mAdnErD meldt dat de PHP 4.0 release candidate 1 uit is , alle tweakers die niet weten wat PHP is kunnen dat op deze pagina van de tweakers.net FAQ lezen (tweakers.net draait ook op PHP).

PHP 4 Release Candidate 1 The real thing is getting closer and closer. After a very successful Beta 4 release that was extremely stable, PHP 4.0 shifts gears from the beta cycle into release-quality RC1. If all goes well and no outstanding bugs are found in the RC, the final version of PHP will be released in early April 2000.

Je kan de de release candidate 1 hier downloaden samen met de beta Zend Optimizer voor PHP 4 .

Sinterklaas 82 tm meldt dat 3dfx en Intel een overeenkomst hebben getekend waarin staat dat ze alle "patent infringement" rechtzaken die nu lopen zullen stoppen:

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 4 /PRNewswire/ -- 3dfx Interactive(R) Inc. TDFX , a global leader in developing and marketing 3D technology for personal computers, today announced that the company has entered into a mutual patent cross-licensing agreement with Intel Corporation. As part of the agreement, 3dfx and Intel have amicably agreed to dismiss all pending patent infringement lawsuits between 3dfx and Real 3D. Intel acquired Real 3D's technology portfolio last year.

"Through its engineering and acquisitions, Intel has built a broad and valuable patent portfolio," said Dr. Alex Leupp, president and CEO of 3dfx. "We believe the combination of our patent breadth and technical expertise, the intellectual property and technology gained through our recent acquisition of GigaPixel, and this agreement further enhances our ability to deliver leading-edge products to market in a timely manner."

De DPC Hitparade Top 10 van 3 april 2000

1. 52,154 [Dutch Power Cows] Interior Lulu(3, Totaal:1,830,622)
2. 22,193 [Dutch Power Cows] wiho(1, Totaal:7,214,675)
3. 11,625 Team EDG Ermelo [Dutch Power Cows](67, Totaal:195,148)
4. 8,131 TriLithium(219, Totaal:57,276)
5. 7,971 arjennap(228, Totaal:53,968)
6. 7,590 [Dutch Power Cows] Jurgen Wildhagen(8, Totaal:794,684)
7. 7,406 [Dutch Power Cows] Tazzz(155, Totaal:84,943)
8. 6,759 [Dutch Power Cows] Domino(43, Totaal:272,224)
9. 6,227 [Dutch Power Cows] [eNeRGy](15, Totaal:634,018)
10. 5,961 [Dutch Power Cows] HarryB(12, Totaal:681,818)

En de nummers 11 tot en met 20:

11. 5,714 [Dutch Power Cows] Katsov(19, Totaal:548,004)
12. 5,305 [Dutch Power Cows] Dutchman(309, Totaal:30,469)
13. 5,188 Nosferatu(21, Totaal:464,161)
14. 5,096 Joop(188, Totaal:69,633)
15. 5,051 ThE RaVeR(42, Totaal:272,407)
16. 4,901 Sir Soes & Shellshock(38, Totaal:296,712)
17. 4,323 misser(23, Totaal:428,253)
18. 4,314 [Dutch Power Cows] Insomniacs(58, Totaal:217,065)
19. 4,255 AmgS(59, Totaal:214,898)
20. 4,228 2fast4u [Dutch power cows rule!](27, Totaal:411,134)

De Top 15 teams van 3 april 2000

1.( 0) 1,051,933 impulse.irc
2.( 3) 895,433 Russian Team
3.( 3) 773,630 HackZone Team -- Combined power of Russia and exUSSR countries
4.( 2) 769,553 Slashdot.org
5.( 2) 754,443 AnandTech
6.( 2) 591,340 #DeathMatch
7.( 2) 446,621 Dutch Power Cows
8.( 1) 444,211 The Amiga RC5 Team effort
9.( 1) 411,144 Team Warped (OS/2)
10.( 2) 400,721 Team EvangeLista (Macs Rule! :-)
11.( 4) 299,661 Team Hungary STB+
12.( 1) 297,144 Japan Windows NT Users Group
13.( 297) 290,962 CMFreaks
14.( 3) 264,859 Japan FreeBSD Users Group
15.( 1) 264,454 CCC.de
60.( 4) 74,423 The #koffie Team

