Monthly Archive:: January 2008

MySQL AB and Sun have announced that MySQL has been bought by Sun. "Sun Microsystems today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL AB, an open source icon and developer of one of the world's fastest growing open source databases for approximately USD 1 billion in total consideration. The acquisition accelerates Sun's position in enterprise IT to now include the USD 15 billion database market. Today's announcement reaffirms Sun's position as the leading provider of platforms for the Web economy and its role as the largest commercial open source contributor." More here.

A video of MorphOS 2.0 booting on a Mac Mini (PPC, of course) has appeared, indicating that MorphOS 2.0 might support Apple's Mac Mini. MorphOS developer Harry Sintonen says: "The port is real and 'official'. However, it is unlikely that any Mac version would make it to the first MOS 2.0 batch: Pegasos I, Pegasos II, and Efika come first. This Mac port is not ready either, so hold your horses."

"The Linux 2.6.23 kernel comes with a modular scheduler core and a Completely Fair Scheduler, which is implemented as a scheduling module. In this article, get acquainted with the major features of the CFS, see how it works, and look ahead to some of the expected changes for the 2.6.24 release."

During the MacWorld keynote Steve Jobs introduced various new products. Jobs started off with Time Capsule, an AirPort Extreme base station with an integrated hard drive, so you can use Time Machine wirelessly. The 500GB version is USD 299, the 1TB version USD 499. Apple also released an update to its Apple TV (free software update for current owners), which now does not require a computer to access new content. You can rent movies (new in iTunes) straight from the Apple TV, in DVD or HD quality. Lastly, as anticipated, Apple introduced the MacBook Air, which is quite thin at 0.16" to 0.76". It has a 13.3" display, multi-touch trackpad, optional SSD 64GB drive, Core 2 Duo processor (1.6-1.8Ghz), and 2GB of memory. The device lacks an optical drive, but you can either 'borrow' one from another Mac, or buy an external one for USD 99. The machine costs USD 1799.

Kerneltrap has an interview with the creator of project VGA. "The project aims to develop a simple, low budget, open source, VGA compatible video card available this year. Michael is also a member of the Open Graphics Project, but started Project VGA in order to get something affordable on the market as soon as possible."

The European Commission is launching two new anti-competition investigations against US computer giant Microsoft. The first will look at whether Microsoft unfairly ties its Explorer internet browser to its Windows operating system. In the parallel investigation, the Commission will look at the interoperability of Microsoft software with rival products. Note: Remember the OSNews comic? Here is a new comic, which, for now, is attached to the story it relates to. We are working on a separate section for the comic, but until that is done, I will sporadically publish comics this way. I have a whole stack of comics ready for when that section goes live - and you can see the name for the comic too, if you look "closely". Enjoy the new comic, titled "Hawaii".

"I think it's really necessary to respond to some criticism seen on the reactions to the latest OSnews article. I won't go into the article itself, imho it's rather negative, but hey. From an user's perspective, it makes sense to only review 3 or 4 parts of KDE 4 and complain about them, and ignore all the other brilliant pieces of work in there, right? On to the responses, I found this reaction by dagw to be the most typical. Well. That's painful. So, is he right? Did we make the wrong decision? Let's look at it from a broader perspective for a while. Let's see it in the Grand Scheme of Things to Come."

Microsoft has made Vista's Service Pack 1 near-final 'release candidate' available for download to the general public, after initially choosing to restrict it to 15000 beta testers when it debuted last week. According to a blog by ZDNet.com's Mary Jo Foley, a Microsoft representative said the build contained a "number of bugs that testers encountered in previous prerelease versions of SP1". The update is largely a collection of bug fixes and performance and compatibility improvements, but includes some minor new features.

"Operating systems come with cultures as much as codebases. I was forcibly reminded of this fact over the holidays when several family members and neighbors press-ganged me into troubleshooting their Windows computers. Although none of us had any formal computer training, and I know almost nothing about Windows, I was able to solve problems that baffled the others - not because of any technical brilliance, but because the free software culture in which I spend my days made me better able to cope."

"DeviceVM's SplashTop is sharing a booth this week at the CES with ASUS. At their booth we were allowed to check out a SplashTop demo running on an ASUS notebook! This notebook has yet to be introduced by ASUS, but it's intended for high-end gaming and comes with SplashTop Linux as a complementary operating system. This version of SplashTop is slightly updated and has new features too."

"LV2 is a simple but extensible successor of LADSPA, intended to address the limitations of LADSPA which many applications have outgrown. By creating LV2 'extensions' (which can be done independently), virtually any feature is possible for LV2 plugins and hosts."

It has been making waves on the net for a few days already, and I don't want to keep anyone deprived from this utter piece of brilliance. "Mommy, why is there a server in the house?", a children's book made by Microsoft to 'help your child understand the stay-at-home server'. "Big people have a server at the 'office'. The office is a big place where people go and do boring things." Not everybody will appreciate the twisted humour, but I sure do. Utterly brilliant, this. Update: There is more!

The source code to the original SimCity game has been released under the GPL, with all references to the SimCity name removed due to copyright trademark issues; it is now called Micropolis. You can download the source code, or read a bit more about it. SimCity is one of the most critically acclaimed games in history.

Linux.com reviews the Asus Eee PC. "The Asus Eee PC has been heralded as a groundbreaking new computing experience and great for children. While the computer didn't bowl me over, my kids were another matter. When you hear about how small the Eee is, believe it: the unit measures approximately nine by six inches and weighs a mere two pounds. It's hard to take something that small seriously because it looks like a toy (and its name sounds like a sneeze). Open the lid, however, and you'll find power and features that belie its diminutive size."