OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing - Page 784

Windows Online Use Share Could Drop Below 90 Percent

vsync 2008-07-08 Windows 18 Comments

A recent study released by Net Applications indicates that the market share of Windows among Internet-connected devices could drop below 90% as soon as the fourth quarter of this year. This seems to be the same report referred to earlier that showed Linux approaching a 1% use share.

Move your Business from Windows to Linux

Submitted by Caffeine Deprived 2008-07-08 Rumors 15 Comments

This article takes a look at the issues involved with ditching Windows for Linux. It's not the most in-depth piece, but it provides a handy introduction of the 'how's and 'why's of shifting.

Linux – Still Chasing That Elusive 1 Percent Market Share

Submitted by Dale Smoker 2008-07-07 Linux 106 Comments

While I was trawling through Net Applications' operating system share trend data for the past 24 months, something struck me. June 08 marked a big month for Linux. The OS saw the largest increase in market share for the whole 2 year period - a growth of 0.12%.

Getting Graphic With PHP

Submitted by jmalasko 2008-07-07 General Development 12 Comments

Imagine creating Web-page graphics dynamically using just code. Creating and manipulating images is yours for the doing with the power of PHP. This tutorial steps through using the GD library, showing you how to create and alter images on Web pages. It starts with the GD construct, and then builds on it to showcase graphics techniques.

Five Ways Microsoft Could Change After Gates

David Adams 2008-07-07 Microsoft 8 Comments

A Silicon.com article takes a look into the crystal ball, with Bill Gates departing from Microsoft, and posits the following potential changes: 1. A greater acceptance of open source 2. A new approach to Windows releases 3. Secure new revenue by buying big 4. Taking the web seriously through interoperability 5. More Microsoft than Gates .

Home Automation in GNU/Linux

Submitted by fsmag 2008-07-07 Linux 4 Comments

"Home Automation ... covers many areas, including remote and timed control of lights and electrical home appliances, distributed media services, and communication. Over the last 10 years, many hardware manufacturers have presented their own proprietary solutions to these problems. Unbeknownst to them, a groundswell of developers from around the world has been providing similar solutions to the free and open source community." If you want to know how to remotely tell your computer to switch on the kettle and boil a cup of tea, switch on the lights, or just draw the curtains the read the full story at Freesoftware Magazine

Gentoo Linux 2008.0 Released

SmithJohnson 2008-07-07 Gentoo 21 Comments

The 2008.0 final release is out! Code-named "It's got what plants crave," this release contains numerous new features including an updated installer, improved hardware support, a complete rework of profiles, and a move to Xfce instead of GNOME on the LiveCD. LiveDVDs are not available for x86 or amd64, although they may become available in the future. The 2008.0 release also includes updated versions of many packages already available in your ebuild tree.

Automatix Comes to Fedora 9 – FedoMATIX

Guest post by Rahul 2008-07-07 Fedora Core 18 Comments

Remember Automatix? Yes the nifty little application that made installing additional softwares on the Ubuntu system a breeze. Here comes the same for Fedora 9, FedoMATIX (v0.1Beta). It currently works on the command line only, but supports more than 60 additional softwares/apps already. The next version, which is due release in 2 months, will feature a GUI and many more softwares and hacks.

Top 5 New Features of Ubuntu 8.10 Interpid Ibex

Eugenia Loli 2008-07-05 Ubuntu 87 Comments

As the Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (8.10) development gets going, many people will probably be wondering what new end-user features they can expect. This article lists the top 5 new features. My Take: Nothing really exciting. I still shiver over the inability of the default Totem installation not de-interlacing my camcomder-derived home videos and DVDs because GStreamer doesn't support it, or no full A/V support on Pidgin yet, or something as simple as this which I've been asking for years now and it would probably take 5 minutes to implement.

