Gnome cofounder: Desktop Linux is a CHERNOBYL of FAIL
Gnome project cofounder and current Xamarin CTO Miguel de Icaza says he's done wrestling with Linux on the desktop, and that he now uses Apple kit exclusively for all of his workstation needs.
De Icaza is well known in the open source community for developing a number of client-side technologies for Linux, including the Midnight Commander file shell, the Gnome desktop environment, and the Mono project.
But in a blog post on Tuesday, de Icaza wrote that not only does he no longer use Linux for his day-to-day computing needs, but he hasn't actually booted his Linux workstation since October 2012. In fact, he says, he hasn't even bothered to plug it in. Read more...
Facebook, Last.fm and pals to reach deep into Ubuntu
Websites will be able to hook into the Ubuntu desktop in the Linux distro's next release - allowing, for example, users to receive "new message" pings from webmail services.
Canonical boss and spaceman Mark Shuttleworth announced the availability of "web apps" in Ubuntu 12.10, due in October, at OSCON, Canonical marketing veep Steve George blogged. The new feature will make it possible for users to quickly jump to the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM, eBay and GMail from the desktop, he added.
To access a web app, visit a website participating in Canonical's project, click on a link and an icon is added to Ubuntu's left-hand launcher. Clicking on the icon will either take you to a tab in your browser where the site is already running, or open a new browser instance. This is roughly akin to pinning websites to the task bar in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to easily access sites. Read more...
New Opera 12 hooks web apps to 3D graphics acceleration
A new version of Opera's desktop browser rolls out today, six weeks after the public beta.
The list of new features hasn't changed much - and the new version also deprecates older features such as Opera Unite and widgets. HTML apps can now take advantage of experimental hardware acceleration and also access to the computer's webcam.
The hardware acceleration drills into the machine's 3D graphics processor to render pages, WebGL JavaScript code and the browser's user interface. It is enabled on an opt-in basis and remains labelled "experimental". Read more...
Oracle: Java 7 auto-update could kill E-Business Suite functionality
Oracle has issued an urgent bulletin asking desktop administrators to immediately turn off the Java Runtime Environment auto-update option "for all Windows end user desktops connecting to Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i, 12.0, and 12.1" due to a critical incompatibility.
The auto-update process to JRE 7 will happen as soon as July 3, but right now, Oracle's Forms development toolkit isn't compatible with Java 7, Oracle said in an official blog post. In addition, it said, the E-Business Suite itself has not been certified for Java 7.
Therefore, "Oracle E-Business Suite functionality based on Forms -- e.g. Financials -- will stop working if you upgrade to JRE 7," the post states. Read more...
Gnome 3.4 brings a bevy of big changes
Roughly a year after the launch of Gnome 3, the project's developers have unveiled Gnome 3.4, the second major update to the controversial desktop environment.
Newly added features in Gnome 3.4 include video calling, a new documents search facility, a new virtual machine and remote access application, smooth scrolling, new application menus, Windows Live online account integration, and a new animated background that adjusts its brightness over the course of the day. Read more...
Eclipse readies browser-based IDE
The Eclipse Foundation for open source development tools is eyeing July as the release date for the 1.0 version of its Orion browser-based IDE for building Web applications, which will be discussed at this week's EclipseCon 2012 conference in Reston, Va.
Unlike the signature Eclipse desktop IDE, which is geared to Java and C++, Orion is intended for HTML and JavaScript development, said Ian Skerrett, Eclipse vice president of marketing, in an interview. "The benefit [of Orion] is your development tool is where your apps are running," he said. Orion is particularly useful for cloud application development, Skerrett added. Read more...
Facebook Messenger For Windows Desktop Chat Client Launches After Leaking
You might spend more time using Facebook if you didn’t have to leave a browser window open, so today Facebook officially launches its Messenger for Windows free downloadable desktop client. But since an early tester leaked the download link in December and Facebook responded by making it publicly available, you might already have it. The client lets you persistently chat, receive notifications, and read your news feed from your desktop.
Facebook says “For those of you on Macs, we’re busy working on Messenger for Mac right now. Stay tuned.” Facebook Messenger for Windows can be downloaded here for Windows 7, and it will be promoted to Windows users around the world over the next few weeks. Facebook has exhausted much of the supply of new users to sign up in many countries. The product demonstrates its shift to focusing on squeezing every last drop of engagement from existing users. Read more...
Microsoft drops Start button from Windows 8, reports say
Microsoft will scratch the 17-year-old Start button from Windows 8, according to reports based on a purported leak of the latest beta build.
First reported by The Verge yesterday and then followed by other blogs -- all seemingly based on screenshots posted in a Chinese forum that claim the images are from the newest private "build" of the beta -- the Start button has been discarded in favor of a corner "hotspot" that when touched or clicked switches between the traditional desktop and the new Metro-style Start display.
