BeOS a dead OS? I don't think so, and I never believed it to be either. Though anyone still claiming it to be should really start looking around. IsComputerOn itself is still pretty new, but after it got launched, ZetaNews surfaced too.

And today we can add another newbie to the list; ZetaJournal.org, or Cee-Jay if you prefer. With a fresh green-white design by "Stargater" and fabulous artwork done by "bones", Dan "choulth" Racek and Matthias "technoids" Breiter hope to host an independent platform for 100% devoted Zeta users. Welcome to the club!
For registered users, Xentronix has now taken a bug tracker in use.

The bug tracker clearly displays the bugs in a list, and also indicates the bug's status (active, fixed, or in progress), which makes keeping track of that more clear for both Frans van Nispen and the customers of Refraction.

A separate section to request features has been added as well, giving users of Refraction a say in the application's progress. Now that's what I call value for your money.
From the Sequel development corner there is not often a status update, but today we get a new peek into the projects recent progress. A few things have been mentioned:
  • New features have been added
  • As previously announced, some source code has been cleaned up
  • The also previously announced filtering and reorganization of the x86-specific code out of the core is nearly done
  • Kernel debugging has been improved
  • The serial debugging output has been altered too
  • Beyond the Kernel, the team has also started writing an XML-based system for documentation, with most importantly a BeBook-like document collection about Sequel scheduled to be written
This is starting to look better and better. Although Sequel may still be quite some time away from now, there's a slow but stable progress booked. Thumbs up!
The BeOS Journal (TBJ) has decided to reorganise their BeScreens gallery by using Gallery. It's looking good.

Also thanks to TBJ (and their link to the Babelfish translation), we now know the second JPBE.net event has just ended. As JPBE.net since recently had their own copy of Zeta RC1, they were able to show some more about RC1.
There are Longhorn screenshots available. Longhorn is the codename for Windows XP's successor, due in 2005 for the least. Under read more is my personal opinion in case you're interested.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read about it on the OpenBeOS website: there is going to be an American version of BeGeistert, called WalterCon. For years, people from the United States have indicated they wanted one, and now they will.

But don't start packing yet! The event is scheduled for June 2004, some 8 months from now, and at the moment they are still trying to figure out where it can best be held and what visitors would prefer most on the conference. The OpenBeOS site asks people to send the answers to the following questions to WalterCon at dauwalder dot net:
  1. Yes/No/Maybe - Would you come to a West Coast WalterCon?
  2. Yes/No/Maybe - Would you come to an East Coast WalterCon?
  3. Which of the following would you most like to see:
    • Presentations on the API and the internals
    • Presentations on 3rd-party apps
    • Discussions of R2+
    • Free time to code and hang out
I'm very excited to see an effort like this being taken. Great job!
As previously announced, ITBug has just released the second edition of their Beyond Magazine, which is available for download in PDF format from BeBits (English and Italian).

Most remarkable about this edition is the interview with Scot Hacker, who unfortunately wasn't exactly so enthusiastic about BeOS anymore. Additionally there is an article about Planet Amiga 2003 in there, the second part of "Programming with REBOL", a story on DivX and game emulation, and a lot more worth checking out.
Rudolf Cornelissen posted a short update on his website about the NVidia driver today. He has got TNT overlay working but discovered that the it cannot be scaled down.

Another problem he ran into was that NVidia probably did something to CRCT, but Rudolf just can't seem to figure out what. This might heavily delay the support for the GeForce FX5600.

I also emailed him only a few days ago with some questions, in specific about the recently announced GeForce FX5700 and FX5950. I'm eagerly awaiting his reaction.
DarkWyrm today announced on his website that he's busy moving to another house with his family. This means both that he probably cannot do any significant coding in the next couple of days, and that he may not be reachable until next Tuesday for the least.

Good luck moving, DarkWyrm!
The Themis project (additional link with screenshots and icons here) has always fascinated me somehow. The concept is good, and with some work it can bring forth a fantastic BeOS-native browser that goes way beyond the capabilities of NetPositive, and is open source as well. I already knew Mark Hellegers, one of the browser's developers, from earlier BeGeistert events as he is one of the few core Dutch visitors. I think most of you would like to know a bit more about Themis and its goals. That's why I sat down with Mark for a short while, and under read more you'll see what came out.

If what you are about to read draws your interest and you are considering to join the project, drop a line at z3r0_one at users dot sourceforge dot net.