OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing - Page 587

Nokia’s Head of MeeGo Ari Jaaksi Resigns

Submitted by irbis 2010-10-06 Wireless 17 Comments

As the third high-profile departure at Nokia in recent months Ari Jaaksi, vice president of MeeGo devices and operations, who had worked at the company since 1998, told Finnish newspaper Talous Sanomat that he resigned from Nokia last week. According to Nokia Communications Manager Tapani Kaskinen the departure will not affect MeeGo's development schedule. Nevertheless the news cast doubts on whether we'll see a MeeGo-based device from Nokia before the end of 2010.

Why the OS Matters

Kroc 2010-10-06 Editorial 36 Comments

In response to Jean-Louis Glassee's article "The OS Doesn't Matter..." I wrote quite simply: the future of the browser wars is he who integrates with the OS best. This phrase came from my article lambasting Microsoft's use of HTML for their IE9 jump lists, which caused quite a stir. In the wave of ever increasing web browser capability, the operating system is going to matter to web users more than it ever has before.

One Week of LibreOffice: The Numbers

Kroc 2010-10-06 Office 55 Comments

In an e-mail to their announce mailing list, the The Document Foundation have shared details of their first week of public operation: "One full week has gone by since the announcement of The Document Foundation, and we would like to share some numbers with the people who have decided to follow us since the first day."

Six Months with Opera 10.5

Guest post by addoula 2010-10-05 Opera 86 Comments

Since the launch of Opera 10.5 in March 2010, I've been using it as my primary browser, whether at work or at home. Using Ubuntu at work, and a Windows netbook at home, I wanted a fast browser for my netbook and a coherent browsing experience on both operating systems. And this is where Opera 10.5 (and newer) fits perfectly.

Google Officially Responds to Oracle Android Patent Lawsuit

Thom Holwerda 2010-10-05 Legal 77 Comments

So, Google has finally officially responded (thanks for hosting, Engadget) to Oracle's patent and copyright infringement lawsuit against the search giant's Android mobile operating system. Apart from boatloads of pages on how Google pretty much denies any and all claims, there's a lot of interesting stuff in there - stuff that doesn't seem to bode well if the courts do decide Google is infringing Oracle's patents. It also makes it crystal clear that anyone who values Free and open source software should avoid Oracle products like the plague.

Microsoft’s Anti-Android FUD Campaign in Full Swing

Thom Holwerda 2010-10-05 Windows 67 Comments

With the release of Windows Phone 7 upon us, the hype machine now goes all the way up to 11. While hype machines are generally relatively harmless and easy to poke a hole through, coordinated FUD campaigns by patent trolls are not. After Apple and Microsoft trolled HTC, and Microsoft now trolling Motorola, the actual FUD campaign against Android is in full swing.

Apple Loses Patent Troll Lawsuit

Thom Holwerda 2010-10-04 Legal 48 Comments

So, Apple has to pay boatloads of money to some patent troll over cover flow and Time Machine-related patents.

Windows Phone 7 To Launch October 11

Thom Holwerda 2010-10-04 Windows 23 Comments

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows Phone 7 will be launched worldwide October 11. "Horror, shock, surprise! Microsoft CEO and prime fanboy of all things Windows and developer-related, Steve Ballmer, will be the keynote speaker at Microsoft's New York launch event for Windows Phone 7. He'll be joined on stage by AT&T's Ralph de la Vega and when the pep rally is over, we're promised opportunities to finally handle the official incarnations of retail Windows Phones for ourselves."

10 Great FOSS Apps for Windows, Mac, Linux

Guest post by snydeq 2010-10-04 Open Source 21 Comments

InfoWorld's Serdar Yegulalp looks beyond OpenOffice.org to list 10 great free and open source desktop tools for word processing, page layout, graphics editing, illustration, task management, and more. Some of the featured tools provide a worthwhile alternative to expensive proprietary software, while others carve a niche all their own. All are available for Windows, and nearly all are available for Linux and Mac OS X as well. From AbiWord, to Inkscape, to Task Coach, each of the tools provides further proof that the roster of available free programs is growing remarkably -- in both the breadth and depth of functionality offered.

MenuetOS Adds Fourier Transform

Submitted by fran 2010-10-04 OS News 13 Comments

Yesterday MenuetOS released a kernel update that includes Fourier transform, sinc and resampling. Fourier transform is significant in that it allow for more efficient computation and is essential for high speed computing.

