Software News

GNOME 2.10 Released

The GNOME project announced the release of the Gnome Desktop and Developer platform. GNOME 2.10 includes improvements to usability and stability, as well as new features for development and multimedia support. According to the GNOME project, GNOME 2.10 comes with key new features, such as an integrated video player for “one-click ripping and improved media format support,” better auto-detection of local hardware and network components, better application integration (including more support for cross-platform standards), and “thousands of bug fixes.” The GNOME 2.10 desktop is compliant with the cross-desktop Freedesktop.org standard. This release includes several new background images and patterns, as well as new menus and improvements to the panel. Also included is the Totem video player. The 2.10 update also offers performance improvements to the Nautilus file manager and several small improvements to the Nautilus user interface. The Epiphany web browser comes with some improvements, including a better full screen mode, a location bar that indicates whether a site is secure, and exportable bookmarks. The latest GNOME also provides better support for wireless networks, simplified utilities for managing users and groups, and improvements to the GNOME log viewer. Several Linux distributions are already slated to include GNOME 2.10 in the next release, including Fedora, Suse, and Ubuntu. The GNOME website offers a live CD that lets users get an early glimpse of GNOME 2.10. http://www.gnome.org/start/2.10

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4

Red Hat announced the latest release of their high-end Red Hat Enterprise Linux. According to Red Hat, their focus for Enterprise Linux 4 was on providing platform stability with a well tested 2.6 kernel, productivity improvements for the desktop, technologies for enterprise security, high performance, and scalability for both 32- and 64-bit workloads. Much of the work on RHEL4 reflects Red Hat’s effort to position Enterprise Linux as an alternative to Solaris, a mission that becomes more urgent with Sun’s recent move to open source with Solaris 10. At the same time, Red Hat is also no doubt watching the growing threat from Novell for the corporate market. In either case, the emphasis for RHEL4 is on security, stability, and performance. Enterprise Linux is available for a variety of processors in addition to the x86, including 64-bit Intel Xeon and Itanium systems, as well as IBM’s POWERz and S/390 systems. Like their competitors, Red Hat are stressing their array of support services as an integral part of the Enterprise Linux package. On the client side, the Red Hat desktop features improvements to wireless support and more reliable USB plug and play. http://www.redhat.com

Win4Lin Pro

Win4Lin Inc. a company that specializes in software for running Windows in Linux, announced a new member of their Win4Lin family of virtual operating system products, Win4Lin Pro, which lets the user run Windows 2000 and Windows XP applications in Linux. Win4Lin Pro solves a problem Win4Lin has faced with customers, in that previous versions only worked for Windows 98-compatible applications. According to the company, Win4Lin Pro runs “any Windows 2000 or Windows XP application with no change to the host operating system (e.g., no need to patch the kernel).” According to Win4Lin president Jim Curtin, “Previously, enterprises and users needing to migrate legacy Windows applications to Linux were stuck with either an expensive porting task or with clunky, non-integrated virtual machine solutions. Or, in the case of Win4Lin, with running Windows 98. Now with Win4Lin Pro’s full support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP, all the barriers to adoption have been removed.” http://www.win4lin.com/

New Novell Enterprise Server

Novell announced the release of Open Enterprise Server, a server suite designed to combine the best features of Novell NetWare with Suse Linux Enterprise Server. The tight integration of Linux with NetWare technology has been a goal of Novell’s since the company bought Suse last year. According to the company, Open Enterprise Server will provide a NetWare-like collection of capabilities for corporate networks, such as file, print, directory, management, collaboration, and application services. Novell CEO Jack Messman says, “Open Enterprise Server protects the prior investment the customers made in NetWare and extends to them the freedom and flexibility of Linux.” Novell also announced the upcoming release of Suse Linux 9.3, which they say will be available in mid-April 2005. http://www.novell.com/oes

SimplyMEPIS 3.3

MEPIS has released the SimplyMEPIS 3.3 bootable CD. Although the company states that SimplyMEPIS is for “beginner and expert alike,” the distro is clearly designed with the beginner in mind. Like other live CD distros, SimplyMEPIS lets you check your system to ensure hardware compatibility before you install. You can then opt to install to the hard drive. The goal of SimplyMEPIS seems to be to extend the power of the live distro to the Linux novice. The emphasis is on keeping the desktop simple. SimplyMEPIS comes with KDE 3.3.2, OpenOffice 1.1.3 (with WordPerfect document support), Firefox 1.0, the Mplayer plugin, Gaim, Xchat, Pan, Skype, GIMP, Digikam, GTKPod, Scribus, QTParted, and many other useful applications. SymplyMEPIS, a Debian derivative, includes Debian’s apt package system. The synaptic package system is also included and is recommended for beginners. You can choose Linux kernel 2.4.29 or kernel 2.6.10. http://www.mepis.org