Monthly Archive:: December 2007

"No one is unhappy with Mac OS X Version 10.4, known as Tiger. OS X is not an application platform that needed repair, speeding up, or exterior renovation. Motivations for major upgrades of competing system software - roll-ups of an unmanageable number of fixes, because the calendar says it's time, or because users are perceived to have version fatigue - don't apply to OS X. People buy Macs because the platform as a whole is perfect, full stop. Leopard is a rung above perfection. It's taken as rote that the Mac blows away PC users' expectations. Leopard blows away Mac users' expectations, and that's saying a great deal."

"Build 78 of Solaris Express Community is now available. This represents the work done in the OpenSolaris community over roughly the past two weeks. The announcement with download link is available from the OpenSolaris Forums. If you're new to Solaris/OpenSolaris, you may be interested in trying out the Project Indiana Preview release."

NetBeans 6.0 has been released. The 6.0 release includes significant enhancements and new features, including a completely rewritten editor infrastructure, support for additional languages, new productivity features, and a simplified installation process that allows you to easily install and configure the IDE to meet your exact needs.

Xfce 4.2.2 has been released. "Xfce 4.4.2 is now available. It's the second maintenance release in the 4.4 stable series, focusing on fixing bugs and updating translations." You can download it off the Xfce website, or read the changelog first.

"With all the modern systems using multi-core and multi-processor systems, tapping this new power is an interesting challenge for developers. It also fundamentally starts the shift on how your 'average Joe' interacts with a computer and things that he/she expects to be able to. First, check out the 'Manycore Shift' paper from Microsoft. Second checkout the Parallel Extensions to .NET 3.5 which is a programing model for data and task parallelism. It also helps with coordination on parallel hardware (such as multi-core CPU's) via a common work schedules. There is also a new Parallel Computing Dev Center on MSDN. Before you download the December 2007 CTP, make sure you have the RTM bits of the .NET 3.5 runtime. There are also a number of bugs fixed in this new CTP. If you want a quick introduction then check out a few videos available."

Amiga OS4.0 for Classic Amigas is now available. "ACube Systems Srl is pleased to to announce the immediate availability of the awaited AmigaOS 4.0 for Amiga 1200, 3000(T) or 4000(T) with a PowerPC CPU, developed by Hyperion Entertainment VOF. It is now possible to benefit of all the features of this new AmigaOS release, an operating system famous for its efficiency and small footprint. AmigaOS 4.0, thanks to its power and optimization, succeeds in using at the maximum even systems running at 160Mhz, allowing the multimedia performances and the usability everyone expects from AmigaOS."