IBM's OS/2 has a great history as a workstation operating system, it was a major alternative OS in the '90s. At its peak time in the mid-'90s OS/2 had about 2 million users but the Windows NT and Windows 95 releases broke its further development. This year Serenity Systems has released a new client version of OS/2. This article will introduce you to what OS/2 is all about. You will learn its history, its user interface, and its power under the hood. The article is also accompanied by a number of screenshots.

"Mac OS X 10.2 may not make it to Macworld Expo San Francisco early next January. Sources close to the development of Apple's Unix-based operating system, cited by eWeek, claim that the major update won't be released until the summer, to cash in on the back-to-school period. In its place, Apple will roll-out more minor updates, just as it did a little while back with Mac OS X 10.1.1. A further update, 10.1.2, is expected early this month, having recently been seeded to developers. Then, in early spring, Apple will release what will presumably be known as version 10.1.3, the source said." TheRegister reports. In related news, thanks to cracking details posted on the Web, Mac diehards discovered a way to turn a complimentary MacOSX 10.1 upgrade CD into a free copy of the operating system itself.

NewsForge holds a preview for Opera 6.0, Linux edition. BitStream, the world leader in Font Rendering engines, suggests opening their PFR technology to Mozilla. Zope founder Paul Everitt gives an interview to Zopera.org. WinPlanet features two reviews on office suites. One for the Software602 office suite and a brand new article, a preview for gobeProductive3. On WindowPlanet you will also find a short review of VMWare 3.0 Workstation.

Sophos, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection, has revealed that just two viruses, Nimda and Sircam, accounted for almost 50% of the reports received by Sophos's helpdesk during 2001. Code Red, the most hyped virus of the year, does not even appear in the top ten. Sophos has detected 11,160 new viruses, worms and Trojan horses to date this year, bringing the total protected against to almost 70,000. On average, the Sophos virus labs produce detection routines for over 30 viruses each day.

I was meaning to write a message like this for quite some time and leave it at the top, so more readers can see it. People, STOP complaining when we put up development articles or when we put .NET or Microsoft articles or sci-fi news.

Last week RedHat entered into the PowerPC market, leaving Yellow Dog Linux, the distribution that is a port of RedHat to the PowerPC, in a precarious position. When SuSE and Mandrake also entered the PPC market, LinuxPPC was the first of the PPC-only Linux companies that put a break into their further development. As PPC-only Linux company, where is YDL will be standing in the near future? Read the editorial at TuxPPC.

Ximian, Inc., an open source software company, not only announced the 1.0 release of their Evolution e-mail client, but also the availability of Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange. Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange will finally allow users to connect to their business' Exchange servers from their Linux workstations. Update by ELQ: An interesting editorial regarding Ximian's flirt with Exchange can be found at the LinuxPlanet.

Hyperion Entertainment announced it has finalised an initial AmigaDE version of its 'Warp3D' technology. At only 56 KB it is well suited for low-end devices like PDA’s, web-tablets and 3G phones. Apex Designs is the first to announce the porting of a popular 3D Amiga game Payback to the AmigaDE. The initial AmigaDE version will not use Warp3D technology however. Have a look at these these screenshots for some of the PDA/cellphone targetted AmigaDE software currently available from the AmigaDE shop. More information and screenshots inside.

"Obviously, Kylix OE is not a moneymaker for Borland. It is a gift to the open source community. That community does not even represent Borland's target developer market. Borland customers are, for the most part, programmers and IT shops firmly entrenched in the Windows world. It's aimed at Delphi users who are branching out from writing for the Windows platform to Linux. Not the other way around." Get the rest of the story at LinuxWorld.

Microsoft recently announced at the launch of the WindowsXP Embedded operating system that more than 15 industry-leading companies have committed to shipping their next-generation devices based on Windows XP Embedded within the first half of 2002. WindowsXP Embedded, the componentized version of the WindowsXP operating system, enables rapid development of the most reliable and full-featured connected devices including retail point-of-sale devices, thin clients, gaming systems, self-service kiosks, industrial automation, residential gateways, and advanced set-top boxes. In addition, Microsoft announced a free evaluation kit, as well as a 90-day promotional price of $995 USD (estimated retail price) for the WindowsXP Embedded tool suite.

"Looking to jump-start sales in the face of stiff competition and a nasty economy, Oracle is set to disclose plans for new software and a revamped version of its flagship database-management application at a customer conference in San Francisco next week. The new release of Oracle 9i database, which will be available early next year, will better handle XML (Extensible Markup Language) data, a Web standard for data exchange that lets companies construct e-commerce and new Web services applications, said Oracle executives." In related news, Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for SQL Server 2000. Because SQL Server Service Packs are cumulative, SP2 includes all fixes from previously released Service Pack 1 (SP1), and can be applied to an original installation or to one where Service Pack 1 (SP1) was previously applied.

A thread on the Linux Kernel mailing list started innocently enough about proper spacing in source code, then grew and grew into a somewhat philosophical debate about evolution and code design. The subject of the thread was "Coding style - a non-issue". However, before long a debate was sparked, leading to some interesting comments by Linus and some others, perhaps best summarized by Alan Cox's comment: "Engineering does not require science. Science helps a lot but people built perfectly good brick walls long before they knew why cement works." and Linus Torvalds: "And I know better than most that what I envisioned 10 years ago has _nothing_ in common with what Linux is today. There was certainly no premeditated design there."

"Apple yesterday withdrew its latest OS X development guidelines after the document raised a storm of protest. Published four days ago, Apple posted Technical Information Note TN2034 containing advice on good programming practice for Mac OS X. Traffic on the list - usually confined to discussion of arcane programming tips - mushroomed as developers expressed their dissent." Read the rest of the story at TheRegister, along with further explanations about this story which apparently has a NeXT background.

"Windows XP helps itself to 20 per cent of your bandwidth, a useful tip at TweakXP reveals. But although this sounds like the sort of thing that could easily fuel paranoia (what's it doing with it?), it's more just a case of sloppy and wasteful configuration." Get the rest of the story at TheRegister.