Teams om ons heen (total stats):
20.( ) LinuxNET RC5 (Tot:66,698,763, Gis:83,180)
21.( ) SysOpt.com/Tweakit.com (Tot:66,552,891, Gis:161,965)
22.( ) Team FreeBSD (Tot:65,928,274, Gis:201,215)
23.( ) Team BeOS (Tot:64,753,922, Gis:101,251)
24.( ) Dutch Power Cows (Tot:63,757,837, Gis:446,621)
25.( ) Team Germany (*.de / uni.de - German Universities) (Tot:59,595,081, Gis:137,281)
26.( ) moomin (Tot:57,477,053, Gis:173,098)
27.( ) TeamUFies (All Hail the Dust Puppy!) (Tot:56,771,431, Gis:177,375)
28.( ) SEGA Users Group (Tot:55,474,030, Gis:130,182)
(Teams waarvan de score van gisteren ontbreekt, hadden geen score in de top 100!)

Wanneer halen we ze in:
LinuxNET RC5: 9 dagen
SysOpt.com/Tweakit.com: 10 dagen
Team FreeBSD: 9 dagen
Team BeOS: 3 dagen

Dutch power cows is vandaag 7e en heeft een kans van een op 95 om de sleutel te vinden!

De mensen die nog niet mee doen kunnen hier joinen!

Billy Wilson van Voodoo Extreme heeft een artikel op z'n site gepetst over zijn bevindingen van de 3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP kaart waar hij onlangs een demo van kreeg te zien. Net als vele anderen was hij uiteraard diep onder de indruk van de performance en het full-scene anti aliasing effect. Hopelijk kunnen wij tweakers dit binnenkort ook zelf aanschouwen; de kaart staat nog streeds gepland voor een release in april. Hieronder vast een gedeelte, voor meer info en .tga screenies, klik hier.

Since I'm not about to get into a large debate about T&L, let's just say that 3dfx feels that FSAA is more beneficial to the current generation of games than T&L (Which I completely agree with). Looking at the games currently in development this trend will appear to hold true for the next year as well.

Other than the speed increase that we've heard about in the upcoming 3dfx products, I never thought too much about the FSAA. In my opinion, now that I've seen it in action, that is really the highlight of their new technology. 4x FSAA is absolutely stunning, and seems to make more of a difference in games than anything else I've seen since the first time I saw an accelerated game (vQuake). One of the things that I can't stress enough is that this is something that you need to see for yourself. Don't just judge the screenshots (which are amazing in their own right). Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to check out the motion blur as we were pressed for time.

Still though, I still have a tightness in the jeans after seeing FSAA in action. We couldn't help to think of the huge difference FSAA will make in various games, such as: Everquest (since it has such a low poly count on the models), and, in particular, most real-time strategy games, since the models are typically pretty small, and aliasing is usually a pretty obvious problem. But to have 4x FSAA and keep the frame rates at a VERY respectable level (as mentioned, we guessed around 60) is a combination that I just can't see passing up.

Linux gebruikers zullen waarschijnlijk erg blij zijn met het feit dat 3dfx standaard Linux drivers probeert mee te leveren. Hetzelfde is het geval met Windows 2000. Bedankt JeroenB die dit nieuwtje opstuurde.

Sander Hovestad schrijft: "World Online neemt voor een onbekend bedrag e.Trade over, de Nederlandse aanbieder van internetdiensten aan het MKB. Hierdoor krijgt World Online meer zakelijke klanten. Ik hoop echter niet voor ze dat dit alles in ruil voor World Online aandelen gaat ":

e.Trade werd in 1997 opgericht en is een initiatief van IBM. Het is al langer duidelijk dat IBM af wil van e.Trade. Vorige week doken geruchten op over een akkoord met World Online, deze zijn nu bevestigd.

