David Adams Archive

The XPde team has released a document on the legal impact of releasing Windows "lookalike" user interfaces in, specifically, Free Software.

Earlier in the month we made a call for contributions, and we had an overwhelming response. Hopefully we'll be seeing some new articles from OSNews readers in the near future. I'd like to announce that we've set up a mailing list for those readers who might be interested in contributing articles and reviews. I'd also like to make a public apology to those people who I mistakenly added to the list. "Read more" for details.

In a recent conference presentation, Google's Craig Nevill-Manning notes that cheap and fast hardware is the key to Google's success. The software, he says, is written to assume that the hardware will fail, and work around that. That way, the company can use commodity PC hardware and not worry when it fails--just replace it.

Apple's decision to use IBM processors in its latest hardware may have been the final straw for Motorola's struggling semiconductor business. The parent company is going to see if it can operate more effectively as an independent entity.

Analyst IDC just released its latest survey of operating system sales and market share. In obvious news, Microsoft Windows continues to dominate the desktop. Microsoft has also made huge gains on the server side. The survey does not account for free Linux installs, only paid versions, so the Windows vs. Linux sales figures are only useful to see who's making more money, however. Both Windows and Linux on the server side are growing at the expense of commercial Unix and older OSes like OS/2 that are being phased out.

Apple has posted a countdown timer on its web site to a release date of October 24, 8pm.

It's an oft-repeated maxim that one of the reasons that Windows operating systems are plagued by so many viruses, worms, and security exploits is because they are so popular. Extrapolating on this, many have remarked that if Linux, MacOS, or other OSes become more popular, they will attract the attention of virus writers. That may be true, but the increased attention will not necessarily yield the same quantity of viruses and other exploits, says a Register article. Update: Rebuttal article.

"The publicity generated by the SCO lawsuit hasn't hurt Linux distributor Red Hat's plans to expand business in Asia--in fact, it seems to have helped", said a senior executive.

Do you have a favorite OS or distribution with an upcoming release? We'd like you to do a review and publish it on OSNews. We can usually contact the company and get you an official copy of the release to use for your review (usually ahead of its official release, and mostly true for Linux distros). Aren't comfortable with your writing skills? As long as you're comfortable doing the review, an OSNews editor can assist you in making your observations readable. If you're interested, read more.

Here is our review of the new 1.25 GHz 15" Powerbook G4.

A company is maketing a product called Lover Spy, which allows the customer to send a "greeting" to an acquaintance. That greeting contains a hidden application that installs itself on the victim's computer and reports back information on that person's online activities. It's intended to be a way for jealous lovers to keep tabs on their partner. It's a remote version of the old "install a keystroke logger on your boyfriend" trick. It's also probably illegal in the United States.

Linux has developed an undeserved reputation as less scalable than commercial Unix and Windows, say Sam Greenblatt, Kenneth Milberg, Matt O'Keefe and John H. Terpstra in an interview with SearchEnterpriseLinux. This reputation can be attributed to the vendors of competing platforms to a major extent. Organizations like Google and NOAA are using huge Linux clusters that prove otherwise, and in the past few years there has been huge improvement in scalability.

EWeek has an interview with Ransom Love, Caldera's co-founder, wherein he gives some interesting background to Caldera's original aims, the immediate aftermath of the SCO acquisition, the beginning of the feud with IBM, and his views on the GPL. He thinks the lawsuit is a bad idea.

This is a helpful article for anyone wanting to re-purpose an old machine for friends or family members, or want to make a firewall or file server out of obsolete hardware. It contains useful hints for tech packrats, such as "throw away old PCs without PCI slots, and "if a component fails intermittently, save yourself the grief and trash it." The article even has hints for convincing your kids that what they really want it a 300 MHz PII with Linux, not a new 3 GHz PC with XP.