Monthly Archive:: November 2006

SkyOS Build 6669 Released

After nearly three months of work, the SkyOS team has released a new build of their operating system. Changes include, but are not limited to: desktop compositing working with every graphics card, USB 2.0 stack (with keyboard, mouse, mass storage, printer, card reader, hub, USB-CDROM, and other drivers), SATA drives support, printing stack (about a 1000 USB and network printers supported), and CD/DVD recording support.

Interview: Mark Shuttleworth

South Africa native and current London resident Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical Ltd. and the Ubuntu Linux distribution, told DesktopLinux.com Friday in an interview that widespread adoption of Linux on the desktop - so long-awaited by many people. "Yes - I think Linux will be the dominant platform. It already defines the landscape in the server space (from supercomputers to YouTube). The desktop is just a matter of time."

Spad Filesystem for Linux

"SpadFS is a new filesystem that I design and develop as my PhD thesis. It is an attempt to bring features of advanced filesystems (crash recovery, fast directories) and good performance without increasing code complexity too much. Uses crash counts instead of journaling (because journaling is too complex and bug-prone) and uses hash instead of btrees for directory organization."

Microsoft’s Muglia Talks Longhorn, Novell, Java

Now that Windows Vista and Office 2007 have been released to manufacturing, the spotlight is on Windows Server 'Longhorn'. Bob Muglia, Microsoft's senior vice president for server and tools sat down with eWEEK Senior Editor Peter Galli at TechEd: IT Forum to give an update on Longhorn's road map, discuss the company's controversial deal with Novell, and give his thoughts on Sun Microsystems' decision to license Java under the GNU GPL. Meanwhile, CNet interviews Bill Gates.

FreeBSD 6.2-RC1 Released

"We have now reached the Release Candidate stage of the FreeBSD 6.2 release cycle. A few significant problems had been discovered during the initial BETA testing and those issues should now be fixed. RC1 is the first of two planned Release Candidate builds. If no more significant problems are reported 6.2-RELEASE builds will be done after RC2."

Steve Ballmer: ‘Linux Uses Our Intellectual Property’

In comments confirming the open-source community's suspicions, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Thursday declared his belief that the Linux operating system infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property. In a question-and-answer session after his keynote speech at the Professional Association for SQL Server conference in Seattle, Ballmer said Microsoft was motivated to sign a deal with SUSE Linux distributor Novell earlier this month because Linux "uses our intellectual property" and Microsoft wanted to "get the appropriate economic return for our shareholders from our innovation."

Free Vista Keys for Beta Testers

"Windows Vista RTM'd a week ago, and now, the beta testers have gotten their swag. If you (actively) participated in the Longhorn Beta program, this is your chance to get a free Windows Vista Business or Ultimate Edition product key. The only requirement to receiving this free product key is that throughout the duration of the beta program you submitted at least one bug - nothing more, nothing less."

Review: Microsoft Office 2007

ActiveWin reviews Office 2007, and concludes: "It's an innovative interface yes, but will the benefits outweigh the changes? That's for users to decide. My personal say is getting used to the interface should not be a problem for many since the familiar tools are organized in ways that makes it convenient for the user to access both new and previously hidden features. This makes the interface more intelligent and more aware of what the user is doing, presenting the right tools for the task at hand. I am proud to say: this is an Office release I definitely look forward to using everyday."

Schwartz Slams Microsoft-Novell Deal

Some more news on the Novell-Microsoft deal (I'm starting to suspect the free publicity is all what this deal was for, but anyway). Sun boss Jonathan Schwartz has joined in criticism of the Microsoft-Novell deal, saying it is bad for the open source movement. Following Samba's criticism early this week, Schwartz said profoundly disagreed with the idea that open source software is unsafe without the 'no use' arrangements agreed between Microsoft and Novell.

Is the Microsoft-Novell Deal Dead on Arrival?

The potentially historic Microsoft-Novell pact announced last week, whereby Microsoft would grant patent peace to users of Novell's Suse Linux software in exchange for royalty payments paid by Novell to Microsoft, will be dead by mid-March, promises Eben Moglen, the general counsel of the Free Software Foundation. The FSF controls the license that governs the distribution of Linux and many other key forms of free and open-source software. "It will surely violate GPL version 3," said Moglen, referring to the forthcoming version. "GPL version 3 will be adjusted so the effect of the current deal is that Microsoft will by giving away access to the very patents Microsoft is trying to assert."

Winners and Losers in the New Linux World

"Would you have believed at the end of last summer that Microsoft and Novell would partner over Linux, or that Oracle would create its own brand of Linux? Yeah, I wouldn't have believed it either, but here we are. So, what does it all mean? Rather than make a snap judgement I decided to sit, wait and watch before trying to make sense of it all. Now, I'm ready to give you my two-cents on who are the winners and losers in this post-deal Linux world."

RISC OS Firefox 2 Port Iyonix Only

The next release of the RISC OS Firefox port will be Iyonix-only, developer Peter Naulls revealed today. Although the updated port, dubbed Firefox 2, is said to be working, Peter, pictured, will first need a further five grand in cash donations from users - even though the revised port may ship without https support, which is crucial for online banking and shopping.