Monthly Archive:: February 2006

Microsoft has released beta 3 of their Monad shell. "Windows 'Monad' Shell is a new interactive command-line and task-based scripting technology in Windows that enables administrators to more efficiently and securely automate and control system management tasks on both desktops and servers. 'Monad' Shell provides powerful task-based control (via built-in command line tools and utilities) and a powerful scripting language that enables comprehensive scripted control of the Windows operating system and applications."

"Since its ISSCC talk early this month, IBM POWER6 did capture the imagination of quite a few processor buffs around there - not me, yet, as I'm used to see great CPUs failing since the Moto 68K and Alpha days - and also raise debates on several tech forums. While IBM still keeps most of the official POWER6 data closely guarded - I'd expect more during Hot Chips or Fall Processor Forum some six months from now - there is enough right now to assemble a rough picture of what may be in for the users of the new chip."

"The thing I find most interesting in battle of silicon supremacy is just how unbelievably thick (or perhaps slow) AMD has been lately. For the entire life cycle of the Pentium 4 family, AMD was far ahead. The company made the best processors in terms of performance with cost efficiency in mind. However, it had a nice 1-1.5 years of time span where it could've evolved or innovated enough, but it didn't. Granted that AMD is still leading the desktop and server markets in terms of performance, it's not the point. The point is the lack of evolution and innovation from AMD."

"The Amadeus project was initiated by USL as a successor or alternative to UNIX. As well as SCO other industrial contributors include USL, Novell, Chorus Systemes, Unisys1, Fujitsu and Sequoia. Amadeus has existed as a labs project for many years with Unisys being the first to put it into production usage in their OPUS high end database server." Read more .

"Virtual Bugzilla server is a virtual machine with pre-installed Bugzilla. Instead of spending hours (sometimes days) installing Bugzilla, why not just download a ready-to-use server? Virtual Bugzilla server is a VMWare virtual machine. You will need a free VMWare Player to run the server."

3D graphics on X11: XGL vs AIGLX. This article delves into the inner workings of XGL and AIGLX. It shows that there are many similarities between these two competing/co-operating "rivals" and plenty of room for growth.

The Gentoo Release Engineering team announced the release of Gentoo Linux 2006.0. Gentoo Linux 2006.0, the first release in the 2006 series, represents improvements across many architecture. Major highlights in the release include KDE 3.4.3, GNOME 2.12.2, XFCE 4.2.2, GCC 3.4.4 and a 2.6.15 kernel. This is also the first release with the Gentoo Linux Installer officially debuting on the x86 LiveCD, which will fully replace the Universal and PackageCD set.

Data is valuable only if it can be stored and accessed. With multiple vendors of directory services solutions competing for your business, you may worry that their disparate systems will not be able to interoperate and that it will be difficult for clients to support multiple vendors. This chapter will help you to store and access data on Mac OS X server.

ActiveWin reviews Office 2007 beta 1, and concludes: "It's an innovative interface yes, but will the benefits outweigh the changes? That's for users to decide. Yes this early code does have glitches and performance issues left to be ironed out; right now the focus is on reliability and stability. The BETA 2 release should provide us with an early glimpse of what's in store in the final product. My personal say is getting used to interface should not be a problem for many since the familiar tools are organized in ways that makes it convenient for the user, and new tools make the interface more intelligent and more aware of what the user is doing, presenting the right tools for the task at hand."

"Microsoft lately has been challenging Linux's suitability for older hardware, so it seems like a good time to look at Linux distributions that can run on older machines. I took six distributions for a test run on an old machine, and also tried software that turns old hardware into a thin client. The bottom line: Linux is still quite suitable for older hardware. It might not turn your aging PC into a powerhouse, but it will extend its lifespan considerably."

Apple had their pick of kernels when transitioning from OS 9 to OS X, and they chose to create their own kernel based on Mach 3.0. Was that really the best decision or did Apple make a huge mistake? At the time Linux was gaining support and developing rapidly, while development on Mach had pretty much ended two years earlier. This article makes a case for Apple using the Linux kernel in a future version of the Mac OS.

With speculation flying about what 'fun new products' Apple plans to announce next week, from video iPods to DVR-enabled Mac minis, Microsoft has its own surprise up its sleeve. The web is abuzz with guesses as to what the Redmond company plans to unveil at origamiproject.com on March 2nd. The site, registered by Microsoft and 'discovered' early this week, provides few hints. A Flash animation pops up three questions: 'do you know what I can do? Or where I can go? Or how I can change your life?' It ends with the text, 'Learn more on 3.2.06'.

"For backups, especially network backups, I have been using, developing, and advocating Bacula, the Network Backup Tool for Unix and Windows. Bacula backs up to tape, disk, DVD, CD, etc. The server runs on Unix operating systems, yes, including Mac OS/X. The client runs on Unix, and on Windows, and has support for VSS which allows you to backup files that are in use (if the application using the file has VSS support)."

Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs, made some surprising remarks in an interview. Wozniak says that Apple should spin-off its iPod business to a separate division because it distracts Apple from its core business-- computers. While acknowledging that the switch to Intel was a necessary evil, Wozniak says: "It's like consorting with the enemy. We've had this long history of saying the enemy is the big black-hatted guys, and they kind of represent evil. We are different, and by being different we're better. All of a sudden we're the same in this hardware regard, so it's a little hard to swallow your words from the past." Update: Wozniak now denies having made the claims. Just like politics, boys and girls!