Thom Holwerda Archive

Apple Computer has discovered additional evidence of irregularities relating to past stock option grants and will likely need to restate its historical financial statements as a result, the company said on Thursday. In late June, Apple proactively announced that an internal investigation discovered irregularities related to the issuance of certain stock option grants made between 1997 and 2001.

"The OpenVZ project today announced its operating system-level server virtualization software technology is incorporated into Debian GNU/Linux giving users full access to OpenVZ software, which helps increase server utilization rates. At the same time, the OpenVZ project revised licensing terms for its user-level utilities under the GNU GPL license to comply with the Debian Free Software Guidelines. Also, OpenVZ software now conforms with the LSB/FHS."

"It was reported this week that Novell has banned all proprietary software from their Linux offerings. To me, this would be a bit like McDonalds announcing it will adopt an Atkins-only menu, selling only healthy, low-carb salads, and dropping fries, shakes, and the Big Mac as we know it. It might be a noble thing for McDonalds to only sell healthy items, but they would likely see a big decrease in customers. Most consumers want more balance in their menu choices, not less. Limiting choice, especially the most popular ones, is usually a bad idea."

"I've tested and/or reviewed every version of this operating system since the first version, and each time I start out impressed but end up walking away disappointed. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is not an exception to this tradition. While it may be a decent desktop operating system, I can't possibly recommend that sysadmins rely on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 in a production environment."

"Is Fedora for its users, or is Fedora for Red Hat? That is, is Fedora a distribution that people should run and to which people should contribute, or is it really, as detractors have often claimed, simply a playground for new ideas on their way to Red Hat Enterprise Linux?"

Coming Monday, 'His Steveness' will once again hold a keynote, at WWDC 2006, in which he at least will talk about Mac OS 10.5, Leopard. Rumours abound: virtual desktops, .Mac file syncing. iChat Mobile. Improved Spotlight, Safari 3.0. Xeon-based Xserves, Mac Pro, and more. For me, it means ten Firefox windows open with live-text streams, spread out over three monitors. Also fun.

Firefox 1.5.0.6 is a stability update that is part of our ongoing program to provide a safe Internet experience for our customers. We recommend that all users upgrade to this latest version. Fixed an issue with playing Windows Media content.

"Two weeks ago Microsoft and XenSource announced an agreement to grant interoperability of virtual machines on upcoming Windows Server Virtualization and XenEnterprise virtualization platforms. The move raised the attention of the whole IT world, involving license, support, security, and performance issues. Virtualization.info interviewed both companies to understand the details of the agreement and shed light on what customers can expect from the Microsoft hypervisor release."

Intel has issued patches for flaws in its Centrino device drivers and ProSet management software that affect the security of the wireless products. One could allow an attacker to break into a PC via Wi-Fi or even create a worm that jumps from one wireless-enabled laptop to another, provided the computers are within each other's range. Another security hole makes the system vulnerable to attacks that let a malicious user gain additional privileges.

With beta testing underway for Windows Service 2003 Service Pack 2, which also is designed for Windows XP x64 edition, Microsoft is providing a bit more details about the impending upgrade. Window Server program manager Ward Ralston says SP2 will be much less painful than SP1.

After nearly three years without an official release, OpenTracker 5.3.0 has been released to BeBits. Currently only available for x86 (a PPC build is requested by Axel), OT 5.3 adds a basic calendar display to Deskbar, the ability to quit apps via Switcher, the ability to undo/redo Tracker actions, and many bug fixes, from stability to font sensitivity. Many of the latter issues were found initially on Haiku, where Tracker also runs.

Microsoft will focus on rapid acquisitions to quickly build its security capability, the company said this week. Recent acquisitions such as Winternals and virtual private network specialist Whale will help Microsoft build a comprehensive range of integrated services that cover every aspect of security, according to Gopal Kutwaroo, Microsoft's UK security product manager.

"Which approach you take to running Windows on a Mac will depend on how you balance the performance you hope to get out of your system with your need to proceed safely and risk-free. BootCamp will always deliver the maximum performance to your Windows apps, but Parallels Desktop offers greater flexibility and an easier, safer installation process. It's also the better product for quickly dipping in and out of Windows - or any of the other x86-based operating systems it, unlike BootCamp, supports."

DesktopLinux.com reviews the Freespire release candidate, and concludes: "In short, I found it to be a fine Windows replacement desktop for home users. Without better network support, however, I still must recommend Xandros for business users who want a Windows-like experience, and SLED 10 for Linux friendly or heavy-duty office users."