KDE 4.1 Beta 2: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Eugenia Loli 2008-07-05 KDE 96 Comments

KDE 4.1 is supposed to make everything right with the recently troubled desktop. Everyone agrees now that KDE 4.0 was a mistake. However, what the mistake was -- and whose -- is a matter of opinion. KDE developers blame distributions for rushing to include a release that was never intended for everyday use, while users blame developers for changing everything. More here. Also, Tectonic published an article titled "Beyond the desktop with KDE4", while the now well-known for its sarcasm 'Linux Hater' blog has something to say too (warning: some profanity).

eComStation 2.0 RC5 Released

Submitted by martini 2008-07-05 OS/2 10 Comments

eComStation 2.0 RC5 is available for download for users with Software Subscriptions Services subscription. For those who don't know, eComStation is the next evolution of the OS/2 operating system.

Installing Android OS on the Nokia N810

Submitted by rkalla 2008-07-05 Google 1 Comment

For the folks out there that want to start playing with the Android OS now the geniuses over at Unwired View have figured out how to install the Android OS on the Nokia 810N in 2-steps for a total of about 5mins and no sinister hacking.

Application development with Vala

Submitted by Pfeifer 2008-07-05 General Development 24 Comments

"Vala is, in some sense, a new programming language. It’s syntax and structure leans heavily towards C#. As Jurg Billeter, the mastermind behind Vala, likes to put it; Vala is an amalgam of different C inspired languages, mostly C++ and C#. An though there is no mercury in this mixture, you'll find many a gold nugget in Vala."

Is The Web Still The Web?

Submitted by snydeq 2008-07-05 Internet 6 Comments

Neil McAllister raises questions regarding the Web now that it no longer resembles Tim Berners-Lee's early vision: Is the Web still the Web if you can't navigate directly to specific content? If the content can't be indexed and searched? If you can't view source? In other words, McAllister writes, if today's RIAs no longer resemble the 'Web,' then should we be shoehorning them into the Web's infrastructure, or is the problem that the client platforms simply aren't evolving fast enough to meet our needs

Nokia Buys Symbian: So What?

Eugenia Loli 2008-07-04 Wireless 10 Comments

"The mobile phone operating system world was rocked recently by the announcement that Nokia had acquired all of the shares of Symbian that it didn't already own, and that it planned to transition the OS to an open-source licensing model," says DeviceGuru.

HowTo: Install KDE Programs in Windows

Submitted by amjith 2008-07-04 KDE 38 Comments

The windows port for KDE allows users to install and run KDE applications in Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista . This tutorial will guide you step by step through installing KDE in Windows.

Red Hat Linux Beats Microsoft Windows in Power Test

Guest post by Rahul 2008-07-04 Rumors 1 Comment

No, not the kind of power you're probably thinking of. A recent independent test ranked Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5's power efficiency over Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 on three different hardware platforms. RHEL averaged about 10% more power-efficient than Windows Server 2008 on the same hardware.LINK

Firefox 3 Earns Guinness World Record

Submitted by Merciades 2008-07-04 Mozilla, Gecko 18 Comments

The Firefox project was rewarded on Wednesday when Guinness World Records accepted that the 8,002,530 downloads of Firefox on 'Download Day' in June constituted a world record. Firefox is now officially in the record books for receiving the most downloads from a Web site with a 24-hour period.

10 Changes Steve Ballmer Should Make at Microsoft

Submitted by Caffeine Deprived 2008-07-04 Microsoft 33 Comments

This article by Shane Schick looks at changes Steve Ballmer should consider making at Microsoft now that Bill Gates is out the door. A couple of the most interesting: making user education a priority and establishing an open source project.

The A-Z of Programming Languages: INTERCAL

Eugenia Loli 2008-07-04 General Development 3 Comments

Computerworld is undertaking a series of investigations into the most widely-used programming languages. Previously we have spoken to Alfred v. Aho of AWK fame, S. Tucker Taft on the Ada 1995 and 2005 revisions, Microsoft about its server-side script engine ASP, Chet Ramey about his experience maintaining Bash, Bjarne Stroustrup of C++ fame, and to Charles H. Moore about the design and development of Forth. is interview, Computerworld ventures down a less serious path and chats to Don Woods about the development and uses of INTERCAL.