OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Microsoft .NET Framework Service Pack 2 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-08 .NET 16 Comments

Microsoft .NET Framework Service Pack 2 (7 MB) provides the latest updates to the .NET Framework. Service Pack 2 is highly recommended by Microsoft for all users of the .NET Framework, including customers of Visual Studio .NET.

An Introduction of Modern Linux Distributed Filesystems

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-08 General Development 5 Comments

"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.

Mini-Interview with Miguel de Icaza

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-07 Original OSNews Interviews 50 Comments

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.

Macs with Intel Inside? You Bet! Here’s How

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-07 Apple 81 Comments

"I've considered--and rejected--this idea in the past. My feeling has been that, unless Apple were ready to cut the cord with Microsoft, it wouldn't attempt this kind of head-to-head platform competition. Well, guess what? With Apple ads encouraging Windows users to switch platforms, and Microsoft whining about supposedly slow sales of Office for OS X, it's clear that the relationship is in trouble. As the two drift apart, Apple has little reason not to make a processor change." AnchorDesk's David Coursey on the Mac/Intel issue.

Exploiting Design Flaws in the Win32 API for Privilege Escalation

Submitted by yc 2002-08-07 Privacy, Security 13 Comments

"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 Slips but Won’t Fall

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-07 In the News 19 Comments

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.

Thoughts & UI Clean-Ups on a Random Red Hat/Gnome2 Screenshot

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-07 Graphics 143 Comments

I was reading Adam's preview of Red Hat Limbo beta 2 the other day, and was also checking out his screenshots. I already did a Gnome 2 review a few months back, and a month ago I did a more constructive article on KDE 3's UI. This time, I just picked a random screenshot off Adam's article, and I will suggest some UI changes to make it look better. IMNSHO, as always of course, so be prepared. Update: My post to Gnome Usability mailing list, regarding a more refined/fixed version of my GUI suggestion for the specific theme discussed.

Why Lindows Ultimately Won’t Matter

Submitted by JBQ 2002-08-07 Linspire 22 Comments

"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 Delivers Delphi 7 Studio

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-07 General Development 26 Comments

"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.

Interview with Xandros Vice President Michael Bego

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-06 Original OSNews Interviews 48 Comments

OSNews today hosts a very interesting interview with Xandros' Vice President Michael A. Bego, discussing about the new Xandros Desktop and Server 1.0, the Linux market, Microsoft and a lot more. Read more to also see a full size screenshot of the Xandros Desktop too.

C# Input/Output Classes Simplified

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-06 General Development 4 Comments

"Beginners to the .NET Framework sometimes have a hard time trying to understand the classes in the System.IO namespace for performing input/output (IO) operations. The difficulty stems from the fact that this namespace is relatively large, containing more than 40 members, some of which are similar classes that can be used to achieve the same tasks. Thus it is sometimes hard to figure out which class is best for which task. This article tries to make your life a bit easier by grouping IO tasks into three categories and introducing the classes that are suitable for each task category." Read the developer's article at O'Reilly.

Ten Reasons We Need Java 3.0

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-06 Java 30 Comments

"Over the last few years, refactoring -- the process of gradually improving a code base by renaming methods and classes, extracting common functionality into new methods and classes, and generally cleaning up the mess inherent in most 1.0 systems -- has gained a lot of adherents. Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like Eclipse and IDEA can now automatically refactor code." Read the 10 reasons at OnJava.com.

Update on Red Hat’s Limbo Progress

Adam Scheinberg 2002-08-06 Red Hat 92 Comments

Just a few weeks after the beta release of the next version of their Linux based OS, Red Hat has released 7.3.93 of their software, once again, code-named Limbo. Those of you who read my first Limbo review know that I gave it a favorable review. After downloading and installing the second beta, I had to take a few days before writing this article.

Sun to Announce Leap Into Linux

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-06 Oracle and SUN 22 Comments

Sun Microsystems will overhaul two major components of its low-end server strategy later this month, introducing new low-end systems and detailing support for the Linux operating system. Despite all the recent talk about Sun entering the Linux distribution fray, Sun insiders told NewsForge that "Sun Linux" (or whatever it will be called) is really just Red Hat rebranded, with a few hardware-specific tweaks, and will neither be available for public download nor sold on CDs for a good while, if ever.

When Brains Meet Computer Brawn

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-05 Geek stuff 17 Comments

People linking their brains together to form a global collective intelligence. Humans living well beyond 100 years. Computers uploading aspects of our personalities to a network. These could all happen this century with the proper investments in technology, according to a recent report from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Commerce.

So Now There’s No StarOffice Port for OSX? Not So Fast

Submitted by Matt Kubilus 2002-08-05 Oracle and SUN 19 Comments

" Siress gave an interview in which he announced that Apple and Sun were collaborating on a version of Star Office for OSX, and the OpenOffice.org folks freaked. (Apple probably freaked, too, though they haven't said much publicly about this whole thing). So, Sun has to do an about face and retract its prior statements. The easiest route is to try and discredit the CNET article, but since the article accurately reflects a taped interview with a senior PR person they can't really ask CNET for a retraction." The latest in the StarOffice/OSX PR opera.

Microsoft to Reveal Windows Code

Submitted by Yves R. Crevecoeur 2002-08-05 Microsoft 69 Comments

Microsoft will reveal hundreds of pieces of proprietary computer code from its monopoly Windows operating system in the next several weeks to comply with an antitrust settlement it signed with the U.S. Justice Department last year, the company said on Monday. Get the scoop at ZDNews.

OpenBSD GUI Installer Project

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-05 OpenBSD 44 Comments

The main goal of the is to add a graphical installation to OpenBSD. This project has been developped in the spirit of OpenBSD which means that the installation is as close as possible as the text one. wishes to add some value to the product by developping installation modules to known servers such as Bind, Sendmail, Inn, Apache etc. Our Take: Great project, but may I point out the illegal use of the BeOS and (some) Windows icons in the Installer?

Qt# 0.4 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-05 Qt 7 Comments

As seen at NewsForge: "Qt# 0.4 has been released! Qt# is a set of cross-platform C# bindings for Trolltech's Qt GUI toolkit, targeted towards Mono and Portable.NET. Some screenshots can be found here, and Debian apt sources here."

So, You Want to Write an Operating System

Guest post by Emmanuel Marty 2002-08-05 Editorial 32 Comments

I've always been curious about how things work. When I was little, I annoyed my parents with millions of questions. Why is the sky blue? How does water come out of the tap when you open it? Maybe I was born without the mental switch that lets you be happy with using something, without trying to figure out how it works.