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My initial evaluation of Windows 7 shows that it's really just Vista with a fresh coat of paint I have seen the future, and it is bleak. Windows 7, the next big version, the one that was supposed to fix everything that was wrong with Vista, is here (at least in pre-beta form), and I can now say -- with some confidence -- that Microsoft has once again dropped the ball. Based on what I saw in today's keynote speech, and on what I discovered while testing the Windows 7 M3 build during some down time this afternoon, Windows 7...

Finally the iPhone unleashed! Break away from the stranglehold Jobs & Co. have on you and your iPhone. Download and install the software you've really been wanting to use. Never again suffer from "windows" envy or be ridiculed for having a small software repository. Upgrade NOW to the NEW, Dual Boot Windows iPhone Mobile...Coming in Jan. 09.

Anyone see the new Microsoft commercial with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates? Is that a piece o work or what??? Methinks Bill oughta give up his closet hopes of being a big media star and at least attempt to bring us a reliable, secure OS.

From the "who needs a pre-load when you're embedded" files: Dude - if you're getting a Dell then you're getting Linux. No you don't have to order one of those fancy Ubuntu pre-load deals. This is an embedded Linux that will be available on a whole bunch of new Dell Latitude laptops in a feature called Latitude ON. This is a feature that uses an embedded Linux to allow for instant on access to email, calendar and Internet.

WERE advertisements rather than sales the yardstick, Apple would have dominated the computer industry for decades. First there was the legendary spot “1984”, in that same year, which is often considered the best ad in history. Directed by Ridley Scott, then basking in “Blade Runner” fame, and produced by Chiat/Day, Apple’s advertising agency to this day, it depicted Apple as the individualist and cool brand, in contrast to oppressive conformity, then understood to mean IBM. Ever since then, the same man, Lee Clow, at what is now TBWA\Chiat\Day, part of Omnicom, a giant marketing group, has been socking it to...

scribbles89 sends in a story that originally ran in SearchSecurity; it sounds like it could be a game-changer. "While this may seem like any standard security hole, other researchers say that the work is a major breakthrough and there is very little that Microsoft can do to fix the problems. These attacks work differently than other security exploits, as they aren't based on any new Windows vulnerabilities, but instead take advantage of the way Microsoft chose to guard Vista's fundamental architecture. According to Dino Dai Zovi..., 'the genius of this is that it's completely reusable. They have attacks that let...

i've got black bars on either side of my vista image. how do i eliminate these so that vista can occupy the whole screen on my samsung 2693hm? thanks. ken

Are you currently running Windows and Linux in a dual-boot setup? You're going to have major headaches with Vista SP1, Microsoft has admitted. If you’re dualbooting Windows Vista Enterprise or Ultimate alongside a Linux distro, and have installed the Linux bootloader into the MBR, then you’re guaranteed to run into problems when installing Vista Service Pack 1, Microsoft has admitted. The service pack has a couple of prerequisite updates and one of them, KB935509, contains an update to the Windows Vista bootloader. However, this bootloader is often replaced by open source bootloaders like Grub when installing Linux onto a system....

Many have said they’re not interested in Windows Vista, that Windows XP is just fine for them. And in fact, you could go so far as to say some of them actually hate the OS. Still, a new OS, Mojave, may just be the key to a new marketing campaign. Last week Microsoft told a focus group in San Francisco they were being shown a new version of Windows, codenamed Mojave. Feedback was quite positive; more than 90% gave positive feedback. Afterwards they were told that Mojave was actually Windows Vista.

Business PC buyers are still overwhelmingly opting for XP, computer giant HP has revealed. HP's revelation, made at the launch of a new range of business notebooks, flies in the face of Microsoft's persistent PR claims that Vista has sold tens of millions of copies — and is selling at a faster rate than XP ever did. However, HP explained how Microsoft is coming up with these "Vista" sales figures. "From the 30th of June, we have no longer been able to ship a PC with a XP licence," said Jane Bradburn, Market Development Manager, Commercial Notebooks for HP Australia....

