Quad-Core Race Heats up

Hardware 18 Comments
Ars' Hannibal takes a look at the announcements concerning quad-core processors from Intel and AMD. "The past few days have seen a burst of quad-core-related news items from both AMD and Intel. In this post, I'll take a look at announcements from both companies and try to put them in the larger context of the Intel-AMD rivalry." He concludes by saying: "This is a tough one to call, but don't expect a blow-out on either end. Also, the performance of the K8L core is the big wildcard, since it could go either way."
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Quad Xeon 3.0GHz Mac Pro vs. Quad G5 2.5GHz Power Mac

Apple 16 Comments
BareFeats updated its Mac Pro test page with results from the 3.0Ghz version. Should you make the leap to the Mac Pro? "Should you buy a new Mac Pro or a closeout or refurbished Quad-Core G5? If cost is a factor and you use non-UB pro apps, then we think the Quad-Core G5 is still a valid choice. If you are running Universal Binary apps, can handle the cost of the new Mac Pro plus the expensive memory, and can tolerate the hidden gotchas of 'version 1' of the Intel towers, then you would benefit by making the leap to the Mac Pro. The main frustration in the short term will be the 5 week wait for the optional Radeon X1900 XT or the scarcity of correct memory from upgrade sources."
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Why Open Source Matters to Apple

  Submitted by Techie Apple 33 Comments
"The open source revolution has shaken the slowly crumbling foundations of closed source software, and while it hasn't taken over completely just yet, the tide is beginning to turn in its favor. Your normal everyday user may not really understand or appreciate what open source means, but that doesn't mean that they're not experiencing the effects of it."
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Is the Word Ubuntu in “Ubuntu Linux” Over-Hyped ?

  Submitted by Ravi Ubuntu 59 Comments
There is a general dissent growing at the popularity that Ubuntu enjoys among the Linux users. Considering that Ubuntu has maintained the number one slot at distrowatch.com for a whole year now, the feeling is a bit expected. This article tries to explore what is it that makes Ubuntu so popular among its users and how other linux distributions can take a leaf from ubuntu to effectively leverage their position in the popularity chart.
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The State of the 2006 Linux Desktop

Linux 34 Comments
Were you to walk around LinuxWorld in San Francisco this week, for almost every person you'd see sitting, you'd see a laptop in front of them. And, if you're a snoopy person, like me, you'd also see that about half of those laptops were running Linux. That doesn't sound like that much? Think again. Even a year ago, Linux-powered laptops were a rarity. Find out why Linux journalist Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols thinks the Linux desktop is poised for success.
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Leopard to Drop G3 Support?

macOS 67 Comments
There are some new clues that Mac OS X Leopard will drop G3 support. Its ReadMe file does not mention it, its web pages do not mention it and Apple even made a deliberate change to their 64bit webpage to remove the G3 mention recently. My take: This was not unexpected. For each new version Apple required one more additional feature in order to work (in the past it has been USB, then firewire etc) and now it's G4+. I bet that the client version of OSX after Leopard would require a supported 3D QuartzExtreme-compliant graphics card in order to boot up.
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Running the Market Share Numbers on Mobile Web Browsing

Wireless 11 Comments
Telephia released some very interesting research numbers on mobile web browsing in USA (both on feature phones and smartphones). Openwave (free simulator) leads with 27% and together with Motorola they make over 50% of the US mobile browsing market. Apparently, Americans mostly care about Mail, Weather and Sports when it comes to mobile browsing. Opera Mini is pretty popular lately, but it seems that Telephia only counted the pre-installed browsers in their survey. When we are talking worldwide numbers and only about smartphones though, Nokia's S60/80/90 phones are beating everyone else with over 64% of the smartphone worldwide market share (please note though that smartphones make up only about ~10% of the overall phone market but their numbers are growing fast).
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Apple Updates Boot Camp

  Submitted by rm6990 macOS 20 Comments
Apple released version 1.1 beta of its Boot Camp software that allows Apple users to run MacOS X side by side with Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac. The 202 MB download adds support for newly released Intel-Macs, simplified partitioning, the ability to install Windows XP on any internal disk, support for the Isight camera and built-in microphones, as well as improved Apple keyboard support. Apple says that users should create a new Macintosh Drivers for Windows CD and install the updated software it contains on Windows XP. According to Apple, this will not require the user having to reinstall Windows XP or Mac OS X. Elsewhere, Apple is preparing for the new Xserver cluster node.
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