Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon

The smiley face “emoticon” is twenty five years old. Wow! Does everything have a “birthday” these days?

The Smiley Turns 25

“Another milestone of online communications has been reached. The smiley turns 25, according to Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman who says he was the first to use three keystrokes. ‘Language experts say the smiley face and other emotional icons, known as emoticons, have given people a concise way in e-mail and other electronic messages of expressing sentiments that otherwise would be difficult to detect. Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly.'”

As you know, Freespire is my favorite Linux DESKTOP distro (followed closely by Kubutu.) My favorite SERVER distro is CentOS Linux. Anyway, a new version of Freespire is out! Check it out!

Freespire Linux Web Site

Changes:

Config files updated:
sources.list (commented out ubuntu repository sources resolving apt-get upgrade issues)

Packages upgraded:
cnr-client (new and improved CNR plugin version 0.1.2600)
flash9-plugin (updated to 9.0 r60 – version 9.0.60)
knetworkconf
knetworkmanager
kplayer (updated from version 0.5.3 to 0.6.3)
kuser
sun-java6-bin
sun-java6-jre
sun-java6-plugin

Packages removed:
nvu

It is interesting that they removed Nvu… maybe Komposer is taking over it’s “market share!”

Gordon Moore can rest easy. His “law” is still in effect!

Big future beckons for tiny chips

The next step in the silicon industry’s steadfast pursuit of ever smaller and faster chips has been unveiled. Intel has shown off what it says are the world’s first working chips which contain transistors with features just 32 billionths of a meter wide. Their production means the industry axiom that has underpinned all chip development for the last 40 years, known as Moore’s Law, remains intact. Speaking to BBC News, Dr. Gordon Moore said that he expected the proposition that bears his name should continue ‘for at least another decade.’ ‘Eventually, however, we’re down approaching the dimensions of individual atoms and that’s clearly as far as we can go down the path of shrinking dimensions,’ he told the BBC News website.”

The new release of OpenOffice.org is out! Check out the new features!

OpenOffice.org 2.3.0

It is a long list… but it does show that this is a major release!

SCO is doomed! Hah! There is justice!

SCO Files Chapter 11, Plans Reorganization, Lawsuits On Hold

“After the close of business Friday, the SCO Group – which was recently found not to own the UNIX trademark after all – announced it would be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In a prepared statement, SCO President and CEO Darl McBride said, ‘We want to assure our customers and partners that they can continue to rely on SCO products, support and services for their business critical operations. Chapter 11 reorganization provides the Company with an opportunity to protect its assets during this time while focusing on building our future plans.'”

Future business plans?!? Who would deal with these people?