Snow Leopard, Psystar, SCO

It’s time for another week in review. This was decidedly the Snow Leopard week, but we also talked a lot about Linux, Psystar, and even SCO resurrected from the dead to continue its litigation about UNIX.

Ask OSNews: Linux User-Friendliness – A reader asks: Why is Linux still not as user friendly as the two other main OSes with all the people developing for Linux? Is it because it is mainly developed by geeks? My initial feeling when reading this question was that it was kind of a throwaway, kind of a slam in disguise as a genuine question. But the more I thought about it, the more intrigued I felt. There truly are a large amount of resources being dedicated to the development of Linux and its operating system halo (DEs, drivers, apps, etc). Some of these resources are from large companies (IBM, Red Hat, Novell). Why isn’t Linux more user-friendly? Is this an inherent limitation with open source software?

Nokia Enters Netbook Market – In what can surely be called a surprise move, Nokia has announced that it will enter the netbook market with an Atom-based netbook which will ship with Windows 7. While many of the components appear relatively normal compared to other netbooks, it does come with a few features that will set the device apart from the rest. Instant update: Ars believes this is the first Intel Pine Trail netbook.

Psystar Tells Judge it Did Not Destroy Evidence – Another week, another instalment in the Apple vs. Psystar soap opera. Last week, we left off when Apple was accusing Psystar of destroying evidence, and even though we had a blunt response to El Reg in which the clone maker denied ever having done such a thing, we did not yet have an official court filing from them. Well, we do now.

Appeals Court Resurrects SCO Lawsuit – Not too long ago, Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw explained he had found the perfect husband for Lara Croft: Jason Voorhees. They both have way too many sequels all following a default plot, they both murder a lot and spend a lot of time underground, but most of all: none of them will ever just die. In that light, I suggest another husband for Miss Croft: Darl McBride. Instant update: Darl McBride responds. See inside.

Dutch Court Orders Mininova To Remove Offending Torrents – Not too long ago we had a semi-loss for The Pirate Bay in The Netherlands, which was convicted ‘by default’ because the defendants did not show up in court to plea their case. Today, The Netherlands once again saw a ruling in a high-profile piracy case, and again, there’s a loss for the defendants. Update: Oh, and by the way – thought about putting some lyrics you like on your website or blog? Think again. We live in a crazy world, people.

FSF Launches ‘Windows 7 Sins’ Campaign – When Windows Vista was launched, the Free Software Foundation started its BadVista campaign, which was aimed at informing users about what the FSF considered user-restrictive features in Vista. Luckily for the FSF, Vista didn’t really need a bad-mouthing campaign to fail. Now that Windows 7 is receiving a lot of positive press, the FSF dusted off the BadVista drum, and gave it a fresh coat of paint.

Snow Leopard’s Anti-Malware Feature Explained – Yesterday we reported that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, due for release coming Friday, contained some form of malware and/or virus protection. Since the scope of this protective measure was not yet known – nor if it even existed at all – I thought it would be best to write another post detailing that yes, it’s real, and yes, it’s all relatively crude.

Snow Leopard Reviews Positive, Upgrades Tiger Too – We’re certainly not done yet with Snow Leopard on OSNews! The operating system will be officially released tomorrow, but that hasn’t stopped various news outlets from cranking out reviews of Apple’s latest big cat. As usual, the reviews are fairly consistent: this latest release is the best yet. In addition, very welcome news for Tiger users: the Snow Leopard “upgrade” disk can upgrade Tiger installations too, and performs no checks to see if Leopard is installed.

Is the Linux Desktop Too Much Like Windows, Mac OS X? – A complaint you hear quite often is that the Linux desktop environments, which mostly refers to KDE and GNOME, are trying too hard to be like Windows and Mac OS X. Now, even James Bottomley, Distinguished Engineer at Novell, Director of the Linux Foundation, and Chair of its Technical Advisory Board (put that on your business card) states in an interview that he believes the Linux desktop is too much like Windows and Mac.

OSNews Asks: Do You Care About EULAs? – Earlier today we reported that while Apple doesn’t encourage it, the Snow Leopard upgrade disk can be used to upgrade machines that have Mac OS 10.4 Tiger installed as well. However, this is actually forbidden by the accompanying EULA, which raises an interesting question: do you have any moral problems ignoring said EULA? And on a more general note, do you actually care about any EULA at all?

Ask OSNews: Safest Web Browser – Another instalment of Ask OSNews. A reader sent us in a question about browser security and privacy. “Could you please advise me and your readers on what you consider to be the safest web browser? I am considering the term ‘safe’ from both a privacy and security stand point.”

Psystar Sues Apple, Demands Apple Stops Tying Snow Leopard – The week isn’t even over yet, and we already have another instalment in the Apple-Psystar soap opera. Psystar has filed a new lawsuit in the Florida Southern District Court in Miami, asking for an injunction and damages because of Apple’s “anticompetitive attempts to tie Mac OS X Snow Leopard to its Macintosh line of computers”.

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