Last year I wrote an article titled “After Windows 7: What Microsoft Should Do” and gave my opinions of what Microsoft might have up their sleeve for the version coming after Windows 7’s release later this year. Here’s a slight update to those predictions.
After Windows 7: Update
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Karmic Koala Blueprints
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This week marks the real start to the development cycle for Ubuntu’s 9.10 release called Karmic Koala. The Ubuntu Developer’s Summit is being held in Barcelona this year, and is now in full swing. A lot of interesting blueprints have been uploaded to Canonical’s Launchpad service. Let’s see what kind of topics the Ubuntu folks are discussing for this release.
GNOME 2.26 was released a few months ago, bringing some small changes and overage polish to the venerable GNU/Linux desktop environment. In six months time, GNOME 2.28 will be released which will bring yet some more polish a few more changes. One year from now comes GNOME 2.30. This release should be a bit different than the other releases before it. GNOME 2.30 will renumbered to GNOME 3.0. That’s right, what would be the 15th release (only even numbered releases count, here.) of the GNOME 2.x line will indeed be the start of the GNOME 3.x regime.
But with GNOME 3.0 is supposed to come GTK+ 3.0. GTK+ is the toolkit upon which GNOME and its applications are written. It standardizes the look and feel of the desktop using widgets for things like title bars, buttons, text fields, and pretty much everything making up the user interface. For the folks that develop GTK+, branding it as a 3.0 release will mean taking a huge step forward. Unfortunately, for both the folks that develop GTK+ and the folks that develop GNOME, baby steps are usually the norm. Its no wonder they picked little gnome feet for the logo.
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve updated my two main systems from Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex to Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope. One of the pieces of software I install on both machines is VMWare Server 6.5. However, in Jaunty the installation is a little more than simply sudo-ing the installer script.
Quickly, here’s how to install VMWare Server 6.5 on a Jaunty machine. I’m not sure if its any different for 32-bit, but I run 64-bit.
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Install VMWare Server 6.5.
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Install the build-essential package from the apt repo. "sudo aptitude install build-essential"
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Backup the binary modules. "sudo mv /usr/lib/vmware/modules/binary /usr/lib/vmware/modules/binary.old"
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Recompile the binary modules with available kernel headers. "sudo vmware-modconfig --console --install-all"
That’s it. VMWare Server 6.5 should now start and you can load up your virtual machines and get computing. Enjoy.
Greening the Grid Smartly
Posted in Environment, Technology, 2 Comments »
Its 2009. However, the technology used to power all of our 21st century devices is borne out of 19th century ideas and 20th century implementations. The United States power grid is in need of an upgrade. The Obama Administration has set aside money in the latest round of stimulus to spearhead an upgrade of the ailing power grid. President Obama has even asked Congress to come up with legislation to spur development of new high capacity transmission lines and for the country to double its use of renewable sources of electricity. Energy moguls like T. Boone Pickens have developed plans on how to cut the country’s dependence on foreign oil and take advantage of sources of energy here in the United States. Even Google has stepped up and offered its own plan, called RE<C or Renewable Energy less than Coal. Over the last few years California has stepped up adoption of renewable power as a percentage of its total usage. In 2008 Governor Schwarzenegger even signed an executive order requiring California to obtain 33% of its energy from renewable sources.
Reforming Education: Preschool
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This week I published an article about reforming education in America. Indeed, I could not write only one article about this; Education in America needs a bigger overhaul than most people think. I’m going to attempt to break down my opinions on what needs to be reformed in a series of posts roughly following the education track in the United States. In other words, I’m going to devote an article to Preschool, Elementary School, Middle/Jr. High School, High School, College, and beyond. Then, possibly, I’ll devote a few articles to wrapping up the series with broader views that didn’t fit anywhere inside the other articles. Hopefully this will allow me to clearly and concisely explain my opinions and allow the readers to follow it easily. Read more »
Google Sync: Recommendations
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Recently Google released a tool that allows some mobile phones, including the iPhone, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile-based units to synchronize Google contacts and Google calendars. However, currently there are some limitations to this technology. Below are some recommendations for Google to implement in their sync technology.
