This article at InformIT (free reg. req'd), provides a brief introduction to optimization on the Solaris Operating Environment. To explore this subject in more detail, refer to Rajat Garg's and Ilya Sharapov's Sun BluePrints book, "Techniques for Optimizing Applications," published July 2001.

The release of Apple's latest hardware offerings this month has caused quite a stir among Apple loyalists. This is only Apple's second foray into creating a truly dedicated server machine, the first of which being the "Network Server 500/700", which Apple sold in 1995 running AIX. The question on everyone's mind now is going to be what this means for Apple's prospects as a server platform. Certainly everyone agrees that the new machine looks nice, but how will it on the duties it will be required to perform. Furthermore, what kind of price/performance ratio is Apple offering when compared to the current group of servers.

"Operating systems need to evolve from performing traditional file management and I/O tasks to learning and accommodating user behaviors, a Microsoft executive said Tuesday during a keynote presentation at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference here." Read the article at InfoWorld.

"The GNOME 2.0 Desktop Beta 5 release, "Reciprocity", is ready for your bug-busting and testing pleasure! It is now available for immediate download. The GNOME 2.0 Desktop is a greatly improved user environment for existing GNOME applications. Enhancements include anti-aliased text and first class internationalisation support, new accessibility features for disabled users, and many improvements throughout GNOME's highly regarded user interface." Read more at LinuxToday.

"Far from bringing openness and cooperation to the world of IT, Linux enthusiasts want to keep it as closed as possible - while collecting lavish praise from half-baked anti-capitalists - so they can carry on feeling self-important. After all, if these geeks could write real software, they'd be working for a proper company. Like Microsoft." Read the editorial at Spiked. IMNSHO: Some of the author's points are valid. But for the most part, speaking as a woman to woman, she just needs a good spanking.

America Online has dropped Internet Explorer from a test version of its software for MacOSX, the latest sign that the Internet giant wants a rematch in the browser wars with Microsoft. Read more at ZDNews.

From ActiveWin: "Intel has today released to the world new USB 2.0 drivers for Windows XP (1.08 MB). These new USB 2.0 are built around Microsoft reference drivers and carry the build number 5.1.2600.41. Note that before installing these drivers you need the Microsoft hotfix Q312370."

"Linux is set to become the de facto standard in so-called "embedded" devices such as robotics, information appliances and automobile information systems. However, fragmentation could prove a stumbling block, said Inder Singh, chairman of the Embedded Linux Consortium (ELC)." Read the rest of the article at ZDNews.

In Part One, Simson Garfinkel and Michael Mahoney explain why Cocoa and Mac OS X aren't nearly as revolutionary as they are evolutionary, beginning with Apple's genesis in the 1970s. Now they pick up the story with the Star Trek project and bring you to the current iteration of Mac OS X.

In an article posted at C|Net News.com sun has announced their intentions of expanding linux with Solaris features (and continuing to expand Solaris with Linux features) to make the two "similar". Perhaps this is seriously the next step in the Intel Unix market for Sun, if they have, in the end, chosen to do without Solaris/x86. In other news, according to the article, Solaris 9 will be released May 22nd.

Friends of Sci-fi and CGI should be pleased this month, first with the release of the (pretty good, I might add) Spider-Man movie, the Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions teaser last night and of course, today, the opening of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Have fun everyone!

Get the news first on OSNews: The long-awaited "stable" and recommended for full use, GCC 3.1, is finally released. Get it from Gnu's ftp site, while the mirrors are not fully updated yet. Update: And the release is now official. You heard it first, here, on OSNews. Again.

"Microsoft's operating-system monopoly has gotten plenty of ink in this paper, but Microsoft Office exerts an even tighter stranglehold on the market. The productivity suite dominates not just on Windows PCs but on Macs as well, and its file formats have become a default language in offices, homes and schools around the world." Rob Pegoraro reviews OpenOffice for WatshingtonPost. In the meantime, Sun puts a price at Star Office, while Microsoft is finalizing its next-gen Office.

Opera has just released version 6.02 for Windows, and the final version of Opera 6.0 for Linux while they announced support for Symbian's new exciting technology concept, "Magpie", when it becomes available as a commercial solution. In the meantime, Mozilla RC-2 was released a few days back.