Red Hat offers testing ground

Red Hat has announced its 'Red hat Ready' application testing programme, allowing ISVs to certify the compatibility of their products with the Linux distribution. The programme will assure potential customers of both Red Hat Linux and ISVs (independent software vendors) that the applications will be stable and reliable on Red Hat, having gone through what Red Hat describes as 'rigorous testing on the latest versions of Red Hat Linux'. Red Hat Ready will certify applications for all of Red Hat's Enterprise products, including the recently announced Enterprise ES and WS. ...more

DTV lift off around the corner

Digital TV market in Europe about to take off, says forecaster. Internet research firm Jupiter MMXI believes low cost set-top boxes could kick start an under-estimated demand for digital TV. In its latest report the company predicts that by 2006 more European households will be watching digital TV than using the Internet. ...more

UK games chart: Mercenaries keeps hold of number one

The Lucas Arts action game Mercenaries keeps its place at the top of this week's ELSPA UK games chart. Priced at ?34.99 for the PS2 and Xbox consoles, the game stays ahead of Sega's Sonic Mega Collection Plus, at number two, and THQ's The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, which remains steady at number three. ...more

Apple poised for Intel leap five years ago

Apple was preparing to switch to Intel chips five years ago before IBM persuaded them to stick with the PowerPC platform, according to the then head of Big Blue's semiconductor division. Michel Mayer told News.com that he sold the G5 processor - then still in development - to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. ...more

Comment: Pass the parcel

The developer companies may sell software, but the packaging that clogs our shelves is nothing more than hot air, argues Stewart Mitchell. Good things come in small packages - or so the expression goes - which would mean most of the software sold today is absolute pants. What could come in a simple hinged CD case is, instead, included in a plastic tray, a cardboard sleeve, a cardboard box and then a cellophane wrapper. ...more