W.I.L. Tech-News Highlights for 2008 – 1

Operating Systems

KDE goes cross-platform with Windows, Mac OS X support - link 1, link 2. Discussion here.

By combining VMware Server with some free software, you can run Windows XP along with Linux, not inside a console window, but completely integrated into the Linux environment - link.

The real reason why Linux and Mac OS X are more secure than Windows - link.

Wine 1.0: Coming soon to a computer near you - link.

Linux

Linux kernel 2.6.24 released - link. More discussion here.

• • Help for Linux newcomers • •

Flipping the Linux switch: Installations are disturbingly easy - link. • Some basic configuration and tweaking of a fresh Linux installation - link.

Linux for the masses? Bet on this winner - link. Discussion here.

Linux not ready for the masses ... BULL - link.

2008: Year of the Linux Desktop - link.

Linux Desktops: Real relief for Windows users - link.

I moved my mother from Windows to Ubuntu Linux, and the experience was a surprisingly smooth one - link.

How Linux passion sometimes beats Windows preloads - link.

Linux Hardware compatibility sites: Does anyone do it right? - link.

LILO and GRUB: Boot Loaders Made Simple - link.

Reviving OS/2's best feature in the Linux desktop - link.

PlayOnLinux (POL) is a python-based frontend (with bash install scripts) to install Windows programs in Wine - link.

KDE 4.0.0 comes with almost as many new bugs as it does features, and there is much work to be done before it sparkles like the 3.5.x series - review. • With KDE 4.0 out, the developers are turning their attention to version 4.1, due in July - link. • The KDE 4 wow factor - link. • New little tools in KDE4 - link.

Creating a light, attractive desktop environment on a new low-end laptop using Openbox in Ubuntu is simple and offers you most of the features you need for everyday computing without much of the load that comes with GNOME or KDE - link.

10 slick Linux desktops, and how to make them - link.

Free software desktop menus reinvented - link.

Get rid of stowaway packages with GNU Stow - link.

The Mac and Windows Alternative: My Linux laptop - link.

Oh Linux, how do I love thee? - link.

Linux Administration Handbook's authors provide just the concise and important facts on each subject - link.

77 useful Linux commands and utilities - link.

Using mouse gestures across Linux - link.

Get the most out of your mouse with btnx - link.

When files disappear, Magic Rescue saves the day - link.

Use Kaffeine to receive free-to-air TV on your Linux box - link.

Webcams in Linux - part 1.

BSDs, other Unixes

DesktopBSD 1.6 strikes just the right balance between being friendly to the new user, and yet powerful and geek enough to satisfy the more seasoned user - review.

The Best of FreeBSD Basics by Dru Lavigne provides practical advice for completing common tasks on FreeBSD and is a great way to get to know FreeBSD, and UNIX in general - link.

FreeBSD 6.3 released - link.

What is mew in FreeBSD 7.0 - link.

Interview with organizers of the BSD certification exam - link.

Windows and DOS

Living with Vista, one year on - link.

Vista bloat-stripper vLite released - link. • Microsoft pans vLite - link.

It seems that Microsoft is already giving up on Vista and is setting up business users to switch from XP to Windows 7 - link.

Windows XP users: Don't boot Vista, dual boot instead - how-to.

Microsoft responds to Save XP petition ... does not see what all the fuss is about, claims Vista adoption is well on track with sales over 100 million - link.

Splashtop: Instant Windows boot-up - link.

Vista successor to be out in H2 2009? - link.

Big Book Of Windows Hacks provides solid technical content to the reader - review.

It is not like anyone has asked for Windows XP to run on the Linux-powered One Laptop Per Child XO laptop, but Microsoft is getting ready to deliver it to us anyway - link.

Mac

OS X Leopard is in some ways worse than Windows Vista, says Linus Torvalds – link.

Porting OS X to cheaper PCs: Possible? – link.

Apple's OS X takes over international market - link.

Other OS’s

Haiku poetically resurrects BeOS - link.

For once and for all: IBM will not open source OS/2 - link.

Tux meets Amiga, or Amiga emulation using UAE or E-UAE - link.

Applications

The top 50 proprietary programs that drive you crazy, and their open source alternatives - link.

Open Source applications for small business - link.

Open source pros pick their favorite projects - link.

RTTS tests and monitors mission-critical applications to help companies prevent failures that could shut down operations - link.

Abyss can provide a full Web server with no cost, on older hardware, and with high-performance results - link.

OpenProj, designed as a replacement for MS Project, version 1.0 released. It appears to be a full-featured project management application, but its usefulness is impaired by the lack of documentation. Now we have to see if a community will form around it to make it a useful, viable open source project - link.

Databases

Firebird 2008 roadmap published - link.

PostgreSQL 8.3 gets HOT - link.

Can Sun make MySQL pay? - link. Sun, MySQL users ponder blockbuster acquisition - link.

Using MySQL as a filesystem - link.

Manage MySQL remotely with phpMyAdmin - link.

Internet applications

Three alternative Linux instant messaging applications - link.

Mozilla evangelist Chris Blizzard shares his thoughts about the past, present, and future of Mozilla - link.

Firefox 3 goes on a diet, eats less memory than IE and Opera - link.

Package all your Firefox extensions for quick installs with CLEO - link.

Bookmark Sync and Sort allow Firefox bookmarks synchronization with privacy - link.

Firefox feed extensions - link.

Quickly navigating Web pages with Firefox extensions - link.

Firefly extension turns Firefox into a file browser - link.

