news

Dear Editors, we just posted a new article which might be interesting to your readers. A post in your news section would be appreciated. Title: Crucial Ballistix Tracer Red 800 MHz 4 GB Kit Link: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Crucial/Ballistix_Tracer_Red Brief: Crucial has updated their successful Tracer line-up with the Ballistix Tracer 4 GB Dual Channel kit. Despite stock ratings at 800 MHz with CL4 timings at 2.2V this kit is capable of reaching 1120 MHz stable at CL5 and 2.2V. In addition, the Ballistix Tracer Reds were completely stable at stock speed and timings with only 1.8V, making this a great kit for those with limited voltage options. That said, the entirely red LED accented theme and great performance from these high density 2GB modules is sure to please.

MSI have long been known for their motherboards and graphics cards but more recently we have seen them come up with some unique features which set them apart from other manufacturers. Their Stirling engine based Northbridge heatsink (fan that uses heat and pressure to power itself, no electricity from a fan header) is a prime example of some great out of the box thinking. In addition to this MSI have been enhancing products by adding components such as X-Fi soundcards to their high end motherboard bundles, but the great user focused ideas do not stop there. The recent launch of the GX laptop range gives us a high specification laptop with some excellent features (HDMI) and the ability to overclock at the touch of a button. Let's find out if it is as good as the marketing makes out. http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=557 __________________________________ Driver Heaven News Mailer

Hello Everyone, We're writing to let you all know that we have just posted a new article at HotHardware in which we evaluate the features, performance, and value of XFX's nForce 630i GeForce 7150 based motherboard, the cryptically named MG-630I-7159. Thanks to its integrated graphics processor, the MG-630I-7159 sports VGA, DVI, and HDMI outputs, and it's got some other handy on-board features as well, like an LED POST code error reporter and micro power and reset switches. Head on over to the site and check it out... Article URL: http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/XFX_nForce_630i_GeForce_7150_Motherboard Main Site: http://www.hothardware.com/ As always, a link in your news sections would be much appreciated! If you'd like us to return the favor, please don't hesitate to send your press

Greetings, Overclockers Online has posted a new review. A news post would be greatly appreciated. Title: HIS Radeon HD3650 IceQ (H365Q512GNP) at Overclockers Online Link: http://www.overclockersonline.net/?page=articles&num=1712 Quote: Throughout the tests, the HIS Radeon HD 3650 performed well. It is not a top-of-the-line card but its performance should be satisfactory for all but the most extreme of gamers. If you don't care for too much eye candy or extremely high resolutions, this mid-range card should fit the bill in terms of value. For its price, it is a great buy. Also, it supports CrossFireX so you can upgrade later if desired. Thanks for the post. Best regards, Simon _______________________________________________

We have talked many, many times about Larrabee in the last several years and we consider ourselves to be pretty knowledgeable on the subject. It's always interesting to see some new comments on the topic though and it turns out one of Larrabee's developers at Intel posted a bit on their blog on the subject of rasterization on the new GPU architecture. URL: http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=5548 Quote: "There's no doubt Larrabee is going to be the world's most awesome raytracer. It's going to be the world's most awesome chip at a lot of heavy computing tasks - that's the joy of total programmability combined with serious number-crunching power. But that is cool stuff for those that want to play with wacky tech. We're not assuming everybody in the world will do this, we're not forcing anyone to do so, and we certainly can't just do it behind their backs and expect things to work - that would be absurd. Raytracing on Larrabee is a fascinating research project, it's an exciting new way of thinking about rendering scenes, just like splatting or voxels or any number of neat ideas, but it is absolutely not the focus of Larrabee's primary rendering capabilities, and never has been - not even for a moment." Thanks for a post! Ryan Shrout Owner - PC Perspective rshrout ( -at -) pcper.com

