In the News Archive

Who Wants a Linux Laptop?

David Adams 2002-09-13 In the News 35 Comments

The OSNews team needs to rid itself of a snazzy Sony Superslim Vaio Z505HS. It's happily running Red Hat Linux 7.2, and to sell it on eBay would mean going to the trouble of installing Windows on it again. (perhaps only to have someone buy it and want to install Linux). Instead, we've decided to see if any OSNews reader wants it. Best offer over $700 gets it. Read more for specs.

Remembering a Year Ago Today

David Adams 2002-09-11 In the News 300 Comments

Today is a solemn day of introspection and rememberance here in the United States, and we here at OSNews would like to send our condolances to those who lost loved ones in the attacks on the Pentagon and Twin Towers. Though most of the people of the world did not experience the attacks first hand, there are very few people in the world who were not affected by them in some way. I know it's a bit off-topic, but I'd like to open up a discussion thread today for people to air their feelings about the events of a year ago, and where they think things stand today. And if you read on, I'll get things started by talking a bit about what happened to me on that day and since.

Windows’ Market Share More Than 97%, OneStat.com Claims

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-09 In the News 51 Comments

OneStat.com, today reported that Microsoft's Windows operating system has a global usage share of 97.46 percent. Microsoft's Windows still dominates the global operating system market. The global usage share of for Apple's Macintosh operating system is 1.43 percent and is the second most popular operating system in the world. The three most popular operating systems according to OneStat are: 1. Windows 97.46%, 2. Macintosh 1.43%, 3. Linux 0.26%. All numbers are an average of the last 2 months. The other big statistics company, StatMarket, placed (in June 2002) Microsoft at around 95%, MacOS at 2.4% and Linux around 0.35%.

Pepper Author Maarten Hekkelman Says it All

Submitted by Geoffrey Clements 2002-09-03 In the News 55 Comments

We have been reporting on Pepper, the programmer's text editor, several times, so this is a follow up on what really made Maarten Hekkelman to stop development of his multi-platform product (Mac/OSX/Win/FreeBSD/Linux). Even Slashdot noticed his interview at DaringFireball. "Programming for BeOS was simple when you just started. But it became quite messy quickly. The problem is the multi-threading." "MacOSX, however, loses on all fronts. It claims to be a Unix but it doesn’t support much of the more advanced Unix features, since it is using such an old kernel. It claims to be user friendly, but I find it more obscure and difficult to use than my Win2k box. And then, it is dog slow." Very good (and long) read about the troubles of an independent developer in today's computing market, who's trying to make a difference with his product. Today, Maarten is trying to find companies or other devs that might be interested in purchasing the source code and rights to Pepper.

HP-Compaq Merger: Worth it?

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-03 In the News 8 Comments

One year later, the jury is still out on whether the tech industry's most contentious merger was worth the effort. The company still faces the same criticisms: Technology mergers rarely work.

News Soup From Around the Web

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-16 In the News 34 Comments

So, ReactOS 0.20 was released very recently, the guys seem to make strides. NewOS had a new version too. Syllable is set for a new release, 0.4.1, in two weeks time, with lots of changes on the desktop part of the OS. Kurt Skauen, the AtheOS creator, is now presumed alive, he was just flying around! The MenuetOS web site has lots of new screenshots, they now have implemented skinning. SkyOS now has a sound API, based on OSS. FreeType 2.1.2 was released, and it is presumably much faster than before. A new IDE for Linux, named Anjuta, seems very interesting too, while mySQL, Lua and GnuCash had new versions too. On the downsides, we had Maarten Hekkelman quitting the Pepper business, while the guy who released ReBorn 1.0 just a week ago - a ReBirth clone, we were the first to report on it -, was instructed from Propellerhead Software to remove ReBorn from his site. Sad.

Dell Unhooks Windows from Some Desktop Models; Includes FreeDOS

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-14 In the News 72 Comments

"The new DELL desktops appear to be a slick interpretation of Microsoft's new licensing terms and a way to navigate customer demand for PCs without an OS installed. The Microsoft licensing terms, which were put in place on Aug. 1, specify that PC makers must ship PCs with an operating system. The new policy exists to prevent piracy and to better track OS shipments. With the n-Series, Dell will include a copy of a free operating system--FreeDOS--inside the cardboard box. However, the OS will not be pre-installed." FreeDOS is included just to give the ability to actually use the PC in case the user have no other OSes handy to install at a given time. Read the report at News.com.

Linux Slips but Won’t Fall

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-07 In the News 19 Comments

Linux sales lost some ground to Windows last year, but are expected to climb in coming years as distributors create new revenue streams. Meanwhile, Windows showed hefty gains. Read it at ZDNews.

A Tough Turnaround for Software

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-27 In the News 6 Comments

Ailing software companies have the highest hurdles to clear to get back in business--a McKinsey study found that only 13 percent of the 492 firms examined were successful. Why is it so difficult? The study can be found at News.com.

