Sun in August joined IBM, HP and Dell in offering Linux as a server operating system. A month later, IBM expanded its prepackaged Linux server offerings. Even Apple computers can be purchased with Linux preinstalled. Clearly, the Linux bandwagon is gathering speed -- Sun has said it anticipates a 30 percent annual growth rate -- but where is it going? For the first time in years, Microsoft’s unassailable lead in computer operating systems is being challenged by manufacturers offering Linux software. Even a puny challenge is better than none. Read more at Economist.

According to developers close to the Redmond, Wash., company, a proposal to deliver a Windows 'Yukon' release—timed to tide over Microsoft and its users until the long-awaited Longhorn debuts—is on the company's drawing boards. Microsoft executives have held fast to their promise that Longhorn will be the version of Windows designed to follow Windows XP on the desktop, and Windows .Net Server 2003 on the server. In recent weeks, however, company representatives have taken to calling Longhorn the next "major" version of Windows.

New tools will boost developers' ability to create cross-platform applications for sophisticated mobile devices. Enterprise tools are also on the way.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.