We have talked many, many times about Larrabee in the last several years and we consider ourselves to be pretty knowledgeable on the subject. It's always interesting to see some new comments on the topic though and it turns out one of Larrabee's developers at Intel posted a bit on their blog on the subject of rasterization on the new GPU architecture. URL: http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=5548 Quote: "There's no doubt Larrabee is going to be the world's most awesome raytracer. It's going to be the world's most awesome chip at a lot of heavy computing tasks - that's the joy of total programmability combined with serious number-crunching power. But that is cool stuff for those that want to play with wacky tech. We're not assuming everybody in the world will do this, we're not forcing anyone to do so, and we certainly can't just do it behind their backs and expect things to work - that would be absurd. Raytracing on Larrabee is a fascinating research project, it's an exciting new way of thinking about rendering scenes, just like splatting or voxels or any number of neat ideas, but it is absolutely not the focus of Larrabee's primary rendering capabilities, and never has been - not even for a moment." Thanks for a post! Ryan Shrout Owner - PC Perspective rshrout ( -at -) pcper.com

Hi, It's Kristofer from DragonSteelMods, and I have a new review today that I think your readers might find interesting. Title: Bytescout Watermarking Software Review ( -at -) DragonSteelMods Review Link: http://www.dragonsteelmods.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7291&Itemid=38 Review Snipit: "Bytescout Watermarking Software is an easy to use and very inexpensive solution to most of your watermarking needs. There are many choices for styles of marking and numerous customizations options as well. For under $20 I can easily recommend you getting this product for quick and easy watermarking of your photos. " Review Picture(200x150): http://www.dragonsteelmods.com/Images/reviews2/bytescout-water/bytes4.jpg Main site link: http://www.dragonsteelmods.com A post in your news would be greatly appreciated. Any and all news sent to me will be posted! If you would like to be added to our 'News Feeds' page please feel free to send me your http link to the feed and I will gladly add it ASAP. If you'd like to swap links for affiliation, I'd be happy to, just drop me a message...

The AMD 780G chipset is all the rage right now for micro-ATX socket AM2+ motherboards. Today, we take a look at the ASUS M3A78-EMH HDMI motherboard. It features DX10 compliant integrated ATI RV610-based graphics, which supports dual VGA outputs including DVI/HDMI interfaces with HDCP. It also incorporates AMD's UVD with hardware acceleration of H.264, VC1 and Mpeg2 used in HD DVD and BluRay disks. Is this board the right choice for your next HTPC or PC? Article Title: Asus M3A78-EMH HDMI Motherboard Review ( -at -) Legit Reviews Article URL: http://legitreviews.com/article/693/1/ --

TechwareLabs has published a review of the LiteOn EZ-DUB External DVD Drive DX-20A4PU. Here's a clip from the review: Quote: Today Michael checks out the new EZ-DUB drive by Lite-On and we show you why this drive may well be the last drive you buy before migrating to Blu-Ray. We show you the testing, features, and performance of this mighty external DVD-RW that won't leave you burning drink coasters. LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/storage/lite-on-DX-20A4PU/ Title: LiteOn EZ-DUB External DVD Drive DX-20A4PU ( -at -) TechwareLabs Image: http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/storage/lite-on-DX-20A4PU/images/1_th.jpg A news post would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, This is the third release within a week. Thanks to Mirco (meebey) Bauer, we figured out the reason behind beagled crashing but not quite aborting leading to hangs in all kinds of applications trying to connect to beagled. We have added a workaround in this release. It is highly recommended to update to 0.3.7 or backport r4730 to any of the earlier 0.3.x releases. We also recommend disabling the EvolutionDataServer backend if you are facing crashes in beagled. THE SHORT OF IT --------------- To download the 0.3.6 release or learn more about Beagle, visit the Beagle web page: http://beagle-project.org WHAT IS BEAGLE? --------------- Beagle is a Linux desktop-independent service which transparently and unobtrusively indexes your data in real-time. For example: * Files are immediately indexed when they are created, are re-indexed when they are modified, and are dropped from the index upon deletion. * E-mails are indexed upon arrival. * IM conversations are indexed as you chat, a line at a time. * Web pages are indexed as you view them (with a browser extension). * Notes and address-book entries are indexed as they are created. Beagle supports many different data sources and file formats. For a complete listing, visit: http://beagle-project.org/Supported_Filetypes Beagle uses the Lucene indexing system from the Apache project and the prodigious Doug Cutting, ported to .NET by George Aroush. Beagle includes an optional GNOME-based graphical tool for searching its indexes. Also included is an experimental web based search interface. To learn more about Beagle, visit: http://beagle-project.org/About NOTABLE CHANGES between 0.3.6 and 0.3.7 -------------------------------------------- * Work around a mono feature/bug [1] where mono might hang trying to get a gdb backtrace in the event of a native library segmentation fault. This is specially important for the evolution-sharp bug [2] due to which beagled might crash when the EvolutionDataServer backend is enabled. For some users, the crash resulted in a non-functional but hanged beagled that in turn hanged programs trying to contact beagled like gtkfilechooser. * Translations: - Japanese (Takeshi AIHANA) Full set of changes: http://svn.gnome.org/viewvc/beagle/tags/BEAGLE_0_3_7/beagle/ChangeLog?view=markup - dBera [1] https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=381928 [2] http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=519284 -- ----------------------------------------------------- Debajyoti Bera ( -at -) http://dtecht.blogspot.com _______________________________________________