Poll: Your Opinion on an Ad-Sponsored OS or Desktop

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-09 In the News 106 Comments

What would you say if there was a way to support your favorite OS or X11 Desktop Environment by agreeing to use an ad-sponsored version? The ad would show *only once*, during the load of the OS or graphics desktop environment, something like a splash screen, and then it would go away after 5 or 10 seconds or if you manually close its window or after you have clicked to the actual ad. This way, you could be helping financially open source projects, like Gnome, KDE, FreeBSD, Gentoo and others.

Microsoft, Sun Battle Over Indian Programmers

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-08 In the News 13 Comments

Cheap hardware, free trips to the United States and all the popcorn you can eat--life's a junket if you're a computer programmer in India. Read the report at ZDNews.

OEone HomeBase Offers Computing, Simplified

Eugenia Loli 2002-04-13 In the News 12 Comments

The Open For Business web site features a review of the OEone Homebase 1.3 operating system. OEone is based on Red Hat, however its user interface is brand new, it has been written from scratch (in the Mozilla XUL API). The company behind OEone also sells machines with their software pre-installed, a software developed in such a way to resemble something between an Internet Appliance and a light iMac-like office workstation. OEone is something to definately check out, since they offer more than IAs do, however they are built in such a way to be simplistic, just like IAs. An older review of both the OEone machine and software can be found at NewsForge.

Microsoft Chooses Sides in DVD War

Eugenia Loli 2002-04-10 In the News 20 Comments

"Microsoft has decided to support one of two competing formats for popular DVD recording technology , a decision that is intended to make the storage devices as easy to use as current CD burners and floppy drives. At its annual Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), Microsoft plans to demonstrate software and to provide technical documentation for incorporating the DVD+RW format into its Windows operating system, according to a Microsoft Web site detailing the schedule for the conference." Read the rest of the report at ZDNews.

SoftwareMarketSolution Interviews Don Rosenberg

Submitted by the Three Dot Anonymous 2002-04-01 In the News No Comments

"As visitors to SoftwareMarketSolution.com know, we've reviewed Don Rosenberg's Open Source, 'The Unauthorized White Papers' (Wiley), and think it's an excellent look at the business, marketing, and legal issues surrounding the Open Source movement. If you have any interest in the Open Source movement we strongly recommend you purchase a copy and keep it close by. Don is a Ph.D. and the president of Stromian Technologies, a highly respected and well known consulting firm in the industry." The interview is mainly about the success and failures of Linux and open source in general.

HP-Compaq: Dumb and Dumber

Eugenia Loli 2002-03-05 In the News 1 Comment

"The way things are going with the proposed merger between Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer, the next thing you'll see is a supermarket tabloid headline blaring, "Fiorina punches hole in Hewlett's prize cello with high heel," with a subhead that reads, "Carly takes revenge for Walter's plot to have hairdresser make her bald." The real thing is pretty close to that." Read the editorial at ZDNews.

IBM, Microsoft Clash Over .Net and Java

Eugenia Loli 2002-03-04 In the News 15 Comments

"The rift between IBM and Microsoft over Web services widened further over the weekend when Web services evangelists from each company clashed over the relative merits of .Net and Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) for building applications that can talk to each other over the Internet." Read the rest of the story at ZDNews.

Walmart.com to Sell PCs Without OS

Submitted by Matthias Toth 2002-02-22 In the News 47 Comments

Walmart.com is planning to sell PCs without any pre-loaded OS, "to gauge the response among tech-oriented customers who may want to load their own operating systems." Read about it at CNET.

Corel Shuts Down its Open Source Site

David Adams 2002-02-19 In the News 6 Comments

According to ZDNet, the final note in Corel's gradual abandonment of its ambitious Linux initiatives seems to have arrived. Corel was involved in several open source projects including its own Linux distro, WINE, Application Printing Services API, Corel Package Utilities, 10n-i18n Internationalization, and Cprof Performance Profiler. The site will only be up through the end of the month.

Palm: OS, Hardware Don’t Mix

Eugenia Loli 2002-02-04 In the News 10 Comments

"As David Nagel ponders the future of Palm, he is ever mindful of what happened to Apple Computer. Both companies have a legion of loyal fans and both are considered leaders in making technology that is easy to use. Both walk a treacherous line by building hardware and operating system software. And a growing number of Apple refugees now work at Palm." Read the rest of the story at ZDNews. Update: Here is an interview at C|Net with PalmSource's CEO, David Nagel.

New OS Would Link PCs, Gadgets

Guest post by Mike Bouma 2002-01-05 In the News 22 Comments

Sony, Toshiba and IBM have reached a basic agreement on jointly developing a new operating system to be released in 2005 for computers capable of high-speed Internet connections. The OS will allow personal computers and home appliances to exchange huge volumes of data, including the high-resolution graphics of a television screen, through a broadband connection.