OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

BlackBerry OS6 Shown Again, Without Dancers

Submitted by Linwood 2010-07-13 Wireless 3 Comments

I know everyone loved the last "exciting" BB video showing OS6, but here is another glimpse of what's coming. Seems to just have what every other smartphone OS has nowadays; social media tie ins, a web browser, and hopefully a useful touchscreen. nothing real eye opening other than the fact that its on a BB. The vid shows a good example of the touchscreen keyboard - I'm holding up hope that they keep the famous BB form factor with a real qwerty.

Submitted by shaneco 2010-07-13 Windows No Comments

Microsoft expanded the beta for cloud-based PC management platform, Windows Intune, to more users in more countries. Here's the lowdown on pricing and new features.

Submitted by poundsmack 2010-07-13 Windows No Comments

Speaking at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington, Corporate Vice President of Windows & Windows Live - Tami Reller announced the public beta. Microsoft revealed its plans for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 last month at its annual Tech-Ed conference. Windows 7 SP1 will include the usual hotfix patches and new virtualization tools in SP1 will help Windows Server 2008 R2 users prepare for cloud computing. SP1 will include RemoteFX which provides rich 3-D graphical experience for remote users. The service pack also will include a series of incremental updates, previously released on Windows Update for both Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

Rebuttal: Against Free

Guest post by Mufasa 2010-07-13 Editorial 47 Comments

I read David's post worrying about the end of the free internet and I had to respond, as I strongly disagree that free and advertising-supported content is the future. If anything, it is advertising-supported content that is destined to be a niche strategy, because of new internet technology that enables entirely new models and empowers consumers to have exactly what they want. Advertising will not support much content creation, so I suggest what will.

Submitted by zegenie 2010-07-13 OS News 20 Comments

Spotify has made a (Qt-based, but with extra gnome-support package) Linux client available for download. The client is available only to premium subscribers - reported to be because they haven't found a reliable way to show ads yet. It also doesn't support local file playback yet, but then this port was built "during hack days and late nights".

Submitted by HAL2001 2010-07-12 Microsoft 17 Comments

Microsoft announced the limited production release of the Windows Azure platform appliance, a turnkey cloud platform for large service providers and enterprises to run in their own data centers. Customers and initial partners using the appliance in their data centers will have the scale-out application platform and data center efficiency of Windows Azure and SQL Azure offered by Microsoft today.

EasyBCD 2.0 Released, Lets You Boot Into ISO, VHD, and More

Submitted by Mark 2010-07-12 OS News 14 Comments

The non-profit NeoSmart Technologies has just released EasyBCD 2.0. The new version of the free bootloader utility supports ext4fs, GRUB2, Windows 7, booting from ISO images, Virtual Harddisk VHDs, network devices, and USBs. It also has tools to create bootable external media and can be used to set up 1-click dual-boots with the most popular operating sytems. Screenshots. And the icing on the cake is that the installer is 1337 KB, and they claim that was merely coincidence.

Microsoft Patches Critical Hole

David Adams 2010-07-12 Bugs & Viruses 3 Comments

Microsoft is patching the Windows Help Center vulnerability that we reported on a few weeks ago.

Microsoft Opens Source Code to Russian Secret Service

Submitted by fran 2010-07-12 Privacy, Security 12 Comments

Microsoft has signed a deal to open its Windows 7 source code up to the Russian intelligence services. Russian publication Vedomosti reported on Wednesday that Microsoft had also given the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) access to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft SQL Server source code, with hopes of improving Microsoft sales to the Russian state. The agreement will allow state bodies to study the source code and develop cryptography for the Microsoft products through the Science-Technical Centre 'Atlas', a government body controlled by the Ministry of Communications and Press, according to Vedomosti. . . The agreement is an extension to a deal Microsoft struck with the Russian government in 2002 to share source code for Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2000, said Vedomosti.

Google: We’re no Copycats. Apple’s Rewriting History

David Adams 2010-07-12 Wireless 25 Comments

Google co-founder Larry Page has denied that Google entered the phone market after Apple and the iPhone, accusing Steve Jobs of "rewriting history" . . . "We had been working on Android a very long time, with the notion of producing phones that are Internet enabled and have good browsers and all that because that did not exist in the marketplace," Page said. "I think that characterization of us entering after is not really reasonable."

