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Debian

Submission + - Compiz gets thumbs-up for Gutsy Gibbon (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Da Chronic
Da Chronic writes: After a vigorous debate at the last Ubuntu Technical Board meeting, the board decided to ship Ubuntu 7.10 with Compiz enabled by default. The decision was made despite the fact that Compiz still has some significant issues relating to drivers and Xorg. 'For instance, there are some problems — like accelerated video playback issues with Intel drivers — that can only be resolved by using the EXA accelerated rendering framework which is still not ready yet. When asked why Intel isn't addressing the driver issue, technical board member Mathew Garrett explained that "Intel are working on the basis that composited desktops won't be ready for rolling out until EXA is stable enough anyway, so it's not a concern [for them].' In the end, all but one member voted to include Compiz in Gutsy.
Microsoft

Submission + - Norway votes "No, with comments" to OOXML (freecode.no)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After a tough race and much debate, the organization responsible for Norway's vote in ISO has decided to vote "No, with comments". Standard Norge has been under much pressure during the last week and came out with its decision today. The comments accompanying the No are here: http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/
Windows

Submission + - The Future of Windows 7 (osweekly.com)

Submitted by
dingdong
dingdong writes: "Now that rumors of Windows 7 are starting to pour, what is the future of Windows 7? What will Microsoft have to do to be successful with this launch? Matt Hartley writes, "If we are to get serious about Windows 7, we need to accept that Vista is basically a better looking Windows Me release. Like Windows Me, Vista has a lions share of improvements, but at the same time, it is a step backwards as vendors apparently were not ready with their hardware during the OS release. Then there is the problem of Vista further segmenting the Windows users. Some of them baulked at the idea of using Vista as it was costly, along with offering little outside of improved security. At the end of the day, the next release of Windows had better be able to step up to the plate and find itself in a position to recapture the market share it has lost, as small as it may be."
Operating Systems

Submission + - Ubuntu prepares 'Gutsy Gibbon'

Submitted by Geoffery
Geoffery writes: Ubuntu developers have taken the wraps off the fifth update to the upcoming "Gutsy Gibbon" version, a major release that will include significant additions to the Linux distribution. A top Ubuntu design goal is ease of use, and several of the additions are user interface and configuration tweaks. A new graphical interface has been added for making adjustments to monitor settings, for example, it will be easier to choose graphics card drivers, set up dual monitors, change the default resolution for all users or change the monitor's refresh rate. Printing also has had an overhaul, with a virtual "PDF printer" set up by default to allow any application to output into PDF format.
Businesses

Submission + - How SBC (AT&T) pillaged South Africa's economy (busrep.co.za)

Submitted by Kifoth
Kifoth writes: For 8 years, SBC and Telekom Malaysia controlled South Africa's only telecommunications company, Telkom. Telkom had a government granted monopoly in order for it to connect the large parts of South Africa which had been neglected under apartheid. Instead of helping, SBC abused their position and raised Telkom's prices to amongst the highest in the world. The billions they made here ultimately went to fund their AT&T merger.

"SBC, described as "congenitally litigious", is said to have played a major role in the failure of South Africa's telecoms policy to develop a competitive telephone service. Under SBC's control Telkom not only failed to meet its roll-out obligations but behaved "as a tax on industry and a drag on economic growth"."
Books

Submission + - Programming Firefox with XUL (nullwares.com)

Submitted by
freedevelop
freedevelop writes: "Programming Firefox: Buiding Rich Internet Applications with XUL

        This is your guide to building Internet applications and user interfaces
with the Mozilla component framework, which is best known for the
Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client. Programming Firefox
demonstrates how to use the XML User Interface Language (XUL) with open
source tools in the framework's Cross-Platform Component (XPCOM) library
to develop a variety of projects, such as commercial web applications
and Firefox extensions. This book serves as both a programmer's
reference and an in-depth tutorial, so not only do you get a
comprehensive look at XUL's capabilities — from simple interface design
to complex, multitier applications with real-time operations — but you
also learn how to build a complete working application with XUL. If
you're coming from a Java or .NET environment, you'll be amazed at how
quickly large-scale applications can be constructed with XPCOM and XUL

