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Not to mention
Seven
and Eight!

The Haiku project recently turned 3 years old. Several websites have covered the nice letter Michael Phipps wrote to the community.

Happy birthday Linux, naturally... Without all of the hard work in regular Open Source projects, I doubt there would have been half as much motivation for our small projects, in another timeline. (You know, the evil timeline where Billy G is president of the US of A. :)

Cheers!

So why is it that OpenOffice for Aqua is so far off? Come on people- stop bitching, step up to the plate!

I'm repeating this message from OSNews, which had the story first.

I think Linux is a great kernel, but a 42 MB download is really a bit too much for my liking. Much of that is code for hardware that I don't have or features that I don't want. I am a great advocate of modularity, and I would like to see it applied not only to the compiled kernel, but also to the sources. I am aware that this will add some administrative overhead, but it could save a lot of traffic and CPU time.

Here are some ideas:

- Split the distribution in a base that has the common stuff, and optional add-ons for lesser-used network devices, filesystems, etc. etc.

- Employ a BSD ports like system that downloads the sources on request (i.e. when compilation of some part is requested)

- Distribute only the configuration interface, and download only the parts actually needed based on the configuration selected.

I am too occupied now to come up with a proper proposal, but I hope this will set some people thinking.

Here's a few screenshots for stuff I'm working on. Updated Windows-like titlebars:

http://msa.section.me.uk/syllable/win98-update.gif

Shaped window decorations (should be in 0.5.4, depending on a few technical issues):

http://msa.section.me.uk/syllable/beish-testing.gi f

Of course, those are just cosmetic and pale in comparison to the BIG developments in 0.5.4. These include integration of the new Dock panel and file browser:

http://msa.section.me.uk/syllable/desk053.gif

along with an updated CD-ROM driver (should work on more machines) and revamped Terminal app. Plus all the usual fixes, improvements and cleanups. I wrote an article on Syllable explaining how well the OS is progressing and what it offers already:

http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=7900

BTW, for coders out there, Syllable includes a fully-fledged GNU toolchain along with Emacs, Vim and other goodies. Worth checking out if you fancy coding with a friendly team of developers for an up-and-coming OS.

I once wrote an article which summarises my experience with Linux on Apple hardware. It was published on OSNews. It's a little dated now (I wrote it a little over a year ago), but it offers my opinion on Yellow Dog Linux, which was overwhelmingly positive. Check it out here.

--Jon

I once wrote an article which summarises my experience with Linux on Apple hardware. It was published on OSNews. It's a little dated now (I wrote it a little over a year ago), but it offers my opinion on Yellow Dog Linux, which was overwhelmingly positive. Check it out here.

--Jon

Well, it's about a year old, but you might want to take a look at this story on osnews that compared RedHat 9 and Solaris 9.

There is a very interesging article about teaching complete newbies a command line interface before a GUI. They found that people understand more in less time. A couple of reasons for this is that they aren't required to multi-task (only one thing happens at once) and it is easier to explain what is happening using simpler analagies.

Once the users undertand the basics of what they are doing it is a lot easier to move to a GUI which is more cluttered with multiple ways of achieving the same goal.

Has anyone had sex yet in that Oracle dome?

Cairo

Wish I had a doller everytime some mentions this.

You've linked to a shot of the gnome 2.4 file requestor. This is what the gnome 2.6 one looks like.

Just check out the screeen shots. ROTFLMAO! Why do people put up with this second rate software when the worlds most advanced, most usable software is here and runs all your favorite apps!

I'd like to know where I could download Pathfinder. You can see Pathfinder in one of the screenshots.
Few minutes with Google revealed it uses Fox-Toolkit and it's being deleloped by Jeroen van der Zijp, but nothing else.

Boney M ! Man, Slack really does have it all.

LOL, never thought Eugenia would be a warez kiddie!

Contributing editor Mike Bouma.

As a few other people have pointed out, Novell is still working hard on Novell(former Ximian) Evolution. If you've looked at the beta releases at all lately they've completely changed the interface to something that looks a lot like Outlook 2003 (whether that is a good thing or not is left for another discussion). Not to mention that a lot more features have been added such as support for groupwise, and the exchange connector (although you can get that already for stable releases).

