Windows Could Use a Rush of Fresh Air

Beginning as a thin veneer for older software code, it has become an obese monolith built on an ancient frame. Adding features, plugging security holes, fixing bugs, fixing the fixes that never worked properly, all while maintaining compatibility with older software and hardware — is there anything Windows doesn’t try to do?

Painfully visible are the inherent design deficiencies of a foundation that was never intended to support such weight. Windows seems to move an inch for every time that Mac OS X or Linux laps it.

The best solution to the multiple woes of Windows is starting over. Completely. Now.

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Working LEGO Gun Will Make You Shoot Bricks

One man's LEGO is another man's treasure, and what better way is there to guard your grand stash of colored bricks than by using the bricks themselves as a weapon? The Thriller Automatic and Thriller Compact are slide action crossbow pistols with cocking and chambering mechanisms that are almost completely made out of LEGO. Martin Hüdepohl, a German designer and the man who built this amazing monstrosity, has a video of the gun in action. Pew pew!

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Horny for Ubuntu 8.10: first look at Intrepid Ibex

The first alpha release of Ubuntu 8.10, codenamed Intrepid Ibex, was made available on Saturday. This preliminary Intrepid prerelease includes updated packages, a new version of the Linux kernel, and an experimental new visual style.
Ubuntu adheres to a time-based release cycle and puts out a new major release every six months. Development of a new version begins soon after each major release. The first stage of the Ubuntu development cycle, which is now complete for Intrepid, is planning the roadmap and merging in updated packages from upstream Debain.

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