Monthly Archive:: September 2008

Introducing SquirrelFish Extreme

Submitted by Hakime 2008-09-19 Internet 29 Comments

Just three months ago, we announced SquirrelFish, a major revamp of our JavaScript engine featuring a high-performance bytecode interpreter. Today we’d like to announce the next generation of our JavaScript engine - SquirrelFish Extreme (or SFX for short). SquirrelFish Extreme uses more advanced techniques, including fast native code generation, to deliver even more JavaScript performance. Benchmarks can be found Squirrelfish Extreme benchmarks can be found on the "Summer of Javascriptcore" blog. As seen, it claims to be faster than both Squirrelfish, Google's V8, and the upcoming Firefox javascript engine, Tracemonkey.

Ribbons, Ribbons, Ribbons

Thom Holwerda 2008-09-18 Windows 114 Comments

We all know that Windows 7 is on its way, planned for release somewhere late 2009 or early 2010. We already know it will have a multitouch framework, no major kernel and/or driver framework changes, and a new taskbar people at Microsoft are not supposed to talk about right now. The firs two milestone releases didn't appear to be very exciting, but now there is - supposedly - a milestone 3 (build 6780) release, and there is a screenshot, and more information on UI changes. According to Microsoft blogger Stephen Chapman, the ribbon will make its way to Windows 7.

Dirac 1.0.0 Released

Eugenia Loli 2008-09-17 Multimedia, AV 50 Comments

Dirac is an advanced royalty-free video compression format designed for a wide range of uses, from delivering low-resolution web content to broadcasting HD and beyond, to near-lossless studio editing. The v1.0.0 version was released yesterday, and the new VLC version supports playback of .ts/.drc Dirac files.

OEM Version of AmigaOS 4.1 for Sam440ep Imminent

Submitted by afxgroup 2008-09-17 Amiga & AROS 37 Comments

"Hyperion Entertainment VOF and ACube Systems SRL are pleased to announce that they have entered into an OEM license agreement which will allow ACube to offer its customers an OEM version of Hyperion's AmigaOS 4.1 operating system for their SAM440 range of motherboards. Prospective customers wishing to beta-test the near final OEM version of AmigaOS 4.1 for the SAM 440ep will be afforded the opportunity to do so and will subsequently receive the full version. Orders can be placed as of now with ACube. A first public demonstration of AmigaOS 4.1 for SAM440ep is scheduled for the upcoming exhibition Pianeta Amiga in Empoli, Italy on September 27-28, 2008." Update by TH: Due to all the massive cheering and excitement going on in the OSNews Boardroom and our company yacht, we actually forgot to link to the official announcements here and here.

Review: ‘EFI-X Dongle Perfectly Transforms PC to Mac’

Submitted by Andrew Youll 2008-09-17 macOS 76 Comments

If you want to run Mac OS X on a standard, non-Apple-labelled x86 box, you have various options. You can go all creative and build and install one yourself, and then be weary when installing updates from Apple. You can also buy a Mac clone from PsyStar, and then be weary of Apple's crack team of lawyers. A third option has just become available: EFI-X.

Review: Asus Eee PC 4G 701

Eugenia Loli 2008-09-16 Hardware 19 Comments

Our friends at Geeks.com, known for their cheap laptops offers, sent in one of the most popular netbooks around: the Asus Eee PC. The model is the 701 4G, with 512 MB RAM, and Windows XP in it. Read through for a review of the product.

Review: Citrix XenDesktop and the Future of VDI

Submitted by snydeq 2008-09-16 OS News No Comments

Paul Venezia offers an in-depth review of Citrix XenDesktop 2.0, touching on the growing importance Virtual Desktop Infrastructure as a whole. 'Citrix has married VDI to its existing stable of application and desktop delivery mechanisms, and it continues to leverage the stellar ICA protocol to assist in speed, user experience, and manageability,' Venezia writes. 'If the company can continue to improve XenServer, XenDesktop could become the showcase VDI implementation. As it stands now, coupling XenDesktop with VMware VI3 is probably the best of both worlds.'

VMWare Fusion 2.0 Released

Submitted by Andrew Youll 2008-09-16 OS News 8 Comments

"VMWare has released Fusion 2.0, which is a free upgrade for 1.x owners, new features / improvements of the Intel Mac virtualization software include: Multiple Snapshots & AutoProtect, Shared Folder, Improvements & Mirrored Folders, URL Handling, Application Sharing, True Multiple Display Support, Unity Improvements, Graphics Improvements. For details on all the above and more visit the Fusion website for the release notes."

10 Surprising Things About Windows Server 2008

Submitted by Flatland_Spider 2008-09-16 Windows 39 Comments

Builder Au looked closely at Windows Server 2008 and then listed the 10 things about the OS that left an impression on them. They looked at 64-bit compatibility, NT domain migration, and the licensing terms, just to name a few.

Uses Open Source Microsoft code

Submitted by John Mills 2008-09-16 Google 54 Comments

When Google released its Chrome web browser not too long ago, it of course emphasised that the browser was an open source product. The browser contains 24 parts originating from 3rd parties, and to some surprise, one of those parts comes from one of Google's biggest enemies - Microsoft.

