http://www.osnews.com Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2008, David Adams Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:30:06 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/story/20232/Interview_Andy_Hertzfeld http://osnews.com/story/20232/Interview_Andy_Hertzfeld Quite often, Steve Jobs is given all the credit for the original Macintosh - but in reality, it wasn't Steve Jobs who made the largest contribution to the project; in fact, he didn't even come up with the idea. Jef Raskin envisioned an easy-to-use computer with a graphical user interface, and somewhere in 1979 he got the green light to start the Macintosh project, and together with Bill Atkinson he put together a team to develop the hard and software. It wasn't until much later that the project caught Steve Jobs' eye, who realised the Macintosh project had more potential than his own brainchild, the Lisa. One of the people on the Macintosh team was Andy Hertzfeld, and O'Reilly News interviewed him a few days ago. Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:59:13 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Apple http://osnews.com/story/20231/Nepomuk_KDE_To_Introduce_the_Semantic_Desktop http://osnews.com/story/20231/Nepomuk_KDE_To_Introduce_the_Semantic_Desktop "If you follow technology trends, you have probably heard of the semantic desktop -- a data layer for annotating and sharing the information in your computer. But what you may not be aware of is that the semantic desktop is not a distant goal, but scheduled to arrive at the end of 2008. And, when it does, the idea will probably be implemented through the work done by the Nepomuk project, and, most likely, by KDE first." Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:44:33 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) KDE http://osnews.com/story/20230/Firefox_3_0_s_SSL_Certificate_Interface_Meets_Resistance http://osnews.com/story/20230/Firefox_3_0_s_SSL_Certificate_Interface_Meets_Resistance Firefox 3.0, released not too long ago, was generally well-received. It added a load of new features, while also providing much-needed speed improvements and better memory management. Some new features, however, have met more resistance - one of them is the rather complicated user interface thrown at users when they reach a website with an invalid or expired SSL certificate. Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:23:36 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Mozilla & Gecko clones http://osnews.com/story/20229/Interview_with_Tom_Wickline_of_the_Bordeaux_Project http://osnews.com/story/20229/Interview_with_Tom_Wickline_of_the_Bordeaux_Project Bordeaux is a commercial User Interface to the Wine software that allows Linux systems to run Windows software. The Bordeaux Technology Group distributes this software and provides professional support to companies and individuals running Windows apps on Linux (and soon FreeBSD). I interviewed Tom Wickline to get some details and find out what they're up to now. Read more on this exclusive OSNews article... Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:53:59 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Original OSNews Interviews http://osnews.com/story/20228/Can_Open_Source_Replace_Microsoft_Exchange_ http://osnews.com/story/20228/Can_Open_Source_Replace_Microsoft_Exchange_ Everyone knows that Microsoft Exchange is expensive - but ubiquitous â€" and plenty of open source projects and vendors have been trying a variety of technical approaches to replace it. While none is yet a drop-in replacement, a PC World article looks at ways that some administrators can get a cost advantage by switching. Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:51:47 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Features, Office http://osnews.com/story/20227/Psystar_Responds_to_Apple_Suit_Will_Countersue http://osnews.com/story/20227/Psystar_Responds_to_Apple_Suit_Will_Countersue Mac clone maker Psystar plans to file its answer to Apple's copyright infringement lawsuit Tuesday as well as a countersuit of its own, alleging that Apple engages in anticompetitive business practices. Miami-based Psystar, owned by Rudy Pedraza, will sue Apple under two federal laws designed to discourage monopolies and cartels, the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act, saying Apple's tying of the Mac OS to Apple-labeled hardware is "an anticompetitive restrain of trade", according to attorney Colby Springer of antitrust specialists Carr & Ferrell. Psystar is requesting that the court find Apple's EULA void, and is asking for unspecified damages. Psystar's attorneys are calling Apple's allegations of Psystar's copyright infringement "misinformed and mischaracterized". Psystar argues that its OpenComputer product is shipped with a fully licensed, unmodified copy of Mac OS X, and that the company has simply "leveraged open source-licensed code including Apple's OS" to enable a PC to run the Mac operating system. Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:21:37 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order http://osnews.com/story/20226/Is_There_a_Future_for_UltraSPARC_Workstations_ http://osnews.com/story/20226/Is_There_a_Future_for_UltraSPARC_Workstations_ OSNews reader rom508 sent us a note that apparently, Sun has ceased selling all of its UltraSPARC-based workstations, with only their x86 workstation offerings remaining. The Ultra 25 and Ultra 45 workstations, both UltraSPARC-based, are still listed on Sun's website, but are marked as 'end-of-life', with the notice that they are "superceded by the next generation Sun Ultra 24 Workstation [x86]". One must wonder if this means the end of Sun's UltraSPARC workstation line. As a proud owner of an indestructible Ultra 5, I must say, that would be rather sad. Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:13:06 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) SUN Microsystems http://osnews.com/story/20225/Internet_Explorer_8_Beta_2_Released http://osnews.com/story/20225/Internet_Explorer_8_Beta_2_Released The IE team at Microsoft has released the 2nd beta Internet Explorer 8. Contrary to the first beta, which was aimed at developers, this one one is aimed at normal people like you and me. The list of new features and changes is decent, all focused around three themes (marketing alert): "We focused our work around three themes: everyday browsing (the things that real people do all the time), safety (the term most people use for what we've called 'trustworthy' in previous posts), and the platform (the focus of Beta 1, how developers around the world will build the next billion web pages and the next waves of great services)." Go get it. Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:26:51 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Internet Explorer http://osnews.com/story/20224/Sun_for_Sale_ http://osnews.com/story/20224/Sun_for_Sale_ Dropping profits and stock prices have analysts speculating that Sun could be a target for either acquisition or a restructuring in which the company would sell off parts of the business and focus on a smaller set of technologies. In a July 31 report, the 451 Group analyst firm raised the possibility of Sun being acquired: 'Sun's sunken stock price creates a relative bargain considering its roughly $4 billion cash on hand, sizeable intellectual property and patent portfolio, and of course, its respected technology and products'. Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:09:40 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Amjith Ramanujam) SUN Microsystems http://osnews.com/story/20223/Interview_With_Kris_Moore_PC-BSD_Lead_Developer http://osnews.com/story/20223/Interview_With_Kris_Moore_PC-BSD_Lead_Developer "Not all user-friendly desktop operating systems are based on Linux; as demonstrated by PC-BSD, it is entirely feasible to turn a "geek" project into a piece of software that can be installed and used by even less technical computer users. Distrowatch talks to Kris Moore, PC-BSD lead developer, about his love affair with FreeBSD and the upcoming PC-BSD 7.0." Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:31:09 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Amjith Ramanujam) PC-BSD http://osnews.com/story/20222/The_Monkey_On_Microsoft_s_Back http://osnews.com/story/20222/The_Monkey_On_Microsoft_s_Back "Poor Microsoft. This week, the Redmond, Wash., giant is gearing up for the next big release of its Web browser, a leap from Internet Explorer 7 to IE 8. When open-source competitor Mozilla released its last update of Firefox in June, the Web went wild: People downloaded more than 8 million copies in 24 hours. Microsoft's release might not have such a frat party feel. Even as it gears up to release IE 8, the developers behind the Firefox Web browser are experimenting with a new technology that sharpens the threat their browser software poses to Microsoft's most valuable businesses. The new technology, dubbed TraceMonkey, promises to speed up Firefox's ability to deliver complex applications." While many have abandoned Microsoft's browser offerings, Microsoft will be introducing an innovative new type of selective privacy mode called InPrivate with IE8. Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:32:40 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Adam S) Internet Explorer http://osnews.com/story/20221/Anatomy_of_Linux_Dynamic_Libraries http://osnews.com/story/20221/Anatomy_of_Linux_Dynamic_Libraries Dynamically linked shared libraries are an important aspect of GNU/Linux. They allow executables to dynamically access external functionality at run time and thereby reduce their overall memory footprint. This article investigates the process of creating and using dynamic libraries, provides details on the various tools for exploring them, and explores how these libraries work under the hood. Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:12:25 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Adam S) Linux http://osnews.com/story/20220/Create_a_Maintainable_Extensible_XML_Format http://osnews.com/story/20220/Create_a_Maintainable_Extensible_XML_Format XML is a communication format for exchanging structured documents and data. Too often, an XML format is chosen arbitrarily during development, without much planning or design. Learn how to design a format less likely to require change and agile enough to incorporate new requirements with the simple addition of new extensions instead of full changes. Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:42:32 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Adam S) General Development http://osnews.com/story/20219/Google_drops_Bluetooth_GTalkService_APIs_from_Android_1_0 http://osnews.com/story/20219/Google_drops_Bluetooth_GTalkService_APIs_from_Android_1_0 Google has dropped the Bluetooth and GTalkService instant messaging APIs (application program interfaces) from the set of tools for the first version of the mobile phone OS, Android 1.0, according to the Android Developers Blog. The company opted to drop the Bluetooth API because "we plain ran out of time," said Nick Pelly, one of the Android engineers responsible for the Bluetooth API, on the blog posting. But the company made clear that handsets using the Android OS will work with other Bluetooth devices such as headsets, for example. Ed note: To be clear, only the APIs are delayed, not the features. This suggests third party apps will not be able to access these frameworks. Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:43:02 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Adam S) PDAs, Cellphones, Wireless http://osnews.com/story/20218/Vista_Annoyances_Resolved http://osnews.com/story/20218/Vista_Annoyances_Resolved What makes this Vista article any different? The title provides a clue: it's as much about providing practical working solutions to resolve some of the commonly-quoted Vista annoyances as anything else. That in itself should give all Vista users a reason to read it. However it doesn't matter whether you use Vista or not, because this article does something that most of the others don't: it takes an objective and up-to-date look at the current state of Vista, with a range of facts, clear examples and informed opinions aimed squarely at debunking a lot of the myths and FUD we've been gagging on for the past year. So for those of you still considering whether to make the switch from XP, for those of you who want to abandon Vista and go back to XP, for those of you who used Vista a while ago and who are wondering whether it's worth using again now - this article puts things in perspective with the latest facts. Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:55:38 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Adam S) Windows