Thom Holwerda Archive

Atom Is Intel’s Bright Spot in Abysmal Quarter

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-16 Intel 27 Comments

The PC industry is going through a very, very dark period right now, with the netbook being the only bright spot on many manufacturers' balance sheets. Since the saving grace of the industry is powered by Intel's Atom chip, it shouldn't come as a surprise that it's also the only positive element in Intel's abysmal quarterly results.

What’s New in PHP v5.3 Namespaces

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-16 General Development 15 Comments

The concept of Namespaces provides a way to help avoid problems with multiple functions, classes, and constants of the same name being defined multiple times. PHP 5.3 borrows much of the syntax and design of Namespaces from other languages â€” most notably C++. However, it does deal with Namespaces in a somewhat unique way, which may cause problems for those familiar with Namespaces. This article takes a close look at PHP V5.3 namespaces, which is one of the most anticipated and the most debated feature in this release of PHP.

Submitted by stonyandcher 2009-01-16 Office 47 Comments

Yesterday we ran a story on how educational institutions defaulting to Microsoft Office may stifle some people who do not own a copy of Office or Windows. A Forrester Research report now states the bloody obvious by claiming that organisations stick with Microsoft Word not out of necessity, but out of habit.

Submitted by poundsmack 2009-01-15 In the News 72 Comments

There's a story making its rounds across the 'net about a woman who missed several online classes, and failed her semester, and she claims this happened because she bought a Dell laptop with Ubuntu on it - instead of Windows. She didn't know what Ubuntu was, and was surprised to see that her Windows software, such as Microsoft Office, didn't work. While this isolated case sounds a bit ridiculous, there is still a bigger problem here.

Review: EFi-X USB v1

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-15 Hardware 5 Comments

Test-Freaks reviews the EFi-X USB V1, a boot processing unit that implements a working version of EFI, allowing you to, among other things, boot Mac OS X Leopard without modifying anything. In other words, there's no hacking involved. The caveat: there's a HCL. They conclude: "I have had the opportunity of reviewing a multitude of items over the past two years and the EFiX is one of the most unique and exciting products that I have encountered. It works as advertised and could not be any simpler to install and setup. Using a store bought copy of Leopard, I was able to get up and running in under an hour. By using recommended hardware from the hardware compatibility list the user can build a Mac as powerful as even the highest end Mac Pro models. The EFi-X USB V1 seems to be an evolving product as the makers add new features with each subsequent firmware upgrade. If you want to build a machine capable of running OS X, Windows and Linux on one platform, then the EFi-X USB V1 is the solution."

Windows Azure CTP January 2009 Released

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-15 Windows 16 Comments

At the 2008 Professional Developer Conference, Microsoft unveiled its cloud operating system, Windows Azure. Azure is the operating system that acts as the development, service hosting, and service management environment for the Azure Services Platform. This platform aids developers in publishing services and applications on the internet. Microsoft has released the latest CTP for Azure.

First Office 14 Screenshots Leaked

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-15 Microsoft 12 Comments

The first screenshots of Office 14, the sucessor to Office 2007, have been leaked onto the internet. The screenshots include "Access 14, Excel 14, Groove 14, InfoPath Designer 14, InfoPath Filler 14, InterConnect 14, OneNote 14, Outlook 14, PowerPoint 14, Project 14, Publisher 14, SharePoint Designer 14, Visio 14, and Word 14." Office 14 has no official release date yet.

Intel’s New Atom N280 Expected in Second Half of 2009

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-14 Intel 6 Comments

Netbooks using the forthcoming Intel Atom N280 are expected to tip up between the second and third quarters of 2009. The N280 is the follow-up to the Netbook class leading N270 Atom CPU that finds its home in practically every netbook on the market today.

Submitted by google_ninja 2009-01-14 Apple 67 Comments

Breaking news out of Cupertino: Apple's CEO Steve Jobs has announced he is taking a medical leave of absence, stepping down as CEO of Apple from now until June 2009. Steve Jobs announced this new turn of events in an email to all Apple employees today. Tim Cook will assume the CEO position for the time being.

Apple Urges Wired To Remove Hackintosh Video, Article

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-14 Apple 60 Comments

It appears that Apple is not just going after Psystar when it comes to running Mac OS X on non-Apple branded computers. Wired's gadget blog was running a story, accompanied by a video, demonstrating how to install Mac OS X on a non-Apple netbook. After Apple contacted Wired, the website took down the video.

