operating-systems

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Open WebOS progress April
"As April draws to a close we are pleased to share more code for Open webOS. This month's scheduled release includes support for Node.js as well as updates to Enyo and Ares. In addition, we are pleased to announce early delivery of the System Manager Bus (which was originally scheduled for July) and a release of three policy components based on our Platform Portability Layer. We're happy to be ahead of schedule in getting this component of the Open webOS platform into your hands." Can't wait for the day I can run an up-to-date WebOS version on my SII.
osnews.com | 17-May-2012 18:50

HTC ships custom Android builds to the US to avoid Apple patents
So, the new HTC phones are facing delays in the US, and they now ship with a slightly modified US-specific Android build which removes data tapping and sports an altered app associations screen to avoid Apple's patents. This is step one. Step two is companies avoiding the litigious and anti-consumer messes that are the US and German markets altogether. Clearly, IP laws are working to the benefit of the consumer and the market as a whole. Great work guys.
osnews.com | 17-May-2012 11:38

OpenSignalMaps logs 3997 unique Android devices
An interesting study has been making the rounds across the web these past 24 hours. The creators of OpenSignalMaps have been logging which new devices download their product, and they've collected data on 681900 devices. The results are... Diverse.
osnews.com | 16-May-2012 23:17

OpenMobile to let Android applications run on Tizen
A company called OpenMobile is demonstrating an application compatibility layer so Tizen can run Android applications, The Handheld Blog reports. "The solution is targeted towards OEMs and not end users. So it's upto the manufacturers of Tizen devices to modify the kernel etc. to bake support in for ACL."
osnews.com | 16-May-2012 22:50

Windows 8 Release Preview to include multi-monitor improvements
"Microsoft has greatly improved its Windows 8 multiple monitor support in the Consumer Preview version of the operating system, but the company has fine tuned this even more with the upcoming Release Preview. Mark Yalovsky, a member of Microsoft's User Experience team, has taken to the company's Building Windows 8 blog to detail a number of important improvements in the Release Preview, including improved mouse targeting on shared edges and the ability to launch Metro apps on any monitor. Although the post in question has been mysteriously removed by Microsoft, we managed to secure the details thanks to a Google cached version." Very welcome.
osnews.com | 16-May-2012 20:04

WSJ: Apple moves toward larger iPhone screens
"Production is set to begin next month for the screens, which measure at least 4 inches diagonally compared with 3.5 inches on the iPhone 4S, the latest phone from Apple, the people said." Cue the usual suspects twisting and turning to change the very fabric of space-time so that instead of 3.5" being the optimal size, 4.0" will be the optimal size. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
osnews.com | 16-May-2012 13:39

Google to expand Nexus program
"Google plans to give multiple mobile-device makers early access to new releases of Android and to sell those devices directly to consumers, said people familiar with the matter. [...] The expansion of direct sales marks a bid to exert more control over key features and apps that run on Android-powered phones and tablets, thus reducing the influence of wireless carriers over such devices, these people said. Wireless carriers typically handle marketing and sales of devices and thus can exert some control over the services that run on them." So, an expanded Nexus program that includes several smartphones and tablets without crapware. Sounds good.
osnews.com | 16-May-2012 11:26

Alsup: "I've written [...] code like rangeCheck a hundred times before"
A bit of a fascinating little surprise in the Oracle vs. Google proceedings yesterday. As it turns out, judge Alsup... Has done, and still does, a lot of programming, and hence, he knows just how silly the whole rangeChek issue is. Addressing Oracle's lawyer, Alsup notes: "I couldn't have told you the first thing about Java before this problem. I have done, and still do, a significant amount of programming in other languages. I've written blocks of code like rangeCheck a hundred times before. I could do it, you could do it. The idea that someone would copy that when they could do it themselves just as fast, it was an accident. There's no way you could say that was speeding them along to the marketplace. You're one of the best lawyers in America, how could you even make that kind of argument?" Ouch.
osnews.com | 16-May-2012 09:35

Register for the HP Discover Conference
OSNews sponsor Hewlett-Packard is extending an offer to OSNews readers who register for the upcoming HP Discover conference: "This is HP's largest global conference for customers and partners attracting 10,000 IT executives, managers, architects, engineers, and solution experts from around the world. Join them to network and explore pivotal technology developments, best practices, and strategies." Readers can get a $300 discount on registration by using this link and using the discount code: "BLOG."
osnews.com | 15-May-2012 20:57

