OSNews reader Sylvain Martin writes: "The Clicker Operating system is moving forward. With last release 0.8.0, the system is now able to start user-level programs from another user-level program! This is a major advance if you consider that versions 0.7.x required the user-level program to be embedded within a system module. A pre-compiled demonstration package of 0.8.0 should be made available in a very soon future."

In this interview with a top VP at IBM Grid Computing, an old idea coming back, is defined as the next emerging technology. Specifically, cheap bandwidth and interoperable standards have created an environment where Grid Computing is not only possible but also "the natural evolution of the Internet".

"The purpose of this paper is to provide a concentrated, yet pragmatic, overview of ADO.NET by highlighting the performance and usability benefits of using ADO.NET with Microsoft SQL Server 2000. The intended audience is architects and developers who are familiar with ADO and are interested in learning about data access in the Microsoft .NET Framework." Read the article at MSDN. "When developing the design-time architecture for the .NET Framework, Microsoft chose to use source code as the persistence mechanism for user code rather than a binary or other private solution. Code persistence allows users to learn from the code that the Designer outputs as well as be able to easily build projects outside of the Visual Studio .NET environment if desired. It also allows understandable and accessible customization for advanced scenarios and components." Read the article at MSDN.

"Anyone made leery by the unfulfilled promises of the dot-com era may feel skeptical, or at least confused, about Web services, the latest wave of innovation on the Internet. Sky-high expectations and reams of hype are too often the death knell for emerging technologies. Will this one be any different?" Read the rest of the story at C|Net News.com.

Gentoo Linux is a high-performance ports-based Linux metadistribution for x86-based systems. Gentoo Linux 1.0 has finally been released. You'll find install instructions and ISOs and build tarballs (and on mirrors soon). Gentoo Linux is said to be the "fastest" Linux distribution to date, incorporating patches that make it extremely responsive. It is mostly aiming at developers though, as its installation procedure is definately not for newbies. Gentoo uses Portage as its package system, which is a mix of Debian's apt-get and FreeBSD's ports system, incorporating the good points of both technologies.

In a live interactive streaming audio/ICQ interview, by UGN at the AmigaExpo in Baltimore, Hyperion released even more interesting details regarding the development of AmigaOS4. Some highlights:

Microsoft Windows' next version will feature a database-like file system. However, something similar was done years ago, at BeOS' BFS. (BeOS experienced) journalist Andrew Orlowski from TheRegister interviewed Benoit Schillings and Dominic Giampaolo (of the BeOS fame) about BFS and the database-like file systems in general.

Bochs 1.4 is the latest release of Bochs, the popular x86 emulator. This version delivers features such as booting from a CDROM, VESA BIOS Extensions, improved networking, keyboard mapping for non-US keyboards, and a working serial port. You'll notice several new buttons on the GUI, copy, paste, and snapshot, which let you copy text between the system clipboard and the Bochs screen. There is also a new cross-platform interface using the SDL library. In related news, VMWare has just released a beta of its upcoming VMWare 3.1 x86 runtime (VMWare is not an emulator like Bochs and VPC are, this is why it can't be ported to any other architecture than x86 - however, by being a runtime, it is speedier than the emulators), while Connectix released its x86 emulator, Virtual PC 4.3, just 15 days ago.

A serious hole in Windows NT and Windows 2000 allows any user (even "guest") to gain complete control of the machine using the standard documented debugging interface. An article on ExtremeTech gives details and links to patches and sample exploits. To date, Microsoft has not commented on the vulnerability.

A few months back, I started to read about the new AmigaDE environment, AmigaOne, and the new technology Amiga is using. After Tao released their Intent/AmigaDE ADK on a cover CD bundled with Digital Magazine (and being an old Amigaen), I wanted to dig a little deeper and find out what all the fuss is about. During my search on the web, I couldn't help being a little disappointed.

"At first glance, Red Hat's announcement of "Red Hat Linux Advanced Server, the first enterprise-class Linux operating system" sounds like just another dose of public relations hype. Another day, another Linux business announcement. But first impressions can be misleading. Many industry observers think the Advanced Server is a giant leap forward for enterprise Linux." Read the report at NewsForge. In a statement released to Linux Today from Caldera, the Utah-based firm has some pointed concerns regarding Red Hat's Advanced Server, announced March 26: "We believe, and some of Red Hat's own industry partners will tell you, that Linux today cannot scale in the same way that UNIX can."

It appears that Linux-Mandrake believes it has not angered customers as reported on many IT related web sites. According to this page, the folks at Mandrake explain how the OEM agreement they signed with Sun forced their decision (to make SO6 available only to Club members), justify the change in their membership benefits, and thank the community for their continued support of open-source R&D.

"Whether you're an administrator or a developer, you must understand what's in store for you when you start using Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, which ships as part of the Windows .NET Server product line. The key interests of developers and administrators alike include security, stability, scalability, and programmability. Here's how IIS addresses those needs". Read the interesting review at .NETMag, while you can also similar explore interesting articles like "Evaluate Windows .NET Server" and "Internet Information Services 6.0 Overview - Beta 3".

"In a long awaited move, a beta version of the 8.2/PPC has joined the i586 version of the upcoming Mandrake Linux 8.2 distribution. This beta has a bit different schedule from the i586 version, but it should be roughly equivalent to beta2, with a few bug-fixes, and some PPC-specific features." Read about the new PPC features at Linux Mandrake. In related PPC news, Yellow Dog Linux 2.2 is now available for purchase.