"Mandriva recently released its first distro of the year, dubbed Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring. Like previous releases, Spring is available in five editions, two of which can be freely downloaded. I installed and worked with the USD 76 Powerpack edition, which includes support and several gigabytes of packages. Not only does Powerpack score over other multiple CD/DVD free-of-cost distros, it also makes competing non-free distros eat dust."

Microsoft has released patches for 19 vulnerabilities, 14 of which are critical, hitting at holes in Excel, Word, Office, Exchange, Internet Explorer, cryptographic technology and the whopper of them all, the zero-day vulnerability in the DNS Server's use of RPC. The DNS remote code execution vulnerability affects server-grade operating systems, including Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, and only those that have the DNS service enabled, such as Domain Controller, DNS Server or Microsoft Small Business Server configurations.

"We began our week of JavaOne coverage this morning with some of the information shared during the CommunityOne General Session. Now that the day is winding to an end, we have some additional information to pass along on Sun's first-ever CommunityOne event. Outside of the CommunityOne General Session, other tracks throughout the day were on NetBeans, GlassFish, OpenJDK for mobile & embedded environments, OpenSolaris, Web 2.0, Startup Camp, RedMonk's un-conference, and the discussion of Linux versus Solaris."

Ubuntu 7.04 - also known as Feisty Fawn - shines for its excellent software management tools and large catalog of ready-to-install free software applications. Read more at eWeek.

"Ubuntu Feisty Fawn and Windows Vista are two state-of-the-art desktop operating systems. I got this Bi-OS laptop (with Feisty and Vista Business) recently as my desktop replacement. I compare some features of Vista vs. Feisty. Both operating systems have made great progress. Laptop is well built and great for a consultant like me (albeit tad heavy)." More here.

Mayank Sharma from Linux.com tries Mandriva 2007 Spring on several machines. He finds the distro to be very stable, sporting a good package selection, just the documentation a bit sparse.

"It has been a hard year around here but steady progress on Symphony has continued. Symphony OS 2007 will be released either late this month or early next month with several major changes: Ubuntu 7.04 base system, Ubiquity installer, Google Gadgets as desklets, and continued performance improvements."

Xandros today launched Xandros Server Standard Edition 2, a complete, enterprise-grade SMB Linux server package including Xen virtualization and more than 30 other services. The new Xandros Linux server is compatible with existing Windows domain and networking topologies.

"I have been using Mac OS X as my primary OS for almost a year now, but last night I switched back. What spurred it is that my Mac OS X partition crashed and it wouldn't boot back into the OS - I used rescue tools and drive scanners but it appears that the partition just disappeared. I booted into a much smaller NTFS partition and put the Vista install disk in."

The Gentoo Release Engineering project is pleased to announce the much-delayed release of Gentoo Linux 2007.0, code named 'Secret Sauce'. This release met with several delays due to an abnormally high number of security vulnerabilities in large packages which had to be rebuilt using the newer, secure versions of the packages. Update: Screenshots!

"According to Mozilla's CEO Mitchell Baker, Firefox is just at the beginning of its life cycle. In this one-on-one interview with APCMag.com, she talks about where Firefox came from and where it's going."

Microsoft today announced the release of Windows Live Hotmail, the much anticipated upgrade to their widely deployed Hotmail web-based email platform. Windows Live Hotmail launches in 36 languages and is one of the first large-scale Microsoft applications to fully support a non-Microsoft browser. In addition, Microsoft has announced the release of a free Microsoft Outlook connector application, which allows management via MS Outlook, and a long awaited mobile version of Windows Live Hotmail.

On the heels of announcing their plan to offer Ubuntu Linux pre-installed on selected consumer desktops and laptops, Dell will disclose today that it will team up with Novell and Microsoft to distribute Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server software along with Microsoft's Windows Server software. As part of the deal, Dell will help Novell and Microsoft make SLES and Windows work together efficiently on Dell's computer hardware. Rick Becker, a Dell VP, says, "There's many aspects of open source that delight my customers, they have concerns about software licensing. Those concerns go away when they deploy Microsoft and SLES Linux."

Vernor Vinge, 62, is a pioneer in artificial intelligence, who in a recent interview warned about the risks and opportunities that an electronic super-intelligence would offer to mankind. Vinge is a retired San Diego State University professor of mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author. He is well-known for his 1993 manifesto, "The Coming Technological Singularity", in which he argues that exponential growth in technology means a point will be reached where the consequences are unknown. Vinge still believes in this future, which he thinks would come anytime after 2020.