If you can copyright an API, what else can you copyright?
"If Judge William Alsup rules that APIs are subject to copyrights, he would overturn common wisdom in programming circles, potentially exposing many companies and developers who have built software platforms that openly mimic existing APIs. But that's not all. Such a ruling could shake things up for many other companies across the programming world and beyond." The fact we even have to worry about this speaks volumes about the state of the industry.
osnews.com | 15-May-2012 20:04

My Raspberry Pi thinks it's a mainframe
"As the Raspberry Pi started to ship the Sinclair ZX Spectrum turned 30 years old, and comparisons were being made between the two and their role in providing access to affordable computer hardware. Given the phenomenal advances in computing since the birth of the ZX Spectrum, I thought it might be fun to compare the Raspberry Pi with a computer that was closer to the state of the art at around that time, and to see if the Raspberry Pi could fill its shoes..."
osnews.com | 15-May-2012 16:05

Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition sells one million copies in five days
One million copies sold in 5 days, $20 million in sales. People have already sunk 5.2 million hours into the game, including 2.4 million hours in 4 million multiplayer games. Minecraft on the Xbox 360 is yet another massive success. Pretty amazing. Coincidentally, I'm kind of done with Minecraft single player (on the PC, that is). Anybody here running a decent survival multiplayer server with mods (levelling, economy, etc.)?
osnews.com | 15-May-2012 13:56

What's wrong with Windows 8
For weeks - if not months - I've been trying to come up with a way to succinctly and accurately explain why, exactly, Windows 8 rubs me the wrong way, usability-wise. I think I finally got it.
osnews.com | 15-May-2012 00:49

Wozniak calls for open Apple
"I think that Apple could be just as strong and good and be open, but how can you challenge it when a company is making that much money?", Wozniak told a crowd in Sydney, according to ITNews. They'd score so many brownie points the internet would explode.
osnews.com | 14-May-2012 20:28

Dutch Pirate Bay judge is corrupt, claims Pirate Party founder
"This week yet another court order was handed down in Europe with the aim of censoring The Pirate Bay. The ruling forbids the Dutch Pirate Party from not only running a direct proxy, but also telling people how to circumvent an earlier court ordered blockade. However, according to Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge, the judge in the case has a history of corruption relating to another file-sharing case he presided over in the Netherlands." This news has knocked me off my chair in disbelief that something like this could happen in The Netherlands. Yes, that was quite obviously sarcasm.
osnews.com | 14-May-2012 18:57

Judiciary Committee to look at Microsoft competition allegations
"Senate Judiciary Committee staffers plan to take a look at allegations that Microsoft has made it difficult for competing Web browsers to run on a certain version of Windows, an aide to Antitrust subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl told The Hill Thursday." Good. We have to nip this in the bud, and with a bit of luck, it alerts Washington to the iOS situation as well. More browser competition equals a better web - mobile devices aren't magically exempt from this just because they have no keyboard. As simple as that.
osnews.com | 14-May-2012 17:20

FreeBSD: Clang replacing GCC in the base system
"The intent is to switch on this option by default rather sooner than later, so we can start preparing for shipping 10.0-RELEASE with Clang as the default system compiler, and deprecating gcc." Good to see Clang/LLVM continue to gain as much steam as it does. This will only make GCC better.
osnews.com | 14-May-2012 15:55

Systemd tuning gets boot times down to less than 2 seconds
Lennart Poettering, the author of systemd, has announced: "I just put a first version of a wiki document together that lists a couple of easy optimizations to get your boot times down to [less than] 2s. It also includes a list of suggested things to hack on to get even quicker boot-ups."
osnews.com | 14-May-2012 01:48

Yahoo CEO to step down
"Yahoo's embattled CEO Scott Thompson is set to step down from his job at the Silicon Valley Internet giant, in what will be dramatic end to a controversy over a fake computer science degree that he had on his bio, according to multiple sources close to the situation." I can't even bother to feign interest.
osnews.com | 13-May-2012 21:47

Redesigning chkdsk and the new NTFS health model
I may not be particularly enamoured with how badly Windows 8 handles mouse, keyboard, and window management right now, but as far as under-the-hood improvements go, Microsoft is packing. They're redone much of the chkdsk utility, but they forgot to fix one important thing: rename the darn thing to checkdisk already!
osnews.com | 13-May-2012 20:43