Cardboard PC

David Adams 2010-10-04 Humor 12 Comments

Recompute has just launched a "green" pc whose chassis is made up entirely of cardboard. No joke. It can be ordered in different configurations, from an Athlon X2 Linux, to an Athlon II Quad Core Windows 7 model. Please note this is not for sensitive viewers. Steve Jobs and other aesthetes are encouraged not to read further.

Jean-Louis Gassee: The OS Doesn’t Matter

Submitted by Idefix 2010-10-04 OS News 43 Comments

Once upon a time, operating systems used to matter a lot; they defined what a computer could and couldn't do... Today, there's only one operating system: Unix (okay, there are two, but we'll get to that). This is why I contend that the OS doesn't matter - or that we need to take another look at the word's content, at what we mean when we say 'Operating System'.

Studies Show Android, iOS Transmit Private Data to 3rd Parties

Submitted by B. Janssen 2010-10-04 Privacy, Security 31 Comments

Last week, a study was published that showed how 15 popular applications in the Android Market shared location data with advertisement servers, while 10 shared unique identifiers with them, as well. Glad you're using an iPhone? Not so fast - another study, published over the weekend, shows that the iOS ain't much better in this regard.

FreeBSD Gets USB 3.0 Support

Submitted by R_T_F_M 2010-10-04 FreeBSD 10 Comments

FreeBSD is getting support for USB 3.0. "Commit initial version of new XHCI driver which was written from scratch. This driver adds support for USB3.0 devices. The XHCI interface is also backwards compatible to USB2.0 and USB1.0 and will eventually replace the OHCI/UHCI and EHCI drivers."

EFL Hit Beta, Enlightenment DR17 Ready by End of the Year

Submitted by kragil 2010-10-04 Desktop environments 33 Comments

So, yeah, it's been ten years in the making, including a number of rewrites, but the day has finally come: the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries, which, surprisingly enough, form the foundation of, among other things, Enlightenment, have reached beta status. This is a major step towards the final release of Enlightenment DR17, which should hit before year's end.

Rare IBM Split Keyboard Hits eBay, Goes Over $1600

Submitted by sawboss 2010-10-02 Humor 31 Comments

If you follow the keyboard collectors market (yeah, didn't think so . . .) then you'd certainly know that the IBM model M15 split ergonomic is pretty much the most desirable keyboard out there. A small number of them were made over a short span of time (1994-1995), and their clunky plastic knob and super-adjustable design meant that over years many of them broke. So when one lands on eBay, it's a big deal.

EFF and Microsoft Want to Make it Easier to Invalidate Patents

Submitted by google_ninja 2010-10-02 Legal 11 Comments

Today EFF, joined by Public Knowledge, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and the Apache Software Foundation, filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case in which Microsoft is trying to make it easier to invalidate an issued U.S. patent. If successful, this challenge should help in the fight against bad patents by lowering the standard required to prove that the patent is invalid to the same one required to prove infringement. It should especially help the free and open source community.

Microsoft Slaps Motorola with Patent Lawsuit over Android

Thom Holwerda 2010-10-01 General Development 91 Comments

Anyone who did not see this one coming after Microsoft's patent deal with HTC and Apple's meticulousness in avoiding Windows Mobile in its suit against HTC hasn't been paying attention. Microsoft has filed a patent complaint with the US International Trade Commission, as well as a patent lawsuit in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington against Motorola over its Android-based devices.

Samsung Ditches Symbian, Nokia Releases Ovi Store Figures

Thom Holwerda 2010-10-01 Wireless 19 Comments

We've got some good news for Symbian, and we've got some bad news. We already had Sony Ericsson abandoning the Symbian platform, but today Samsung joined them in leaving Symbian behind. The good news is that Nokia has released some figures on downloads from its Ovi Store, and it ain't that bad, actually.

Google Unveils WebP, New Image Format for the Web

Thom Holwerda 2010-09-30 Google 103 Comments

A few months ago, Google open sourced the VP8 video codec as part of the WebM video project, to create a truly Free/free unencumbered video format for the web as an answer to the non-Free/free patent-encumbered H264 format. Today, Google launched a new image format for the web, WebP, which aims to significantly reduce the file size of photos and images on the web.