When you buy a new PC today, unless you hunt down a Linux system or you buy a Mac, you're pretty much stuck with Vista. Sad, but true. So, when I had to get a new PC in a hurry, after one of my PCs went to the big bit-ranch in the sky with a fried motherboard, the one I bought, a Dell Inspiron 530S from my local Best Buy came pre-infected with Vista Home Premium. Big deal. It took me less than an hour to install Linux Mint 5 Elyssa R1 on it. As expected, everything on this 2.4GHz...

Does anyone recommend a fax software since it is not included in the Vista Home Premium? I've read a bit about Snappysoftware.com but would prefer opinions and suggestions from folks on FR. Thank you!!

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is now acknowledging it screwed up with its initial launch of Windows Vista, and is ready to try again. "We broke a lot of things. We know that, and we know it caused you a lot of pain. It got customers thinking, hey, is Windows Vista a generation we want to get invested in?" So Brad Brooks, Microsoft's VP of Windows Vista consumer marketing, fessed up publicly this week. Speaking at a keynote address at Microsoft's annual Worldwide Partner Conference, Brooks signified that Microsoft was ready to admit mistakes and reposition itself to tell a better story...

Net Applications' Operating System stats for June 2008 show Apple's Mac hit a new all-time high with 7.94% share of the operating systems visiting Net Applications' network of websites worldwide. The stats also show Apple iPhone with 0.16% share and Apple iPod with 0.04%. Net Applications noted last month, "Apple has confirmed that its online inventories for the original version of the iPhone are sold out in the U.S. and U.K. Apple appears to be clearing out its inventories in preparation for the iPhone 2.0 release. This, in conjunction with customers holding off purchasing until 2.0 is released has temporarily...

Excerpt - Redmond, WA (AHN) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is pulling the XP operating system from its product line come Monday. The move comes 18 months after the company launched the Vista operating system. Although Microsoft will not sell the XP program any longer, they will still generate revenue from providing support for the software as it will no longer be free. Microsoft will offer extended support packages for XP until at least 2014. ~ snip ~

Et Tu, Intel? Chip Giant Won’t Embrace Microsoft’s Windows Vista By Steve Lohr Intel, the giant chip maker and longtime partner of Microsoft, has decided against upgrading the computers of its own 80,000 employees to Microsoft’s Vista operating system, a person with direct knowledge of the company’s plans said. The person, who has been briefed on the situation but requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of Intel’s relationship with Microsoft, said the company made its decision after a lengthy analysis by its internal technology staff of the costs and potential benefits of moving to Windows Vista, which has drawn fire...

"For the opening piece in our series on Gates leaving daily life at Microsoft, one goal was to give a clear picture of the Microsoft co-founder's role inside the company, as a gauge of the impact his departure will have," Todd Bishop writes for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Microsoft Blog. "As part of that, I went back through the internal e-mails turned over in the antitrust suits against the company, looking for new insights into his personality." Bishop found a doozy, which also happens to illustrate perfectly why Mac users have such disdain for the "Windows experience." If you've ever...

And to think Microsoft used to be popular with the developer crowd... Not anymore. A recent report from Evans Data shows fewer than one in 10 software developers writing applications for Windows Vista this year. Eight percent. This is perhaps made even worse by the corresponding data that shows 49 percent of developers writing applications for Windows XP. Such appreciation for history is not likely to warm the cockles of Microsoft's heart, especially when Linux is getting lots of love from developers (13 percent writing apps for it this year and 15.5 percent in 2009). The Mac? I don't have...

For those of you running Vista, and have not set their systems to automatically download updates, I may have some good news for you. Today, my system DLed the SP1 for Vista, (It's large), and after installing and rebooting, many programs that opened/ran sluggishly, now start and perform, the way one would expect they'd run on a less than 1 yr old PC with 2 gigs of RAM.

Excerpt - Microsoft is in a bind. Windows Vista has sold 140 million copies, but it's such a resource hog with unreliable hardware drivers that users keep asking Redmond to extend the support for Windows XP. Many corporations refuse to upgrade their server farms and cubicle-bound desktops at all. It's not often that 140 million copies of a software package that costs hundreds of dollars can be called a disappointment, but this one seems to fit that bill. Vowing to release a new operating system every three years, the company now has about 20 months until the supposed release date...