2005 October

Understanding what is happening with the innards of your PC running Linux is a must. Thankfully, there is a tool for the job in the Linux arena.

Over the years, I’ve used many methods to motivate beta-testers: bonuses, threats, whips…
Whatever it took.
But, BitDefender, a security software provider headquartered in Bucharest, Romania, is trying an approach I never used: free beer.

The new MySQL 5.0 combines enterprise-grade reliability and performance with advanced SQL 2003 standard-compliant features, making it the most cost-effective database solution for business-critical applications. The product’s new functionality will be especially familiar to database developers and DBAs of proprietary relational database systems — allowing IT departments to ease the integration and transition of their [...]

Debian’s APT makes installing software a breeze: you just run apt-get update&&apt-get upgrade to download and install the latest versions of all your software, or apt-get install widget to install widget on your machine. Pretty easy and painless. But now there’s something available that’s even easier and more painless: klik.

Why would you want to use a beta of Firefox when you an have a more stable release? The version that comes with Breezy Badger has a bad memory leak - and 1.5 runs faster.

I am very excited to announce that we have shipped
version 5 of CrossOver Office.

While developing for the Live CD crowd is fine, I also think that having access to a fully installed OS is defiantly the best way to go, no matter how you cut it. This proves to be true when trying to edit audio and video.

To be frank, developing countries ought to consider OSS as it is free and available for use wherever a need presents itself. Apparently, I am not alone with this belief…

Man, it seems like there are more OSS conventions than there are holidays! Regardless, from what I am gathering, the conference known as the first ever O’Reilly European Open Source Convention was considered to be a huge success.

SuSE, oh how you mystify me. Ya, maybe not so much. However it is one of those distros that have tempted me on more than one occasion. While I do spend most of my time working from another distribution altogether, I will not discount the value that SuSE 10 appears to offer.

Are OSS devs really so callus against Windows and those who enjoy using it? After reading the following post, one might come to this conclusion…

To be honest, I am not all that sure Open Sourcing street mapping is going to really take off. Besides, being a lot of work, who double checks the accuracy? And I mean really double checks it?

There are times in the Linux world when you have to use a command line based text editor. I recommend getting to know which one you have installed on your system and practice using it in case of emergencies. I found an article on three popular editors that gives you some insight on [...]

Lauren Rudd of NewForge writes:
Novell may lay off 10 to 15 percent of its staff as early as Monday, according to sources close to the company. It appears that one or more of the larger shareholders in the company are becoming worried about Novell’s future.
The shareholders have suggested that Novell divest itself of its consulting [...]

Bruce Byfield of Linux.com writes:
When you install an application package in a Debian-based system, sometimes prerequisite application packages are unavailable. These missing packages are known as broken dependencies. Left unresolved, they can cripple your system’s ability to install new packages. They’re a disaster that isn’t supposed to happen in Debian, thanks to the Advanced Packaging Tool [...]

Stephen Feller of NewsForge writes:
After roughly 12 years of work, the Wine Project is about to take its widely used Windows translation layer to a place it has not been in all that time: beta.
Wine Project leader Alexandre Julliard, who has worked on the software nearly since its beginning in 1993 and maintained it since [...]

Ah, now there is a new browser on the block. Could this be the Ralph Nader in the browser race? Not necessarily…

Right on! I have just learned that Sun is releasing the new Jini Technology Starter Kit v2.1 so that developers can do that voodoo that they do so well.

Hey now, free is good! Yup, I might look into this myself if I can take this software for a test drive without having to pump money into right off the bat. While my experience with VMware is limited, my curiosity is certainly not.

We talk a lot about Open Source, but what about open media? Well, since I too, still have a lot to learn. I ended up reading the bit down below to see what this is all about.