Monthly Archive:: January 2007

Comparison: Vista, Linux

  Submitted by flanque Rumors 213 Comments
"So, which really is better for the desktop: Vista or Linux? I've been working with Vista since its beta days, and I started using Linux in the mid-90s. There may be other people who have worked with both more than I have, but there can't be many of them. Along the way, I've formed a strong opinion: Linux is the better of the two. But, now that Vista is on the brink of becoming widely available, I thought it was time to take a comprehensive look at how the two really compare. To do this, I decided to take one machine, install both of them on it, and then see what life was like with both operating systems on a completely even playing field."
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Intel, IBM Separately Reveal Transistor Breakthrough

  Submitted by Dale Smoker Hardware 11 Comments
In dueling announcements, Intel and IBM separately say they have solved a puzzle perplexing the semiconductor industry about how to reduce energy loss in microchip transistors as the technology shrinks to the atomic scale. Each company said it has devised a way to replace problematic but vital materials in the transistors of computer chips that have begun leaking too much electric current as the circuitry on those chips gets smaller. Technology experts said it is the most dramatic overhaul of transistor technology for computer chips since the 1960s and is crucial in allowing semiconductor companies to continue making ever-smaller devices that are also energy-efficient.
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BSD Goes Live with FreeSBIE 2.0

BSD & Darwin 8 Comments
"Last year the Italian FreeBSD user group, GUFI, rekindled the FreeSBIE project to develop a live CD based on the FreeBSD operating system. After more than four months of development, and an equal number of beta releases, the project released FreesBIE 2.0 this month. Codenamed Clint Eastwood, the live CD is based on the recent FreeBSD 6.2 release, and is an ideal platform to experience BSD and learn how things are done in BSD land."
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Dunc-Tank: Success or Failure?

  Submitted by da_Chicken Debian 23 Comments
"The Dunc-Tank project has been the topic of much debate in the Debian community since it was launched in September last year. Aimed at overcoming Debian's notorious delays in meeting its scheduled releases, Dunc-Tank collected donations to test the effect of funding on open-source software development. It has now been more than a month since the scheduled release of Debian 4.0, codenamed etch. However, even with Dunc-Tank's funding, etch is yet to be seen. Liz Tay speaks with Debian Project Leader and Dunc-Tank mastermind Anthony Towns to find out what happened."
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Microsoft Sales Unharmed by Vista Delays

Microsoft 62 Comments
With holiday PC sales apparently unscathed by the lack of Windows Vista, Microsoft reported quarterly earnings Thursday that topped expectations and its own forecast. The software giant said it earned USD 2.63 billion, or 26 cents per share, on revenue of USD 12.54 billion, for the three months ended December 31. That compares with earnings of USD 3.65 billion, or 34 cents per share, on revenue of USD 11.83 billion for the same quarter a year ago.
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Accessible UAC Prompts

Windows 13 Comments
"There have been some comments on the blog recently suggesting that the UAC dialog boxes in Windows Vista are not accessible and I just wanted to clear up the confusion here. First, to set the scene though. When a user attempts to access an application or setting that requires elevated privileges to run, they are presented with a UAC prompt, the appearance of which will vary depending on the type of user they are or the type of application that is trying to run."
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Access Renames Palm OS to Garnet OS

Wireless 16 Comments
Access, the company behind the former PalmSource, announced Thursday it is renaming the Palm OS operating system to 'Garnet OS', rolling out a new 'Access Powered' logo that replaces the 'Palm Powered' branding used on a wide range of handheld devices. In September 1995, Access purchased Palm OS and its owner PalmSource, which was spun out of Palm, Inc. following that company's separation from former parent 3Com. PalmSource changed its name to Access Systems America in October, selling the rights to the 'Palm' brand name back to Palm, Inc.
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Mandriva One 2007 ‘Metisse’ Released

  Submitted by anonymous Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 18 Comments
As revealed yesterday, Mandriva today released a special version of its Mandriva One 2007 distribution, using the 'Metisse' 3D environment (which is actually not a 3D environment). "Metisse is a window manager developed by the In Situ project. Available under the General Public Licence exclusively for Linux, Metisse differs from a classic 3D desktop ('the cube') in the way that it offers innovative windows interactions, thus enforcing work efficiency."
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Pardus Gives Linux a Custom Lift

  Submitted by Dolores Parker Linux 10 Comments
"Apart from a KDE desktop and applications, the developers of the Pardus 2007 Linux distribution have built an entire distribution from scratch. Pardus, released last month, has its own multilingual installer, custom dependency-resolving package manager, and an INIT system that slashes boot times by several seconds. The distribution has come a long way since its first release in 2005, when it was based on Gentoo and lacked a package manager. Thanks to its custom tools, it's one of the easiest Linux distribution to run and manage."
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