Why Do New iMacs Surf So Slowly?

Apple 44 Comments
"They're here, they're slow, get used to it. At least for now. One of Apple's top goals for its new flat-panel iMacs is to get home consumers to switch from Windows PCs. But some who rushed to order the attractive new computer sight unseen say they have been disappointed: For Web browsing -- still the biggest time use of home computers after e-mail -- the new iMacs are notably slower than a PC. Yep, even an older, cheaper one." Get the story at Wired. Some G4 benchmarks against the PCs and commentary can be found here.
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Using Threads With C#

General Development 3 Comments
This article over at MSDN explains the different models of threading — single, apartment, and free — and the use of each model. It also introduces a code sample in C# that uses threading to help you write applications that will take advantage of threading. The article also discusses important issues involved in multithreading code.
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SuSE Linux 8.0 Beta Review at LinuxPlanet

SuSE, openSUSE No Comments
Kurt Wall writes for LinuxPlanet: "I'm a minimalist when it comes to my Linux boxes. They all run Slackware and XFCE, with nary a single bit of KDE or GNOME to be seen. Why? Because I want to save my RAM, CPU, and disk for real computing, not eye candy. So, as I began my review of SuSE 8.0, I was skeptical that it would have much that really wowed me. And, to be clear, I finished my review as firmly entrenched in my minimalism as when I started. Naytheless, SuSE impressed me, especially the painless, perfect installation -- an element difficult to get right during a beta. Those of you who prefer or rely on feature-rich, beautiful desktops won't be disappointed in SuSE 8.0."
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The DirectX API Now on MacOS

Apple 13 Comments
Coderus, a UK-based company is now offering MacDX, an OpenGL wrapper API for MacOS based on Microsoft's DirectX gaming API. While the company have not make public any technical details as to which parts of DirectX are actually supported, it might be safe to assume (and this is just a guess), based on the fact that their package only takes 10 MB of hard disk space as opposed to 120+ MB of Microsoft's full DirectX SDK, that only the critical and most used parts of DirectX have been wrapped so far. On a similar note, the open source DirectX OpenGL Wrapper from Real-Tech for Windows, Mac and Unix enjoyed a new released version just a few days ago.
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Microsoft Sees What’s in Tech’s Future

Microsoft 19 Comments
"Microsoft shipped its Windows XP operating system just six months ago, but the software giant is already preparing for the next wave of computing. Microsoft has identified a handful of technology trends likely to reshape PCs and is working to define how Windows XP and its successors will take advantage of them, said Chris Jones, vice president of the Windows client team." Read the story at ZDNews. "Microsoft invites engineers to converge in Seattle for WinHEC to hear the latest ideas about DVD, audio, video and other consumer computing technology. Bill Gates' dream that people will build a PC first, then design a home to fit may be just around the block." Read the special feature at ZDNews.
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Metrowerks Ships CodeWarrior Development Tools for intent

Amiga & AROS 4 Comments
Metrowerks is shipping a new set of tools which enables application and content development for Tao Group's intent, a high performance, portable media platform. These tools don't come cheap. However an intent/AmigaDE Software Development Kit costs only 100 dollars is already enough to get you started. And if you want to use powerful dynamic graphic scaling capabilities, you need to sign a SDA with Amiga. Then your software will be able to scale properly from handheld to STB/Desktop resolutions. On TechTV Amiga already demonstrated the technologies' flexibility and performance.
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The Microsoft Penalty That Isn’t

Open Source 62 Comments
"The Microsoft license specifically excludes software under the General Public License, commonly known as the GPL. The GPL is the software license used by Linux and by SAMBA, a popular open-source program that allows non-Microsoft systems to share files and printers with Windows." Read the rest of the editorial at ZDNews. Our Take: Funny. Everyone is getting worked up with that CIFS license, and it seems that no one has actually read the new Visual Studio.NET license. We did so with my husband 1-2 weeks ago. We are not lawyers, but what we pretty much understood from it, was that you can't develop and/or distribute GPL or LGPL (or compatible licensed) applications created with Visual Studio.NET. I personally believe that this is more important of the CIFS license issue, because it pretty much takes out any possibility of creating Free software for the Windows platforms, when using either the classic Win32/MFCs or .NET APIs. And if you are thinking about using Gcc, bad luck. The license prohibits using a GPL-compatible license for your apps that link against Microsoft's libraries. Quite possibly Microsoft used such restrictions in order to protect themselves from the possibility that someone may ask them to open source their technologies if third party developers link their GPL apps with Microsoft's libs, but on the other hand, it is restrictive to not be able to use a $1000 developer's tool to create applications the way you wish.
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Hey Apple, Give me Visual Clarity!