World Online noemt e.Trade 'het ideale distributiekanaal richting het MKB'. e.Trade biedt bedrijven internettoegang zonder abonnementskosten en exploiteert een online marktplein. Het bedrijf, gevestigd in Zeist, heeft overeenkomsten met onder meer ZIBB.nl, het zakelijke webportaal van Elsevier Bedrijfsinformatie.

"Door samen te werken met brancheorganisaties, zakelijke portalen en prominente internetbedrijven heeft e.Trade een groot bereik binnen het MKB," zegt Arnoud van Onna, directeur van World Online Nederland in een persbericht.

Ga voor meer info even naar WebWereld.

NielsJ schrijft: "Linux Today heeft een groot artikel gepost waarin de nieuwe features van de nieuwste Linux 2.4 kernel worden besproken. Dit is interessant voor de mensen die de kernel mailinglist niet geheel lezen . Hier een stukje over USB en Firewire support":

Perhaps the most exciting news on this front is the Universal Serial Bus, an external bus that is coming into prominence for devices such as keyboards, mice, sound systems, scanners, and printers. USB is a popular option on many new pieces of hardware, including non-Intel hardware. Linux's support for these devices is still in early stages but a large percentage of common USB hardware (including keyboards, mice, speakers, etc.) is already supported in the kernel.

Much more recently, Firewire support has been added into the Linux kernel. Firewire is a popular option for many high-bandwidth devices. Not many drivers (or devices) exist for this hardware architecture yet, but this support is likely to improve over time.

The Register meldt dat VIA heeft bevestigd dat het in gesprek is met S3 over een overname van de 3D graphics chip divisie. Naast VIA zijn er ook andere kandidaten, waaronder nVidia:

S3 insiders last week claimed the company had been talking to Via, but neither company would confirm this - until now.

Curiously, Via admitted that there were indeed other companies talking to S3, so it's not possible to rule out an acquisition by Nvidia, Intel, ATI or another company. Via owns 14.9 per cent of S3, so it's possible that Via is acting now to prevent the loss of the 3D business to a rival. Certainly the early rumours of Via-S3 talks focused on an acquisition of the company in its entirety, rather than its 3D chip business.

Via is clearly confident that it will win through. CT reported that the deal should be settled any day now, and that Via will spin off the chip business as an independent operation, presumably with Via retaining control through a majority shareholding.

Onze Russische vrienden van iXBT-Hardware informeren ons over de uitstekende kwaliteiten van de Leadtek WinFast DDR Rev.B GeForce videokaart. Dankzij de jumbo heatsink en cooler waarme revisie B wordt uitgerust mag dit model zich de best overklokbare GeForce DDR kaart noemen. Daarnaast blijkt-ie ook totaal geen problemen te hebben met een AGP snelheid van 89MHz waardoor de Leadtek WinFast DDR Rev.B een perfecte oplossing is voor je BX plank @ 133MHz bussnelheid.

As you can easily guess, a large heatsink like that covering the chipset allows very efficient overclocking. We managed to overclock the chipset on this card to 170-172MHz and the memory - to 350MHz. We would like to stress that this is today's overclocking top record. This is the first graphics card on NVIDIA GeForce 256 chipset, which showed such impressive results. As we expect, this card will perform much cooler when overclocked. Well, we'll see...

The performance of Leadtek WinFast GeForce256 DDR Rev.B at higher AGP frequency is also worth mentioning. As we have already said in our reviews, setting the FSB frequency of our i440BX mainboard equal to 133MHz, will provide 89MHz AGP, which may turn out fatal for a lot of AGP graphics cards. Taking into account that a lot of BX-mainboards owners are pretty interested in increasing their FSB frequency to 133MHz, we decided devote a bit of attention to the performance of graphics cards tested in our lab at higher AGP frequencies. We can point out that Leadtek WinFast GeForce256 DDR Rev.B coped with this task just perfectly. We don't have any remarks concerning its operation at 89MHz AGP frequency.

