Eugenia Loli Archive

SkyOS Beta Build-6753 Available

SkyOS Beta build 6753 has been released. The installation procedure is now provided through a Live CD session thanks to BranchFS. This build includes the new C++ API, which makes development much easier. It also comes with three new services (PowerMonitor, SpellChecker and Registrar) and support for 45 more ATA/SATA chipsets. It also offers initial support for GNU classpath, Kaffe and Wine.

Interview with the “Imprint” Indie Director Van Blumreich

The Internet opens new doors to artists, there is no question about that. And between geeks like us here at OSNews, we should be supporting the independent artists. The most well-known online Indie short film competition, DVXFest, finished last week and the results are in. The latest theme was "make a spy movie", and one of our favorites, "Imprint" by Van Blumreich was awarded second place (a production that cost just $500). The story is set in a somewhat-futuristic time that's been plagued by the deadly Long Virus. Rob Cardine is dying of it and in order to keep himself alive, he carries out ethically questionable assignments in order to receive treatments for his disease. But when an assignment goes wrong, Rob is confronted with his own questions of ethics and humanity. How far is too far? Click here to download and view the short movie for free (48 MB), and read more for our interview with Van Blumreich.

Editorial: The No-SDK Cheat

When Steve Jobs mentioned a few weeks ago that there will be "some sort of app development" for the iPhone, everyone assumed he meant widgets. Widgets are less powerful than native applications, and depending on the underlying OS hooks offered, they can be even less powerful than J2ME apps. But when Jobs came out today to outright sell us Web 2.0 and said that "no SDK required", I felt cheated.

Google Privacy ‘Worst on the Web’

Google Inc.'s privacy practices are the worst among the Internet's top destinations, according to a watchdog group seeking to intensify the recent focus on how the online search leader handles personal information about its users. In a report released Saturday, London-based Privacy International assigned Google its lowest possible grade. The category is reserved for companies with "comprehensive consumer surveillance and entrenched hostility to privacy."

Windows Vista: Under the Hood

"In "Windows Vista: more than just a pretty face," we began our extensive assessment of Windows Vista with a focus on the changes to the graphical framework of Windows. We also talked about improvements to the general Windows API, the media foundation, and improvements in sound. In what follows, we look at three remaining areas of major improvement for Vista: security, networking, and storage. At the end, we present the first round of our criticisms of the new OS. In the coming weeks, we will unveil our performance-oriented examination of the OS."

Interview: Damian Kindler on ‘Sanctuary’

Times change. When the movies came about people said that it was a trend that will die soon. When the TV came out, even more people said that it won't catch on. And here we are again, at the dawn of IPTV, finding the first professionally-made, web-only, live action series: Sanctuary. Co-created by one of Sci-Fi Channel's Stargate SG-1 producers, Stage3Media's Damian Kindler was very kind to answer some of our questions about the promising project, which recently even hit a Guinness record as the most expensive web-only production ever ($4.5 million CDN). You can view behind-the-scenes and previews here and the first full 17-minute webisode here (includes a cameo of Stargate: Atlantis' own David Hewlett), while you can support the project by buying the HD DRM-free version of the webisodes at the official site. Read more in our interview inside!

Porting Winforms Applications to Mono

The amount of effort required to get an existing Winforms app running on Mono can vary greatly. Although many small apps will run on Mono unmodified, many apps will require some work on the developer's part to run smoothly on Mono. This guide will attempt to port a non-trivial open source application to document several of the issues a developer may run into while porting their app to Mono.