Thom Holwerda Archive

Formation of KDE Marketing Working Group

  Submitted by oGALAXYo KDE 42 Comments
The KDE Marketing Working Group has formed, after being proposed by the KDE community at aKademy 2005, with the aim of improving KDE's marketing and promotion efforts. Martijn Klingens, Sebastian Kügler and Wade Olson will be taking the lead in coordinating and implementing new practices, such as promoting releases more widely and running more exciting events booths.
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Intel Macs in January?

Apple 60 Comments
The first commercial Apple Macintosh computers running on Intel processors may be released a bit earlier than expected, believes UBS Investment Research analyst Ben Reitzes. He claims that Apple will have new products and content to announced at the Macworld Expo scheduled for early January and notes that Intel is expected to unveil its dual-core Yonah processor for mobiles also early next year.
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A Year Without Windows

  Submitted by LinuxFanBoy Linux 74 Comments
It's that time again, folks. "I realize the title might mislead you to believe that I've been trapped in a dank, dark underground dungeon for a year. In reality, though, I have been without Microsoft Windows for over a year. On November 1 of last year I blew away my old Windows 98/SUSE Linux 8.0 Professional dual-boot installation, and loaded SUSE Linux 9.2 Professional, by itself, on my box. While I know others have been Windows-free for much longer than a year, others simply cannot imagine doing without it. Here's my experience." Be gentle.
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SGI: Still Hanging Tough

SGI and IRIX 23 Comments
Monday was the first day since 1986 that the stock of Silicon Graphics Inc., better known as SGI, has not been traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its recent delisting is just the latest chapter of a long, painful story that analysts say is loaded with lessons for other companies. However, company executives say SGI's customer base remains loyal and its technology base is strong enough to sustain it, albeit in narrow vertical markets.
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Brazil Starts Deployment of Low-Cost KDE Computers

  Submitted by oGALAXYo Linux 20 Comments
A new initiative by the Brazillian government will see low cost KDE based computers on sale throughout the country from next week. The Computers for All scheme will bring "cheap and accessible" computers following a recent law cutting taxes and encouraging affordable financing for low income buyers of computers preinstalled with Free Software operating systems. Several companies are involved in the scheme with most using KDE desktops.
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Cedega 5.0 Released

  Submitted by javaman83 Games 29 Comments
Transgaming has released Cedega 5.0 today. "TransGaming is very excited about the introduction of the new Cedega scheduler which allows for better control over processes and threads under the Linux 2.6 kernels. With pixel shaders 1.4, your games will look more realistic and deliver better graphics quality than ever before. Preliminary FBO support has also been added as an experimental feature for users to try out on their favorite titles. Other improvements to Cedega designed to improve correctness and performance have also been included." Read the release notes.
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Review: 3Dconnexion SpacePilot

  Submitted by anonymous 3D 1 Comment
"What the heck is it? would be the average observer’s first question. Looking at the 3Dconnexion SpacePilot, it is difficult to discern exactly what a device like this could be used for. Somewhere between a doorknob, a calculator, and a fragment of a stealth bomber cockpit, the SpacePilot clearly means business. But what type of business?"
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SQL Server 2005 Launched

Microsoft 19 Comments
Microsoft launched on Sunday its corporate database aimed at taking market share from Oracle. Microsoft's SQL Server 2005, delayed several times as engineers sought to make the software more reliable and secure, is a corporate database program designed to store and retrieve business data. Along with SQL Server, Microsoft also launched Visual Studio 2005, a software tools program used to create applications.
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Digital Rights Management: When a Standard Isn’t

  Submitted by anonymous Privacy, Security 26 Comments
"Whether you're a buyer or a seller of a product, the essential goal of standardization is to make interoperability possible, allowing communication with anyone else using the same protocol and media. In some cases though, vendors have specific reasons for not being compatible - and those vendors have developed a standard for incompatibility, digital rights management. The goal of DRM is to limit compatibility because things which are compatible can be copied and distributed freely. In this article, Peter Seebach looks at a potential oxymoron - standards designed to subvert and prevent interoperability."
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iMac G5 2.1/1.9 Vs. Previous iMac G5 2.0 and Dual Core G5 2.0

  Submitted by Ralf. Apple 47 Comments
"We don't have all the results yet but we're giving you what we have so far on the new iMac G5s (2.1GHz and 1.9GHz) compared to the previous model (2.0GHz). I hypothesized that we'd see small gains in CPU intensive tasks and big gains in graphics intensive tasks. I noticed in various discussion groups that many consumers are trying to decide between the high end iMac and low end Power Mac. So I included the results from the Dual-Core G5/2.0GHz Power Mac."
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10 Things I Hate About (U)NIX

Unix 160 Comments
UNIX was a terrific workhorse for its time, but eventually the old nag needs to be put out to pasture. David Chisnall argues that it's time to retire UNIX in favor of modern systems with a lot more horsepower. "UNIX has a lot of strengths, but like any other design it's starting to show its age. Some of the points listed in this article apply less to some UNIX-like systems, some apply more."
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Shuttleworth Affirms Commitment to Kubuntu and KDE

Ubuntu 139 Comments
The Ubuntu Below Zero conference is in full momentum this week and Kubuntu has been prominent throughout. In his opening remarks at the start of the conference Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth announced that he was now using Kubuntu on his desktop machine and said he wanted Kubuntu to move to a first class distribution within the Ubuntu community. Free CDs for Kubuntu through shipit should be available for the next release if the planned Live CD Installer removes the need for a separate install CD.
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