And the winner for the Xandros competition is... Helen Jette (hjette AT cogeco DOT ca).

These frivolous news comes from fellow news web site, windowsxp.nu, which is one of the well known sites for Windows-related news on the web (traffic-wise seems to be similar to OSNews, around 90,000 page views per day). Microsoft sent a legal threat to Steven Bink to hand over the site before Dec 19th, otherwise they will respond legally. Microsoft has taken a similar hard line against other similar Web sites in the past; in 1998, the company demanded that Paul Thurrott should change the name of the 'Windows SuperSite' to 'SuperSite for Windows', and Active Windows was forced to change its name to ActiveWin. Read more for a short editorial on the subject.

"It's not quite open source, but the makers of the embedded operating system LynxOS have taken a step towards bringing code availablity to their customers. That was the word out of California yesterday afternoon when LynuxWorks announced a new set of pricing packages designed to make LynxOS a more affordable option for those who are considering using the real-time operating system (RTOS) for their embedded projects" Read the full article at All Linux Devices.

Twenty years ago, the PC world began a slow but inexorable consolidation around the desktop metaphor—with its files and folders and recycling bins—that now graces practically every computer screen on the planet. The desktop metaphor has served us well, particularly during a period of mass adoption when consolidating around one overarching visual metaphor helped new computer users adapt to life in front of the screen. But that unified approach is starting to fragment. Soon, Apple and Microsoft will need new metaphors for their operating systems.

TriangleOS is a 32-bit Operating System for the x86 platform, written in C and Assembler. Wim Cools posted some screenshots of his OS. On his site, information and images can be found of the latest kernel version which can be booted from floppy.

Xandros Desktop sets a new standard for Linux based desktop operating systems by delivering an environment and set of applications that allow you to install the system and get back to work. It is based on the pioneering direction of Corel LINUX OS which was recognized by both mainstream and Linux publications as a leader in making Linux accessible to desktop users. And today, it can be yours for free (a value of $99 USD)! Read more to enter the competition.

"Winning respect is now the least of the open-source movement's concerns. Future struggles may involve political and political challenges in copyright law or digital rights management or intellectual property issues, according to Tiemann, nowadays chief technology officer at Linux seller Red Hat." Read the interview at C|Net.

In just 3 days beunited.org has been pledged over $10,000.00 by the public and corporate community for the release of Gobe Productive for BeOS (and other platforms). Linux users have also pledged, and beUnited.org encourages more members of the Linux community to participate for the release of the Linux version.

"The vision of running Linux on corporate desktops has gained ground during the past 18 months, as full- featured office productivity software has become a reality and improvements have been made to the Linux kernel and to installation and administration tools. But even though the open-source operating system has moved closer to filling desktop needs, nagging gaps remain, said users and analysts at last week's Enterprise Linux Forum Conference & Expo here. In some cases, they added, the lingering lack of needed functionality is making it hard for IT managers to switch their users to Linux." Read the article at PCWorld.

Mono 0.17 has been released. Check out the release notes for a more detailed list. Many new features as well as plenty of bug fixes. Many new System.Data providers and a more mature System.Web (ASP.NET) which can now be hosted in any web server. A simple test web server to host asp.net has been released as well. This version also integrates Neale's s390 port.

"The upstart Linux operating system isn't an upstart any more, according to Linux executives meeting in Boston last week. The Enterprise Linux Forum brought together vendors and users of Linux systems at a time when the operating system seems to have established itself as a major force in corporate computing - to the chagrin of established giants like Microsoft Corp." Read the article at Boston Globe.

The first open source implementation of the latest specification for enterprise Java is expected in JBoss Group LLC's increasingly popular open source application server next year, Gavin Clarke writes. Read the article at TheRegister.

The compiler suite coming for all SGI MIPS-based machines is one of the best optimized development tools for any platform. SGI has put many years of experience on the newest version of the series, MIPSpro 7.4, which we recently gave it a spin.

FreeBSD 5.0-RC1 was just released, download its ISO from an ftp server near you.