Earlier today I was sitting at a restaurant with my fiancé (who I refer to as Wife 2.0 Release Candidate 1 to my technically inclined friends) and she asked me what was in the bag that I had brought home with me from work today. I told her that it is the latest distribution of SuSE Linux that I had purchased at CompUSA.
The KOffice team announced the availability of KOffice 1.2 Beta 1
late this afternoon. The long anticipated beta, the first major
release of the open source office suite this year, brings many
improvements that greatly increase KOffice's usefulness.
The UK-based magazine IT Week has these very interesting results. “With 10 weeks to go before firms must sign up to Microsoft's Software Assurance licensing scheme or pay full price for upgrades, new tests suggest open-source Samba software may offer a viable alternative to upgrading file servers to Windows 2000.”
The two Linux distributions best known for Desktop-computing focus both started shipping new releases of their respective packages today. With large strides in usability being made in the last few months, these distributions promise to continue the drive toward the open source desktop.
eWeek Labs has a story on the major improvements Apache 2.0, the next generation of the world's most popular web server, has made on an unlike platform - Windows. “Apache 2.035 and IIS 5.0 were installed on Windows 2000 Advanced Server. Given the fact that IIS is essentially the benchmark for performance on Windows servers, Apache 2.0's ability to match it is very significant. These results can be attributed to the improved design and native Windows code for Apache 2.0. “
A NewsForge columnist talks about Linux distributor Xandros, a company that has not yet made a widely available beta of its distribution. “
Michael Bego would like you to know that he has not left the helm of Xandros, contrary to some gossip that's been going around. He would also like you to know that a little rumor about half the engineering staff laid off is just that — a rumor. But most of all, the Xandros president would like you to know more about the new desktop-focused Linux distribution he's been working on.”
Gary Krakow of MSNBC has a glowing review of the Lycoris Desktop/LX distribution of Linux.
Many companies have attempted to make computing easier - the latest releases of most Linux distributions, Apple Mac OS, and Windows all showcase different companies' varying visions on how to reach that goal. However, on closer inspection, one realizes that in fact all these different approaches really are not that different at all.
ZDNet reports how IBM has been using open source as a “deadly weapon,” the result of which is massive amounts of open source code made available to the community. “IBM officials speak fondly of an attitude adjustment that has changed Big Blue into a much more customer-focused company. They describe an altruistic metamorphosis that benefits end users who will settle for nothing less than interoperability and support of open standards.”
The KDE Project announced today the availability of KDE 3.0. The project's next generation desktop offers numerous enhancements and upgrades built on top of the excellent foundation that was launched a year and a half ago with KDE 2.0.