Baidu to launch new version of its Android fork next week
Baidu, the Chinese search engine, will launch its own smartphone operating system next week, according to Reuters. It's an Android fork, but with all the backend services handled by Baidu, obviously. The first leaked shots of a supposed device look remarkably like a Nokia Lumia - but not bad, really.
osnews.com | 13-May-2012 19:22

Microsoft funded startup aims to kill BitTorrent traffic
"The Russian based 'Pirate Pay' startup is promising the entertainment industry a pirate-free future. With help from Microsoft, the developers have built a system that claims to track and shut down the distribution of copyrighted works on BitTorrent. Their first project, carried out in collaboration with Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures, successfully stopped tens of thousands of downloads." Each of which, naturally, ran out to buy the film in question right away, recouping the costs for hiring the firm. None of these people, naturally, simply tried again a few hours later. Primo plan, guys.
osnews.com | 13-May-2012 15:10

Windows 8 build 8375 images surface, a few small changes
"The new changes include several new lock-screen images, the Windows Store tile is now green, and the small magnifying glass in the bottom right corner when you scroll has changed to a simple square. While nothing major, they are representative of the across-the-board tweaks we expect to see when the Release Preview hits the digital shelves in June." So, nothing to address the core issues with Windows 8's mouse/keyboard-hostile environment. Sad.
osnews.com | 12-May-2012 00:57

Apple's coming map application will 'blow your head off'
"Between 2009 and 2011, Apple acquired three mapping companies in quick succession: Placebase, in 2009; 3-D mapping outfit Poly9 in 2010; and in 2011, C3 Technologies, a second 3-D mapping company. Three mapping-company acquisitions in as many years. But for good reason: Apple has been hard at work developing its own in-house mapping solution for iOS, and now it's finally ready to debut it." I'm probably crazy, but I've never used the map applications on my mobile phones, so it's difficult for me to get excited about this.
osnews.com | 11-May-2012 22:42

Foxconn chairman: we're going to build Apple's television
The next frontier for Apple - and other technology companies - to conquer: the television market. Terry Gou, chairman of Foxconn, has confirmed his company will be building a television for Apple in conjunction with Sharp. Since I bought a brand-new top-of-the-line TV late last year, I've been thinking a lot about what could be improved about the state of TV today, and as crazy as it seems, I'm actually not that dissatisfied.
osnews.com | 11-May-2012 21:10

Intel CEO dings ARM's Windows 8 'legacy' vulnerability
Intel CEO Paul Otellini on Windows 8 x86 and Windows 8 ARM: "We have the advantage of the incumbency, advantage of the legacy support. Not just in terms of applications but devices." Yes, because the lack of their favourite Windows applications was really a massive hurdle for Apple and its ill-fated iPad effort from a few years ago. Anyone remember that thing?
osnews.com | 11-May-2012 01:26

Windows Phone Marketplace begins rebranding on Nokia devices
The partnership between Nokia and Microsoft deepens. Updates to Nokia Lumia devices change the Marketplace tile to a specific Nokia tile - unheard of for Windows Phone, which is governed by strict rules. This is part of the Tango update. Is this an innocent change, or the prelude to fragmentation, or worse - a fork? While that's probably a little dramatic, this probably does worry the other Windows Phone OEMs.
osnews.com | 11-May-2012 00:09

Microsoft to bring full Internet Explorer browsing to Xbox 360
"Microsoft is currently testing a modified version of Internet Explorer 9 on its Xbox 360 console, according to our sources. The Xbox 360 currently includes Bing voice search, but it's limited to media results. Microsoft's new Internet Explorer browser for Xbox will expand on this functionality to open up a full browser for the console. We are told that the browser will let Xbox users surf all parts of the web straight from their living rooms." So, when did browsing on your TV turn into something that isn't useless?
osnews.com | 10-May-2012 22:23

Mozilla, Google voice concern over Windows 8 browser restrictions
Both Mozilla and Google have expressed concern over Windows 8. Microsoft's next big operating system release restricts access to certain APIs and technologies browsers need - only making them available to Internet Explorer. Looking at the facts, it would seem Mozilla and Google have a solid case - coincidentally, the responses on the web are proof of the slippery slope we're on regarding ownership over our own machines.
osnews.com | 10-May-2012 20:06

