OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Kroes: US Government Tried to Influence Microsoft Fine

Thom Holwerda 2006-09-26 Legal 40 Comments

European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said the US government tried to influence its decision over a 280.5 mln eur fine for software giant Microsoft, newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad said. The US embassy in Brussels had contacted Kroes and asked her to be a bit 'nicer' to Microsoft before she had taken the decision to fine Microsoft in July, Kroes said in an interview.

Mandriva Linux 2007 Announced

Submitted by Jeffo 2006-09-26 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 30 Comments

Mandriva has ~~released~~ announced 2007. "Mandriva today is proud to introduce its brand new product: Mandriva Linux 2007. This new version of the operating system was designed to be an even better fit for the needs and expectations all users, from the beginner to the SOHO user. The key innovation of Mandriva Linux 2007 is the spectacular AIGLX and Xgl 3D-accelerated desktop." Mandriva told us here at OSNews that while 2007 is released, you won't be able to download it for a few days: "Our PR department has apparently decided to send out the 2007 'release' announcement even though it's not actually quite released yet. D'oh."

Submitted by Governa 2006-09-26 Apple 34 Comments

"Apple's Unix - or who knows what it'll be called by then - will overtake commercial Linux in rate of revenue growth by the end of 2007. By mid-2008, Apple's sales of systems with factory-installed Apple Unix will exceed the total combined sales of x86 systems factory-shipped with commercial Linux. At the end of the decade, we'll find that Apple Unix has overtaken commercial Linux as the second most popular general client and server computing platform behind Windows."

Submitted by Rahul 2006-09-26 Red Hat 8 Comments

Red Hat's OLPC lead has written an update on the OLPC project on his weblog. "I wrote up a long update on where we are in the software and hardware for the One Laptop per Child project. We've gotten a lot done, but I don't think that's been communicated to the outside world very well. So, for the first time, here's an update of where we are."

The Elaboration Likelihood Model: Why People Won’t Switch

Thom Holwerda 2006-09-26 OS News 61 Comments

A common heard question in the operating systems world is, 'if the alternatives to Windows are so much better, why aren't people en masse switching to them?' People come up with all sorts of answers to this question, but in fact, the social psychology world already has a fairly simple answer to this question. This answer also happens to actually explain why Zeta sold so well through the usually superficial television retail channel.

Submitted by flanque 2006-09-26 Rumors 51 Comments

"Marking what could have been a summer-long hiatus in its 'Get the Facts' campaign, Microsoft is re-igniting the flames on the argument over whether enterprises spend less to manage Windows systems than Linux systems. This morning, the company touted a study it commissioned from independent analyst Mercer Management Consulting, which made the case that companies that implement migration programs away from UNIX systems based on the need to adopt new applications - what Mercer calls 'transformational migrations' - now tend to choose Windows over Linux." I just bought some salt, now I can put it to good use.

Intel Sheds More Lights on Plans for Quad-Core Processors

Submitted by Ish Pfierman 2006-09-26 Intel 9 Comments

Intel's planning its own version of 'Quadrophenia' for this week's Intel Developer Forum. It has already revealed the code names for the server and desktop versions of those chips: Clovertown and Kentsfield. Those models will be constructed by combining Intel's two newest dual-core processors in those categories in a multichip package. Intel also announced low-end Xeons.

Submitted by elsewhere 2006-09-26 Wayland 22 Comments

A non-technical overview of the Xgl implementation, and how it relates to Compiz and the nVidia driver, has been published by Emanuele Tamponi. Interestingly, the article mentions that Compiz requires Mesa to implement the infamous GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap function; but since the new beta driver from nVidia implements said function, you can now have Compiz in 3D glory without Xgl or AIGLX (howto).

Creating Mac OS X Applications with MS Visual Studio Express

Submitted by Antony Shen 2006-09-26 macOS 16 Comments

It is possible to write applications for OS X using Microsoft's Visual Basic, thanks to .NET Framework's Common Language Infrastructure and the open source Mono Framework and wx.NET. It turns out it is quite easy to do so, and this short tutorial tells you how.

OSNews Alternative OS Contest Results

Adam Scheinberg 2006-09-26 Gifts, Contests 28 Comments

After several months, we're very proud to finally bring you the result of the OSNews Alternative OS Contest. It took us a while to publish them all, but we are done now. Read on for the results.

Submitted by Excel Hearts Choi 2006-09-26 Linux 23 Comments

Apparantly, Gael Duval has leaked the first bits of information concerning his Ulteo project to the LXF magazine. "You can't fail to notice that in the screenshot he sent us, Ulteo is running inside a web browser. What's more, the screenshot also shows Duval creating a presentation on the 'Ulteo Connected Desktop'. Ulteo is going to be hosted on Duval's own servers, enabling users to connect to their own desktop from anywhere in the world. The system administration and upgrades will be handled at the server end, as too will application installation. Anyone with a browser will be able to use Ulteo - indeed, Ulteo is going to need a broadband connection to work - as the client will only require Java."

