For those of us who still mourn the BeOS, watching gobe software expand is like watching a little brother grow up; we're all rooting for them. That's why it's that much more exciting to see reviews like the one at arstechnica.com that gives gobeProductive 3.03 a solid 8/10 score, with the author commenting "I encourage everyone to pick up a copy." Read the rest of the review at ArsTechnica.com. NewsForge reviews OpenOffice 6.0 while they also report on a new crossover plugin for Linux which allows Microsoft Office to run under Linux.

"Palm may be on the way back to profitability, but it has serious challenges ahead as wireless convergence looms, according to a new report. In the report, Strategic Challenges In The Future Market For Handheld Devices, Denmark-based analyst firm Strand Consult predicts that Palm and Handspring will be crushed between the financial clout of Microsoft and the entrenched distribution networks of mobile phone manufacturers, once the focus in the PDA market shifts to wireless-enabled devices." Read the rest of the story at ZDNews.

In Amiga's latest executive update, Amiga Inc's CEO concentrates on the development of the AmigaOS4 desktop operating system. Initially the new PPC based AmigaOS is being targeted at Eyetech's new AmigaOne ATX motherboard (an A1200/PCI bridge will become available later on, which will allow AGA chipset compatibility, but this is not needed if you don`t want it), bplan's new multi-processor supporting PEGASOS microATX motherboard, Elbox' new G3/G4 Accelerator cards and even old Cyberstorm/Blizzard PPC accelerators for classic Amigas. Merlancia Industries, with legend Amiga hardware designer Dave Haynie as their CTO are even developing new PPC laptops. New PPC native versions of popular Amiga software including MUI and IBrowse are under development, as announced in this executive update.

"Availability of Over 1 Million Lines of Source Code for FreeBSD and Windows Underscores Microsoft’s Commitment to Open Standards, Academia and Developers," the press release reads. Microsoft today announced the availability of source code for its Shared Source CLI implementation. The Shared Source CLI source code implements the ECMA Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) and C# standards.

"The latest version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has grabbed nearly one-third of the worldwide browser market, according to a new study. IE 6 was released last August, and in its first week on the market grabbed a 2.4 percent share, according to StatMarket, a division of audience measurement service WebSideStory. StatMarket said Wednesday that that figure has risen to 30.4 percent, making it the second most popular browser behind its predecessor, Microsoft's IE 5." What the article fails to mention is that, overall, the IE browsers gather more than 82% of the market. In other Internet news, ExtremeTech has a very interesting article regarding IPv6: "The Promise, The Problems, The Protocol".

"An executive of network computing company Novell Inc. on Wednesday accused Microsoft Corp. of using anti-competitive tactics to dominate the market for Internet server software. Novell Chief Technology Officer Carl Ledbetter, in testimony in the ongoing Microsoft antitrust case, said that Microsoft withheld critical information that competitors needed to make their server software work well with Microsoft's Windows, which virtually holds a monopoly position in personal computer operating systems." Read the news story at Yahoo!News.

"You might still be wrestling with your Windows 2000 deployment. You don't have the time or inclination to consider a migration to Windows .NET Server (Win.NET Server). But you might want to take a moment to see what Win.NET Server has to offer: Although Win.NET Server isn't a momentous release, as Win2K was, it offers some serious new features and significant improvements that smooth out some of Win2K's rough edges. The complete list of Win.NET Server's new and improved features is long, but the product's key infrastructure improvements—such as Active Directory (AD) modifications—can present compelling business reasons to consider the new platform." Read the exclusive report on the next major Widnows version at WinNetMag.

What the future holds? "The director of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab says the age of smart, mobile machines is already beginning. You just have to know where to find them—say, in oil wells." Read the Q&A with Rodney Brooks at TechReview. "Computer scientists are developing systems that can enhance and enrich a user's view of the world. What will computer user interfaces look like 10 years from now?" Read the interesting analysis at ScientificAmerican.

"As thousands of programmers converge on San Francisco to attend Sun Microsystems' JavaOne conference, which opens Monday, Microsoft is working in parallel to convince some of the flock to switch banners. That job falls to John Montgomery, who has the chore of trying to convince millions of Java developers to embrace Microsoft's .Net technology." Read the interview at News.com. "Java is drawing a rising number of businesses and software developers but still must overcome major obstacles before its long-term success is assured--including roadblocks from the very people who support the programming language." Read the story at ZDNews.

Just some days ago Apple requested input from PC users or from Mac users coming from the PC world. They asked for some input regarding what a PC user would like to see on Apple's products. While I am already a Mac user, I would like to see the following. If it doesn't happen (as it hasn't), I intend to do it myself with some smart friends.

From the press release: "Trolltech, the leader in multi-platform development frameworks, today unveiled Qtopia, a Linux-based application environment that brings the power of desktop computing to mobile embedded devices. Trolltech is the creator of Qt, the application framework that lets developers create cross platform, single-source applications that run natively. Qtopia is already being used to power the new Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 PDA, with several additional design wins bringing products to market in 2002."

"An attorney for Microsoft argued in court on Monday that Red Hat Inc. had failed to popularize the Linux computer operating system because of its own shortcomings, not because of any interference from Microsoft. Cross-examining Red Hat Chief Technology Officer Michael Tiemann, Microsoft attorney Stephanie Wheeler said Red Hat had spent little money on research and development, and dedicated few of its employees to winning over software developers to write programs for Linux." Read the report at ZDNews.

Sun Microsystems launches its annual JavaOne conference with a new determination to reverse its fortune. For all its hype and popularity, Java has made more money in direct software sales for competitors than for the company that invented it. "As Sun Microsystems' chief claim to fame in the software world, Java began seven years ago as a bold assault on the company's sworn enemy, Microsoft." The article is at ZDNews. "At the JavaOne conference in San Francisco this week, Java software makers will attempt to regain ground lost to Microsoft in the emerging market for Web services development tools and technologies." This article also at ZDNews. "Sun Microsystems Inc. is pushing Java further into the Web services realm with a new version of its Java 2 Enterprise Edition under development. In addition, the company will broadly release this week a beta of its next-generation Java virtual machine for handhelds." This article is at ExtremeTech.

"Microsoft Windows XP Embedded offers developers a componentized version of the Windows XP operating system. Developers can pick and choose exactly those components required to fulfill their design requirements, resulting in a reduced footprint that is specifically tailored for their design. This article presents a technical overview of security considerations in the componentized environment offered by Windows XP Embedded." Read the article at MSDN. "A component, the most basic element of a Microsoft Windows XP Embedded configuration, is an indivisible unit of functionality that can be included in an embedded run-time image. The next level of complexity is a macro component, which bundles several individual components. Macro components make it possible for multiple components to be included, or instantiated, in the configuration by instantiating only the macro component." Read the article at MSDN."