I can remember seeing my first calculator in the 1970s. It was shown to us by a teacher in school. Up to then all we had seen were mechanical adding machines. The calculator amazed us, it was silent, instantaneous, and even had a square root key, a function I never saw any adding machine do. The teacher explained that soon every home would have a computer. I couldn't believe it, computers were huge, and filled rooms. Even a home computer would take up a living room. He was right though, by 1977 we had home computers that weren't much bigger than a keyboard.

News from Slashdot: ""Intels C++ and Fortran compilers are now available for Windows and Linux. The compiler for Linux provides higher compatibility with the GNU C-compiler including compability to the upcoming GCC-3.1 C++-ABI (binary compability) and support for several GNUisms in the syntax (PDF). To quote Intel: 'The 6.0 release of the Intel C++ compiler has improved support for the GNU C language extensions and is now able to build the Linux kernel with minor work arounds for both the IA-32 and Itanium architectures.' Little reminder: Running such a kernel is, of course, not supported by the kernel developers. Evaluation copies are available for download, but requires previous registration."

If you ever had to implement an ext2 file system driver, you surely noticed the lack of good documentation on the subject. This project aims to solve this issue by providing thorough documentation on the low level details of implementing a Second Extended file system driver.

"Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says his company would be unable to allow manufacturers and consumers to choose which elements of its Windows operating system to install on their computers under sanctions being proposed to a federal judge.The issue stems from how different portions of Windows are reliant on each other. If one piece is removed, such as the part of the Internet Explorer Web browser that makes Web pages appear, other features like the Windows Help system would break." Read the rest of the story at Yahoo!News. You can also read the submitted Gates testimony as a PDF here. Our Take: Personally, I prefer products to be solid and in one piece, as they were designed to be. Recreating something like Linux's dependancy hell at all levels, is naturally something that does not benefit the consumer. Or my hot temper when dealing with it. What is needed IMHO, is restrict Microsoft's business practices, not its product line. Update: More about Gates on the stand.

After two months of being offline, Microsoft releases new versions for the famous PowerToys for WindowsXP. You can now download the new versions for Open Command Window Here, Alt-Tab Replacement, Tweak UI, Power Calculator, Image Resizer, CD Slide Show Generator, Virtual Desktop Manager, Taskbar Magnifier, HTML Slide Show Wizard and the Webcam Timershot. In this release, Microsoft did not include some other popular PowerToys like the "Desk Menu tool" and "Extra Send to menu" and the Shell Audio player and ISO Burner.

"Symbian today said it will open most of the source code for its mobile operating system to third party developers, in its latest effort to encourage the creation of more software for the platform. The company also announced that German electronics giant Siemens has agreed to buy 5 percent of the company for more than 20-million euros ($17.8 million). The software company, which is co-owned by Psion as well as Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and others, already provides most of its code to its licensees, and will offer the same access to software developers through a new plan called the "Symbian Platinum Program". A number of third parties have already committed to joining the program, including Intel, AppForge, Texas Instr. and UK chip-designer ARM Holdings." Read the rest of the story at ZDNews.