Category: Technology

According to Ars Technica, it looks like the next major iteration of Microsoft Windows, codenamed Longhorn and due in 2006, won’t have that spiffy database-driven file system (WinFS) that has been much hyped. Instead, word is that it will be scaled back from a full file system within a database that would allow you to do all the fun manipulations you could on such to just a mere indexing agent with some metadata improvements. That means that most of us will probably end up turning that feature off, as it will no doubt use up resources like WinXP’s indexing agent does with little gain. Additionally, WinFS will only support the files on your computer, and will provide none of it’s advantages to networked resources like originally planned.

Additionally, it appears that there will be at least one new version of MS Windows to be released between now and 2006, but it won’t be the rumored “Windows XP Reloaded”. It’s called Windows XP Premium and will not be available anywhere except as installed on a new store-bought computer, much like Windows XP Media Center Edition.

Gimp.org is reporting that v2.0 of the free and open-source GNU Image Manipulation Program, aka GIMP, is now available for download.

Versions are available for Linux, Microsoft Windows and OSX.

For those of you running Windows XP and have used the included msconfig.exe program to see what programs have been configured to autostart, you may have come across the Services tab, which lists all configured services for your system.

The utility does have a nice little feature in the “Hide All Microsoft Services checkbox down near the lower left, which will remove all non-third party services from the listing, leaving you with a nice list of services that have been added after your initial install.

Infrastructures.org is an interesting site with advice on managing a good number of computers in a well run organization.

Space.com has an article up about how the Mars rovers have been used to take pictures of Earth rising over the martian horizon. Of course, at that distance, Earth is nothing more than a somewhat large dot in the sky, something to give yourself pause when thinking about our place in the universe.