Thom Holwerda Archive

Microsoft Confirms Office:Mac 2007

macOS 23 Comments
Microsoft's next-gen Office suite for the Mac is being given a top-to-toe refit in readiness for its debut in the third quarter of 2007. On the surface is a revised interface which borrows ideas from the Office 2007 for Windows 'ribbon' and has already been radically changed due to user feedback. The new versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint will all adopt the native XML file formats of their Windows siblings. And, the program is of course being rebuilt as an Intel-friendly Universal Binary application.
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Plasma: the Next-Generation KDE Environment

  Submitted by Subhush KDE 53 Comments
"It has hardly been a few weeks since the release of KDE v3.5.4, one of the most popular desktop environments for Unix/Linux/FreeBSD operating systems, and the KDE development team is already hard at work. They have a dream of revolutionizing the concept of desktop by providing an array of innovative features aimed at improving both the looks of the desktop environment as well as the productivity of end users. In this article, we will look at one such component called Plasma that promises to change the look and feel of a conventional desktop."
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Slackware Linux 11.0 RC5 Released

  Submitted by mkools Slackware, Slax 7 Comments
The unexpected fifth release candidate of Slackware Linux 11.0 has been announced in the current changelog: "This is the last one, scout's honor." Last week has brought a number of updates, including Subversion 1.4.0, an svn release of espgs 8.15.3, security updates to Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey, as well as many rebuilds of existing package versions to fix bugs or add new functionality. As usual, there are no official ISO images released for download, but a good list of Slackware mirrors can be found here, while a recent unofficial CD image set built from the current tree is available here.
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Overview: Symbian OS v9.3

  Submitted by Subhush Wireless No Comments
MadPenguin has published a short overview of SymbianOS 9.3. "Symbian has added plenty of features to v9.3, but do we need to rush? Well, the answer is no. This is because no handset manufacturer has still come up with a device based on the new operating system. According to industry sources, one may expect a plethora of such devices to be launched in early 2007 during high level mobile conferences such as Nokia Mobility Conference and Symbian Smartphone Show. Until then, enjoy your current handset."
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Why GUI Matters the Most in Computing

  Submitted by Menakshi S. Graphics 29 Comments
"The current generation of operating systems is much more powerful than they were in the days of DOS. We demand more from them now than ever before, and they've had to keep up with all of our needs and wants. As you know, an OS isn't just another standard piece of software. Instead, an operating system has to manage a complex set of system-level processes all at one time, and it's quite literally responsible for running the show. Therefore, it's easy to see why these systems take so long to develop and successfully release."
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Visual Walkthrough: New Features in Vim 7.0

  Submitted by anonymous Office 6 Comments
This article gives a visual walkthrough of some of the new features included in the latest version of Vim. "These are not the only new features. There are scores of others like Remote file explorer which allows one to directly edit a file residing in a remote location, better POSIX compatibility, Vim's own internal grep and so on which I have not covered here because this article is after all a visual walk through of the new features in Vim 7.0. It takes real genius and stellar coding skills to create and maintain such a versatile editor and Bram Moolenaar has proved yet again that he has the necessary ingredients to qualify him for the post."
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The Future of NetBeans

  Submitted by Moochman General Development 8 Comments
The NetBeans project recently released the second beta of version 5.5 of its IDE. At the same time, NetBeans 6.0 is at its second milestone release. Artima spoke with NetBeans evangelist Tim Boudreau about new NetBeans features and about the NetBeans community. In Part I, he discusses upcoming features of NetBeans 6.0, and compares the NetBeans and Eclipse approaches to open-source IDE development. In Part II, Boudreau talks about the NetBeans rich-client platform, how the NetBeans Matisse UI builder and GroupLayout layout manager address the challenges of cross-platform and internationalized UI design, and about support for languages other than Java in NetBeans.
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Apple vs. Dell: When Support and Innovation Fail

In the News 52 Comments
"Some buyers of Apple's new MacBook notebook are hopping mad about random restarts and heat problems that don't fit with Apple's image. Still, Dell might be happy to have Apple's current problem and a bit of its banked reputation. How long can a solid-gold brand take a beating and keep on ticking? Apple Computer will find out this quarter with the growing list of user complaints about its recently released MacBook notebook model randomly shutting down."
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Open Source OS/2 Abandonware Campaign

  Submitted by martini OS/2 21 Comments
"OS/2 has many applications that had been created by companies, individual developers and hobbyists. Many of these applications still works under the newest version of eComStation and have demonstrated a good quality. The only issue is that they are turning into abandonware since developers had switched to other platforms, but there is a chance to extend their life with the 'Open Source Long Live Elixir'. Here at OS2World.com we will like to make a call to OS/2-eCS developers and ex-developers to open source their creations. We believe that the software can be expanded for the benefit of the community and allowing a learning experience from the code of these applications."
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The Challenge of Open Source Software

  Submitted by nedvis Oracle and SUN 1 Comment
"With 20 years of experience in software development, Simon Phipps has helped guide Sun's open source strategy, including the OpenSolaris project. Now, as chief open source officer at Sun, Phipps has been given the weighty task of deciding how to open source all of Sun's software. Inner Circle recently sat down with Phipps to discuss open source licenses, working with communities of developers, and how governance of open source projects is critical to success."
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Apple’s Folly: the eWorld Online Service

  Submitted by Saad Apple 9 Comments
"Back in the mid-nineties, Apple was a company without focus. After the explosive growth of the Macintosh in the late eighties, Apple was flush with cash, but had little strategy to guide its investments. As a result, products like eWorld were developed while Apple's core products languished. Meant as a substitute to the very expensive AppleLink online service, eWorld was based on the AOL network, and presented a friendly face to several proprietary online services and limited internet connectivity. eWorld failed to gain much of a foothold in the market, and was quietly discontinued in 1996 (only months before CEO Michael Spindler, was ousted)."
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Mozilla Updates Firefox, Thunderbird, Seamonkey

  Submitted by george Mozilla, Gecko 34 Comments
The Mozilla Corporation today issued small updates for its popular Firefox Web browser and Thunderbird e-mail applications, primarily targeting security problems. The updates take both products to version 1.5.0.7, and were issued via the vendor's automatic update system this morning, Australia-time. The less popular SeaMonkey mail and browsing suite was also updated to version 1.0.5. Update: DesktopLinux has a detailed explanation on the changelog. Also, Camino 1.0.3 of OSX was released.
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