Enabling Linux-HA for Composite Applications

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-14 Linux No Comments

This article describes an implementation of high availability for a composite application using Linux-HA. Delivering high availability to composite applications can be challenging. Because composite applications consist of several distinct applications, each with different availability requirements, configuration is complex.

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet Code Unit Testing

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-14 General Development 1 Comment

Part 1 of this three-part series laid the foundation for building an application targeted at the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, including choosing a target language (Python), selecting and configuring a development environment (Eclipse with Pluthon), and building a small sample application to make sure everything worked as advertised. Part 2 looks at different options for helper libraries, coding with unit testing in mind, and user interface choices.

Psystar: We Bought Mac OS X Fair and Square

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-14 Legal 63 Comments

And so the court case between Apple and clone-maker Psystar continues. Claims are being thrown back and forth between the two companies, ranging from Apple invoking the DMCA, to Psystar claiming Apple's Mac OS X copyright is invalid. We can add a new one to the list. Court documents reveal that Psystar claims it has bought its copies of Mac OS X fair and square - including some directly from Apple.

Nokia To Add LGPL to Qt Licensing Model

Submitted by Almar 2009-01-14 Qt 84 Comments

After Nokia purchsed Trolltech last year, doubts arose about how Nokia would handle the dual licensing model of Qt, the advanced cross-platform toolkit which lies at the base of the KDE Free software desktop. As it turns out, these doubts were unfounded, as Nokia today announced it's going to add the LGPL to Qt's licensing model, starting with Qt 4.5.

Submitted by fsmag 2009-01-13 Ubuntu 2 Comments

"I discovered recently the truth of the old saying that necessity is the mother of invention. Yes, I finally did it. I bricked my beloved EeePc. I had just installed the Smart package manager and a subsequent reboot saw me stuck in, well, an eternal boot loop. Impulsive mixing of repositories always ends in tears - but not being able to boot? Argh! To rub salt into the wound I had mislaid the Xandros DVD to do a reinstall and I didn't even have an external CD/DVD drive anyway. Organised or what?" Read the full story at Freesoftware Magazine.

Windows 7 Beta Reviews Pop up

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-13 Windows 7 Comments

Several reviews of the Windows 7 beta popping up. El Reg concludes: "All told, this will likely be a strong release, as it needs to be after the Windows Vista experience, just do not expect miracles. This is Windows Vista with a new face, not a major new version of Windows." Ars reviewed the beta as well, and concludes: "All in all, Windows 7 is shaping up well. It's a far more modest release than Vista was, but it's no worse for that. The new OS introduces a compelling combination of welcome innovations and much-needed polish, and that's exactly what Microsoft needs right now. Vista's foundation was solid, and Windows 7 just makes it better."

iPhone, iPod Touch Aren’t Netbooks

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-13 Apple 53 Comments

While we're on the subject of netbooks today, I ran across a story by Ars Technica's Erica Sadun, who writes for Ars' Infinite Loop (Apple) section. She poses that Apple already sells a netbook: the iPod Touch and the iPhone. I've heard many people make this claim before (including Steve Jobs himself), but I find it very hard to see the iPod Touch and the iPhone as netbooks.

Via’s Nano Plans: Too Little, Too Late?

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-13 Hardware 19 Comments

At the end of 2008, the OSNews team made a short list of the tech-related things they would like to see in 2009. On my list was the hope that we'd see more competition in the netbook market, which is now dominated by Intel's Atom platform, resulting in manufacturers all releasing essentially the same machine, but with a different badge and case colour. Where are Intel's competitors? We know AMD is on its way, we know that the Chinese are producing some noteworthy chips, and that the ARM chip is jumping up and down screaming for attention - but where is Via's Nano platform? Shouldn't it be here already?

Should Microsoft Open Source Windows?

Thom Holwerda 2009-01-13 Windows 76 Comments

Every now and then, some blogger working for a big website will write a story about how company Abc should make radical move Xyz in order to better, eh, well, that's usually left in the dark. These are generally more akin to said bloggers hoping for radical move Xyz rather than there being a well-argumented reasoning. Radical moves in the technology business don't happen very often, but when they do, there's generally a good reason for them.

Mozilla’s Ubiquity Logo Contest

Submitted by Sebastiaan 2009-01-12 Mozilla, Gecko 11 Comments

You may have thought Mozilla could not open up beyond its current state, but you may be wrong: Aza Raskin, Mozilla Labs' UX Lead and Sebastiaan de With, a freelance icon designer, have completely opened up the process of designing a new logo for Mozilla Ubiquity. The second round of conceptual exploration has just started, and the popular vote is very welcome on the blog or in the comments. What's your favorite concept, and why?