OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Future GNOME: What to Expect in GNOME 3.0

Submitted by historyb 2010-05-13 Gnome 22 Comments

"The release of GNOME 3.0. the popular desktop's first major release in eight years, promises to be the major free software event in autumn 2010. Where is GNOME now? What can we expect of GNOME 3.0? Of GNOME 3 as a series of releases?"

Submitted by Ikshaar 2010-05-13 Legal 19 Comments

Well, this is about as surprising as the tides rolling in: HTC has sued Apple for patent infringement. Earlier this year, Apple sued HTC, focussing on the Taiwanese phone maker's Android devices. HTC has now responded with a patent suit of its own.

Microsoft Launches Office 2010

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-12 Microsoft 57 Comments

The Microsoft empire is built upon two pillars: the Windows operating system, and Microsoft Office. Windows 7 made its way unto the scene last year, and now it's time to work on the other pillar. Today, Microsoft officially launched Microsoft Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010. Regular customers will be able to purchase the new versions next month, starting at 119 USD.

It’s Official: Valve Releasing Steam, Source Engine for Linux

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-12 Games 64 Comments

"Valve Corporation has today rolled out their Steam Mac OS X client to the general public and confirmed something we have been reporting for two years: the Steam content delivery platform and Source Engine are coming to Linux. This news is coming days after we discovered proof in Steam's Mac OS X Client of Linux support and subsequently found more Linux references and even the unreleased Steam Linux client. The day has finally come and Linux gamers around the world have a reason to rejoice, as this is the biggest news for the Linux gaming community that sees very few tier-one titles." This means Linux users can finally enjoy two of the best games in recent years: Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. BOOMER!

Adobe’s New Flash DRM Comes with Selective Output Control

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-11 Multimedia, AV 7 Comments

"Adobe has rejiggered its DRM software for the Flash platform, combining a number of access control features under the rubric of Flash Access 2.0. The new platform can give content providers all sorts of ways to offer media content securely, including controlling what type of output devices can display the content - in effect, Adobe is enabling HDCP and broadcast control flags for Flash content."

Apple on NPD’s Android Outselling iPhone Claim: Whatever

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-11 Apple 15 Comments

"So NPD says smartphones running Google's Android are outselling Apple's iPhone in the United States. What does Apple think about NPD's claim? Not much. Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison tells me the company isn't at all worried by the suggestion that Android sales in the US might have leapfrogged those of the iPhone."

Verizon Wireless Is Working on Tablet with Google

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-11 Wireless 5 Comments

"Verizon Wireless is working with Google Inc. on a tablet computer, the carrier's chief executive, Lowell McAdam, said Tuesday, as the company endeavors to catch up with iPad host AT&T Inc. in devices that connect to wireless networks. The work is part of a deepening relationship between the largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers and Google, which has carved out a space in mobile devices with its Android operating system. Verizon Wireless last year heavily promoted the Motorola Droid, which runs Google's software."

BSA: Global Software Piracy Down Year-over-Year

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-11 Legal 1 Comment

"The Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group that represents many software vendors, has made stamping out software piracy a major initiative. To that end, it commissions an annual survey of global piracy, performed by IDC. There's not a whole lot of information about the methods employed in producing those numbers, so it's difficult to know how reliable they are in absolute terms. But said figures may be valuable for detecting trends, in which case the news is good for the BSA: although piracy remains substantial, it isn't growing at the rates it once was, and many industrialized countries have seen rates of piracy drop below 25 percent."

Submitted by PLan 2010-05-11 General Development 18 Comments

"Lately, the Perl language has had less buzz surrounding it than many other languages and development environments, but Perl is still a key component on the Internet. For this guest post, we asked Jeff Hobbs, Director of Engineering at ActiveState, to weigh in on the topic."

Submitted by Creap 2010-05-11 Opera 2 Comments

A group of Opera Software developers decided to port Opera to their favorite mobile platform. In a Q&A the team explains their motivation and the challenges they met when developing for Maemo. It is the first of Opera's mobile browsers to feature the new Carakan JavaScript engine, which made Opera the quickest browser on the desktop.

Jakob Nielsen’s iPad Usability Study

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-11 Graphics 34 Comments

Ah, Jakob Nielsen. Anyone who has ever been involved with serious document design or web usability will know his name. If you've never heard of him, the best way to describe him would probably be this: he's the Richard Stallman of usability. He has a set of very clear ideas about user interface and document design, which more often than not get in the way of beauty. He has performed a usability study, with real users, on the iPad.

