AMD tried to re-claim the performance leadership with the release of the 2600+ and 2400+ versions of its AthlonXP CPU. While AMD officials claimed that the new chips outperform other PC processors, ExtremeTech testing doesn't give the AthlonXP a definitive edge. AMD also reworked its "model number" performance ratings to better represent performance, executives said. In other hardware news, Sun released a new, budget-minded Unix workstation on Tuesday, mamed Sun Blade 150. But as its influence grows in the Unix market, the market itself is dwindling, C|Net says.

Opera, the self-described "fastest browser on earth," has decided to jettison its legacy code in favor of something a little faster. The Oslo, Norway-based company is on the verge of releasing a trial, or beta, version of Opera 7, which will resemble its predecessor only in superficial ways. The rendering engine--the heart of the browser, which interprets code pulled down from Web servers--has been rewritten from the ground up over the past 18 months.

From ActiveWin: "Microsoft Corp. has released the second service pack for Office XP, which will combine previously released and new updates into a single, integrated package that will be available as a Web download or on CD. Office XP Service Pack 2 (SP-2) provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office XP. SP-2 contains significant security enhancements as well as stability and performance improvements. SP-2 updates the following Office applications: Word 2002, Excel 2002, Outlook 2002, PowerPoint 2002, Access 2002, FrontPage 2002, Publisher 2002, and Office XP Web Components."

Microsoft is undergoing a major cultural shift in the way it deals with security, but it has come much later than it should have, is the consensus at the TechEd conference in Brisbane. In the meantime, web servers and corporate PCs are at risk from vulnerabilities in the popular Apache server software and in a component of Microsoft's Windows 2000.

Marcelo Tosatti released 2.4.20-pre4 today. Included in the bug fixes and driver updates was the merge of JFS. JFS is IBM's journaled filesystem port from OS/2. JFS had previously been merged into the -ac tree (2.4.18pre9-ac4) and was merged into the 2.5 tree early on (2.5.6). JFS joins ext3 and reiserfs in the 2.4 tree. SGI's XFS is still awaiting inclusion into the stable tree. Read more at KernelTrap.

Intel scientists are putting two chip cores into the same piece of silicon--with promises to improve performance by 'core hopping' and keeping the transistors cooler. Read the report at ZDNews.com. Update: In the meantime, OSNews reader Kelvin Tong tells us that HWExtreme has exclusive pictures and a preview of the AMD "Hammer" Opteron processor.

Rational on Monday spruced up its XDE Professional tool with support for Microsoft's Visual Basic.Net language and ASP.Net class library technology, which makes it easier to build complex Web-based business systems by handling much of the underlying plumbing. In the meantime, Microsoft is shipping to testers a new Visual Studio .NET, codenamed Everett Beta 1.

"The creators of the open-source databases MySQL and PostgreSQL are trying to push them further into the enterprise with new features aimed at better support for transactions, database recovery and replication." Read the news at eWeek. On the other hand, VA-Software said that they had to switch SourceForge to IBM's DB2, because their database grows very fast (70 new projects and 700 new users daily) and while they did a move from mySQL to PostgreSQL a year ago (mySQL is faster for smaller dbs, while PostgreSQL scales better), now they have to move again to an even more powerful database, which happens to be proprierty.

"It's not an easy job, but Hewlett-Packard is determined to support no fewer than five major operating systems: Linux, HP-UX, Tru64, OpenVMS and Windows. Dig a bit deeper and it's even more complicated with three main flavors of Linux -- Debian, Red Hat, and UnitedLinux -- and at least as many versions of Windows -- Windows 2000, XP and the up coming .NET Server." The story is at NewsForge.

As seen over at Deadly.org: "Some Bulgarian fellows made a tiny BSD distro, which is a mix between FreeBSD and OpenBSD, has some ports and other stuff -a. Full install is about 200 megs, the install iso is 64 MB.It can run on low end x86 boxes." More infrormation here.

The third ("null") beta of Red Hat Linux has been updated. New in this release include lots of bug fixes and gcc-3.2. Gcc-3.2 allows for better ABI compatibility going forward. Note that C++ apps compiled on the first beta will not run on this beta.

Sony Ericsson challenges developers to come up with an irresistible program for its P800 phone. Analysts say it's a sign that software development for smartphones is in the doldrums. Read the news at News.com. Our Take: This is so unoriginal. There is only one application that can be re-created easily, to match a phone's requirements, that is completely a must-have for a phone/PDA that has internet access: A Watson replica. Even Apple had to copycat it for its new Sherlock, and even we asked for it. Watson just rocks, and it is extra useful when you are "on the go".

A thought-provoking New York Times article examines the evidence that Apple may secretly be working on a PDA/Phone device. It cites some cryptic statements by Steve Jobs about how PDAs are going to be replaced by phones, and some not-so-cryptic ones about the sorry state of the handheld offerings today. The article's main evidence, though, is the interesting proliferation of features in Max OS X.2 that have more immediately applicable benefit in a handheld, like handwriting recognition and the "internet distilled" functionality of Sherlock (also seen in the shareware app Watson). Apple already has a license to use the iPod software in a second device.

As Amiga Inc is about to re-enter the computer arena with new AmigaOS4 powered desktop systems as well as with 3rd party embedded products utilizing AmigaDE technology pre-installed, there are a growing number of people who wonder what an advanced classic AmigaOS currently offers. This was an important reason for me to write a simple to understand WinUAE tutorial, so this would hopefully help interested people with setting up a fun and easy to use emulated AmigaOS environment on widely available mainstream Windows computers. This article also includes many WinUAE screenshots and information on acquiring and using freely available software.