The beginning of Thunderbird 3 planning - link. Thunderbird 2's security woes - link.

Mozilla Messaging has opened for business for the purpose of advancing Thunderbird - link.

Usenet newsreaders for Linux - link.

GobbleRSS is a PHP-based feed aggregator that is simple to set up and run on your own - link.

Chyrp is a lightweight tool for simple blogging - link.

Indywiki a visual browser for Wikipedia - link.

Office applications

Scribus: Professional page layout for Linux - review. Scripting Scribus - link.

Texmaker tames LaTeX - link.

New consulting company gambles on KOffice demand - link.

Switching Office Suites from MS Office to OpenOffice.org - link.

OpenOffice.org 3, due out in September, will have PDF import and support simple Firefox-like extensions, among many new features - link. • Sneak peek at OpenOffice.org 3.0 - link.

Nifty OpenOffice.org extensions - link.

Lotus Notes 8.5 to fully support Ubuntu Linux 7.10 in mid-2008 - link.

Getting Office 2007 fonts into Linux - link.

Microsoft cuts off access to documents in old file formats. What happened and why open formats matter! - link.

Make sure Word, OOo Writer play well together - link.

Sun Presentation Minimizer serves purpose, but needs work - link.

A handful of desktop utilities for snipping multiple clips - link.

Osmo is a compact yet feature-rich personal information organizer for Linux - link.

Sunbird is a powerful standalone calendar from Mozilla – link.

GnuCash helps keep your cash (or lack thereof) in order - link.

Desktop-oriented applications

Tellico collection manager can catalog all sorts of collections, including books, movies, games, cards, coins, comic books, and even wine - link.

Google behind Photoshop's new Linux compatibility - link.

Blending multiple photographs taken at different exposures with Enfuse - link.

Three photo mosaic apps compared - link.

VLC (VideoLan) is a cross-platform universial media player - link.

Improved Ogg Theora coming soon to an Internet near you - link.

Video conversion in Linux with RippedWire and WinFF - link.

Subtitle manipulation tools for Linux - link.

Media collection managers for Linux - link.

Audio conversion tools for Linux - link.

Programming

How to recognize a good programmer - link.

Making code reviews easier with Review Board, a web-based application that helps reviewers examine the code - link.

7 things CIOs should know about agile development - link.

Microsoft's open-source strategy: A picture is worth a thousand words - link.

Graphical User Interface, Web

W3C publishes HTML 5 draft - link. Discussion here.

Google Web Toolkit: A new way of doing Web development - link.

Design better Web pages with Firefox extensions - link.

Is server or client processing better for charts and graphs? - link.

Beyond Ajax: software development, two years from now - link.

Create an AJAX Web site using dhtmlxGrid to present data - link.

MODx a promising open source CMS - link.

Nokia to acquire Trolltech - link.

You used JavaScript to write what?! - link.

C/C++/Java family

"New" D language pumps up programmer productivity - link.

Scripting and high-level languages

You used Perl to write what?! - link.

You used PHP to write what?! - link.

Getting started with three popular PHP frameworks (Zend, symfony, CakePHP) - part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

Object-Oriented Programming with PHP5 published - link.

Mastering regular expressions in PHP - Part 1, Part 2.

You used Python to write what?! - link.

Rapid GUI Programming With Python and Qt gets a very strong recommendation for all those who want to get the most out of Qt using Python - link.

Python upgrades readied for 2008 - link.

The TIOBE Programming Community Index has declared Python as the Programming Language of 2007 due to a 58% surge in its popularity rating during the year, making it now the 6th most popular programming language and finally surpassing Perl - link.

Why Ruby on Rails succeeded - link.

Real-life Rails: Develop with NetBeans, deploy on Linux - link.

Security & Privacy

The future of encryption - link.

The Open Source Network Gateway bundles a list of applications that even seasoned sysadmins could not install and effectively manage in a timely manner - link.

Why do we need specialist security distros? - link.

Securing Linux laptops - link.

Use sudo to grant the user the needed permissions without letting him have the root password, and limit access to a minimum - link.

Securing Joomla! installations - link.

Release of Nmap 4.50 marked the popular port-scanning tool's 10th anniversary, and includes Zenmap, a cross-platform GUI front end - link.

Efficient rsyncrypto hides remote sync data - link.

Is your blog leaking trade secrets? - link.

Using "shred" to securely delete files - link.

Spies in the phishing underground - link.

Keep Internet junk at bay with content filters - link.

Miscellaneous

"Mommy, why is there a server in the house?" - link.

A Field Guide to Free Software Supporters - link.

I'm a believer ... in open source - link.

Business

Time-sharing, a concept from the dawn of the computing age, is back with a vengeance - link.

Luddite and paranoid: why the big record labels failed at digital - link.

Trend Micro shows how not to handle the free software community - link.

Will open source be a victim in the Dot Bomb 2.0? - link.

CafeMom gives moms a place to chat. Marketers are crashing the kaffeeklatsch - link.

The Internet

ICANN makes case for freedom from U.S. oversight - link.

IPv6 and IPv4: big trouble coming, and soon - link.

Internet connections may upend TV programming distribution - link.

Science

Wooden supercar is faster than a Porsche - link.

Telecommunications

Junction Networks uses Asterisk and other open source software to tailor VoIP to customer demands - link.

Google agrees to build an undersea cable with five telecom operators that will link the U.S. to Japan and provide the capacity to sustain a surge in Internet traffic between the continents - link.

A pair of Brits figured out a way to fix almost everything that frustrates you about your cell phone. The phone companies are not particularly pleased - link.