David Adams Archive

If the name "Commodore" conjures up images of clicking keyboards, beige boxes, and blinking command lines rather than buttery smooth ballads, this one's for you. Yes, that mainstay of '80s home computing is back, this time as a mobile phone. The Commodore PET--which shares its name with the iconic all-in-one computer released in 1977--might not run Commodore BASIC, but it does feature a customised version of Android 5.0 Lollipop, a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS display, and a pair of emulators for running old Commodore software. Update: It's not quite as stylish as the Macintosh phone.

How can we pass up a title like that? The article takes an interesting approach on practicality. Linux's pros: it runs on so many kinds of hardware, installing software is easy, variety of file managers and desktop environments. The Mac is popular because is has "strong software titles" and good support. The kicker: "If Linux distributions had the same level of consumer tech support available that Windows and OS X does, we'd see adoption number exploding." To be blunt, I find this essay unpersuasive. However, if you look at the examples where Linux has been successful in the market, such as embedded systems like set-top boxes and heavily customized OS variants with their own software ecosystem like Android, it's precisely Linux's esoteric strengths that made those platforms' developers choose it. And what did those platforms have that made them successful? Strong software running on top of the OS along with a worry-free onboarding and maintenance process, usually with professional support for end-users. What do you know?

It's been over 22 years since the last official version came out of Apple Computer. Some dedicated enthusiasts have made bug fixes and added additional features to create a new version of the operating system. More information and a link to the software can be found here.

With the launch today of the watchOS 2.0 beta 3, Apple has officially confirmed that there is no way to downgrade to an earlier version of watchOS without sending your device into Apple.

Microsoft is ceasing support for enterprise IT workhorse Windows Server 2003 on July 14th. Despite support reaching end of life, research from the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) suggests that at the end of 2014 61 per cent of businesses were still reliant on Windows Server 2003. A further study by Bit9 predicts 2.7 million Win2k3 servers will remain deployed post end-of-life. To give the OS a fitting send-off, Databarracks and the University of Surrey’s Electronics and Amateur Radio Society launched a Windows Server 2003 CD-ROM into the stratosphere in a weather balloon. You can watch the video at YouTube.

In a move that shouldn't surprise OSNews readers that much, Microsoft is writing off most of what it acquired from Nokia less than two years ago and will be laying off 7,800 people in its hardware division. According to Ars: "The hardware division includes the lion’s share of former Nokia employees, who became part of Microsoft last year. Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is leaving--this much we knew from last month--and Reuters says that Microsoft is also going to record an "impairment charge" of $7.6 billion dollars from the Nokia acquisition and perform a complete restructuring of its phone business. It's a shame, considering that Windows Phone has actually shaped out to be a pretty good OS, and a mobile OS landscape with only two players is good for neither consumers nor OS enthusiasts.