--==Boss==-- schrijft dat Opera Software een deal heeft gesloten met Psion, waardoor in de nieuwe Psion-palmtops standaard de Opera-browser komt.
Deze browser was al een tijdje beschikbaar voor EPOC (besturingssysteem van Psion) maar zit nu dus standaard in de palmtops.

Psion PLC has signed a strategic licensing agreement with Opera Software A/S, a privately held software developer and producer based in Oslo, Norway, to license their advanced HTML browser to the Psion range. Psion's new browser is a breakthrough for its users who will be able to complete secure on-line m-commerce transactions and view full Internet content effortlessly from their Psions.[break]Lijstje met features:[/break]

• Full colour (256 colours) support;
• Web browser functionality;
• Multiple window support as an option;
• Full zooming key mapped to a range of zoom levels;
• 128-bit SSL Encryption Versions 2 & 3;
• TLS 1.0 Security;
• HTML v 3.2;
• Support for Java Applets using EPOC native Java implementation;
• Javascript v 1.1;
• CSS v1

De keuze voor Opera vind ik niet echt opmerkelijk, Netscape en IE zijn gewoon te groot voor een palmtop.

BXBoards brengt ons een review van de AX64 Pro, AOpen's nieuwe plank gebaseerd op de momenteel erg popie VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset. Helaas komt ook Andy Drake tot de conclusie dat dit plankje niet de kwaliteit met zich meedraagt zoals we eerder van AOpen gewend waren. Hoewel de mogelijkheden tot overklokken ruimschoots aanwezig zijn kan het bord niet dezelfde stabiliteit laten zien zoals de AX63 Pro dat deed.

Recent AOpen boards have worn their overclocking credentials proudly. Both the AX6BC Pro and AX63 Pro featured unlimited voltage tweaks and stellar overclocked stability. Newer AOpen boards including the Athlon based AK72 and now the AX64Pro have also unlimited tweaks, yet somehow there are not as stable as their predecessors when overclocked. The AX64Pro failed both the Celeron 300a @ 504 and the Celeron 366 @ 605, something previous AOpen boards have been capable of. This suggests that something in their design has changed for the worse, and I wonder whether all this talk of 2200uf capacitors and Frequency Isolations Walls is somewhat over-egging the pudding? Its sad to report that, like the recent AK72 Athlon mainboard,this board is not stable using 110, 112 and 115Mhz. AOpen, whatever you have changed, please reverse it, as your boards do not overclock as well as they did 3 months ago!

[...] The AX64Pro also suffers from a lack of PCI expansion with only 4 PCI slots. If AMR peripherals were more common this would not be such as issue, but as AMR peripherals are a rare as rocking horse s**t, the loss of PCI expansion comes as something of a blow.

AOpen have previously enjoyed very good reviews here at BXBoards but their crown does seem to be slipping this year. The AX64Pro does not compare well with its predecessor, the AX63Pro, which offers more expansion, and is more stable when overclocked. To date, we've not seen any really stellar VIA Apollo Pro133A boards, but that does not make the AX64Pro any more appealing. If you want a PC133 board from AOpen then take a look at the AOpen AX63Pro instead, as frankly, its a much better product if overclocking is a priority.

Op teletekst is te lezen dat het aandeel Microsoft flink in waarde is gedaald na de uitspraak van het Amerikaanse DoJ in de rechtszaak tegen Microsoft.
Door die daling is Microsoft ook niet langer het duurste bedrijf.

Jon Simon van Sharky Extreme trakteert ons op een review van de Gigabyte GA-GF2560 SDRAM GeForce videokaart, die maximaal tot 155/205MHz overklokbaar bleek te zijn. Hieronder wat meer info:

So is the GA-GF2560 a good value? Consider the evidence: It carries approximately a $220 price tag and packs a TV-Output. It comes bundled with a most excellent games bundle, which, if the four games were bought individually, would cost at least $80 and possibly twice that. White box SDR GeForces start around $195, but without any game bundle or TV-Out. Plain white box DDR GeForces start around $250. So if you value the four games and TV-Out, then yes, it's an excellent value. However, if you don't ever plan on using a TV-Out and if you don't find the games all that appealing, then the value doesn't look so hot because you can get a starter DDR GeForce for only a few more dollars. It all depends on what you want.

