Seeing a Red Hat Beta so soon after the release of Red Hat Linux 7.3 is both surprising and exciting - I've used many flavors of Linux and always come back to Red Hat on the desktop. First off, the installation program is second only to Caldera's Lizard. Secondly, the GUI is usually responsive in most cases. Thirdly, the software is easy to find. Lastly, Red Hat seems to set the standard for Linux - until distributions are more compatible, I am content with Red Hat. Limbo is a major upgrade to Red Hat Linux from a user standpoint, so I'd like to discuss the pros and cons of this specific distribution as a comparison to other Red Hat distributions; this is not a "Why You Should Use Red Hat" article.

"Microsoft Corp. is mapping out the next major version of its .Net Framework, with features designed to make it easier for enterprise developers to deploy .Net applications and Web services. .Net Framework 2.0, code-named Whidbey, should be available late next year, but coding on the technology is scheduled to begin this month, according to developers close to the Redmond, Wash., company." Read the report at eWeek.

Michael Robertson, CEO of Lindows.com, was the guest speaker of an IRC meeting with the Lindows Insiders on July 12, 2002. As you can read in the chat transcript, Mr Robertson is making very clear that the Lindows market is not the Linux users, but people who have never used Linux before. As Lycoris also does, Lindows does not care much about competing with other Linux distributions, as much as they care competing with Windows itself. Their marketing plan is to de-emphasize from showing off GNU/Linux and the broader open source movement as a selling point, and instead to create a hybrid between a commercial and a somewhat open environment: "The audience we're going for has never heard of linux, so it's more of a distraction when talking about our system to mention linux." he said.

"On the eve of Apple Computer's semi-annual MacWorld event, Microsoft has dropped a bombshell on the company: Work harder to accelerate Mac OS X sales, or Microsoft will exit the Mac market forever. This sentiment is one shared by many Mac developers, as Mac OS X has not sold well at all." Read the report at WinInfo and MacMinute's report of the original Wall Street Journal article.

"To meet the growing demand for low-cost and fully-featured personal computers, MandrakeSoft and Microtel Computer Systems will be offering PCs preloaded with Mandrake Linux at Walmart.com. Prices start at $389." Read the press release and browse the aisles of Mandrake/MicroTel/Wal-Mart PCs.

This article includes many exclusive pictures, 5 new AmigaOS4 screenshots and some exclusive AmigaOS4 information. Within the first section of this article I will try to give some relevant background information about the history of new Amiga products. Then sections will follow regarding the new PowerPC based Amiga hardware platform, the new AmigaOS4, how users can contribute and finally I will write about the potential niche markets for new Amiga systems.

According to a brief paragraph on MacOS Rumours Apple may be switching to IBM POWER4 CPUs instead of the Motorola G5 for future Macs.

"In the true fashion of top ten lists, I've written and published for geeks without brains and decency my list of reasons for hating them." Read the top ten list at TUX Reports.

Security Update 7-12-02 increases the security of the Software Update process for systems with Software Update client 1.4.5 or earlier. Packages presented via the Software Update mechanism are now cryptographically signed, and the new Software Update client 1.4.6 checks for a valid signature before installing new packages. Downloaded packages which do not contain a valid signature are deleted from the system.

"Here's a riddle: What's a little bigger than a Wheat Thin, has more transistors than the adult population of the United States, draws as much power as a small vacuum cleaner, and costs as much as a top-quality HDTV? Give up? It's Intel's 64-bit McKinley CPU, soon to be released as Itanium 2. McKinley is the newest member of the IA64 processor family." Read the article at MCPMag.

"When my copy of SuSE Linux 8.0 arrived, I almost felt like I was coming home after a long trip. SuSE had been my primary Linux distribution for over two years, until last November, so it was exciting to see what they had been up to. SuSE 8.0 seems as good a way as any to come back to SuSE, after all it was the first distribution to ship with KDE 3, and it comes with a truckload of improvements over previous versions." Read the review at OpenForBusiness.

Adam Wiggins has put together 10 reasons of what he believes it is wrong with Linux today. Our Take: Some of his points seem correct, but others are already fixed for most distributions. I really had a smile in my face reading his point No 5. It is exactly what I was talking about 2 weeks ago, and only the Amiga, OSX and BeOS-6/Dano people were able to follow of what it really means to have a smooth desktop! Read the discussion and explanation starting here and especially here.

KDE 3 was released only a few months ago, and it is, to date, the most successful version of the series, serving more than 50% of the Unix and Linux desktops, surpassing Gnome (~21%) and the rest of the gang. However, KDE is not perfect, and still not as comfortable as the Windows or as sexy as the MacOSX desktops. It lacks two things: integration with the underlying system and UI polishing. Today, I will mostly talk about the polishing part, as a lot has been already said elsewhere about the seemingly unsolvable integration issue (because of the modularity and completely independant/remote software projects.) Update: And as I was just publishing this article, KDE 3.1-Alpha was released. I hope that some of my recommendations will make it to the final version of KDE 3.1.

"With Longhorn, the next version of Windows due out in 2005, the company will take its first serious stab at delivering on Gates' vision. And a new application programming interface (API) framework, code-named Avalon, will be at the core of Longhorn's new information-access architecture, according to sources. Avalon is the key to the new "inductive" user interface that will debut in Longhorn, sources say. The new UI will allow users to organize and share information more intuitively, most likely using some kind of "dock," a la Microsoft Office XP, sources say. " Read the report at eWeek.