iPhone OS 4.0 evidence shows up online
Rumors are starting to circulate about the next revision of the iPhone; everything from front facing cameras for video chat to larger capacities have been rumored. While we don’t know the hardware changes, evidence has surfaced that iPhone OS 4.0 is now being tested.
BGR has found evidence of the OS being tested in their server logs. The screenshot, posted below, clearly shows the latest version along with OS 3.1.3; this will most likely provide bug fixes for the current OS.
Even though very little is known at this point, it does show that Apple is testing its latest software and (most likely) hardware which would indicate an upcoming release. A jump to OS 4.0 signals a major upgrade for the iPhone platform which should bring many new features.
Full Story: Neowin
Microsoft Releases Code for Multikernel OS – Barrelfish
Most of us are probably aware of Singularity, a research operating system out of Microsoft Research which explored a number of new ideas, which is available as open source software. Singularity isn’t the only research OS out of Microsoft; they recently released the first snapshot of a new operating system, called Barrelfish. It introduces the concept of the multikernel, which treats a multicore system as a network of independent cores, using ideas from distributed systems.
The new concept operating system is a joint project by ETH Zurich and Microsoft Research, Cambridge. The team argues that “the challenge of future multicore hardware is best met by embracing the networked nature of the machine, rethinking OS architecture using ideas from distributed systems.” “We investigate a new OS structure, the multikernel, that treats the machine as a network of independent cores, assumes no inter-core sharing at the lowest level, and moves traditional OS functionality to a distributed system of processes that communicate via message-passing,” they write in their article “The Multikernel: A new OS architecture for scalable multicore systems”.
Full Story: OS News
Novell wants Linux to be a mainstream OS
The Linux Foundation’s 600-strong LinuxCon conference in Portland, Oregon, is just getting over and some of the talk emanating from that direction has been interesting, to put it mildly. Linus Torvalds’ comment about kernel bloat falls into that category – but much more interesting have been the comments made by Joe Brockmeier, the community manager of Novell’s OpenSUSE project.
OpenSUSE is a community GNU/Linux distribution that seeks to copy what Red Hat has done with its Fedora project – involve outsiders in developing a distribution. Features that are first tried out in the community distro often find their way into the enterprise distribution sold by Novell.
As that doughty publication The Register reports, Brockmeier is one person who wants the Linux desktop to grow; others like IBM and the Foundation itself appear to be more or less content with the current state of affairs.
Full Story: IT Wire
Slackware 13.0 released
After many months of development and careful testing, Slackware 13.0 has been released. Probably the biggest change is the addition of an official 64-bit port. While the 32-bit (x86) version continues to be developed, this release brings to you a complete port to 64-bit (x86_64).
Slackware 13.0 brings many updates and enhancements, among which you’ll find two of the most advanced desktop environments available today: Xfce 4.6.1, a fast and lightweight but visually appealing and easy to use desktop environment, and KDE 4.2.4, a recent stable release of the new 4.2.x series of the award-winning K Desktop Environment.
Slackware uses the 2.6.29.6 kernel bringing you advanced performance features such as journaling filesystems, SCSI and ATA RAID volume support, SATA support, Software RAID, LVM (the Logical Volume Manager), and encrypted filesystems. Kernel support for X DRI (the Direct Rendering Interface) brings high-speed hardware accelerated 3D graphics to Linux.
Full Story: Help Net Security
First Look: Windows 7 Shapes Up as Microsoft’s Best OS Yet
Good news, everyone! If you’ve been stuck in a time loop using Windows XP, which is nearing eight years old, or Windows Vista, which is just annoying, you can finally break free: Windows 7 is almost here. Microsoft delivers a slickly designed, vastly improved OS that will warp you to the world of today. This upgrade is big, and it’s hugely recommended for Microsoft users.
When we say big, we mean really BIG — so we’re not going to bombard you with an epic overview covering every single aspect. Rather, today we’ll guide you through an early look at some major new features and enhancements we tested in the almost-final version released last week. And in the weeks leading up to the Oct. 22 launch of Windows 7, we’ll continue posting our impressions, testing more features of the OS on various types of hardware.