De mannen van Hot Hardware mochten bij 3dfx op bezoek komen alwaar Brian Burke ze een demo'tje van de Voodoo5 5500 (twee VSA-100 chips, 64MB RAM) kaart liet zien. Hieronder wat info over het geheugen issue van de kaart; is 64MB nou effectief gelijk aan 32MB?

Marco interjected... "Isn't the 64mb on the 5500 an effective 32mb because it's divided per chip?"...before he could finish the question, Peter covered his ears and screamed, "DON'T SAY IT!!". He knew what we were getting at though. Peter explained to us that the memory is in fact a unified 64MB on the board. To make things simple, basically, 32mb is given to each chip for texture storage, as that is THE ONLY information that has to be duplicated for each of the VSA-100 chips on any particular board. Vertex data for example IS NOT duplicated for each processor. With texture compression becoming more prevalent, and 3dfx's ability to support DXTC and FXT1 in hardware, duplicating texture information isn't as big a deal as it use to be. Just to ease some minds, Q3 running at 800x600 with motion blur and 4xFSAA enabled was SILKY smooth. Also, remember we were looking at pre-production hardware with early drivers.

Peter also reminded us that FSAA will be an "out of the box" feature immediately available to all users and developers for that matter. T-Buffer Effects (Motion Blur, Depth of Field, Soft Shadows and Reflections) all have to be supported at the game developer level. However, the beauty of the VSA-100 architecture is that the T-Buffer allows the game developer to implement these features very easily. In the end, 3dfx is targeting a new level of immersion for the end user and exponentially higher quality end product results for the Game Developer. The essence of all these features is to bring gaming to a more realistic level. Having experienced the effect these features have first hand, there is no denying the impact...it was superior to anything we have seen to date.

Lees hier het complete artikel.

TRoXX brengt ons het blije bericht dat beta 2 van Opera 4 is gereleased: "Opera zelf heeft (nog) niet gemeld wat er verbeterd is aan beta 2, maar voor zover ik kan controleren zijn de bugs die er in beta 1 nog in zaten allemaal verdwenen en is het echt een razendsnelle browser geworden die (op wat kleine puntjes na) alles kan wat IE/Netscape kunnen. Als je Opera 3.5 of hoger geregistreerd had (we laten in het midden hoe) dan kun je het oude registratienummer gewoon in Opera 4 gebruiken":

Opera 4.0: Public Beta 2 is now available! Test drive it today!

Tired of 10MB+ downloads, megabytes of updates, sluggish performance, HTML standard violations, desktop domination, instability, the seductive word 'free', and a browser war that left you as the only casualty? Then welcome to Opera! Small, fast, customizable, powerful but user-friendly, Opera takes the wait out of the Internet, reduces your online charges and does wh at the others tried in vain: it puts a big smile on your face. With all these features, Opera is well worth paying for.

Opera 4 beta 2 kun je hier naar binnen tanken.

PC Citrix heeft een review gepost van de nieuwe 0,18micron Celeron 'II' 533. Evenals Overclockers.com kon men de C533 zonder problemen naar 800MHz overklokken. De processor presteert op die snelheid in Quake III en 3DMark2000 beter dan een PIII-550E, maar blijft duidelijk achter bij een PIII op 803/146MHz:

Well, it looks as though the new Celeron will become another overclocking legend. It overclocked to 800MHz with ease, only needing to bump the voltage up to 1.8v with our combination. I have a feeling that some may go higher, and we were able to hit 824MHz, but not without stability issues. Humphrey from PCNut let me know that he just obtained a 566MHz model, and it is humming along at 850MHz. Who would have thought you could pick up a CPU for very little green and put it into the mid-to-high 800MHz range? We have awarded the FC-PGA Celeron 5 out of 5 P-Marks for excellent value and outstanding performance. We do believe that this will become the next hot overclocking CPU, and replace the millions of current Celerons in circulation. You just watch.

