Internet Archive

What is the current status of operating systems as far as web hosting goes? Here is a quick run down:

A few months ago, I briefly tried SpeedDownload but I didn't evaluate it in-depth. I realized recently that the time had come to spend more time with it and write a review. SpeedDownload2 is a download manager for Mac OS X. In an older review at SpyMac, they called YazSoft's SpeedDownload2 a "wonder of development." Were they right?

The second generation of OSNews' mobile web site is now up and running. The new version has an even simpler design than before which makes it much easier to render on under-featured HTML browsers, usually found on phones, PDAs or other embedded devices. The new design does not display any ads or a sidebar, but goes directly to the "meat" of the information. Read more for info & screenshots.

The openMosix software packages turn networked computers running GNU/Linux into a cluster. It automatically balances the load between different nodes of the cluster. Nodes can join or leave the running cluster without disruption. The cluster spreads the workload between nodes according to their connection and CPU speeds. Even more about OpenMosix here.

The Dillo web browser is a very fast, extremely small Web browser that's completely written in C. The source and binary are less than 400 kilobytes each. It is a graphical browser built upon GTK+, and it renders a good subset of HTML, excluding frames, JavaScript, and JVM support. On version 0.8, the dpi framework was redesigned. Communications are now done with a daemon: dpid. Some new plugins are included: downloads, ftp, hello. On other browser news...

Safari 1.2, or v125, includes several new features, some of which have been anticipated in the past. The new version also boasts performance improvements as well as bug fixes. As expected, Version 1.2 features the ability to navigate between hyperlinks using the keyboard. Elsewhere, OmniWeb 5.0-b1 was released. Highlighted new features in this version include a tab drawer, saved browsing sessions, updated bookmarks, page marking, improved shortcuts, site-specific preferences, and more.

For many systems administrators, choosing and managing a VPN system is often quite a headache. Inflexible clients, servers, and protocols often prevent VPN's from being smoothly integrated into an already functioning network. The fact that many VPN clients are installed on users' home computers, well out of the reach of the systems administration team, often means that troubleshooting and upgrading VPN systems is time consuming and a struggle for both admins and users.

Here is an interesting review which compares SunONE WebServer and Apache/Tomcat. It can be found here (PDF) while another review is here.

A brand new OmniWeb, coming soon to a dock near you: Upgraded bookmarks, miniaturized sites instead of tabs, history, Search Shortcuts, AutoFill, and a whole new way to work with browser preferences. In the meantime, Apple is hard at work on Safari 1.2 sources said. Elsewhere, a new development version of Epiphany, v1.1.2 was released.

Japan, China and South Korea are reportedly planning to jointly develop Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), the next-generation Internet standard, a move that will challenge the U.S.-dominated market for current IPv4-based Internet technology.

In this article, the author will cover both the client and server side as he describes how to create non-blocking secure connections using the Java Secure Socket Extensions (JSSE) and the Java NIO (new I/O) library, and he will explain the traditional approach to creating a non-blocking socket, as well as an alternative (and necessary) method if you want to use JSSE with NIO.

Today, Microsoft Corp. launched Exchange Server 2003, the next edition of its messaging and collaboration server, as part of the Microsoft Office System. Novell also issued a press release stating that Novell's Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange enables users of Ximian Evolution groupware suite on Linux and UNIX desktops to function as full Microsoft Exchange 2000/2003 clients.

The Samba Team announced the availability of the first official, stable release of the Samba 3.0.0 code base. In other interesting Unix/Linux software releases this week, we had OpenOffice.org 1.1-RC5, Ximian Evolution 1.4.5, QCad 2.0.0 and Main Actor 5.0. UPDATE: KOffice 1.3 Beta 4 was released too.

First it was MSN Messenger, now Yahoo Messenger is threatening to lock out 3rd party instant messaging apps like Trillian, Proteus, and Gaim. It's been an ironic and pleasant fact that users of alternative operating systems have had nice, multi-funtional instant messaging applications, while most Windows users didn't even know they could bypass the official clients. That era may be coming to an end, as the big IM services are starting to lock out the 3rd party apps. What will this mean for alternative platforms?