Dutch The Pirate Bay blockade extended to all ISPs
Since The Pirate Bay blockade (which is easily circumvented) has just been extended to all other ISPs in The Netherlands (logically, court orders fall outside net neutrality), here's a link to a landing page which automatically redirects Dutch visitors to a valid The Pirate Bay proxy, circumventing the blockade. The more resourceful among us can always alter their hosts file, add a redirect in their router software, change DNS servers (any pros and cons from people who actually do this?), and about a gazillion other things. The Dutch copyright lobby's next step? Blocking websites that detail how to circumvent the blockade. Hey Kuik, we're right here!
osnews.com | 10-May-2012 12:08

Oracle's request for fair use ruling denied, not much else left
"[...] despite Oracle pointing out the commercial success of Android - which would tend to weigh against a finding of fair use - it was clear that Judge Alsup wasn't inclined to side with the company. The judge even scolded Oracle counsel Michael Jacobs when he first argued his case, pointing out that the company's legal team had insisted on a jury trial and that 'now we got their verdict and you want something else'." Someone must be having a bad day.
osnews.com | 10-May-2012 07:00

FSF statement on jury's partial verdict in Oracle v Google
John Sullivan, executive director of the Free Software Foundation: "Were it grounded in reality, Oracle's claim that copyright law gives them proprietary control over any software that uses a particular functional API would be terrible for free software and programmers everywhere. It is an unethical and greedy interpretation created with the express purpose of subjugating as many computer users as possible, and is particularly bad in this context because it comes at a time when the sun has barely set on the free software community's celebration of Java as a language newly suitable for use in the free world. Fortunately, the claim is not yet reality, and we hope Judge Alsup will keep it that way." Couldn't agree more.
osnews.com | 10-May-2012 03:08

Facebook launches application store
Because there aren't enough of these things already: "Today, we're announcing the App Center, a new place for people to find social apps. The App Center gives developers an additional way to grow their apps and creates opportunities for more types of apps to be successful." Like I'm giving Facebook my credit card number. I mean, Apple, Microsoft, and Google: fine. But I draw the line at Facebook. Really. I will. And yes, this is sarcasm.
osnews.com | 10-May-2012 01:26

DVDs, Blu-rays will carry two unskippable government warnings
"Will the two screens be shown back to back? Will each screen last for 10 seconds each? Will each screen be unskippable? Yes, yes, and yes. An ICE spokesman tells me that the two screens will 'come up after the previews, once you hit the main movie/play button on the DVD. At which point the movie rating comes up, followed by the IPR Center screen shot for 10 secs and then the FBI/HSI anti-piracy warning for 10 secs as well. Neither can be skipped/fast forwarded through.'" That'll surely teach the pirates who don't buy DVDs or Blu-rays.
osnews.com | 10-May-2012 00:30

OS X 10.7.4 released
Apple has released OS X Lion 10.7.4, which, among several other bug fixes, plugs a hole in FileVault that affected some users. Nothing particularly interesting going on otherwise.
osnews.com | 09-May-2012 22:44

HP states they didn't copy Apple's MacBook Air
Speaking of HP, the company replied to a question if they copied Apple for their latest ultrabook, the Envy Spectre XT. "There are similarities in a way, not due to Apple but due to the way technologies developed. Apple may like to think that they own silver, but they don't. In no way did HP try to mimic Apple. In life there are a lot of similarities." It's an ultrabook, a category of laptops defined by Intel. Coincidentally, Intel also developed the internals of the MacBook Air. These products are looking relatively similar because their internals have been designed by the same damn company. Get over it.
osnews.com | 09-May-2012 20:16

How Hewlett-Packard lost its way
"Leo Apotheker's disastrous tenure as HP's CEO revealed a dysfunctional company struggling for direction after a decade of missteps and scandals. Can his replacement, Meg Whitman, fix the tech giant?" As a consumer, I wish they simplified their product line-up. They have the engineering skills - I just have no idea what I'm supposed to buy when I visit their site. The choice for the ZenBook late last year instead of anything HP had to offer was elementary.
osnews.com | 09-May-2012 19:09

