Category Archives: OS
Where Does webOS Go From Here?
Praise tech Jesus, webOS still has a pulse! The mobile OS seemingly doomed to a cold eternity in a digital graveyard has been granted an open source reprieve. Great! Only question is, what comes next?
Obviously webOS is a platform built for smartphones and tablets, but HP making it open source means people can find some weird uses for the little OS that could. How would webOS be best put to use? We already know we’ll probably see another tablet from HP. They’ve conceded that much and we like that. A lot. But we’ve got some other ideas for how webOS could be used.
HTC Phones
HTC makes fantastic, well-built hardware, and is generally open to building devices for any viable platform. WebOS has always run on hardware that could have been better. HTC is also caught between Google and Microsoft in the patent wars, which has left them resorting to paying licensing fees to the latter in order to continue making Android phones. Unlike Samsung, they don’t pull revenue from other areas of tech, so they have no choice but to oblige. With HP already stating that they have no plans to make any more phones, this could be HTC’s chance to step in and produce something really badass.
Best Linux Antivirus
The Linux operating system is nearly impervious to an attack by the standard computer virus. Nevertheless, Linux malware does exist and it includes trojans and worms. The amount of malware that has been specifically written for Linux since 2005 has seen a two-fold increase. However, it must be remembered that using Linux as a desktop operating system has also seen an increased since that time.
The machines that are the most venerable are the ones that exist in a network environment with Windows machines that are using Samba or NFS. A Linux server is also venerable, but for different reasons. This means running an antivirus program on a Linux server or workstation is well worth the effort. While there are several antivirus programs out there for Linux, only one of them can be invoked using a script and run from the command line.
Can You Use Windows 8 as Your Primary OS?
I’m writing this right now using Microsoft Word on the recently released Windows 8 Developer’s Build. I’m using a real PC, not a tablet, and it’s a system any Maximum PC user would be proud of: a Core i7 990X system running 12 GB of RAM plus an eVGA GeForce GTX 580SC. The system also has a pair of 1080p monitors attached. The goal was to live with the OS for a few days as my primary operating system and see just how usable it is in its current state.
That’s not a criticism. After all, the Windows 8 Developer’s Build released during last week’s Microsoft Build conference was labeled pre-beta. The OS itself seems pretty solid. Installation was similar to installing Windows 7, though you do need to be careful, or you’ll end up with a login that requires an active Windows Live account. While having a Windows Live account is optional, I prefer to have my system login be local and private. Note that if you eventually want access to Metro UI apps and the Windows 8 app store, you’ll need a Windows Live account, though.