64bit Making Inroads on Desktop Market

David Adams 2010-07-12 Hardware 15 Comments

Seven years after AMD first unleashed its Athlon 64 desktop chips, it looks as though the 64-bit revolution is finally about to kick off. Microsoft has revealed that out of all the Windows 7 installations out there, a massive 46 per cent of them are 64-bit.

UK Officials: Dump Microsoft, Use Linux

David Adams 2010-07-11 Microsoft 70 Comments

U.K. government staff suggested replacing Microsoft Corp. operating systems on computers with free alternatives in response to a call for ideas for Prime Minister David Cameron's cost-cutting drive.

The End of the Free Internet

David Adams 2010-07-11 Internet 49 Comments

There's an article today at abc.com that looks at recent trends around net-based pay-for services and the smattering of paywalls from News Corp to the NYT that are up or threatening to be put up, and speculating that this could be the beginning of a trend. Of course, a YouTube video rental site and a few large publishers putting up paywalls will make zero difference to the "free internet" on their own. But if they're successful, it could spark emulation. But could this be a trend that could snowball enough to change the nature of the net?

Guest post by snydeq 2010-07-09 Wireless 26 Comments

Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister discusses 10 ways locked-down app store delivery models limit choice for developers -- and ultimately hurts users. The model, best known in the form of Apple's notoriously finicky iPhone App Store, has established an entirely new relationship between software vendors and consumers, one some are calling 'curated computing,' a mode in which choice is constrained to deliver more relevant, less complex experiences. This model, deemed essential to the success of tablets, provides questionable value to developers, undermining their interests in a variety of ways. From disproportionate profit cuts, to curator veto powers, to poor security, fragmentation, and hostility to free software, developers must sacrifice a lot to 'curated computing' to get their wares into the hands of end-users.

hdBaseT: the New HDMI Competitor

Submitted by fran 2010-07-09 Multimedia, AV 46 Comments

It's really more than an HDMI competitor, it's a cable specification that "converges full uncompressed HD video, audio, 100BaseT Ethernet, high power over cable and various control signals through a single 100m/328ft CAT5e/6 LAN cable." That's an idea that I can really get behind. No new proprietary connectors, no expensive cables needed, consolidation of all necessary signals into one cable. The founding companies include LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Mandriva 2010.1 Released

David Adams 2010-07-09 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 7 Comments

Embattled Linux vendor Mandriva released version 2010 Spring, after a delay that only underscored the uncertainty around the distro's future.

What’s Your AV Setup?

Thom Holwerda 2010-07-09 Multimedia, AV 69 Comments

Let's do some blatant copy/paste from Ars Technica. A few days ago they ran a story called "What's in your home theatre system?". This poll wasn't so much about listing specific speaker types or amplifier models as it was about a number of more recognisable devices you could vote for. Let's copy their idea, but make it more open: what's in your home theatre setup - and list everything, from CD player to DVR to the type of cabling used. Be as anal about is as you want. Read on for my setup.

Novell’s SLED11 Service Pack 1 Review

Submitted by mgpeter 2010-07-08 SuSE, openSUSE 7 Comments

Kernel News reviews SuSe Linux Enterprise Desktop 11, SP1. In addition to fixing a lot of problems that plagued the initial SLED 11 release, SP1 includes major software updates. For instance, SLED11 SP1 includes GNOME 2.28 and KDE 4.3.5.

World of Warcraft Maker to End Anonymous Forum Logins

Kroc 2010-07-07 Privacy, Security 26 Comments

From BBC News: "A row has erupted after Blizzard - the publishers of the popular online game World of Warcraft - announced that users on its site forums would have to post under their real names. The firm say the move is to put an end to heated online arguments and topics started purely to cause trouble. But users reacted angrily, citing concerns about safety and privacy." The take away quote: "one Blizzard employee posted his real name on the forums, saying that there was no risk to users, and the experiment went drastically wrong. Within five minutes, users had got hold of his telephone number, home address, photographs of him and a ton of other information. The post and topic has since been removed from the Blizzard forum."

First Beta of Firefox 4

Submitted by fran 2010-07-07 Mozilla, Gecko 66 Comments

Firefox 4 Beta (version 1) considered to be stable and safe to use for daily web browsing, though the features and content may change before the final product release.