We’ll start with interface, move on to performance and usability, and then we’ll conclude with the “funner” stuff. Let’s begin exploring, shall we?
Full Story: Wired
Microsoft Should Follow Apple’s Lead on Windows 7 Pricing
Apple’s upcoming Snow Leopard upgrade currently occupies two of the three top spots on Amazon’s software top seller list. The pre-sale prices are $29 for a single computer and $49 for a 5-user family pack.
Microsoft occupied the same two spots last month when it was pre-selling the Windows 7 Home Premium edition upgrade for $50 and the Professional edition for $100.
There’s a profound difference between the $29 Apple is charging, and Microsoft’s $50 offer: Apple’s price won’t expire.
That same Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade will now set you back a solid $120. While one might ask why Microsoft would need to lower its prices when its current prices are more aggressive than what they asked for Vista. I have the answer; Consumer’s expectations have changed.
Full Story: Yahoo Tech
Unix turns 40: The past, present and future of the OS
Forty years ago this summer, a programmer sat down and knocked out in one month what would become one of the most important pieces of software ever created.
In August 1969, Ken Thompson, a programmer at AT&T Bell Laboratories, saw the monthlong absence of his wife and young son as an opportunity to put his ideas for a new operating system into practice. He wrote the first version of Unix in assembly language for a wimpy Digital Equipment Corp. PDP-7 minicomputer, spending one week each on the operating system, a shell, an editor and an assembler.
Thompson and a colleague, Dennis Ritchie , had been feeling adrift since Bell Labs had withdrawn earlier in the year from a troubled project to develop a time-sharing system called Multics, short for Multiplexed Information and Computing Service. They had no desire to stick with any of the batch operating systems that predominated at the time, nor did they want to reinvent Multics, which they saw as grotesque and unwieldy.
Full Story: Mac World
Comfort zones: Windows vs. Linux
Where’s your comfort zone? Windows, Mac, Linux? An unintellectual, emotional attachment to an operating environment often determines what consumers buy and may determine whether Google Chrome can ultimately compete with Windows.
In the consumer laptop space, specifically Netbooks, there isn’t much hope for a Linux-based operating system in the near term. So, first the bad news.
Market researcher iSuppli released a report Friday that I agree with. It begins with the usual, saying that Google’s Linux-based Chrome operating system sets the stage for a battle of the Titans (Google versus Microsoft). But what it said after that affirmed my own convictions (and echoed comments I had heard before from other analysts).
“The small penetration of Linux in Netbooks is not due to any technical shortcomings,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms research for iSuppli. “Because the vast majority of people who buy Netbooks are consumers, who do not have a high degree of knowledge of the key players in the OS market, they are going with the names that they know. And in PCs, that name is Microsoft.”
Full Story: CNet News
HP, Acer Developing Google Chrome OS Netbooks, Schmidt Says
HP and Acer netbooks running Google’s new Chrome OS could be available as soon as this year, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt announced at the annual Allen & Company conference. Chrome OS may give Schmidt reason to leave Apple’s board, but he declined to acknowledge Microsoft as a competitor.
Netbooks running Chrome OS, Google’s newly announced operating system, may be available later this year, according to a report from Reuters, which quoted Google chief executive Eric Schmidt at the Allen & Company media and technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 9.
“Everybody we’ve talked to under nondisclosure is excited about the plan,” Schmidt told Reuters. “So hopefully later this year we’ll see some announcements.”
According to Reuters, Hewlett-Packard and Acer are working with Google to create devices running Chrome OS, which was designed to better exploit the Chrome browser and modern Web services, such as online applications.
Source: eWeek
Intel collaborated with Google on Chrome OS
Chip giant Intel told TG Daily today that it was in cahoots with Google on the Chrome OS project. A representative confirmed this to us this morning.
He said: “We have been privy to the project for some time and we have worked with Google on a variety of projects, including this one. We welcome Google’s move here.” The statement is likely to throw Microsoft into total panic. Intel and Microsoft were always “friends”, but some have speculated they’ve always been enemies.
Full Story: TG Daily