However, some of the biggest news is that they are completely overhauling Evolution in order to make a windows port.

There have even been rumors (although I can't find where I read it) that Evolution 2.0 will be written entirely in C#, and hence, the current speedy development of Mono. With the fact that they could make it multi-platform, Evolution could become a real contender against MS Outlook.

::choke, cough, gasp:: Did you say DOS 4?! Ugh.

Maybe the grandparent poster means the preemptive real-mode multitasking DOS 4 which was created by MS but never shipped.

And BeOS has had them for years in BFS. Called "live queries"

According to this page some of the old Be developers worked on this part.

If you are a Linux user that is tired of rebooting for those Windows games, this is definitely for you, but you can't be afraid to help coax Cedega into playing your favorite games just right. I think that it's going to get better with each release.

http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=7442

All I said was that Apple likes to keep its own interface consistant, which is in contrast to the Linux DEs available, which tend to give users much more options. Is that not true? Is Mac OSX not going to be more consistant from one installation to another than SuSE? I never intended to imply that they were going to use the same interface as SuSE- but it would be a bit silly to demand that, now wouldn't it?

'...and, worse yet, there is no easy way to make the Mac work like what they are used to.'

But this was my point in the first place- which is what I said many /.'ers wouldn't identify with: Apple has, long ago, decided that, in some cases, it's better to go ahead and choose (or invent) a good all-around solution for their users than to confuse their users with choices that many of them don't care about. Take the Aqua theme as an example. Apple doesn't even give you the ability to change themes. But, then again, they come up with a theme good enough that many Linux and Windows users want to copy it.

'"The 'the more options the better' view is certainly better for those who want immense control over their interface and have to time to deal with it."

You just don't get it, do you? Those options aren't there because of some geeky obsession with features, they are there to let people with many diverse backgrounds feel comfortable using the same software platform.'

Does this 'letting people with diverse backgrounds feel comfortable using the same platform' make it take less time to customize my desktop? Understand, I use Gentoo, and I know about spending a lot of time to get a system just the way you want it. But many users, who don't have the time or the wherewithall, or perhaps they just don't care enough, will just use the default setup of whatever system they sit down at. And I'm a helpdesk manager, and I know that many users don't understand what they're doing terrifically, and they memorize "ok, I go up, I click on the little 'computer' picture, and then I go down to this other thing..." and if you move any of it, they're lost.

I think you don't 'get' the degree to which most users don't care. There are so many users out there that just want to use their computer as it is when it comes out of the box. They'll ask "where do I go to turn it off?" and if you say "you can put an icon that will shut down anywhere you like!" they'll say "I don't care. Where do I go to turn it off?" They want to be told "Click here." and they want to know that, whatever the circumstances, clicking there will turn it off. Apple wants these people to feel comfortable with OSX. Are you starting to get it, or am I typing too fast?

'Just don't present that as the answer for everybody else.'

I didn't think I had claimed that Apple's interface was "the one true way" or anything of the sort. I run Gentoo (dual boot with Windows, actually) on one machine and OSX on my laptop. I was saying that each approach ('choices, choices, choices' vs. 'we think this is the best solution, so just use it and don't screw with it') has it's strong points and drawbacks. Also, each approach, to some extent, has a 'target audience'. I, myself, find that I enjoyed tweaking my Linux system to get it just right, but I also recognize that it has taken me some time to get it that way. My powerbook, on the other hand- once I got used to it, I came to appreciate how nice it is without tweaks of any kind. The system ends up being pure productivity- no screwing around with it involved. And I see the benefit of that, too.

If anything, I was concerned that attributing the lack of virtual desktops to 'Apple design philosophy' would sound like Apple-bashing. After all, it's the same 'design philosophy' that keeps Apple selling the infamous 1-button mice.

Some argue that the CLI is the best newbie interface. I don't know if I would be this extreme, but I would say you underestimate beginners and the tools on a CLI. Most people who have the courage to install the OS have the courage to tolerate the command line A LITTLE.

