Having read the CNet News.com story about Apple's supposed impending switch to x86, let me propose an excellent code name for this forthcoming system: “Nessie.” Like Nessie's namesake Loch Ness Monster, the rumor of Mac OS on x86 rings of the stuff of tabloids, not something that people take seriously. Of course, that leaves us to ask what we are to make of it when one of the most respectable online computer news sources, News.com, reports as virtual fact that Apple will be switching to Intel, and the story apparently seems credible enough to get Reuters to pick it up.
To say one could see a train wreck coming from hundreds of miles away when the Linux kernel development process switched to using BitKeeper to manage development is to make an understatement of the largest kind. The idea that the best known Free Software kernel would be developed with the aid of a non-Free development tool just seemed peculiar at best and dangerous at worst. OfB's Timothy R. Butler asserts that the moral of this story is one that every business ought to pay attention to.
It is a cliché worth recalling when designing software. Ninety percent of users, it is said, use ten percent of the features in a software package. For that vast majority of “average users,” the other ninety percent of the features only add needless complexity that make the key ten harder to learn. These extra features simply serve to increase the TCO of software deployments and headaches at the helpdesk, not productivity of the business.
Going into 2005, Mandrakesoft is a company that has gone against everything that was predicted. It has survived the dot-com bust, become profitable and continues to frown on the idea of moving away from Free and Open Source Software development in favor of the proprietary approach advocated by many of the newer GNU/Linux distribution developers. To catch up on the changes since their last full interview, Mandrakesoft co-founder Gaël Duval recently agreed to talk with OFB's editor-in-chief, Timothy R. Butler, about where the company is heading and the state of the industry at the present time.
UPDATED. According to live coverage of MacWorld in San Francisco by Mac enthusiast sites as well as official Apple information, three of the most pervasive Mac rumors in recent weeks will come true and soon. In his keynote speech today, Jobs announced the company's new office suite, low-cost Macintosh and USB key iPod would be available on January 22.
Tim's personal blog, asisaid.com, has died. Until it returns, this OfB post will serve as a way to leave comments regarding the announcement of the blog's death. This article will be deleted after the blog returns to the world of the living… hopefully later today, but maybe not.
With just a short time before Christmas, you may be wondering what little stocking stuffer you can get for your technically obsessed co-worker, computer savvy boss or geeky family member. It is not too late to pick out a gift that will stay out of the closet of useless gifts after the party's over. OfB's Timothy R. Butler looks at five great gift ideas below.
Perhaps in the long term, the MSN Music Store will come to overshadow Apple's iTunes Music Store. But even if it does, Apple already made it's mark on the industry. Many analysts compare today's music battle with Microsoft's war against the Netscape Web browser, which was seen as a challenge to Windows. Microsoft feared that software engineers would gravitate to developing applications on Netscape, thus circumventing Windows. The same possibility with iTunes is throwing a shadow over Microsoft's media hub plans for Windows.
Here is a scenario that probably sounds familiar if you have owned a laptop. You buy a sparkling new laptop and, no doubt, you would like to keep it in good shape — this is a machine that will be traveling with you for a long time. But soon, the case becomes marred and, if it is a particularly compact unit (such as an Apple PowerBook), your screen may start to show the impression of the keyboard on it. How could this have happened to your trusty companion? How can you prevent it next time? RadTech seems to offer some of the best solutions we have seen for these problems.