Apple provided testers and developers with a new pre-release version of Mac OS X 10.3, code-named Panther. The update was marked build 7B21, the first "B" series Panther build to be seeded. A new version of Xcode Suite was also seeded, with "issues addressed in almost every component," according to the read me. Read more about it at ThinkSecret.

GNUstep is a set of general-purpose Objective-C libraries based on the OpenStep standard developed by NeXT. In the new version, the LanguageSetup docs were updated to better help users settings fonts for their language, especially with regard to non-Latin fonts. An improved RTF reader with better Unicode support was added. Slightly better EWMH support was also added. The Art backend now works with more versions of Freetype.

SCO shares fell nearly 10% Friday, after an IBM memo rejecting SCO's Linux claims turned up. Meanwhile, Andy Butler of Gartner said "Users should not start waving their cheque books" in apparent contradiction of earlier comments by his colleague George Weiss. GROKLAW lists several other analysts taking anti-SCO positions on Linux licensing. Form-4 filings with the SEC reveal SCO Executives have been cashing out stock. They made $398,833.90 in June, and $781,964.70 in July.

A hacker group released code designed to exploit a widespread Windows flaw, paving the way for a major worm attack as soon as this weekend, security researchers warned.

According to a NYTimes article, Bill Gates says that 5% of all Windows installations crash more than twice a day. Elsewhere, at Silicon.com Microsoft CEO talks on the Longhorn 'big bang', $49bn cash mountain and more.

RMS fights against private software and its social implications is a battle to the death. As he highlights in his speeches, the law created more problems for those who want to publish free software than to those who would like to unveil plans for an atomic bomb. This is what he stated at Zaragoza, during an event organised by Zaralinux and the Giunta citizens.

From the Mac news site MacMinute: It appears as though Apple has removed all of the "Switch" commercials from its web site. When trying to view the ads, which used to be available here, you are redirected to Apple's "Switching to Mac: Real Stories" page. In April, Apple removed the "Switch" tab graphic from the top of its web site navigation to make room for the "Music" tab, although all of the content remained at apple.com/switch. Several media outlets have recently claimed that the campaign was a failure, citing stagnant Apple market share numbers. Also, read our interview with a switcher here.

Red Hat has released an updated advisory reporting the existence of multiple vulnerabilities in the Linux 2.4 kernel. Exploitation of these issues could expose sensitive information to local attackers, permit denial of service attacks or allow malicious local users to gain elevated privileges.

Microsoft Corp. will spend about $6.8 billion on research and development in its new fiscal year, an increase of 8% from the previous 12 months, said Bill Gates. They will be moving more deeply into the model-based programming space, said company chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates.

This is the fifth installment of ThinkSecret's "Inside Panther" series, covering Mac OS X Version 10.3. Elsewhere, the iTunes Store puts the Apple company at forefront of digital media market.

HP developers move some features from Compaq's version of Unix to its own HP-UX, an important part of the company's plan to eventually merge the two product lines. This was known to happen since Day 1 of the merger of HP-Compaq. Additionally, read our recent interview with an HP-UX engineer.

MandrakeSoft issued an urgent message for all 9.1 users to back out of the 24mdk kernel update and downgrade to 18mdk or 13mdk. A problem exists in all kernels (except kernel-secure) where newly created files are created mode 0666 (world writeable) on any filesystem other than XFS, including remote NFS mounts. A corrected kernel is to be released soon. Update: The official announcement of 9.2-b1 is out.

Microsoft has released DirectX 9.0b enduser runtime via WindowsUpdate and the release fixes some security problems and performance improvements. Download here, bug fix for 9.0a, more information on both issues here and here, SDK here.

Small business owners now have a software choice. Just a few years ago the only business choice was to either run legitimate or pirated versions of proprietary software. Open source is now in a position to challenge proprietary software on the business and home desktop.