Monthly Archive:: January 2005

ReactOS 0.2.5 Released

Submitted by Joseph Childrose 2005-01-06 ReactOS 17 Comments

New ReactOS release includes "huge improvements in general and networking and stability" and will be the last 0.2.x release. See the changelog.

Enterprise MySQL Beta Imminent

Submitted by Rahul Sundaram 2005-01-06 Databases 8 Comments

MySQL, at the end of January, is expected to release a beta version of its MySQL 5.0 open source database, which is to feature enterprise-level functionality such as stored procedures and triggers, according to a company representative.

Apple Sues ThinkSecret Over Trade Secrets

Submitted by bogey 2005-01-06 Legal 48 Comments

Apple is suing thinksecret over recent stories, including the proposed headless Mac. Apple sites specific articles in the suit. It's not crazy to assume the speculative articles are based on good information.

Review: SUSE Linux 9.2 Professional

Guest post by Anand Vaidya 2005-01-05 SuSE, openSUSE 48 Comments

On October 22, 2004, Novell released SUSE Linux Professional 9.2 (abbreviated as SLP9.2 henceforth) targeted at the home user and Linux enthusiast crowd. Since I am already using SUSE 9.1 for my daily work on my IBM laptop, I was quite eager to check out 9.2. SLP9.1 is already a very polished Linux distribution, with tons of software ready to go. So here's a SuSE user's review of 9.2 after several weeks using the new version. Update: Also see some 9.2 screenshots with KDE and Gnome.

Linux Continues Inroads into Server Market

David Adams 2005-01-05 Linux 14 Comments

The Linux server platform is becoming more varied -- and more capable, according to a recent report by IDC. The report noted that Linux is already well entrenched as a Web-centric server platform, in IT infrastructure roles and in the high-performance computing arena. In 2005, the report predicted, Linux will take on more workloads in the enterprise, such as hosting independent software vendor applications and databases.

Navicat 5.3.1 (Database GUI Application)

Submitted by kevin 2005-01-05 General Development 14 Comments

Navicat 5.3.1 (a cross-platform MySQL client, available for OS X, Linux and Windows) now offers support for customizable History Log path, resizable Manage User window and improves the import/ export wizards. The database management tool is an integrated GUI tool, which can perform MySQL administration and database development, enabling to import/export to and from different file formats, backup data, transfer database from server to server, create visual sql queries and manage multiple databases on local or remote MySQL server. It also includes a full featured graphical manager for setting the users and access privileges. Download an evaluation.

Firefox News Tidbits

Submitted by Rahul Sundaram 2005-01-05 Mozilla, Gecko 68 Comments

WSJ's Mossberg reviews Firefox. PC World thinks Firefox gives bloatware-haters hope. A not-quite-reliable, but interesting, claim that IE's share has lost 30% of the browser market.

Mandrakesoft Relesases Corporate-Oriented Distro

David Adams 2005-01-05 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 23 Comments

Mandrakesoft just released Corporate Server and Corporate Desktop. They come from a specific development effort to make them "enterprise-ready". The two products feature longer development cycles and a 5-year maintenance span. Read the press release.

Games Knoppix Review

Submitted by Jem Matzan 2005-01-05 Games 18 Comments

Games Knoppix is an entertainment-oriented version of the popular Debian-based LiveCD known as Knoppix. The idea behind Games Knoppix is excellent -- a LiveCD that you can give to your friends to show them some of the more frivolous aspects of GNU/Linux. Disappointingly, however, many of the games on the CD do not work, many more are duplicates of the same game, everything is in German, and there are driver problems with both the 2.4 and 2.6 kernel options. Linux.com has the review.

Apple’s XServe Reaches 2.3Ghz

Submitted by J@F 2005-01-04 Apple 36 Comments

The new XServe from Apple has dual 2.3 GHz G5 processors, and starts at $2,999 for a "cluster node" version, designed for use in High Performance Computing.

Matchbox 0.9 Released

Submitted by Matthew Allum 2005-01-04 Desktop environments 10 Comments

Matchbox is a base environment for the X Window System running on non-desktop embedded platforms such as handhelds, set-top boxes, kiosks and anything else for which screen space, input mechanisms or system resources are limited. Version 0.9 was released today.