I know that in some distributions, I've seen at least a program I've never heard of. The natural inclination is to open up the darn program to figure out what it is & if it can be used to do what I want. This is a waste of time.

A friend was using gnome and wanted to open an IDE. How should he that this program with the funny name "anjuta" was what he wants? If you can grok the way the GUI desktop is organized and the way developers have named programs, you are fine. But if not?

On the CLI, this is solved with a simple "apropos integrated development." Tab completion and aliasing in most shells means you have to remember only the first few characters of most commands in order to use them. I doubt this is any harder than remembering where in the maze of menus you have to choose the program from.

If you insist on a menu of commands, this can also be implemented on the CLI. I remember (in the days of DOS) programming batch menus for floppy disks I distributed. There are now utilities to do this fo you in linux.

The GUI does provide some amount of comfort--there are sometimes icons tied to programs which will graphically jog your memory as to what you might want to run. Graphics in general are usually more soothing than text. But that doesn't mean the command line is bad.

Story is copy/pasted straight outta' OSNews.com

Well, they might as well merge sites if they're going to share stories.

A visit to your local MP followed by the offering of a petition signed by over 340.000 people at the right moment at the right place works even better ;)

It means that something went really wrong. In our case, the Minister said to the Dutch Parliament that there was agreement between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, which was absolutely not the case.

In our communications with politicians, it became clear that they had no idea what was going on. Because of the clear case of misinformation, we were able to get the attention of the Parliament, so we could inform them of the situation.

What was really important was that we had the European Parliament on our hand.

What hopefully happens now is that the Dutch decision triggers the attention in the other European Countries, so they start talking to their people in the European Parliament and to local representatives of the FFII and other organisations.

In case you're interested: read all about our efforts at: osnews.com

The Inquirer: "A plan by the European Council of Ministers to force the continent wide adoption of the Directive on Software Patents suffered a blow yesterday when the Dutch Parliament ordered a minister to withdraw the country's support".

Groklaw says "The Dutch parliament is making news. It has just withdrawn its vote for the Directive on Software Patents. It's a proof-of-concept vote, you might say, the first time such a move has been taken in the history of the EU, demonstrating that other countries are free to do the same, as we reported on June 22.".

In Germany, Heise covers the story. In the Netherlands, the story is making headlines all over the place, lik e for example on webwereld and Tweakers.net.

This sudden change of direction is a long story, in which a classic case of desinformation of the Parliament triggered a whole process of debates and motions.

Yep... you're right... no large enterprise systems would be run on PHP...

Be careful what you imply... the PHP core IS thread-safe... the only unknown is the large number of external libraries which PHP uses... The issues are not seen in non-threaded implementations... Forked processes do not hit the thread-safety issues, so any library is safe there...

I'm not sure what you mean by "Also, you can thread sessions all reads and writes lock the session from any further reads or writes until the operation is completed." or how it relates to the issue at hand...

... and 1,441,749 more useful, informative articles. Well done Microsoft!

Good article on this is SVG and its Path into the Linux Desktop. Some games in GNOME 2.6 already run in SVG; all (supposedly) will by GNOME 2.8.

Check out the Gorilla icons for GNOME as well. There's a video demonstrating the hotness. (The video's not that great-quality, but it's an adequate demonstration.) (More information about SVG themes available at Spheres and Crystals SVG theme.)

Coming as well: themed colors; SVG graphics can refer to a color from a system or user stylesheet instead of having them hardcoded. Lots of possibilities. Vector graphics rock.

--grendel drago

One argument FOR the command line as a newbie interface is here on OSNews.

It just goes to show, it's not just us old hackers who prefer the CLI...

Are you really so stupid that you're going to link to a bunch of discredited microbenchmarks that use different algorithms for implementation, as well as superfluous and broken techniques for writing C and C++?

Pardon me, but didn't someone state that C/C++ was inherently *faster* than Java? Can it be? Is it possible that you can write bad code IN ANY LANGUAGE? Does that even mean that you can write good code IN ANY LANGUAGE?! The HORROR!!!

