Can Ubuntu Catch OS X in Two Years?

As far as current operating systems are concerned, Microsoft's Windows is undoubtedly the world-leader when it comes to installations on home desktops. In second place is Apple's OS X, and in a relatively close third, all Linux distributions. Thanks to Mark Shuttleworth's deep pockets, and creative marketing, his Ubuntu Linux distro has been growing steadily since its launch in 2004. But can Canonical pull off the 'impossible', and out-pace OS X, and eventually Windows?

That's the idea behind a recent posting at The Register. According to the site, Mark made a comment at the recent OSCON to call on the distro's developers to put forth a sincere effort to not only catch Apple, but surpass them, in terms of overall quality. The goal? Two years.

As it stands, that's a lofty goal, but I have little doubt it can be done. However, the fact of the matter is, the reason Linux hasn't caught on like OS X isn't because of ugly design, because really, Ubuntu and other popular distros are gorgeous. Rather, the fact that it's not easy is the reason it hasn't made a massive impact like it should have already.

When the day comes that the command-line in Linux is left only to the power-users, then the OS will catch on at a rapid pace. Until that time, we cannot just expect everyone to have the patience to learn an entirely new OS than what they are used to, if they need to type in random commands to install software, or get other minute details accomplished.

He also returned to a familiar theme of greater cooperation between disparate projects. Coordination of releases would be beneficial in cases where there are interdependencies, reducing bugs, helping produce a general open-source platform that could bring open source to the attention of the world at large.

Source: The Register

Is a Digg Purchase Around the Corner?

The popular social-networking site, Digg, has been around for a while... close to four years. Many sites of such stature don't normally last a single year before being snatched up, and for big money. Look at MySpace, for example. Paying attention to either TechCrunch or some other web 2.0-watching website will let you know just how often such sites get picked up.

So why has Digg still not been touched? Microsoft has a nice ad deal with the site, and numerous offers have been made, but no deal has ever been completed. Well, if this latest rumor is to be believed, then a sale might be very close, and I suppose it's absolutely no surprise that the purchaser would be Google.

The sum? $200 million... which seems to be a tad low for a site with such a massive traffic-flow. After all, the likes of Facebook are worth billions, not millions. But, it would still be a nice pay day for Kevin Rose, it goes without saying. I'm personally just getting tired of Google wanting to own everything, but I sure wouldn't blame Kevin and his crew if he jumped at the deal. Not surprisingly, prospects of how Google might kill Digg are already all over the place. We'll see where this goes...

The companies are now in final negotiations according to our sources, although it could be a couple of weeks before it closes. And while the major deal points have been agreed on, the acquisition could still fall apart. Microsoft, which was previously interested in the company, may be willing to step back in at a much lower price.

Source: TechCrunch

Intel Introduces EP80579 SoC Designs

No official press release has yet been posted, but our friends at HotHardware have the scoop on a brand-new Intel integrated processor family, called EP80579. This launch isn't so much for just the processors, however, but rather entire system-on-a-chips, meaning that key components, such as the memory controller, I/O hub and processor core are located on one chip.

These SoCs are designed for special environments, such as security, storage, communications and other industrial applications. They are designed to be efficient, powerful, small and capable of withstanding temperatures between -0°C - 70°C for the commercial models, and -40°C - 85°C for the industrial models.

Eight different models will be launched immediately, six for commercial application and two for industrial, and range between 11.5W - 21W, and also feature processor frequencies of 600MHz - 1.2GHz. You may wonder where this fits in when Atom is already on the market, but don't confuse the fact that these new processors are lower-powered and designed exclusively for specific scenarios. Atom is designed more for the regular consumer, as it is featured in many feature-packed MID's and other such devices.

In addition to lower-power characteristics and the smaller form factors enabled by the Intel EP80579's integrated design (in some cases, Intel claims they will lead to platforms that have a 45% smaller board footprint and 34% lower power dissipation), the main benefit of this product line is its native support of Intel Architecture (IA), aka x86.

Source: HotHardware

July 24th Tech Roundup

• Intel EP80579 - HotHardware
• AMD Phenom X3 & X4 Roundup - iXBT

• ASUS Trinity - HotHardware
• Sapphire HD 4870 - Overclockers Club
• Palit HD 4870 512MB - TheTechLounge
• XFX GTX 260 XXX SLI Performance Edition - Overclock3D

• Super Talent MasterDrive MX 60GB SSD - PC Perspective
• Corsair Flash Voyager Mini 4GB USB Drive - Technic3D

• Scythe Zipang CPU Cooler - Madshrimps
• Coolermaster GeminII S CPU Cooler - Frostytech
• Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme - Pro-Clockers

• NZXT Tempest - Pro-Clockers
• BFG LS550 550W - JonnyGURU