Interview with Debian Project Leader on “Sarge” Release

Submitted by Rahul Sundaram 2005-01-04 Debian 20 Comments

Newsforge has a interesting interview with the Debian project leaders on the new debian release planned to be released in a short while

Introduction to Qt 4 Beta 1

Submitted by Johan Thelin 2005-01-04 Qt 17 Comments

The author of the Independent Qt Tutorial has published an example-driven article about Qt 4 beta 1. The text touches the new Designer and some of the code-level changes that will affect application developers.

Interview with Linspire CEO Michael Robertson

David Adams 2005-01-04 Original OSNews Interviews 76 Comments

OSNews "sat down" with Linspire CEO Michael Robertson for a Q&A about his company's efforts as the banner-carrier for Linux-on-the-desktop. We discussed the upcoming Linux Desktop Summit in San Diego and the perceptions and realities of the obstacles to widespread desktop Linux use. Linspire also extended a special offer to OSNews readers: a free download of Linspire and a 30 day CNR subscription, so put yourself in Granny's shoes (not literally, please) and give it a try. Correction: The free offer expires on January 15.

SBC To Offer Set-top Computer

David Adams 2005-01-04 In the News 16 Comments

#2 US Telecom company SBC has a new set-top box with Tivo-like DVR and music and photo access capabilities. "Owners will be able to control the box remotely over an Internet connection, which will also provide access to streaming music and video downloads through SBC's deal with Yahoo. SBC said future enhancements will allow the box to be controlled through a Cingular wireless phone, and allow SBC's local phone customers to see caller ID and call logs on their TV sets." With TVs acting more like computers, and computers acting more like TVs, what will it look like when they meet in the middle?

The Surprising Legacy of Y2K

David Adams 2005-01-04 General Development 19 Comments

American RadioWorks has an interesting investigation into the longer-term effects of the Y2K scare, especially its impact on the world's IT infrastructure. Y2K was a real potential problem, which was first ignored, but then most likely over-reacted to. But it was probably responsible for the rise of the Indian offshore IT boom. It also resulted in big productivity gains as decades of cruft were removed from datacenters during the fixes. For example, when the NY Stock Exchange was able to reassmble its systems six days after 9/11, it was because of the Y2K-related work they'd done.

AWLP turns PC into Web-Managed Wireless Access Gateway

Submitted by Alptekin Cakircali 2005-01-04 Internet 5 Comments

AWLP - (Alptekin's Wireless Linux Project) is an open-source wireless software project that turns a Slackware Linux machine into a dedicated web-managed wireless access gateway. It has pretty much all the features you would expect from an off-the-shelf wireless access gateway. Description, detailed installation instructions, screenshots and downloadable source tarballs can be found at http://awlp.sourceforge.net

eBay Throws the Baby Out with the Bathwater

Submitted by John Kim 2005-01-04 In the News 85 Comments

A reader reports: I was trying to raise some money to start a Linux technical support website by selling Debian GNU/Linux and Fedora Core CD's on eBay and suddently after a month all my items were pulled and my account suspended. I received this message from ebay as reason: "As a matter of eBay policy, recordings on CD-R (including CD-RW and DVD-R) may not be listed on eBay, unless the seller is the copyright owner and states this in the item description. This policy also means that even lawful reproductions on CD-R are not permitted on eBay." This link was also provided.

More Details on PalmSource’s Linux Plans

Submitted by Sean Melendy, digitalboy 2005-01-04 Wireless 22 Comments

NewsForge reports that PalmSource Vice President of Engineering Mike Kelley has published an open letter to the Linux community. IN essence, the end result will be the ability to run PalmOs and (bits of Beos integrated in PalmOs) on Linux. It will be a software layer that runs on top of Linux, and won't be open source.

SimplyMepis 2004.06 or: Gnome Guy Goes KDE

Guest post by Christian Paratschek 2005-01-03 Office 145 Comments

A long-time Gnome user takes a week to try out SimplyMepis to see what all the hubub is about. The result is not only a favorable look at a capable Linux distro, but an examination of the state of the Desktop Environment landscape, and the areas in which KDE can tempt even a dyed-in-the-wool Gnome fan.