FSF Clarifies the Second Discussion Draft of GPLv3

Submitted by anonymous 2006-09-26 Open Source 26 Comments

"The Free Software Foundation wishes to clarify a few factual points about the Second Discussion Draft of GNU GPL version 3, on which recent discussion has presented inaccurate information. The FSF has no power to force anyone to switch from GPLv2 to GPLv3 on their own code. We intentionally wrote GPLv2 (and GPLv1) so we would not have this power. Software developers will continue to have the right to use GPLv2 for their code after GPLv3 is published, and we will respect their decisions."

SLES 10 Pairs Well with Xen

Thom Holwerda 2006-09-25 SuSE, openSUSE 3 Comments

"On the strength of its broad platform support, approachable configuration tools, estimable set of vendor certifications and solid support options, Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server has earned a reputation as a safe choice for Linux at enterprise sites. SLES 10, which Novell began shipping this summer, continues in this vein. It also adds to the mix Xen virtualization capabilities, which, while clearly still on the road to maturity, fit in well with the distribution and add a new deployment and management arrow to the SLES administrator's quiver."

Alan Cox’s Thinkpad Explodes

Thom Holwerda 2006-09-25 Hardware 39 Comments

Alan Cox, the famous Linux kernel hacker, saw his Thinkpad explode. His wife writes on her weblog: "Alan was on the other side of the room from the laptop. I was elsewhere. He yelled out, I ambled towards the room in my own good time, and then I heard 'Fire! Real fire! Call the fire brigade, now!' and I speeded up a bit." This is the first laptop of a tech 'celebrity' to explode.

Touring RHEL 5 Beta 1: New Features Make Upgrades Tempting

Submitted by Jane Walker 2006-09-25 Red Hat 15 Comments

"With the recent public release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 beta 1, system administrators like myself (and their IT managers) may face major system upgrades in the near future. Given that I've got until 2012 before maintenance support for RHEL 4 ends, I need to see real value to convince me to upgrade, especially when you consider RHEL 4 has proved to meet the needs of my organization nicely. So, the question is why should enterprises upgrade from earlier releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux when RHEL 5 is officially released?"

Forgotten Browsers Reviewed: Deepnet, Netscape, Seamonkey

Submitted by mikemuch 2006-09-25 Internet 20 Comments

"Sure, you've use Firefox and Internet Explorer. You may have even dabbled in Flock and Opera, or even become a devotee of one of these lesser-known applications. But have you ever browsed the web with Deepnet Explorer? How 'bout SeaMonkey? And when's the last time you used Netscape? Did you even know that it was still around? And that's without even mentioning the really obscure browsers, with names like NutScrape, Orca, Salamander, Skipstone, SkyKruzer, Kazehakase, Madfox, Arachne, Charon, Chimera, Dillo, Oregano, and Viola. Here we'll review three web browsers that are far from today's Internet limelight: Deepnet Explorer, Netscape, and SeaMonkey." On a related note, a new version of K-Meleon has been released.

ZETA 1.21 Live CD Released

Thom Holwerda 2006-09-25 Zeta 39 Comments

I just received an email from Bernd Korz informing me that the Zeta 1.21 live CD has been released for everybody to download. Korz says the first results from testers were very positive. The download page says: "Magnussoft ZETA 1.21 - An Operating System that provides a lot of new advantages combined with high performance besides general tools for your daily work."

Symantec: ‘There Is No Safe Browser’

Submitted by Jeff 2006-09-25 Privacy, Security 74 Comments

Hackers are hitting paydirt in their search for browser bugs. According to Symantec's twice-yearly Internet Security Threat Report, hackers found 47 bugs in Mozilla's open-source browsers and 38 bugs in Internet Explorer during the first six months of this year. That's up significantly from the 17 Mozilla and 25 IE bugs found in the previous six months. Even Apple's Safari browser saw its bugs double, jumping from six in the last half of 2005 to 12 in the first half of 2006. Opera was the only browser tracked by Symantec that saw the number of vulnerabilities decline, but not by much. Opera bugs dropped from nine to seven during the period.

Is the Future of Desktop Linux ‘Going Thin’?

Submitted by T. Hofman 2006-09-25 Linux 16 Comments

According to a Gartner report in June this year, the overall thin-client computing market will continue to grow at a steady pace during the next several years. The analyst noted that this growth will be fueled by falling thin-client terminal prices. While the thin-client approach makes Linux PCs easier to manage, there are still kinks to iron out with desktop Linux operating system, according to Gartner.

Submitted by ghen 2006-09-25 NetBSD 9 Comments

NetBSD held a public 'Bugathon' this weekend: developers and users gathered together on a public IRC channel where they discussed and fixed a lot of PR's (270 bugs closed in just two days). It was such a success that the NetBSD developers plan to organize such event regularly. There's also a website (still under construction).