Cody Taylor

Google Drive, or Gdrive as it is better known, has to be the most anticipated Google product so far. When it arrives, Gdrive will likely cause a major paradigm shift in how we use computers and bring Google one step closer to dethroning Windows on your desktop.

Ars takes a close look at Seed, a new framework that allows software developers to build GTK+ applications with JavaScript. The popular web scripting language could soon become the dominant application extension language on the Linux desktop.

crankymonkey writes “The GNOME desktop environment could soon gain support for building and extending applications with JavaScript thanks to an experimental new project called Seed. Ars Technica has written a detailed tutorial about Seed with several code examples. The article demonstrates how to make a GTK+ application for Linux with JavaScript and explains how Seed could influence the future of GNOME development. In some ways, it’s an evolution of the strategy that was pioneered long ago by GNU with embedded Scheme. Ars Technica concludes: ‘The availability of a desktop-wide embeddable scripting language for application extension and plugin writing will enable users to add lots of rich new functionality to the environment. As this technology matures and it becomes more tightly integrated with other language frameworks such as Vala, it could change the way that GNOME programmers approach application development. JavaScript could be used as high-level glue for user interface manipulation and rapid prototyping while Vala or C are used for performance-sensitive tasks.'”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

* Freedesktop.org-compliant startup notifications. * Many fixes for 64-bit application support. * Improved graphics support in Internet Explorer. * Various Richedit improvements. * Better certificate manager dialog. * Various bug fixes.

Apple’s “OS X” (without the “Mac”) trademark filing reveals an intention to distance the OS from the Mac realm, indicating Apple’s desire to use OS X on a much broader array of gadgets in the future. Some Apple watchers are convinced we will see more OS X software platforms beyond current desktop and mobile OS X. Like a game console, for instance.

narramissic writes “Doing a download speed test of his Time Warner cable connection, James Gaskin discovered something odd, something that he is quick to note isn’t a rigorous benchmarked lab test. The discovery: His Ubuntu machine ‘returned a rating from the Bandwidth.com test of 22-25mbps over several tests’ while the same test done from a Windows XP PC returned a rating of 12-14mbps. The two computers used in the test are ‘almost identical: both off-lease Compaq small form factor D515s, part of the very popular corporate desktop D500 family. Both have Pentium 4 processors running at 2GHz. The Ubuntu machine has 768MB of RAM, while the XP box has only 512MB of RAM. Both run Firefox 3 as their browser.’ Gaskin’s question: Can a little extra RAM make that much difference in Internet download speeds or does Ubuntu handles networking that much faster than Windows XP?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

nandemoari writes “The damage isn’t just limited to the United States. Shipments of PCs in Europe, the Mid-East, and Africa dipped to records posted around the turn of the century. It was even worse in Asia, which according to Gartner, posted its worst growth rate ever — just 1.8 per cent. Within the industry, desktops took the hardest hit, as was expected. Sales of non-portable computers were down about 16 per cent as consumers opted instead for the rising ‘netbook’ and similar hybrids. That fact alone is troubling for PC makers, given that 0-0 netbooks offer a far lower profit margin than more expensive and more powerful laptops and desktops.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Moving from Windows to Linux is a big decision, but actually making the leap can be challenging and intimidating. By understanding the planning and preparation process for migrating to Linux, business owners and IT staff will know what to expect during installation so they can make the move manageable