If there was any doubt that CPU maker AMD's principal reason for acquiring graphics chip powerhouse ATI was to build a mobile computing platform that would rival Intel's Centrino, it was erased this morning with AMD's announcement of a platform project it's currently calling 'Fusion'.

Geek Patrol has benchmarked the new (Core 2 Duo) MacBook Pro against the old (Core Duo) model. "Moving from the Core Duo to the Core 2 Duo means 32-bit MacBook Pro performance is up 10% without an increase in processor clock speed. That’s impressive! Even more impressive is the Core 2 Duo is 20% faster (when executing 64-bit code) than the Core Duo (when executing 32-bit code)."

"Yesterday Oracle announced the release of their own version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, simply called Enterprise Linux or 'Unbreakable Linux'. In a remarkably similar move to such projects as CentOS, Oracle have decided to remove all Red Hat specific trademarks and brand it as their own (all quite legit, of course). They will be supplying bugfixes for this new version, and will also be synchronising it with future releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We decided to take a peek at what Oracle had come up with. Read on for a first-look, and the Linux Format team's opinions." In the meantime, Mark Shuttleworth said a partnership with Oracle is no longer a matter of if, but when.

The Ubuntu team announced the release of Ubuntu 6.10, codenamed 'Edgy Eft'. Highlights for the desktop include GNOME 2.16, Firefox 2.0, OpenOffice.org 2.0.4, Gaim 2.0 and two new applications, F-Spot and Tomboy. This release also features a pre-release of the upcoming LTSP-5, as well as the usual updates of the base system, with GCC 4.1.1, Glibc 2.4 and Linux 2.6.17. There's a screenshot tour already, while Mark Shuttleworth commented on the news concerning Oracle and Linux. Update: The first review in what will probably become a long list. Update II: Kubuntu 6.10 is released as well.

"OpenSUSE 10.2 Beta1 contains a large number of enhancements and updates done by the open source community and Novell's development teams. I'd like to point out especially the following significant changes for OpenSUSE 10.2 from our list of updates of all open source subcomponents, integration of new subcomponents and improvements in various areas: Linux Kernel 2.6.18.1; glibc 2.5; Firefox 2.0; GNOME 2.16.1; KDE 3.5.5; X11 R7.2 RC; both KDE and GNOME feature improved start menus compared to upstream; improved desktop effects (compiz 0.2)."

Novell said on Wednesday that its recently released SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop will cost users over USD 300 less than Microsoft forthcoming Windows Vista operating system, and encouraged users to look at their desktop operating system options. Novell UK's technical director, Brian Green, laid out the list pricing for SLED and Windows Vista. Green said a business Vista license will set users back USD 299, compared to USD 50 for a one-year subscription to SLED.

Mac OS X 10.4.8 will now run on any generic x86-based PC. Well, almost. Kernel coder Semthex has posted what he claims is an entirely legal release of the Mac operating system's foundation layer. The only snag: you can't boot into the familiar GUI. To date, the version of Mac OS X for x86 processors has relied on kernel add-ons to anchor the software to Apple's own hardware through the machines' Trusted Platform Module. Much of the core code is independent of it, however, and available for access to all and sundry via Apple's own source code licence. What Semthex has claimed to do is produce code that essentially bypasses the TPM stuff yet stays within the Apple licence.

"The top two browsing programs of net users got a big update this month as Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla unleashed Firefox 2.0. Here we take a quick spin through some of the features to be seen in the new versions." Meanwhile, a spoofing bug has been found in IE7. Update: Another Firefox 2.0 review.

Most UNIX and Linux programs are built by running make. Make and utilities like it are fundamental tools for streamlining the application build process. Learn the structure of the makefile, how to avoid common mistakes in its creation, and how to solve or work around portability issues and other problems as they crop up.

"No one saw this coming. People talked about Oracle making its own Linux, or buying a Linux company (Ubuntu?). But, the news that Oracle is erasing Red Hat's trademarks from Unbreakable Linux and supporting it for less than Red Hat is a bolt from the blue. Or, perhaps, I should say that Oracle is firing a shot at the heart of Red Hat, and commercial Linux? This really, really ticks me off." Apparently, Oracle announced that they will provide full enterprise support for Linux and so it competes with RH.

AIX has a vast array of commands that enable you to do a multitude of tasks. Depending on what you need to accomplish, you use only a certain subset of these commands. There are a few core commands that you commonly use. This article will cover some of the core commands with the intent to provide a list that you can use as a ready reference.

The company maintains that it has built a version of its Authentium ESP Enterprise Platform that can bypass PatchGuard without setting off the desktop alarms produced by the security feature when the Vista kernel is compromised. ESP Enterprise, an SDK sold by Authentium to telecommunications carriers and so-called managed services providers, offers virus protection, anti-spyware, data recovery, firewall and transaction security capabilities.

After a couple of months of serious work, Visopsys 0.64 has been released. There are only a handful of new, user-visible features (including right-click context menus and 32-bit .bmp/.ico support). The real focus of this release has been stability, quality, and debugging, plus large scale GUI re-engineering. In addition, graphics mode now works under Bochs 2.3 (as well as Qemu and VmWare). Downloads here and changelog here.

This week the Mozilla Foundation released Firefox 2.0, and that occasion did not go by unnoticed at Microsoft's Internet Explorer team. "The Microsoft Internet Explorer Team sent us a cake for the upcoming release of Firefox 2! A big thanks to Redmond, Washington!" What's next, Stallman on a dinner date with Ballmer?