Thanks Remedy voor de tip.

Nu Microsoft definitief tot monopolist is verklaard wordt verwacht dat Bill en companen bedolven zullen worden onder een flinke berg rechtszaken. Zowel particulieren als bedrijven zullen van de gelegenheid gebruik maken om Microsoft voor het gerecht te dagen:

In de al lopende zaken, veelal aangespannen na de voorlopige uitspraak van rechter Thomas Penfield Jackson in november, eisen advocaten namens groepen Amerikaanse burgers en bedrijven een schadevergoeding. De cliënten zouden teveel hebben betaald voor het Windows-besturingssysteem.

[...] Naast de class-action zaken kan Microsoft ook dagvaardingen verwachten van concurrenten die hun privé-antitrustzaak willen voeren. "Elk bedrijf dat denkt beet te hebben moet het proberen in de rechtszaal", aldus Scott McNealy, topman van Sun, tegen de New York Times. "Je moet nu kunnen bewijzen dat Microsoft je wat heeft aangedaan en uitrekenen hoeveel dat heeft gekost."

Zie Webwereld voor het complete artikel.

Sega zal vandaag een drastische verandering van strategie bekend maken. In de VS zal het onder de bedrijfsnaam Sega.com een online gaming dienst opzetten genaamd SegaNet. Tegen de maandelijkse abonnementskosten van $21,95 krijgen gamers een Dreamcast met een gratis toetsenbord en toegang tot SegaNet:

Sega of America Inc., anticipating serious competition in the cut-throat video game business, will unveil Tuesday a radical shift in its business strategy by offering its own Internet service and giving away to subscribers its Dreamcast video console via a $200 rebate.

[...] With a business model not unlike the companies that offer free PCs or Internet devices in exchange for monthly Internet access, Sega will offer a rebate of $200 -- the cost of the Dreamcast game console -- to gamers who sign up for two years of SegaNet Internet service. It expects to launch this service in the fall, at a cost of $21.95 a month. Subscribers will also get a free keyboard.

[...] "It's a radical change but a radical change is needed," said Sean McGowan, a video gaming analyst with Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. "It's a very risky strategy... This is not a company that is sitting on a ton of cash. They are betting the ranch because they have to. Sega is clearly the weakest financially of all the major players. They have got to do something drastic."

Zie dit artikel van CNN voor het complete verhaaltje.

America Online zal morgen op de World trade show in Los Angeles de eerste officiële beta van Netscape 6 presenteren, bericht C|Net news.com (thanks DiGiSTORM):

Netscape Communications, maker of the Web-browsing software at the heart of the U.S. government's antitrust case against Microsoft, is set to unveil on Wednesday a much-delayed upgrade that marks the sharply curtailed ambitions of the once pioneering program.

Netscape 6.0, the latest version of the program millions rely on as their primary window to the Internet, will be introduced at a trade show in Los Angeles by executives of America Online, which acquired Netscape last year.

Vorige week lekte er al een onofficiële preview release uit. Deze is inmiddels van de Netscape FTP site verdwenen.

Op GA-Source staat een interview met Bubba Wolford waarin hij verteld dat de Voodoo5 6000 enkele maanden later gereleased gaat worden dan de rest van de Voodoo4/5 familie :

Is the V5 6000 still on line for a late May/Early June release?

We have not announced a release date for the Voodoo5 6000 product, but it will be at least several months after the initial Voodoo5 5000/5500 product launch.

Was the Rampage production cycle affected at all by the problems with the VSA-100?

The schedule for Rampage was adjusted to adhere to the new schedule for the Voodoo4/5. Once we release Voodoo4/5, we will be back on track for our 6-9 month product cycle.

Cirrus Logic heeft de snelste CD-RW chip geintroduceerd die er momenteel is, hiermee moet je CD's op een snelheid van 16 speed kunnen fikken .

