JNode 0.2.5 Released

"After nearly a year of hard work the JNode team is proud to announce the release of JNode 0.2.5, the new intermediary development version of the JNode operating system. JNode is a free, open source Java technology base OS written fully in Java language (with a very small assembler nano-kernel). This release features OpenJDK integration, Java 6 support, substantially impoved consoles, experimental support for isolates and a large set of bug fixes and improvements to all parts of the system, including better memory mamagement and increased performance."

HP, Apple Working on Automated Printer Driver Delivery in Leopard

In a move that's sure to be welcomed by customers of both parties, HP is reported to be working with Apple to allow users of Mac OS X Leopard to instantly receive the the latest versions of HP's printer drivers over Leopard's built-in Software Update mechanism. In seeding Leopard build 9A559 to its developer community last week, Apple listed only two known issues with the software, one of which instructed testers with HP printers connected to their system to perform a custom install of the next-gen operating system and de-select the HP printer drivers in the installer. "The HP printer drivers will be delivered post-install via Software Update", the company told testers.

Community Interview: Novell

"Two months ago, the Brazilian Linux community gathered around BR-Linux invited Novell to answer 10 questions sent and selected by the users, about the company's stance on Linux, open source, licenses, document formats and other subjects." "Novell has been very consistent on this issue and we have publicly stated that we do not believe that Linux infringes on any Microsoft patents. That being said, our agreement with Microsoft takes the patent issue off the table for customers. We have simply made the patent issue a non-event as part of a customer buying decision."

SELinux vs. OpenBSD’s Default Security

KernelTrap offers a summary of a lengthy debate on OpenBSD's -misc mailing list comparing the security features built into OpenBSD versus the security offered by the Linux kernel's SELinux feature. The main arguments presented against SELinux centered around its complexity and the difficulty of defining a secure policy. "The first thing people usually do with SELinux is turn it off", suggests the article, noting that the ease with which it can be turned off is another security shortcoming. By contrast, OpenBSD offers numerous security features that are always enabled with minimal overhead, including propolice stack protection, random library mappings, proactive privilege separation, W^X, and systrace.

What’s New in Mandriva 2008.0

"In less than two weeks time, six months after the great Mandriva 2007.1 Spring release, Mandriva 2008.0 will be ready and published. Currently, Release Candidate 2 is out, it's your last chance to test it and make sure everything is working before the final release! There were great ideas at the start of the development phase, and in in those six months that have passed, Mandriva has always been one of the most active projects on CIA.vc. This gives much hope for lots of improvements, so let's take a look at what can be expected from Mandriva 2008.0."

Apple to Brick Modded iPhones, Apple Boycott?

The internet is abuzz with the news that Apple intends to break iPhones containing third party applications. Unlocked phones are also likely to be victims of the next software update. While community reaction is generally negative, one blogger suggests sending an even stronger message to Apple by boycotting Apple on October 1. If you're running the Installer application, you may want to hold off on any iPhone firmware updates.

DiscreetFX, Partners Want to Buyout Amiga, Inc.

Tedd Gallion, speaking on behalf of a group called the DiscreetFX partners, has sent out a letter to the Amiga community with quite an interesting topic: to buy out the AmigaOS4 and the Amiga brand from Amiga, Inc. The letter states that DiscreetFX and its partners have contacted Amiga, Inc., but that the company asked a completely insane amount of money. DiscreetFX and its partners now ask the community to contact Amiga, Inc., and urge them to sell the Amiga OS and its brand to DiscreetFX for a fair price. "Urge Amiga Inc. sell to us for a fair price. We will end the lawsuit, we will end the fighting., we will end the madness. If we were in charge Amiga OS 4.0 would be available today on SAM." Spelling and grammar weren't exactly a priority in the letter, so credibility is a bit dubious. The credibility has been more or less confirmed.

