July 16, 2010
by sjvn01
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OpenSUSE 11.3: The Linux distribution for KDE lovers

I’ve been using SUSE Linux since its start in 1994 and then, as now, I like this strong desktop Linux distribution. Of course, openSUSE 11.3, the latest version, doesn’t look a lot like that vintage Slackware variant, but one thing has remained the same. Today’s OpenSUSE is a Linux for users, not developers or Linux technicians.

In particular, openSUSE 11.3 is the distribution for people who like the KDE 4.x desktop. While openSUSE offers baked-in support for more other desktop interfaces than most Linux distributions, such as GNOME 2.30.1 with a preview of GNOME 3.0 and the lightweight XFCE 4.6.2, it’s really the showcase for the latest in the KDE 4.4.4. While I’m still fond of the older KDE 3.5.x desktop interface, many users are fond of KDE 4.4 and, if you’re one of those people, openSUSE 11.3 is the Linux distribution for you.

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July 13, 2010
by sjvn01
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Windows 7 SP 1: You Don’t Need to Wait

If your business is like many, you’ve been waiting for Windows 7 SP1 before even thinking about moving from Windows XP to Windows 7. But with Windows 7, you haven’t really needed to do that. Out of the box, Windows 7 was ready to go.

Mind you, I say that as someone with little love for Windows. I think Linux makes a better desktop. That said, if you’re sticking with Windows and there was some reason to avoid moving to Windows 7, I’d be the first to say so. Instead, I find myself agreeing with Michael Silver, a research director in Gartner’s client computing group, who said, “The first Service Pack for Windows 7 is not necessary for the operating system’s stability and security readiness.”

Indeed, if you look closely at the Windows 7 SP1 beta, which I have (and you can download the Windows 7 SP1 beta here), you’ll see that – unlike, say, the jump from Windows XP SP 2 to Windows XP SP3 – this is not a significant upgrade. Indeed, Windows 7 SP1 is nothing more than a round-up of previous fixes already delivered through Windows Update.

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July 13, 2010
by sjvn01
1 Comment

XP lives! Windows 7 dies?

OK, color me surprised. The last thing I expected from Microsoft was for the company to extend Windows XP’s life for an unbelievable ten-more years. I thought Microsoft might extend XP Home’s life for a while to try to keep Linux-powered netbooks at bay, especially those with Google’s forthcoming Chrome operating system under the hood, but the business XP line? Until 2020!? I never saw that coming.

You see I had though Microsoft was selling a lot of copies of Windows 7. Certainly, that’s what Microsoft has been saying. Last January, Microsoft CEO and chief cheerleader Steve Ballmer had claimed that, “U.S. retail data shows that Windows PC sales jumped almost 50% the week it launched.”On Black Friday, [NPD] reported that retailers sold 33% more Windows PCs than the year before. And for the 2009 holiday season a 50% increase in Windows PC sales from last year. Last year was a tough year, but these are still phenomenal numbers.”

I guess the word we should have been paying attention to in this speech was “tough.” A lot of other people have theories about why Microsoft is doing this. Of them all, I find Preston Gralla’s theory, that Microsoft did it to con… ah “get enterprises to buy Windows 7 now rather than later” to be the most persuasive. But, I don’t quite buy that one either.

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July 12, 2010
by sjvn01
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Will you be taking an e-reader or tablet to school this fall?

When I went to college, there were days I’d carry over 20-pounds of books to school in a backpack. Of course, we had it tough back then, “We used to ‘ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o’clock at night and lick the road clean wit’ tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit’ bread knife.”

Seriously, though, textbooks were, and still is, a major pain to the back, not to mention hurting my wallet. That’s changing now. The rise of e-readers, like the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook and, what I see e-readers’ replacements, tablets like Apple’s iPad, the Cisco Cius and the upcoming wave of Android Linux powered tablets will replace textbooks.

You can already use tablets to highlight sections in your e-books and add notes to them. It’s a bit clumsy though now. Barnes & Noble wants to make it easier.
In its just announced NOOKstudy program study, this application will integrates instant eTextbooks downloads with support for searchable lecture notes, the class syllabus, color slides and images, and other course-related documents, and more. If all goes well with the closed beta testing, you’ll be able to download the free NOOKstudy this fall.

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July 12, 2010
by sjvn01
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Even as SCO dies, the company lies

This would be funny if only there weren’t people out there who are fool enough to believe in any anti-Linus lie. I mean, how dead does SCO have to be before its anti-Linux FUD finally disappears into the history books? It’s not dead enough yet it seems.

In the latest revival of SCO’s long disproved claims that there’s Unix in Linux, Kevin McBride, brother to SCO’s ex-CEO’s Darl McBride, claims in the comments to a post on the Lanham Act on his law firm’s Website that, “after careful review of all these issues, … Linux DOES violate UNIX copyrights, particularly in ELF code and related tools (debugger code, etc.), header file code wherein implementation code (not just the header interface) have been copied verbatim; STREAMS code; etc. that the Linux community use without license. Then there is the entire question of the overall structure and sequence of Linux being almost an exact copy of UNIX.”

McBride goes on to write, “There was MUCH more submitted in the SCO v. IBM case that I cannot disclose publicly because it is comparison of code produced by IBM under court protective order that prohibits disclosure.” Oh no! Not the old SCO, “We do have evidence but we can’t show it to you!” line.

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Practical Technology

for practical people.

OpenSUSE 11.3: The Linux distribution for KDE lovers

Windows 7 SP 1: You Don’t Need to Wait

XP lives! Windows 7 dies?

Will you be taking an e-reader or tablet to school this fall?

Even as SCO dies, the company lies