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Another version of the extremely portable unix-like operating system NetBSD was released today. This release fixes many security issues and bugs. It also includes a good amount of new features. Please read the announcement here.

Windows NT name size limits, network cabling and protocols, Linux printer daemon commands, AD&D character alignments -- find out how much you know where it really counts by taking InfoWorld's 2010 Geek IQ Test.

"In a move that holds great significance for the semiconductor industry, a team of researchers has created an alternative to conventional logic gates, demonstrated them in silicon, and dubbed them chaogates. The researchers present their findings in Chaos, a journal published by the American Institute of Physics."

The Genode project has released a bootable live CD showcasing the capabilities of their OS-construction framework. It boots in less than 10 seconds (on VirtualBox) to a fully functional graphical user interface featuring a selection of five subsystems (screenshot). Each subsystem demonstrates different aspects of the framework. One of the highlights is a web browser that is executed natively on the microkernel and is able to run a sandboxed Linux kernel as browser plugin. Among the other demos are the famous Gears OpenGL demo showing Gallium3D in action, and a user-level Linux seamlessly integrated into the system.

How do you audit your Linux environment? How do you track after changes to your files? What kind of processes are running on your system at any given moment? What uses the most resources? Valid questions, all. Special contributor Dedoimedo gives us the straight scoop on "audit.". Editor's note: Call for submissions: are you an OS expert? Can you provide some special insight, some tips and tricks, or just plain illuminate an obscure feature in your OS of choice? We'd like to publish it.

InfoWorld's Savio Rodrigues views Red Hat's notable marketing shift from low cost to high value as an "important shift in the ongoing evolution of open source software vendors' business models". Long left in the low-cost ghetto of enterprise IT mind share, RHEL is being pushed for its technical innovations, performance enhancements, and customer-requested improvements, rather than as a solution for cash-strapped shops. This shift, and the underlying improvements to RHEL 6.0, give Red Hat a legitimate shot against Microsoft, and open source a new model for competing with proprietary products. After all, focusing on low cost unnecessary limits the growth of open source business, creating a 'low-cost ceiling' that indirectly dissuades many IT shops from considering open source products.

Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister writes about what could be the end of the Java Community Process as we know it. With the Apache Software Foundation declaring war on Oracle over Java, the next likely step would be a vote of no confidence in the JCP, which, if the ASF can convince enough members to follow suit, "could effectively unravel the Java community as a whole", McAllister writes, with educators, academics, and researchers having little incentive to remain loyal to an Oracle-controlled platform. "Independent developers could face the toughest decisions of all. Even if the JCP dissolves, many developers will be left with few alternatives", with .Net offering little advantage, and Perl, Python, and Ruby unable to match Java's performance. The dark horse? Google Go - a language Google might just fast-track in light of its patent suit with Oracle over Android.

The latest version of the REBOL 3 open host kit, alpha 110, enables Syllable Desktop for the first time to run the REBOL 3 client/server RebDev collaboration application for chat and development files sharing (screenshot).

Steve Jobs recently told a Mac user, enquiring about the probability of USB3 on Macs in the near feature, that the technology is not ready because Intel has yet to adopt the platform. A recent rumour slated Intel to integrate USB3 it into its chipsets by no earlier than 2012. LaCie electronics, however, is not prepared to wait around until 2012, and has just released an USB3.0 driver for Mac OS X. Just one catch: it only works with LaCie's hardware.

InfoWorld offers a look back at the first decade of agile programming. Forged in February 2001 when a group of developers convened in Utah to find an alternative to documentation-driven, 'heavyweight' software development practices, The Manifesto for Agile Software Development sought to promote processes that accommodate changing requirements, collaboration with customers, and delivery of software in short iterations. Fast-forward a decade, and agile software development is becoming increasingly commonplace, with software firms adopting agile offshoots such as Scrum, Extreme Programming, and Kanban - a trend some see benefiting software development overall

InfoWorld's J. Peter Bruzzese provides an overview of the 10 best free server tools Microsoft has to offer. 'Free is a term rarely associated with Microsoft offerings, especially at the server end of the spectrum,' Bruzzese writes. Yet remaining competitive has provided Microsoft great incentive to deliver some very powerful server admin tools for free. 'Of course, by and large, Microsoft's free server tools are aimed at offering value to paying customers. But some provide a free entry-level solution for large IT organizations to begin experimenting and small IT organizations to implement.' From Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, to SharePoint Foundation 2010, to migration and planning tools, IT admins would do well to explore the free server tools Microsoft does actually offer.

The 2.8.2 release of DragonFly BSD is now available, featuring significant advances in multi-processor performance based on DragonFly's signature soft token locks. It also includes many feature advancements including: pf from OpenBSD 4.2, the Wifi stack from FreeBSD and DataMapper from NetBSD (with significant enhancements). This release also marks the return of the GUI image. See the release notes for full details.

Embedding Linux can apparently become a bit messy. This is set to change. With the support of Intel, the Linux Foundation has recently launched the "Yocto Project" This project is not a linux distribution or platform but a complete embedded Linux development environment with tools, metadata, and documentation. The project currently targets four architectures: ARM, MIPS, PowerPC and x86 (32 and 64 Bit). Intel's support for the project can best be summarized from its own press release: "Intel is supporting the Yocto Project with code and resources to help provide high-quality developer tools assisting companies with the creation of custom Linux-based systems for embedded products on any hardware architecture."

Google has confirmed on the official Android Developer Twitter account that the Android Market has surpassed the milestone of 100000 applications. In perspective, Steve Jobs said last week that the Apple App Store now contains over 300000 applications. Having said that, the Android Market has now arguably reached a point where the difference becomes almost immaterial in a practical sense, because even with only 100000 applications it is unlikely anyone will be short-changed for choice.