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 2000-- Affirming once again its position as the speed leader in the optical storage market, Cirrus Logic Inc. (Nasdaq:CRUS - news) today introduced the industry's fastest CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) chip, delivering 16x write and 48x read speeds.

The new encoder/decoder (CR3480) can write twice as fast and read 50% faster than CD-RW chips currently available from other manufacturers. A major manufacturer of CD-RW drives has already selected Cirrus Logic's new chip because of its speed advantage and ease of use.

[...] The new CR3480 incorporates a highly automated recording formatter with a built-in control processor. This embedded processor automates the entire write process so that drive manufacturers can pre-program the write operation in firmware preventing unnecessary interrupts and minimizing intervention from the microprocessor.

Without the formatter, the microprocessor has to make instant decisions sector-by-sector within a fixed time constraint, thus limiting the increase of write speed. With the CR3480, the entire write process is taken care of in hardware, therefore minimizing the access time required at any write speed.

Het wordt dus mogelijk om een CD van 650 MB binnen 5 minuten helemaal vol te zetten .

3D Hardware heeft een interview on-line gezet met Rémi Arnaud van Intrinsic Alchemy. Dat bedrijf is van plan een nieuwe API voor videokaarten op de markt te brengen, concurentie voor DirectX, OpenGL en Glide:

3DHW: How is it different from already present APIs, like Direct3D or OpenGL? What are it's edges?

RA: Direct3d and OpenGL are hardware low-level APIs. Some come and go, like 3Dfx Glide. They need to evolve as the hardware evolves; creating all the non-compatibility problems that we're all aware of. Having a good interface to the hardware is a necessity. In the case of the Playstation 2, for instance, there isn't a ready-to-use library. Intrinsic provides hand microcoded libraries to the graphics, audio, and other components of the console.
Alchemy is a game development software platform that encapsulates the complexity in higher level concepts; these concepts are then "compiled" and "optimized" according to the hardware on which the game is running. As stated in our press releases, we're working closely with hardware vendors to take advantage of the latest capabilities and have the best possible performance on different platforms.

3DHW: How is it with the ease of programming, compared to the already existing API's? Is the migration easy?

RA: Migration and the exchange of code and features between games, even on the same platform, is a complex issue on which every game publisher and developer spends a great deal of time and energy. Currently, there isn't much choice -- acquire the source code, give it to your best programmers, and cross your fingers. This is even the case when a game developer wants to use two third party products, such as a physic engine and a scene graph. Alchemy packages features so they can be migrated between platforms and different games, with little or no effort. In the near future, there will also be a variety of separate components available for the Alchemy platform so a game developer can build an application in a very short time.

Je kan het hele interview hier lezen.

Diverse nieuwssites melden dat rechter Thomas Penfield Jackson uitspraak heeft gedaan in de anti-trustzaak tegen Microsoft. Volgens Jackson heeft Microsoft herhaaldelijk de Sherman Antitrust Act geschonden. In de komende maanden zal duidelijk worden welke sancties er tegen Microsoft opgelegd zullen worden:

Microsoft repeatedly violated U.S. antitrust laws, a federal judge ruled in a far-reaching decision that promises to reshape the computer industry and weaken the company's current dominance in the personal computer field.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson said in his decision released Monday afternoon that Microsoft (MSFT) relied on "technological shackles" to keep rival products from effectively competing with its Internet Explorer browser and ran afoul of the Sherman Act's restrictions on anticompetitive conduct.

[...] In the next few months Jackson will announce what penalties he will impose on Microsoft. But Microsoft's loss during this key round likely will embolden competitors and foreshadow a new wave of private antitrust suits that promise to distract the company's management for years to come.

Check de onderstaande links voor meer info (bijeen geraapt door Diederik):

Microsoft Loses Big -- Sources (Wired News)
Microsoft to respond to ruling at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) (ABC News)
Judge's Conclusion: MS Guilty (Wired News)
Judge rules Microsoft guilty (MSNBC