Monthly Archive:: July 2007

"After many months of waiting, Microsoft finally released the Beta 3 version of Windows Server 2008 (previously codenamed 'Longhorn'), a major milestone pre-release version of the next version of Windows Server (more recently, a CTP, or Community Technical Preview, version was distributed to beta testers in June 2008). Windows Server 2008 has evolved quite a bit over time, and though the project hasn't suffered from the many feature drops and problems that dogged Windows Vista, there are certainly a few surprises in Beta 3 and the June CTP. Here's what you need to know about Windows Server 2008."

"Microsoft's next version of its small-business/home productivity suite, due imminently, will be free and ad-funded. Microsoft Works 9.0 - which will be the new product's name, if Microsoft opts to stick with its current nomenclature - might also debut at some point as Microsoft-hosted low-end productivity service, as many have been speculating. A hosted version of Works would give Microsoft a head-to-head competitor with Google Docs & Spreadsheets and other consumer- and small-business focused services, analysts have said."

Fiwix 0.3.3 has been released. "Fiwix is an operating system kernel based on the UNIX architecture and fully focused on being Linux compatible. It is designed and developed mainly for educational purposes, so the kernel code is kept as simple as possible for the benefit of students. It runs on the 32-bit x86 hardware platform, and is compatible with a good base of existing GNU applications."

"Development of OpenHAL, a wireless network component for Linux, can now resume unfettered after months of legal uncertainty. OpenHAL allows people with wireless cards based on technology from Atheros Communications, Inc. to connect to networks using solely free and open source software. Earlier this year, allegations were made that OpenHAL might include material that infringed the copyright of Atheros' proprietary HAL software. The Linux Wireless developers asked the Software Freedom Law Center to investigate these rumors, and SFLC agreed to help on a pro-bono basis."

SimplyMEPIS, a very popular desktop Linux, is going to change back to using Debian Linux for its core from Ubuntu. In March of 2006, MEPIS founder Warren Woodford, decided to switch to Ubuntu from Debian for the next version of SimplyMEPIS, version 6.0. The plan was to use Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Long Term Service), a.k.a. Dapper Drake, as MEPIS' foundation. Things have changed.

"A few days ago, everyone read about this year's WalterCon being canceled, which left people with non-refundable, non-transferable tickets (you can read Mikesum32's reaction here) in their hands. Fortunately for them, an alternative has now been set up, and they will be able to still meet, in San Francisco, on August 11th. The venue? Picnix 16, a Linux gathering. The name? FalterCon 2007. Read on for my thoughts on this."

"Red Flag Linux has turned out to be little more than a key bargaining chip in a high stakes game of commerce between the Chinese government and the world’s largest software maker. Thanks to some major concessions on source code and a precipitous price drop, the Chinese government has now thoroughly embraced Windows and Office. And thanks to a major about-face in the way that it deals with piracy, Microsoft has also won over the Chinese people."

"During this years GUADEC Red Hat developer Havoc Pennington proposed his idea of an 'Online Desktop' to the developers of the GNOME project. Through deep integration with web services and 'zero-maintenance' the Open Source client aims to get the 'perfect window to the Internet'. During GUADEC Andreas Proschofsky had the chance to talk to Pennington about advantages and possible problems of the Online Desktop concept, the necessity of Windows-support and about Red Hats 'return to the desktop'."

A lot of people have been emailing us about an issue we are having with one of our ads taking over OSNews. Thank you all for emailing us, the information provided is of good use to us. We are currently working on the problem, and will let you know once it has been fixed. We would like to apologise for the inconvenience. Update by DA: I think that I've tracked down the offender. Read more for details Update 2: This time I think we really fixed it.

"This article describes how to easily create a user interface using Python bindings, Edje, Embryo, and Animations. The application will be a small application launcher and the actual interface will be written using edje and animations. The python part doesn't have any knowledge of the interface, where the icons are placed, how they should move, nor if they are using some kind of effect, like for instance pulsing. All it does is listen for 'selected' signals."

SkyOS has received an update to the Viewer application (system file browser). Many changes have been implemented, including a tabbed interface, universal drag-and-drop, and many others. Head on over to the SkyOS website to see a video of the new Viewer features in action. Thanks to the recently implemented Profiler, an interesting system bottleneck has been identified and fixed in SkyOS. This has allowed for increased performance across many functions within SkyOS.

Mark Shuttleworth has announced that Dell will expand its Linux offerings. "What's been announced to date is not the full extent of what we will see over the next couple of weeks and months," Shuttleworth said an interview late on Wednesday. "There are additional offerings in the pipeline," he said. Shuttleworth founded Canonical to provide support for Ubuntu Linux. A Dell spokeswoman, Anne Camden, declined comment, saying the company does not discuss products in the pipeline.

Rafael J. Wysocki (a suspend maintainer) has written an article speaking about the current status of suspend and hibernation support in Linux, its design, know problems, and future development. "Below is a document describing the current state of development of the suspend and hibernation infrastructure: how it works, what known problems there are in it and what the future development plans are (at least as far as I am concerned)."

Mac OS X is a powerful platform for Java development. While the Java development environment is fully integrated into Mac OS X, the Eclipse integrated development environment brings a fully integrated Java development environment to Mac OS X that provides a consistent cross-platform experience. This article shows you how to use this environment to import existing Xcode projects into Eclipse, tweak key bindings, and integrate Eclipse with the Mac OS X-bundled Concurrent Versions System.