The World Ends With You is Square Enix's latest release on the Nintendo DS, however instead of crafting a fantasy world environment the game is refreshingly set in Tokyo's real life Shibuya district. http://www.driverheaven.net/gamingreviews.php?reviewid=588 _______________________________ Gaming Heaven News Mailer

Bigbruin.com has new content posted... A mention in your site's news section would be greatly appreciated! Title: ASUS P5K PRO Intel P35 Green ATX Motherboard URL: http://www.bigbruin.com/2008/asusp5kpro_1 Image URL (150x70 pixels): http://www.bigbruin.com/2008/asusp5kpro/logo.gif Quote: When people think of energy efficiency they may have the misconception that it has to equate to a lack of power and excitement. In terms of automobiles, perhaps thinking that all hybrids are like a Prius. But what we have with the P5K PRO is a sporty, high performance model that just happens to have a smart design capable of saving energy. Thank you. Best regards, Jason www.bigbruin.com

Houdah Software updates both HoudahSpot & HoudahGeo - Published on 04/25/08 Houdah Software is pleased to release, the very same day, updates to both its flagship products. HoudahSpot is Houdah Software's bestselling file search tool for the Mac. HoudahGeo is the premiere geocoding solution for the Mac. Today both HoudahGeo and HoudahSpot see minor feature and bug fix updates. Luxembourg, Europe - Houdah Software has released minor feature and bug fix updates to both HoudahGeo and HoudahSpot. HoudahSpot 2.1.5 adds a menu item that makes sorting results even easier. It is now possible to sort by attributes which are not displayed as columns. HoudahSpot 2.1.5 also features larger text entry fields for criteria. Moreover the BlitzSearch menu item now respects the accent color of the user's choice. HoudahSpot fixes sorting of multi-valued columns (e.g. Authors). HoudahSpot is Houdah Software's bestselling file search tool for the Mac. It allows for users to unleash the full power of Spotlight to find, manage and clean up files. The most recent version, HoudahSpot 2.1, can act as a full replacement to the default Spotlight UI. It combines the ease of use of the default Spotlight menu with the full power HoudahSpot is known for. HoudahSpot has recently been awarded 4 mice by Macworld magazine. It has also been featured as Mac OS X Hints "Pick of the Week". HoudahGeo 1.4.8 features vastly improved Google Earth geocoding. Google Earth geocoding now provides readings of altitude in addition to latitude and longitude. It now also works when the Google Earth view is tilted. Google Earth geocoding is the most convenient method of geocoding for those who do not yet own a GPS track logger. Of course, HoudahGeo also supports automatic geocoding using GPS devices. HoudahGeo is the premiere geocoding solution for the Mac. It covers all aspects of geocoding. GPS device optional: HoudahGeo allows for both automatic and map based geocoding. EXIF/IPTC/XMP support: HoudahGeo may write GPS meta data right back into image files. Publish: HoudahGeo exports to Google Earth, Google Maps & Flickr! Houdah Software: http://www.houdah.com/ HoudahSpot 2: Leopard Edition: http://www.houdah.com/houdahSpot HoudahGeo: http://www.houdah.com/houdahGeo HoudahSpot Video Tutorial: http://www.houdah.com/houdahSpot/screencasts.html HoudahGeo Video Tutorial: http://www.houdah.com/houdahGeo/screencasts.html Houdah Software s.a r.l is a small company based in Luxembourg Europe. The company was founded in late 2005 by Pierre Bernard. Apple, Macintosh, Mac, Spotlight, WebObjects and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Computer. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. ### Pierre Bernard Chief Software Architect 011 49 40 80 79 17 44 pierre.bernard ( -at -) houdah.com *******

