning their existing work and skills on the Windows platform." Read the rest of the press release at Borland USA.