Microsoft declined to comment on the reports, with a company spokeswoman saying, "We have no information to share at this time." Read more...
Sick of Ubuntu’s bad breath? Suck on a Linux Mint instead
If the jump from the GNOME 2 desktop to the new GNOME Shell or Unity desktop in Ubuntu has left you feeling dissatisfied, one increasingly popular distribution just might offer something that turns out to be the best of both worlds - Linux Mint.
Originally created as a spinoff of Ubuntu, Mint has long since come into its own and offers a number of advantages over other distros, including a desktop that dares to stay firmly in the Middle Earth of the ongoing desktop holy wars.
Mint takes what's good about the GNOME Shell while retaining what was great about GNOME 2. The result is not, surprisingly, a Frankendesktop of horrendous proportions, but something quite usable. The new Fedora and Ubuntu’s Unity could be considered responsible for an upsurge of interest in Mint, especially since Mint 12 late last year. Read more...
HP palms £316m in DWP desktop deal
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has awarded a significant desktop management contract to HP under the Desktop 21 framework agreement.
The five-year £316m Desktop 21 deal covers a range of desktop services including security, print, service desk and device provision and support, and will see the DWP move to HP's WorkPlace360 desktop management platform from 2013.
HP will begin work immediately to put in place the infrastructure needed to support Desktop 21, before moving on to virtualise DWP's desktop applications on a rolling programme, according to the DWP.
HP will then begin the roll-out of the new desktop hardware, including the deployment of thin client devices, which will be able to "support full or partial moves to cloud services at DWP's discretion", the department told Guardian Government Computing. Read more...
Sorry, tablets, laptops still dominate the enterprise
Bruce Smith is feeling some tablet pressure. As director of computing services for Cummins Inc., Smith helps the company's 40,000 employees get the right computers for their jobs.
For a majority of those employees, it's a desktop PC. For mobile professionals, it's a laptop. Select employees, such as engineers, get both a laptop and a workstation capable of high-capacity computing.
Now there's a new possibility on the horizon. Smith says lately he's been getting more and more requests from workers throughout the organization, from executives to HR, to deviate from the standard selection and bring tablets into the mix at the Columbus, Ind.-based company, which designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies.
So far he has said no. Read more...
No pain, some gain: Ubuntu Oneiric Ocelot examined
Ubuntu 11.10, just released as its first beta differs only slightly in its looks from its 11.04 predecessor – a fact that will be welcome news to penguins still reeling from that earlier version's grand re-boot.
That earlier release shed GNOME 2.x, ignored GNOME 3.0 and set its brand-new Unity interface as the default.
Unfortunately, while the Unity desktop has potential, the initial release was rough enough around the edges that I suggested at the time waiting for a few more releases before embracing it.
While the first beta of 11.10, called Oneiric Ocelot, is also a little rough at the edges and features some curious design decisions, the version of Unity here is more stable and it is faster than the version that shipped with 11.04. In other words, Unity is making progress, albeit slower than many would like.
Dash changes: expanded capabilities with windows-style resizing
One of the areas that has seen a considerable makeover in the last six months is Unity's Dash. First and foremost, the Dash button has been moved from the top panel to the Unity launcher and its capabilities have been extended. Read more...
Citrix buys VDI personalization vendor
Citrix has acquired RingCube, a vendor of software for personalizing desktops within VDIs (virtual desktop infrastructures), the companies announced Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
RingCube's software "will make it easier for IT to give each and every user a personalized desktop," said John Fanelli, Citrix vice president of enterprise desktop and applications. Citrix plans to pair RingCube's technology with its own VDI offering, XenDesktop.
RingCube's software will allow users to choose wallpapers, define their printers, install department applications and create their own areas for storing data. Read more...
Windows security begins at the desktop
The risks of desktop computing are now well known. They stem from the growth in financially motivated malware, which aims to steal from the user or from the user's employer.
Malware does this through viruses, worms and Trojans carried by emails, infected websites and so on. However, the tools to combat such attacks are now mature and malware is not a very profitable route into companies savvy enough to have deployed modern security systems and to keep their systems patched and updated. Read more...
AMD introduces branded memory modules for desktops
Posted by vica
Advanced Micro Devices' first branded desktop system memory modules, called AMD Memory, will be available in North America through major retailers, the company said Monday.
By offering its own branded memory modules for desktops, AMD aims to "take the guesswork out of DRAM selection, providing an easy and straightforward experience when looking for the ideal match for gaming or multimedia PC needs", it said in a statement.
AMD has been supplying and validating memory for AMD Radeon graphics cards for several years, and saw an opportunity to add system memory to its product line, AMD said. Read more...