        Topics in Programming Firefox include

*An overview of Firefox technology
*An introduction to the graphical elements that compose a XUL
  application
*Firefox development tools and the process used to design and build
  applications
*Managing an application with multiple content areas
*Introduction to Resource Description Files, and how the Firefox
  interface renders RDF
*Manipulating XHTML with JavaScript
*Displaying documents using the Scalable Vector Graphics standard and
  HTML Canvas
*The XML Binding Language and interface overlays to extend Firefox
*Implementing the next-generation forms interface through XForms

        Programming Firefox is ideal for the designer or developer charged with
  delivering innovative standards-based Internet applications, whether
  they're web server applications or Internet-enabled desktop
  applications. It's not just a how-to book, but a what-if exploration
  that encourages you to push the envelope of the Internet experience

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0596 102437"
Microsoft

Submission + - India shows thumbs-down to Microsoft's OOXML (indiatimes.com)

Submitted by
kdrlx
kdrlx writes: "India on Thursday gave Microsoft a thumbs-down in the war of standards for office documents. "We unanimously agree on the disapproval of OOXML with comments. The same will be submitted to ISO," National Informatics Centre head and BIS technical committee chairperson Nita Verma said after a marathon meeting that lasted over six hours.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/War_of_formats _India_shows_thumbs-down_to_Microsoft/articleshow/ 2305780.cms"
Google

Submission + - Google lashes out at Microsoft over shared source

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: Google has lashed out at Microsoft's request to approve its shared source licence as an official open source licence.

Chris DiBona, Google's open source programmes manager, proposed in a discussion on a mailing list for the Open Source Initiative (OSI) to set additional requirements for Microsoft beyond those spelled out in the Open Source Definition. Microsoft should be required to stop referring to its licences as 'shared source', which DiBona argued is confusing users. Redmond should also clearly present and label its licences to prevent confusion between its proprietary closed source licences and its open source licences.

Bill Hilf, Microsoft's general manager of platform strategy, quickly pointed out that none of DiBona's objections are listed in the Definition, and that Google's open source image itself is less than spotless.
The Internet

Submission + - A campaign to block Firefox users (whyfirefoxisblocked.com) 5

Submitted by rarwes
rarwes writes: A website is aiming at blocking Firefox users. This because a fraction of the Firefox users installed an Ad Blocker and thus stealing money from website owners that use ads. They recommend using IE, Opera or IE tab. From the site: Demographics have shown that not only are FireFox users a somewhat small percentage of the internet, they actually are even smaller in terms of online spending, therefore blocking FireFox seems to have only minimal financial drawbacks, whereas ending resource theft has tremendous financial rewards for honest, hard-working website owners and developers.
Networking

Submission + - Open Source Global Content Data Network Goes Live (o3magazine.com)

Submitted by
Kayla
Kayla writes: "o3 magazine launched the very first Global Server Load Balanced Content Data Network yesterday based on a 100% open source solution. o3 magazine is an open source digital magazine that is built exclusively with open source projects Scribus and The Gimp. The new Content Data Network was built using Nginx, Mongrel, Rails and OpenVPN. The details and configuration on how to build what until now was exclusive to expensive commercial load balancers is available in the latest FREE issue of o3 magazine. The CDN has over 8 data center locations around the world and will be hosting other open source projects over time."
Google

Submission + - Gmail bumped to 9000MB+

Submitted by morpheus83
morpheus83 writes: Many Gmail users are reporting that their storage has increased to 9GB, 9030 MB to be precise. It does not seem to be a glitch as Google might be trying to catch up with Yahoo which offers unlimited storage. For now only selected accounts are getting the upgrade.
Space

Submission + - Time may not exist ! by discovermagazine.com (animatedhomepage.com)

Submitted by
faffou
faffou writes: "I found this Article on discovermagazine.com . German scientists claim that Time does not exist in the quantical level of the physics... " It is an issue that many theorists have puzzled about. It may be that the best way to think about quantum reality is to give up the notion of time — that the fundamental description of the universe must be timeless ""

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