Asus Eee PC 901 Linux Distribution Comparison

Submitted by Michael Larabel 2008-09-16 Rumors 12 Comments

PHoronix has taken a look at several Linux distributions running on the Eee PC 901. "Late last month we published our preview of the ASUS Eee PC 901 and we shared our plans for a number of benchmarks using this netbook with Intel's Atom processor. Following our Linux desktop encryption benchmarks of the ASUS Eee PC 901 and Intel Atom N270 CPU we have a performance comparison of Xandros, Fedora, Ubuntu, and Mandriva on this low-cost netbook PC."

VMware ‘OS’ to Expand Throughout Datacenter

Submitted by snydeq 2008-09-16 OS News No Comments

Facing increased pressure from rivals Microsoft and Citrix Systems, VMware will announce what it calls a 'virtual datacenter operating system' at VMworld this week to extend virtualization beyond servers and into all corners of the datacenter, including storage and network equipment. The products are scheduled for release in 2009. The 'VDC OS' is not a product but a set of capabilities that will appear in VMware Infrastructure 3 updates and other products.

Mac OS X 10.5.5 Released

Thom Holwerda 2008-09-15 macOS 19 Comments

Apple has released the latest update to its Leopard operating system, Mac OS X 10.5.5, with tons and tons of fixes. As always, the release is a recommended update fr all Leopard users, so fire up Software Update, and let's hope it doesn't cause any troubles. Read one for a quick rundown of the most important changes.

PC-BSD 7 Released

Submitted by Alexander Yerenkow 2008-09-15 PC-BSD 45 Comments

This release marks a milestone for PC-BSD, by moving to the latest FreeBSD 7-Stable and also incorporating the KDE 4.1.1 desktop. Users will immediately notice the improved visual interface that KDE 4.1.1 offers, as well as a large improvement in hardware support and speed from the update to FreeBSD 7-Stable. PC-BSD 7 also offers a large and growing library of self-contained PBI files available for installation, and improvments for other locales on our PBI Directory website. This release also offers new methods of installation, including a DVD, USB and Internet/network install. Note: Here is an interview with the lead developer of PC-BSD.

Xfce 4.6 Alpha Released

Submitted by Michael Larabel 2008-09-15 Xfce 30 Comments

It's been nearly 18 months since the last major Xfce release - Xfce 4.4, to be exact. Xfce 4.6 was supposed to go final this month, but the Xfce team didn't meet the deadline. Instead, they released the first alpha release of Xfce 4.6, and Phoronix summarises the most important changes, including a number of screenshots.

pt. IX: the Menu

Thom Holwerda 2008-09-14 Graphics 11 Comments

This is the ninth article in a series on common usability and graphical user interface related terms . On the internet, and especially in forum discussions like we all have here on OSNews, it is almost certain that in any given discussion, someone will most likely bring up usability and GUI related terms - things like spatial memory, widgets, consistency, Fitts' Law, and more. The aim of this series is to explain these terms, learn something about their origins, and finally rate their importance in the field of usability and (graphical) user interface design. In part IX, we are going to talk about the menu.

Netbooks and Mini-Laptops Buyer’s Guide

Thom Holwerda 2008-09-12 Hardware 41 Comments

As some of you may have noticed, I'm slightly obsessed with my Aspire One netbook, and actually, with netbooks in general. They are great little devices, more powerful than you'd give them credit for upon first encounter. And, but that might just be me, netbooks are what laptops should have been from day one: truly portable. El Reg has put together a buyer's guide for today's netbooks, and while the guide is generally spot-on with its assessments, it does present some odd choices here and there. Read on for some of my own thoughts grown out of experience.

Syllable Server 0.3 Released

Submitted by Kaj de Vos 2008-09-12 Syllable, AtheOS 4 Comments

The third release of Syllable Server has been published. This is the first release that focused on making the system actually usable as a server. A number of popular servers were added and configured, and also several innovative REBOL software stacks. Out of the imaginary box, Syllable Server is now ready for such things as accepting remote SSH log-ins over the network, running a web server on the Cheyenne REBOL server, running an FTP server and several more. Special attention has been paid to programmability, with support for developing Model-View-Controller web applications in QuarterMaster and networking applications with the REBOL/Services Service Oriented Architecture. The Genode Nitpicker windowing system is also included. Read the rest in the full changelog. An extensive manual was also written. Both a BitTorrent download (preferred) and a regular download are available (80MB 7-Zip archive).

Panel: Open Phones are More Vulnerable

Submitted by Dannys 2008-09-12 Privacy, Security 34 Comments

The opening up of the mobile industry is great news for application developers but not so good for IT security professionals, according to experts. For example, Symbian, the single most widely used mobile software platform, has already wrestled with the dangers of openness to third-party developers, said Khoi Nguyen, group product manager in mobile security at Symantec. Symbian 7 and 8 were fairly open and allowed almost any application to be installed and run. This led to a few hundred viruses being introduced within a couple of years, so Symbian 9 was locked down significantly, he said.

First Look Through Developer Eyes

Submitted by stonyandcher 2008-09-12 Google 22 Comments

Chrome is open source, and there's clearly still some work to be done on it. In this article Neil McAllister decided to take a peek under Chrome's hood and view it through the eyes of the developers who will improve and maintain it in the coming years. And it seems Google's open source browser has much to offer prospective hackers (provided they use Windows).

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