David Adams Archive

What are the programs you can't live without on your system? Tipmonkies has a quick rundown on some applications, and welcomes input from others as to their list.

I'm very pleased to announce the addition of some new members to the core OSNews staff. Thom Holwerda and Andrew Youll officially started late last night, and as you can see from their postings, they've hit the ground running. Read more for some information on the latest additions to our family, and also for some exciting news about the site.

Disgusted by security issues and poor performance, Winn Schwartau makes the switch from Windows to the Mac and details the bumps in the road along the way in his Mad as Hell series.

Linuxlookup.com is reporting Wipro surveyed 90 companies in the U.S. and Western Europe with 2,500 to 113,000 employees where both the Windows and open source operating systems were simultaneously being run. The outcome: Windows beats Linux in Security. "We already know how to secure a Windows-based solution and keep it running smoothly,” says Stephen Shaffer, the airline’s director of software systems. “With Linux, we had to rely on consultants to tell us if our system was secure. With Windows, we can depend on Microsoft to inform us of and provide any necessary updates."

Sun Microsystems has polished off its cheapest and likely most attractive Opteron-based workstation to date. The hardware maker today introduced the world to the Ultra 20 a one-way (one socket) box that starts at $895. That price has to please a lot of Sun customers who complained when the much higher-end W2100z amd W1100z workstations arrived, costing thousands of dollars. With the Ultra 20, Sun is really delivering some of the price/performance benefits associated with x86 chips to the developer crowd.

While enabling the next generation is one thing, getting corporate customers and consumers on the Longhorn bandwagon may take some doing, say professors at Wharton.