On a more serious note Mr. Troll, welcome to the wild and wooly world of Benchmarks. There is simply no way of giving an "accurate" measurment of language performance since either side can always argue that something was done incorrectly. However, there is one thing we can glean from these benchmarks (in a very general sense): Java and C are evenly matched competitors. Sometimes C will appear a bit faster, sometimes Java. So use what gets the job done right.

Some more benchmarks for you:

OS News
Older Benchmark on Ace's Hardware


Now, most of these benchmarks have been mentioned on Slashdot at one time or another. To date, I have not seen a *single* benchmark that displays results different to those in the above benchmarks. As I troll, I release you'd never want to reveal your secret identity (*snigger*), but perhaps you'd like to be the first to bring forward a viable benchmark showing the MASSIVE (i.e. non-existant) performance difference between Java and C? Or perhaps you'd like to continue this and get yourself pummeled that much harder?

Because Sun has had to hash out many of the issues of scalable vector drawings, gradients, etc. that would be very useful in an SVG implementation that could be incredibly powerful for resolution independent, dynamic web applications in an open standard, open source way (as opposed to Flash or PDF).

[I know that ghostscript has many of those issues worked out, too, but the code base was started back in the days of C and DOS and might not be as nice to work from as the Java 2D API. The Mozilla and KDE SVG efforts might benefit from an open source Java 2D.]

As another poster commented already, Gstreamer does not depend on Gnome at all.

Second, don't compare Gstream and Xine. Gstreamer is a multimedia framework

Read this, this is so fucking hilarious I pissed my pants!

Xgrid is *NOT* currently being used in any shipping product from apple. Xcode does not use it for distributed builds, XCode actually uses a modified version of distcc.

...because it sounds like you're looking for Vonage. If you decide to switch, please let me know, I'd like the referral bonux.

Maybe poor countries developing Free software is just what we need to keep the GNU/L bloat under control.

I have used it myself and have discovered that the included xine does not have support compiled in for Divx.

It's not just me.

Interesting that this same post appeared on OSNews, with the same spelling error 'Naiku'...

To me, UnixWare is like a horrible car accident. I don't want to look because I know it's going to be bad, but the perverted side of me just can't resist. Anyway, here's an OSNews review of a recent release of UnixWare (just in case you have a kinky side).

UnixWare 7.1.3 Review

"How do you deal with terabytes of data (50+ TB), all in a single directory tree, all must be accessible to every node?"

Easy! Just use Gnome 2.6 - it has super-duper spatial browser behavior. All your troubles will be solved.

Trollgenia-iwill-flameu has another Anti-gnome story for you all. Get pressing those report abuse links spatial fanboys!

Eugeina's on the rampage again!

Linux Needs Diet That's why they normally say 'Don't feed the animals' in a zoo.

To all those who claim windows is bloated and Linux is not, read this! 215 comments and growing, this is the biggest flamewar ever written by Osnews!

The other point of view is that Apple should split up. Apple is primarily a consumer oriented company. It is argued here that by spinning off the enterprise side of Apple, each part would be stronger and freer to pursue what each does best. Acquiring Sun and its baggage would be like tying lead weights around Apple's ankles.

I can't put my finger on what it is, but there is something about KDE's interface that makes me angry. That may sound dumb, but I can only use KDE for a short while because it is emotionally exhausting to me and always leaves me feeling irritated.

It may be KDE's tight letter spacing in menus that's getting to you (screenshot). As the article puts it, menus "read like a sentence instead of being wisely spaced out". I couldn't put my finger on my KDE-anger either, but I'm now thinking that the menu spacing may have something to do with it ;).

I can't put my finger on what it is, but there is something about KDE's interface that makes me angry. That may sound dumb, but I can only use KDE for a short while because it is emotionally exhausting to me and always leaves me feeling irritated.

It may be KDE's tight letter spacing in menus that's getting to you (screenshot). As the article puts it, menus "read like a sentence instead of being wisely spaced out". I couldn't put my finger on my KDE-anger either, but I'm now thinking that the menu spacing may have something to do with it ;).