I was reading the commenting section of our recent Gentoo Linux story about its 1.4-RC1 release. It seems that there is a chasm between Gentoo users, the users who are happy with it the way it is, and the users who can't stand its usage shortcomings. The first group are mostly developers, the second group seems to be only users. Linux always had such a "schism", but with (the source-based) Gentoo distribution it seems that this is even bigger. Here is a proposal to the Gentoo maintainers about a possible solution of how to change Gentoo's usagebility in order to satisfy all.

"'Yukon,' the code-name for a major overhaul of SQL Server, will be ready for general availability sometime during the 2004 fiscal year, and "Longhorn," the code-name for the Windows operating system release after Windows .NET Server 2003, is coming in 2005, according to a senior Microsoft official. As part of Longhorn, Allchin said customers can expect to see new features for intelligent auto configuration, such as BIOSes and firmware that can be 'automatically updated in a seamless way.' Also, Allchin said Longhorn will include new functionality for server resiliency, such as self-healing characteristics, a more componentized architecture, and additional monitoring services with filters that can 'dynamically' flow out to servers." Read the report at ENTnews.

"Intel is to embed certificates into the processor. Embedded certificates will be a feature of Banias processors next year. What are the downsides? You can count them. The business of ownership of a device suddenly becomes very important indeed - your PC is tagged at birth, and your choice of operating system or browser is contingent on the generosity of the certification authority." Read the report at TheRegister.

SuSE 8.1 is expected to be released on September 25. The Personal and Professional versions (priced at 50 and 80 Euros respectively) are already available for pre-ordering. The new version includes kernel 2.4.19, KDE 3.0.3, GCC 3.2, OpenOffice.org 1.0.1, YaST and YaST's Online Updater, Wireless Lan, USB2 and Firewire support.

Palm's biggest challenge with respect to OS 5 may be migrating its sizeable and valuable developer community, which has populated the handheld landscape with Palm devices and applications. Read the editorial at NewsFactor.

One of the software giant's top executives says his company is frustrated by the slow adoption of consumer-oriented Web services, once heralded as the future of online commerce.

Trolltech today announced the release of Qt 3.1 beta 1. This new version brings simplified creation of ActiveX controls, Motif integration enables gradual migration, Mac OS X integration and more.

Lycoris Build 50 is a brand new beta release that has hit the mirrors. There is already a forum for bug reporting, created for this beta release.

"A Lindows system—or any Linux system—engineered with this in mind would be hard to make into a Windows XP machine without someone developing a Windows XP personality module. Whatever the case, I believe the $199 computer will be a hot commodity and could become even hotter if Wal-Mart actually decides to carry it in stores and not just on the Web." Read Dvorak's column at PCMagazine.

Mozilla 1.0.1 is available for download now. This release is a bug fix and security follow-up to Mozilla 1.0. Mozilla 1.0 users that have not already upgraded to Mozilla 1.1 are strongly encouraged to upgrade to 1.0.1. Read the release notes for more details.

The court decided yesterday, at a trial where an internet cafe's owner was charged of letting his customers play Counter Strike, that the law that prohibited playing games is unconstitutional. This paves the way for the law to be struck down. There's some additional information at ZDNet UK.

Today is a solemn day of introspection and rememberance here in the United States, and we here at OSNews would like to send our condolances to those who lost loved ones in the attacks on the Pentagon and Twin Towers. Though most of the people of the world did not experience the attacks first hand, there are very few people in the world who were not affected by them in some way. I know it's a bit off-topic, but I'd like to open up a discussion thread today for people to air their feelings about the events of a year ago, and where they think things stand today. And if you read on, I'll get things started by talking a bit about what happened to me on that day and since.

The KDE Project today announced the immediate release of KOffice 1.2, the third major release of KDE's free, integrated office suite. KOffice utilizes free and open standards for its document formats, component communication and component embedding, and provides a variety of filters to interoperate with other popular office suites.

"The tall art deco building in Boston's Fenway neighborhood could easily be a courthouse, or some other seat of power. Signs in its windows proclaim "the awakening of the slumbering giant." If power can be described as the encapsulation of energy, power does reside there. And if the giant can be thought of as awakening for the first time, it's all perfectly consistent. For in this renovated relic of the first half of the 20th century resides Ximian, Inc." Read the report at LinuxAndMain.