Gentoo Puts Out Linux 2006.0 Release
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

If you like to roll up your sleeves and get into the guts of Linux, if you like the Debian style of Linux, and if you like the idea of a sophisticated application packager, then you will probably like the Gentoo version of Linux. The Gentoo project yesterday put out its first release for 2006, which is called Gentoo Linux 2006.0, and it has lots of new stuff. READ MORE >

Itanium Proponents Say Ecosystem Is Growing
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It is perhaps ironic on an absurd scale that the 64-bit Itanium processor, which was pitched in the 1990s as a means of bringing RISC and Pentium architectures together and creating a united 64-bit platform for Unix and Windows and other platforms, for many years only succeeded in uniting all but a few staunch supporters. If platform providers were united, it was in their vocal disdain for the Itanium chip, which was late, underperforming, and incompatible with existing 32-bit Pentium and Xeon processors. READ MORE >

The Server Market Begins to Cool in Q4
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The latest server market statistics from IDC and Gartner came out last week. IDC gave out stats for the fourth quarter of 2005 and all of last year, while Gartner just talked about 2005. The two companies more or less agree on the shape of the server market, but it was IDC that came out and declared that revenues had actually declined in the fourth quarter, and shipments had begun to slow. Gartner was mum on the subject of the fourth quarter. READ MORE >

As I See It: Future Schlock
by Victor Rozek

Raymond Kurzweil and Bill Joy are the Yin and Yang of technological consequence prediction. Kurzweil, the optimist, is part inventor, part futurist, and part philosopher. He is a best-selling author, recipient of the 1999 National Medal of Technology, and member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, so he knows whereof he speaks. Joy, the pessimist, is the quintessential nerd, turned computer architect, turned dark futurist. He is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems and until 2003, he served as its chief scientist. He was also co-chair of the presidential commission on the future of IT research. So he, too, knows whereof he speaks. READ MORE >