DragonDrop: useful Mac OS X drag & drop utility
"Dragging and dropping is a great way to get stuff done on your Mac, but DragonDrop makes it even better. DragonDrop lets you set down what you're dragging, leaving you free to find your destination without worrying about keeping the mouse button held down." Great utility (found via Daring Fireball), but shaking with the mouse is a horrible interaction - it's very intensive and error-prone (Aero Shake, anyone?). I'd love for that little drop container to be permanently visible (oh, and a Windows/Linux version would be awesome, of course).
osnews.com | 09-May-2012 04:02

London to test 'smart city' operating system
"An operating system designed to power the smart cities of the future will be put through its paces in London. Living Plan IT has developed its Urban OS to provide a platform to connect services and citizens. With partners including Hitachi, Phillips and Greenwich council, it aims to use the Greenwich peninsula as a testbed for new technologies running on the system. The OS aims to connect key services such as water, transport, and energy." UrbanOS goes way over my head - it'd be great if someone could summarise how it works and what its key aspects are.
osnews.com | 09-May-2012 01:42

Net neutrality passes through Dutch senate
Yeah, this is pretty awesome for us Dutch (all 16 million of them) here in this glorified swamp. Today, our new telecommunications act was accepted by the senate - usually a formality, but still a possible point of failure. Why is this news? Well, this new telecommunications act includes unconditional net neutrality, making us the second country in the world to codify unconditional net neutrality (after Chile). Mobile or regular, net neutrality for all. We're running ahead of Europe here, so hopefully the rest of the EU is going to just copy/paste this one.
osnews.com | 08-May-2012 23:41

Apache OpenOffice 3.4 released
"The Apache OpenOffice Project today announced the availability of Apache OpenOffice 3.4, the first release of OpenOffice under the governance of the Apache Software Foundation." I don't think OpenOffice could have ended up in a better foster home.
osnews.com | 08-May-2012 23:05

Nokia details exclusive apps, games for Lumia phones
A long list of new Windows Phone applications Nokia is developing in conjunction with partners (and a few non-Nokia ones). A number of them are going to be Nokia Lumia exclusives - I'm not sure the rest of the Windows Phone OEMs are going to like that. It'll be interesting to see how far Nokia and Microsoft can take this before everything snaps.
osnews.com | 08-May-2012 22:03

AT&T, Google duke it out over who causes Android upgrade delays
This is fun. The number one iOS carrier duking it out with the company behind the world's most popular smartphone operating system. Last month, Google's lead for the Android Open Source Project, Jean-Baptiste Queru, more or less blamed carriers (see comments) for Android's upgrade woes. Yesterday, AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson retaliated, blaming Google for the delays. And yes, Google already responded to that, too.
osnews.com | 08-May-2012 19:55

Tizen: interesting, but the smartphone market needs consolidation
Tizen reached 1.0 only recently, but there's already a Tizen Conference going on - and during that conference, Samsung had a relatively barebones reference device running Tizen 1.0. The Handheld Blog has a seven minute video of the device in action, and while I'm very happy big players are investing in all these alternative platforms, I do have to wonder - how viable are they?
osnews.com | 08-May-2012 13:56

Google infringed Java copyrights, but we don't know if that's illegal
There's some movement in the Oracle-Google lawsuit today, but it's rather difficult to determine just what kind of movement. The jury was told by the judge Alsup to assume APIs are copyrightable - something Alsup still has to determine later during trial - and with that in mind, the judge ruled Google violated Oracle's copyright on Java. However, the jury did not come to an agreement on a rather crucial question: whether or not it was fair use. All in all, a rather meaningless verdict at this point, since it's incomplete. Also, what kind of nonsense is it for a judge to tell a jury to assume something is illegal? Am I the only one who thinks that's just complete insanity?
osnews.com | 07-May-2012 22:09

ACTA is effectively dead
"ACTA is effectively dead, the European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda admitted Friday. An official spokesman said the 'political reality' was the fight was over. Neelie Kroes, speaking at a conference in Berlin, told delegates: 'We have recently seen how many thousands of people are willing to protest against rules which they see as constraining the openness and innovation of the Internet. This is a strong new political voice. And as a force for openness, I welcome it, even if I do not always agree with everything it says on every subject. 'We are now likely to be in a world without SOPA and without ACTA.'" That's how we roll, web.
osnews.com | 07-May-2012 09:47