Microsoft Confirms Lineup for Mac Office 2008

Microsoft said that Office 2008 will come in three versions. The "core" version, Office 2008 for Mac, including all the applications plus Automator and Microsoft Exchange Server support, will cost USD 399.95, with a USD 239.95 upgrade price. Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Student Edition will allow three user licenses, but it won't include the Automator and Exchange Server support. It will cost USD 149.95 for the retail version, with no upgrade pricing announced. New to the lineup will be Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition, which will add Microsoft Expression Media for Mac, a revised version of the iView Media digital asset management utility. iView was acquired by Microsoft in 2006. This version will cost USD 499.95, with a USD 299.95 upgrade price.

Solaris Express Developer Edition 9/07 Released

Solaris Express Developer Edition is a free, quarterly release of Sun's next generation Solaris Operating System built from the source code repository at OpenSolaris.org. The release includes the latest tools, technologies, and platforms to create applications for the Solaris OS, Java Application Platforms, and Web 2.0. "Major highlights: new Solaris installer - the first major rewrite of the Solaris installer since Solaris 8 makes installation much easier; D-Light, the GUI tool to bring the power of DTrace to a broad developer audience; service offerings have been augmented with the addition of installation and configuration support." Update: Review here.

Vista Ultimate Buyers Fume Over Missing Extras

Critics who blasted Microsoft three months ago for failing to deliver Windows Vista add-ons have again called the company on the carpet, this time for missing its self-imposed deadline to provide promised extras. In late June, bloggers and users were already panning Vista Ultimate Extras as a bust. Extras, available only to customers running the top-end Vista edition, was one of the features cited by Microsoft to distinguish the USD 399 operating system from its USD 239 cousin, Home Premium. Microsoft's online marketing, for instance, touted Extras as 'cutting-edge programs, innovative services, and unique publications' that would be regularly offered to Ultimate users.

PC-BSD 1.4 Released

"The PC-BSD team is pleased to announce the availability of PC-BSD 1.4 (da Vinci edition)! This release is made available via the efforts of many developers and testers, who have spent the past months refining and improving upon the core PC-BSD experience." This release comes with Xorg 7.2, KDE 3.5.7, Compiz-Fusion 0.5.2, support for Flash7, and much more. There are release notes, a changelog, and downloads.

‘Leopard Requirements To Exclude 800MHz Systems’

Just weeks ahead of its public launch, Apple has updated the minimum system requirements for its next-generation Leopard operating system to exclude 800MHz PowerPC-based Macs, AppleInsider has learned. Apple has yet to officially announce the hardware requirements to run Leopard, due out in October, but had long stated in developer documentation that the software would require "an Intel processor or a PowerPC G4 (800MHz or faster) or G5 processor." According to people familiar with the matter, engineers for the company recently determined that Leopard installs on 800MHz PowerPC G4 systems ran "too slow". Support for those systems was subsequently pulled from the most recent pre-release copies of Leopard, which inform testers that the software "cannot be installed" on those computers. My take: Assuming this turns out to be true, there are going to be a lot of unhappy G4 owners - including yours truly.

Who’s Writing Linux?

While the kernel 2.6.23 development cycle has not yet run its course, things are getting close enough to the end that it makes sense to start looking at the overall statistics for this release. As of this writing (shortly after 2.6.23-rc6 came out), just over 6,200 non-merge changesets had been added to the mainline kernel repository. These changesets came from 854 developers - a slightly smaller number than we saw for 2.6.22. Just over 350 of those developers contributed one single changeset. On a related note, LWN.net has a number of reports from the Linux Kernel Developer's Summit.

Visopsys 0.69 Released

Visopsys version 0.69 was released today. Four months in the making, this is a maintenance release comprising the final round of tweaks and bug fixes to the 0.6x series of Visopsys, featuring lots of work on the USB subsystem including support for USB mice/keyboards and hubs, tuning of the FAT filesystem driver, usability fixes for various user programs, and loads of OS kernel and C library improvements and bug fixes. As always you can demo Visopsys as a live CD or run a scaled-down version from a floppy disk. Change log is here, and downloads are here.