Many companies are trying to move to a subscription model for their software and Apple really has something going for them in that respect if you think about it. We, OS X Users, are already accustomed to the automatic updating of the OS and like it. dotMAC actually looks nice all in all, even if some might feel it is expensive. What people don't like is unpredictability; they have nothing against change as long as they like the outcome and know where it is going.

"Microsoft is honing the user interfaces of a number of its forthcoming products in a way that the company hopes will help users find and access information. At the heart of the redesign is the so-called task shelf component, code-named Sideshow, that will likely debut first in MSN 8, and later, in the Longhorn Windows. The WinBeta Web site last week posted what it claimed to be a Microsoft-internal-only release of Sideshow. And the Neowin site posted what it claimed to be several Sideshow screen shots." Read the report at eWeek. Update: WinInformant reports that SideShow is not from Longhorn, but from an another version of Windows that it will be released sooner.

About two months old, but still, important news for the IRIX users: "As of May 8, 2002 IRIX 6.5.16 is releasing with all new systems shipping from SGI worldwide manufacturing centers. The IRIX 6.5.16 release contains updates for both the maintenance (6.5.16m) and feature (6.5.16f) streams. This release continues the focus on stability, reliability and compatibility required in the IRIX 6.5.X quarterly release process." On a related note on releases of heavy-weight Unix OSes, HP extendeded its leading HP-UX with 11i Version 1.6 on June, while as we already reported a few days ago that IBM plans to bring new releases for its AIX too.

"In early 1986, a team in Apple's Advanced Technology Group began a research project that was code-named Pink, with the goal to create an operating system for the next generation of computers. In 1990, the project became TalOS—the property of Taligent—a joint venture between Apple and IBM. In 1994, Pink's OS dreams died as Taligent redirected its efforts toward CommonPoint, a non-OS application environment which would exist as a layer on other operating systems (as an API)." Old, but good read. More information about the OS who's heart stopped beating around 1997 can be found here.

"BeOS is a marvel of software engineering and creativity. We all know it, use it, and love it. We are also re-creating it for the pure fact that we want to see it continue and thrive. But before it can be successful three things need to happen" Editorial from BeUnited's Simon Gauvin about the future of OpenBeOS. Also, yellowTab and BeUnited are to join development and promote the open source BeOS standards.

"Microsoft Corp.'s new licensing programs take effect tomorrow, shifting the model for OS pricing but also for office productivity suites. Microsoft's Volume Licensing Program, delayed twice, kicks in on July 31. The most controversial feature of the plan, Software Assurance, is essentially Microsoft's subscription-based licensing plan for small- and medium-business owners. An enterprise version of Microsoft's software license already requires a yearly fee." Read the report at ExtremeTech, Yahoo!News, while News.com says that the majority of Microsoft's customers won't be signing up for a controversial licensing plan set to go into effect on Thursday, according to analysts' estimates.

"Microsoft announced Wednesday a partnership with AT&T Wireless to offer wireless software and services to corporate customers. As expected, the companies said they plan to distribute software on Pocket PCs, Smartphones and laptops that will provide wireless access to e-mail, information and applications behind corporate firewalls." Read the report at News.com.

"Sun and Apple have no concrete plans to codevelop a version of Sun's StarOffice productivity suite for the Mac OS X operating system, two open-source developers and a Sun official said Monday. Sun held a conference call with the two OpenOffice developers on Monday to clarify that Sun and Apple are not working on their own project to create a version of OpenOffice for Mac OS X by year end. Sun has been in ongoing talks with Apple to see "what it would take" to make a version of StarOffice that had the look and feel of an Apple application, Siress said. These talks, however, are really little more than the same theoretical discussions that have been going on over the last couple of years, he said." The report can be found at InfoWorld.

After several months of beta testing, the most important service pack ever issued for Windows 2000 is at last available for download. The Service Pack 3 (124 MB, German here) is a collection of bug fixes that addresses all the issues that were discovered since Windows 2000 shipped. This new Service Pack 3 also adds some new features like the ability to configure the middleware and an automatic updater.

"The software giant on Tuesday announced a new version of its Windows CE .Net operating system, adding broader support for its .Net services from within Windows CE, a slimmed down version of Windows used to power devices ranging from handheld computers to gas pumps." Report is at ZDNews.

"He's hardly as well-known as Bill Gates but Eric Rudder will have more influence over the future of Microsoft's bet-the-company .Net software strategy than his more famous boss. Rudder, Microsoft's 35-year-old senior vice president of developer and platform evangelism, is in charge of enlisting software developers to the cause--and keeping them happy. That's a big job because, simply put, without a large corps of developers behind it, .Net will remain a pipe dream." Read the interview at C|Net.

Read more to vote for the operating system that should have been the Next Big Thing (TM), but that never happened for whatever reason. Please make sure you vote an OS based on its *technical capabilities*, not because you used to be its user when you were 16, or because you like its background color, or because you heard good things about it once. Vote for the one that you truly think it was technically superior at its time.

"Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates today responded to critics who call his company's .NET initiative incomplete and lacking innovation by acknowledging that it will take at least four or five years before the promise of .Net is realized. ".Net is not an overnight thing," Gates told 325 university facility members as he opened the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit here. "A lot of work needs to be done to put standards such as reliable messaging and transaction support in place. We have a commitment to XML to allow for information exchange." Read the report at eWeek.

"The four distributors Caldera, Conectiva, Suse Linux, and Turbolinux are planning to introduce UnitedLinux, a joint server operating system for enterprise deployment, in November of this year, the companies said late Friday. The technical specifications of the OS have already been finalized." Read the interesting report on what will be included on the UnitedLinux distribution over at ExtremeTech.