Mandriva S.A. For Sale

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-11 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 49 Comments

If there's one Linux company that has seen lots of ups and downs it's the Paris-based Mandriva S.A. They have a great distribution, but as a company, they've always been on shaky grounds. First a rumour, now confirmed: the company has put itself up for sale - which, as the community points out, isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Adobe Shows Off Flash 10.1 on Android, Impresses

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-11 Wireless 55 Comments

While most of us here on the OSNews team are proponents of HTML5, we're all fully aware that Flash serves an important role on the web today, and will most likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Flash has a rather spotty record when it comes to performance, and so far, hasn't been able to run well on mobile devices. It seems this is about to change, as an Adobe evangelist has showed off Flash 10.1 on Android 2.2 (Froyo) running on the Nexus One. And eerlijk is eerlijk, it looks pretty darn impressive, especially considering how far they've come.

Guest post by Moochman 2010-05-10 Internet 87 Comments

A lot of articles lately have been focused on why Apple and Microsoft are the bad guys by supporting H.264 and not Theora. Well, yes, they are bad guys, but there really is not much point whining to them. It will in all likelihood fall on deaf ears, simply because they are acting in their own best interests--as MPEG stakeholders and commercial, DRM-encouraging, royalty-loving, proprietary-operating-system-hawking corporations. But that could all change--if the HTML5 spec didn't allow H.264.

Apple, AT&T Five Year Exclusivity Agreement Confirmed

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-10 Wireless 9 Comments

It has long been rumoured that Apple and AT&T signed an exclusivity deal for the iPhone covering five years since the launch of the original iPhone (2007). Apple has confirmed in a court case that this is indeed true; in other words, there is not going to be a Verizon iPhone before 2012. However, it is important to note that the original agreement may no longer be valid (for instance due to AT&T problematic service). This same court case also touched upon another important issue. "The plaintiffs argued that Apple exerts illegal monopoly power over the iPhone applications market by barring third-party apps from iPhone OS 1.0, and the court ruled the argument was valid enough to go forward." Should be of interest to Adobe and the FTC.

Android Outsells iPhone in the US

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-10 Wireless 97 Comments

When Apple sued HTC, and targeted Android specifically (news which came out of the blue), many people, including myself, were convinced this was Apple letting the world know they were afraid of Android's rising popularity. This notion was laughed away by many an Apple fan, but it turns out that this is most likely far closer to reality than many dare to admit: in the first quarter of 2010, Android conquered the number two market share spot from the iPhone in the US - and by a wide margin too. Update: Added a graph which better shows the trend.

Submitted by robertson 2010-05-10 Haiku 107 Comments

Two news items about alternative operating system news in a row? What is this, Christmas? In any case, the Haiku project, the darling of OSNews (hey it's okay now), has released its second alpha release. This new stable development release contains some serious improvements over the first alpha.

Submitted by Plexus 2010-05-09 Amiga & AROS 53 Comments

Ah, the AmigaOne x1000 - now that the summer is approaching, the powerful next-generation Amiga machine is getting ever closer to being officially unveiled and launched. The hardware is being developed by A-EON Technology, who formed a strategic partnership with Hyperion Entertainment, the company behind AmigaOS 4.x, with the "express purpose of developing new hardware for AmigaOS 4 and beyond". Obligement has a long and detailed interview up with Trevor Dickinson, long-time Amiga enthusiast and collector, and one of the prime forces behind A-EON.

Why AMD’s Notebook Prospects Are Looking up

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-09 AMD 26 Comments

"If you're looking for notebook power on the cheap and you're not too keen on either using Intel's integrated graphics or paying for a higher-performing, NVIDIA-made workaround (i.e., Optimus), then there's an obvious alternative mobile platform for you: AMD/ATI. AMD is gaining steam in the mobile space due to a combination of low cost and its ATI Radeon graphics solution, with Reuters reporting that the company will better than double the number of design wins this back-to-school season compared to a year ago."

Google Attorney Slams ACTA Copyright Treaty

Thom Holwerda 2010-05-09 Legal 3 Comments

An attorney for Google slammed a controversial intellectual property treaty on Friday, saying it has "metastasized" from a proposal to address border security and counterfeit goods to an international legal framework sweeping in copyright and the Internet. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, is "something that has grown in the shadows, Gollum-like," without public scrutiny, Daphne Keller, a senior policy counsel in Mountain View, Calif., said at a conference at Stanford University.