Apple 28 Comments
"Compared with Mac OS 9, running under OS X feels like someone smeared Vaseline all over my monitor. I have uncorrected vision, and I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible. But prolonged exposure to Mac OS X--particularly its anti-aliased text--really peeves my eyeballs. The abundant anti-aliasing is just one of the many problems I have with the Aqua interface. The gratuitous shadows around windows eat up screen real estate that I would rather keep to myself. I'm greedy with my pixels and don't like it when Aqua absconds with them." The editorial is at ZDNews, while OSNews reader Doug Gruber submitted the news for the second part of the story "Why I don't own a Mac".
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OpenBSD 3.1 Available Only on CDs

OpenBSD 16 Comments
OpenBSD leader and creator Theo de Raadt explained OpenBSD 3.1 will only be available through the retail channels and not available as ISOs: "It simply does not make economic sense for us to reduce the CD sales we have now." OpenBSD currently ships as a 3 CD set. With 3.1, available in June, there will be an extra fourth CD only available as an ISO for download. Additionally, the CD comes with a sheet of special OpenBSD stickers and a bonus music track. Read more at KernelTrap.
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Windows Longhorn – Next Gen Windows Goes 3D

Windows 43 Comments
From Tom's Hardware: "At WinHEC details are emerging of the graphics infrastructure for Longhorn, Microsoft's next generation Windows. The graphics interface at the driver level is going to be all DirectX 9.0, and the door is being left wide open for moving the Windows UI completely 3D. Microsoft has already started to tax the GPU on the PC with all its plans for "media rich experiences," as company execs like to call anything loud and colorful, but Longhorn is going to be a field day for the graphics industry. As one Microsoft developer told us, there's going to be no let up on the GPU with Longhorn."
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Microsoft Primes .Net for Mobile Gear

.NET 7 Comments
"Microsoft is readying a test version of software for bringing its .Net Web services plan to mobile devices. The software maker said on Tuesday that it has posted a test version of its .Net Compact Framework, a programming infrastructure for writing mobile device Web services software, along with additional mobile device tools, to its Web site. The .Net Compact Framework works in conjunction with Microsoft's Visual Studio.Net tools to let developers write Windows-based Web services programs to run on cell phones, personal digital assistants and other wireless mobile devices powered by the company's Windows CE and Windows CE.Net operating systems." Read the rest of the report at News.com.
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Norwegian “School-Linux” Nears Completion

  Submitted by daniel andre Linux 3 Comments
A dedicated group of norwegian students have now almost finished what is called "School-Linux" (or "skolelinux" in norwegian). After having put down about 11.500 hours of work, they are planning Norway's largest betatesting - starting on May 3rd. They have translated KDE, and over 350 programs to Norwegian (Bokmal and Nynorsk idiomatisms). They also promise that you will be able to install "school-linux" with three mouse clicks. The finished product is scheduled for late August.
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OpenBeOS Achieves Binary Compatibility With Net_Server

  Submitted by David Prosper Haiku 54 Comments
The Open-BeOS (OBOS) networking team managed to re-create the BeOS networking stack, net_server, and even achieve binary compatibility. TCP support has now been added, and now NetPositive can retrieve web pages. You can see a screenshot of NetPositive, the BeOS native web browser, at David Reid's web site (David is the developer who ported Apache 1.x/2.x to BeOS). Still, the infant stack is pretty unstable, but it's a huge step forward.
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IBM, Microsoft Plot Net Takeover

Internet 21 Comments
"IBM and Microsoft have been quietly busy behind the scenes for the last two years building a toll booth that could position the two companies to collect royalties on most if not all Internet traffic. While the technologies that form the foundation of that toll booth have yet to be officially recognized as standards by an independent standards body, the collective strength of IBM and Microsoft could be enough to render Internet standards consortia powerless to stop them." Read the rest of the report at ZDNews.
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Netscape, not IE, Put on New CompuServe

Mozilla, Gecko 12 Comments
"America Online on Tuesday fired the first shot in what may signal the rekindling of the Web browser wars against Microsoft. The Internet giant launched CompuServe 7.0 with Netscape bundled as its default browser. CompuServe, AOL's other online service, previously used Microsoft's Internet Explorer as its default browser, and AOL itself continues to use IE. "We're backing the product because we think it's a good one and we want to put it in users' hands, and CompuServe is a good place to get it out there," AOL spokesman Josh Danson said." Read the rest of the report at ZDNews.
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The Robots Are Coming

Geek stuff 11 Comments
"Robots that can climb stairs, crawl over ditches, survive three-story falls—and pester people who ignore your e-mails. Morticia is quite the capable robot. She can scramble over the outback at about 15 kilometers per hour, climb stairs, survive a 10-meter drop onto a concrete floor and even navigate underwater. Not bad for a little critter that’s less than 20 centimeters high and 65 centimeters long—about the size of a small suitcase." Read the rest of the interesting report at TechReview.
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Sun Software: Now it’s ONE for All

Oracle and SUN 23 Comments
Sun Microsystems on Monday said it has reorganized and re-branded its disparate software lines and put them all under the Sun ONE umbrella. By re-branding its software, Sun hopes to better explain, and hence sell, its software to large corporate customers. As a result, the iPlanet Web Server, software for running large Web servers, will be rechristened the Sun ONE Web server, while the Chilisoft ASP will go by the name Sun ONE Active Server Pages. Our Take: As you can see, Sun is going full speed with Sun ONE, which is pretty much a similar range of products and strategy as Microsoft's .NET. A lot of people in our forums have dismissed the whole idea of .NET (most without knowing what .NET and ONE really are), but the bottomline is that it makes sense on how the future of computing is going to look like. If it won't be Microsoft and its .NET, it will be Sun and ONE. Bottomline is that you can't get away from this "new way of doing things." Exactly as we said in the last paragraph of our .NET editorial two months ago. Update: Java and .NET battle for the web's future.
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