Development

Might Windows 8 or 9 actually have Linux under the hood?

The sign off is sometimes pursued and valued as though it were some kind of ancient idol. It's taken for granted that it's a necessary part of the processes we use to produce product. But what does the sign off really mean?

When I ask developers "what programming language do you use?", the answer I usually get is a single language.  Most developers define themselves as a Java, C++, Delphi, C#, Visual Basic, PHP, Ruby or Python developer.  Some web developers will say they use JavaScript.  In fact most developers, today, use several programming languages.  Who doesn't also use JavaScript, HTML, XML, WSDL, SQL and other languages (domain specific, procedural, markup, functional, object-oriented, etc.).

Did you know that regardless of your infrastructure, you have the largest, most powerful performance enhancing platform in the world at your disposal? This platform is vast, infinitely scalable and most of all, it's free. What is it and how do I sign up? It's the internet itself! Let me give you an example of how to take advantage of this.

President Barack Obama's White House has chosen Drupal to run the whitehouse.gov Web site. They say George W. Bush's old CMS wasn't cutting it any longer. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers resist equating open source with socialism. Not to mention mugshot shirts...

The C++0x language standards committee meeting is taking place this week in downtown Santa Cruz, California, near where I live. 

C++0x is the informal name for the more formal designation: ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG21 - The C++ Standards Committee.  To unpack that:

There are reports circulating that there's been a leak of a beta copy of Google's Chrome operating system is now out and about. Don't believe them.

I love the Linux desktop, but facts are facts. Linux only holds a niche of the greater desktop market. Part of the reason is Microsoft's monopoly, but it's not just the Evil Empire that's kept Linux down -- Linux has done a lot of self-damage.

Allen Ginsberg may have seen the best minds of his generation destroyed by madness, but today I saw 60 of the best minds of *my* generation doing something more constructive: Putting their heads together to figure out the digital future of National Public Radio (NPR).

After kicking the tires of the beta of Ubuntu Linux 9.10, I'm impressed. This may be the best version of Ubuntu to date.

Touch applications have been around for decades.  You see many of these early single touch applications in supermarkets, bank ATMs, restaurants and airport check-in kiosks.  With the advent of the iPhone and Windows 7, multitouch applications are entering the mainstream of hand-held and desktop computing. 

Draw a simple sketch, and your computer converts it into a realistic photo. Science fiction? Well, some students have shown off PhotoSketch, their incredible project that does just that... supposedly. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers can't quite get their heads around it. Not to mention vehicles in compromising positions...

What do Microsoft, Red Hat, and Canonical all have in common? Disliking software patents.

Though Google's Linux-based Chrome operating system still hasn't made an official appearance, rumors are coming out of China of early devices running alpha Chrome, while some Linux fans have made their own version.

Where we've been and where we're going.