Today we look at the CoolIT Freezone Elite. SNIP: The art of overclocking has led to many advancements throughout the computer industry. From higher quality components used on motherboards to faster RAM capable of keeping up with the CPU, overclocking is at the very heart of advancement. It is because of overclocking that we have after market coolers that can cope with the extra heat output from CPUs which brings me to the point of this article. There are many different methods for removing heat from your CPU which helps to lengthen the processor's life as well as increasing your overclocking headroom. There are high-end air coolers for the enthusiasts, water-cooling for the hardcore crowd and phase-change cooling for the extreme users. Each of these methods have distinct advantages and disadvantages. While water cooling offers lower temps than air cooling it is often an order of magnitude harder to setup and maintain. The same goes for phase-change cooling over water cooling, which brings us to the Freezone Elite from CoolIT systems. The Freezone Elite promises better cooling than water while being as easy to setup as a high-end air cooler. Trying to be all things to all people is always a risky path to take but one that can prove to be extremely lucrative if implemented properly. Does the Freezone Elite have what it takes to earn a spot in your gaming machine or is it just smoke and mirrors? I intend to find out. http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1254 A post on your site would be great if you can. Thank you, Scott -----------------------------------------

Hello Webmasters and News Posters, NEW CONTENT (Casing & Cooling) - GIGABYTE G-Power 2 Pro CPU Cooler QUOTE: "The GIGABYTE G-Power 2 Pro was first presented to me with a flash presentation detailing the functions and basically letting me know that it was not a mediocre product. From the start I was interested, and now that I am finished with my testing I can make you interested too. The G-Power 2 Pro is the third in a series of G-Power products. The first and second, the G-Power Pro and G-Power Lite were both good products, but when it came to design they followed in the footsteps of other traditional CPU heatsinks. The latest version, 2 Pro steps away from what’s traditional and looks to prove that innovation leads to higher performance." For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1399/gigabyte_g_power_2_pro_cpu_cooler/index.html Best Regards, The TweakTown Team http://www.tweaktown.com

Hi all, We have just published an editorial titled '*Making Gaming Better*', which discusses ways to 'fix' PC gaming. If you could post a link on your site that would be very much appreciated. *Description: *Cliff Harris sees a bleak future for the games community. An insular group that purges n00bs, defends violent media and pirates games regularly - the end could be at hand! Thankfully, Cliff has a whole list full of ways to make gaming good again... *Link:* http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2008/04/24/making_gaming_better/1 *Quote: */"Eight: Try to buy direct Most people know that buying direct from the developer earns the dev a bigger share than buying from a store, but do you have any idea how much difference it can be? In some cases it's a tenfold difference! I've nothing against publishers and retailers, but the whole system collapses if the guys making the games don't do well. It makes a huge difference if you can buy direct, and if your favourite developer doesn't sell direct, email them and let them know you would buy direct if you could. It takes five minutes."/ * *Cheers guys! Tim Smalley www.bit-tech.net

Hi all, We have just published a guide to using Wireless Networking in Linux titled '*Working with Wireless in Linux*' - if you could post a link on your site that would be very much appreciated. *Link:* http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2008/04/25/working-with-wireless-in-linux/1 *Picture:* http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2008/04/working-with-wireless-in-linux/fp_img.jpg *Quote: */"However, many people will immediately say that Linux is simply not ready for the masses -- and I agree with them. What bugs me is that when asked why, I'm hearing complaints from ages past treated as present-day problems: "I don't want to have to work in a command line,"/ and /"It's so hard to configure," are just a couple of examples. It's true that some things still aren't utterly plug-and-pray, but a lot of things really //are nowadays. Unfortunately, one thing has continued to stay on the fringes of penguin compatibility no matter how pervasive it's become in day-to-day life: Wireless networking. Windows and OSX have such simple ways of dealing with wireless, but for many very good corporate reasons, open-source alternatives have not seen such love. The problem stems from drivers, which (for open source operating systems especially) divulge a //lot of secrets for how the hardware operates. Talk about giving away the golden egg -- how would you like to broadcast every little thing that makes you special to your competitors worldwide?! Unfortunately, because of the very tight control wars over drivers in general, Linux has lagged in the wireless world. We've largely been forced to go hunt for revision numbers and version SKUs on packaging, scrolling through ten boxes of four brands of card to find which one features a chipset that bothered to develop proper Linux drivers (for the record, that's mostly Ralink and Atheros, which you can find in various card versions of several major brands including Linksys, Netgear and D-Link). Once our prize was found, we'd run home and fire it to gleefully enjoy... ...the same wireless that any Windows user had in about five minutes. Or, worse yet, maybe we got the revision number wrong or it wasn't clearly marked, and the chipset didn't work." / * *Cheers guys! Tim Smalley www.bit-tech.net

PC Perspective Podcast #28 - 04/25/08 This week we talk about the Western Digital VelociRaptor hard drive and a 64GB OCZ solid state drive, the AMD X3 Triple-core processors, ASUS' new HD 3850 X2 1GB card, Sapphire and VisionTek HD 3000-series GPU reviews, the Isaiah and Atom performance debate, VIA's processors making it into HP systems, potential Radeon HD 4800 specs being leaked out and even a brief preview of Futuremark's 3DMark Vantage benchmark. URL: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=411 Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Jeremy Hellstrom and Josh Walrath Program length: 1:23:28 Program schedule: * 00:45 Introduction * 01:35 Sapphire Radeon HD 3650 GDDR3 512MB Review * 08:31 Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB WD3000GLFS Review - Evolution * 18:31 VisionTek Radeon HD 3870 GDDR4 512 MB Review * 25:19 AMD Phenom X3 8750 2.4 GHz Triple-Core Processor Review * 39:44 ASUS Radeon HD 3850 X2 1GB hits PCPer * 44:45 OCZ 64GB SSD Review - coming tomorrow sometime * 47:43 Reader mail and voice mail!! 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast ( -at -) pcper.com * 55:29 AMD Loses a boat load of Executives * 58:39 Isaiah and Atom battle it out * 1:01:31 Intel's new processor prices * 1:04:36 HP purchases 100,000 VIA CPUs for low-cost systems * 1:08:48 AMD Radeon HD 4800-series details appear to have leaked * 1:12:45 Quick Discussion on the upcoming 3DMark Vantage * 1:23:28 Closing Thanks for a post!! Ryan Shrout Owner - PC Perspective rshrout ( -at -) pcper.com

Title: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P Motherboard Review ( -at -) HardwareLogic Quote: "Today we look at their GA-EP35-DS3P motherboard which takes a new road towards energy efficient motherboards. Even with all the extra options available, at its very core it is still a strong P35 based board. With a standard LGA775 socket, compatible processors range from the earlier Pentium4s and Celerons using the 90nm process to the latest 45nm quad core Extreme Edition processors. This board can handle pretty much any LGA775 based processor Intel has or has had on the market in the past few years. Whether you're looking for a strong board with plenty of options or saving a few dollars on your electric bill, this board appears to fit into both columns." Link: http://hardwarelogic.com/news/132/ARTICLE/2928/2008-04-25.html

Hello Again, Futurelooks checks out some new monitor bling from Samsung... Samsung SyncMaster T220 Widescreen 22 Inch LCD Monitor Review If there’s one thing that you’ve got to hand it to the people at Samsung is that they know what it takes to make a seriously stylish product. We’re talking dollar sign bling action here! The company has been working hard to create a very distinctive style to the entirety of their product line and it’s really starting to show. Taking a look at their cell phones, you will inevitably find that the majority of those handsets have a piano black finish and a remarkably slim profile. Hopping over to the television department, you’ll discover the same glossy black finish and the same slender physique. Even when you look at some of the Samsung printers, they’ve got piano black finishes there too. This is why I was taken aback upon opening the box for the Samsung SyncMaster T220 LCD monitor. Direct Link: http://www.futurelooks.com/samsung-syncmaster-t220-widescreen-22-inch-lcd-monitor-review/ A post to your news would be most appreciated! Regards, -The Futurelooks Team- www.futurelooks.com

Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 Intel X48 Motherboard Review ( -at -) ThinkComputers.org Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/index.php?x=reviews <http://www.thinkcomputers.org/index.php?x=reviews&id=751> &id=751 Image URL (336 X 256): http://www.thinkcomputers.org/reviews/gigabyte_x48t/email.jpg Alt Image URL (194 X 150): http://www.thinkcomputers.org/reviews/gigabyte_x48t/thumbs/9.jpg Quote: "Gigabyte was one of the first two computer hardware companies that I was aware of, along with Kingston memory. More than a decade before I decided to build my own rig, I had seen Gigabyte's name associated with motherboards. They have been around since 1986, the dawn of the era of the PC. Today I will be looking at my first Gigabyte motherboard, the X48T-DQ6. This board is presently Gigabyte's flagship motherboard. It sports a ton of features, natively supports DDR3-1900 memory and 1600FSB, along with CrossfireX, and looks sharp to boot. Will the Gigabyte board end my current love affair with motherboards by a four-letter word? Read on to see."

A news post would be great. OCC has published a new review of the Asus P5E3 Premium WiFi-AP ( -at -) n Here is a quote from the review: Quote: "Performance-wise, the P5E3 is a mixed bag. Running DDR3 memory at the same timings as comparable DDR2 kits did not really cause a performance loss per se, but once the memory speeds and CPU clockspeeds are increased, the board just comes alive with performance increasing at leaps and bounds. If you count the overall wins and losses, the board does not fare as well as some of the boards tested. Performance against another X48 board shows comparable performance, so on that front repeatability is a big factor. Overclocking on an X48 chipset comes with its own set of rules despite the fact that it's cousin, the X38, offers similar performance." Title: Asus P5E3 Premium WiFi-AP ( -at -) n Review Link: http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/asus_p5e3_premium/ Img: http://www.overclockersclub.com/siteimages/articles/asus_p5e3_premium/12_thumb.jpg

Jonnyguru.com has a new article online. A post in your news would be greatly appreciated. Title: NorthQ Siberian Tiger Water Cooler at Jonnyguru.com Summary: The Siberian Tiger water cooling system is a sealed CPU water cooling system that takes a lot of the headaches out of water cooling. You don't have to worry about filling or draining the system every time you need to pull your rig down. Articles URL: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews <http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=86> &op=Story&reid=86 Site URL: http://www.jonnyguru.com Review RSS Feed http://www.jonnyguru.com/Reviews-Feed.php Thank you, Tony "Tazz" www.jonnyguru.com

Hello, OCIA.net has posted their review of the Cyber Snipa Sonar 5.1 Headset. Below is a direct quote from the review: "Earlier this week we tested out the Stinger Gaming Mouse from Cyber Snipa. During this time we've also been using Cyber Snipa's Sonar 5.1 Headset as well. With a USB connection, eight speaker sound and adjustable boom mic, the Sonar 5.1 looks to have a lot going for it as well." Direct Link: http://www.ocia.net/reviews/cybersonar/page1.shtml Image Link: http://www.ocia.net/images/icons/283.jpg Site Link: http://www.ocia.net A news posting on your site would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your support! Thanks, OCIA.net Staff http://www.ocia.net

At Phoronix we have posted a new article. A link to this from your site's news section would be greatly appreciated. Title: OpenSolaris 2008.05 Gives A New Face To Solaris ( -at -) Phoronix Direct Link: http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=12269 Summary: "In early February, Sun Microsystems had released a second preview release of Project Indiana. For those out of the loop, Project Indiana is the codename for the project led by Ian Murdock at Sun that aims to push OpenSolaris on more desktop and notebook computers by addressing the long-standing usability problems of Solaris. We were far from being impressed by Preview 2 as it hadn't possessed any serious advantages over a GNU/Linux desktop that would interest normal users. However, with the release of OpenSolaris 2008.05 "Project Indiana" coming up in May, Sun Microsystems has today released a final test copy of this operating system. Our initial experience with this new OpenSolaris release is vastly better than what we had encountered less than three months ago when last looking at Project Indiana." Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments you may