Microsoft

A neighbor (and new friend) Jason sent me the link to Microsoft to delay Office for Mac 2008. I started to compose a personal reply, but then decided to bring the discussion points here, instead.

Read more on Microsoft Office for Mac 2008: Delayed…

In between getting rickrolled by Ben Gold (ricktroll?), the chat roomer “hellkine” passed along a rather interesting remix. I’m getting to the point of fearing what will be on the other end of any YouTube URL, but this one turned out to be generally interesting. If you thought the Windows XP startup sound sounded anything but seriously spectacular, maybe you’re not really listening?

Read more on Windows Startup Sound Remixes…

I’ve long believed that the future of media playback on the desktop (or mobile device) would ultimately pass through Flash. Why there hasn’t been a truly universal, codec-neutral media player released for any operating system is beyond me. Lockergnome reader Anthony Baker submitted the following, in respect to the future of the Windows Media Player:

Read more on Media is Still in the Dark Ages…

I appreciate the motivation behind the “shooting yourself in the foot” intercession, but there are a few things you gotta understand about the way my mind works (specifically, in this space). ;)

Read more on Sponsors Should Embrace Freedom, not Fear It…

Heh. Even the manufacturers don’t want to deal with Windows Vista. From day one, I’ve been complaining about NVIDIA’s lackluster support for the big “V” – being lucky enough to capture desktop quirkiness now and again to prove that it’s not PEBKAC (see my YouTube videos). If you have a laptop with Windows Vista, you may be in even bigger trouble:

Read more on ATI and NVIDIA Abandoning Vista Laptops?…

For months, I’ve had people asking about the 4GB vs 2GB RAM scenario. The answer isn’t all that simple when it comes to 32-bit flavors of Windows, but despite the language barrier, Aqud does his best to explain it to the community again:

Read more on 4GB RAM in Windows?…

Lockergnome subscriber Anthony Down is of the opinion that Microsoft is gouging its European customers. I’m seeking clarification on his assertions, hoping that someone from Microsoft’s European division can clarify the situation – as I’d only assume this is a mathematical error:

Read more on Does Microsoft Price Gouge Europe?…

Doyle Hudgens gave me that headline as the subject of his email tonight, in which he wrote about his experience with Windows Vista:

I recently purchased a Compaq Presario notebook with Vista Home Premium installed. One of the first things I tried to do was create the restore CD/DVD since no one supplies these any more. The creation went just fine until verify. At this point I was informed on the screen that verification failed. I tried different suppliers of both CD and DVD with same result. I contacted HP support. When I explained the error, I was then told the problem was due to a copyright conflict in Vista that prevented the copy from being created. Is this freakin’ insane or what?

Read more on Copyright Insanity…

Windows Vista Ultimate is so freakin’ ultmiate that it can’t run the ultmiate add-on because the ultimate pair of monitors are running at the ultimate screen resolution (two Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP monitors at 2560×1600 apiece). This is ultimately not much of a let-down for me, as most of Vista’s Ultimate extras have proven themselves to be anything BUT.

Read more on How Ultimate is Windows Vista Ultimate?…

When you ask me about my first computer, I require clarification. I’ve had many “first computers” in my life. They’re all considered classics at this point, and I’m searching for decent emulators (and accompanying legal ROMs) to relive those days.

Read more on The First Computer…

I’m pretty strict when it comes to wireless security: I always have WPA enabled with a strong, hard to guess password, and I always make sure to use my wireless access points MAC address filter (so the only wireless enabled devices that I own can access my network). Of course, my security concerns don’t end just at encryption: if any of the information I’m transmitting is really sensitive, I make sure to use a wired connection.

Read more on Amateur Video…

Via my friend Todd Bishop at the PI, Google raises Microsoft antitrust concern. I’m linking to his story since the original NYT post requires registration, which is absolutely l4m3.

According to the New York Times report, Google has complained that computers slow significantly when running both Windows Vista’s built-in desktop search program and Google Desktop Search. The behind-the-scenes indexing needed for desktop search programs can drag on computing resources.

Read more on Google Desktop Search vs Windows Vista Search…

When Microsoft put Pac Man into the Xbox Live Marketplace, I grabbed it immediately. Many PacMan fans were disappointed that this video game classic really wasn’t optimized for an HD experience. Guess what?

Read more on Pac Man: A Classic…

Chris Benkendorf:

I watched your webcast regarding issues with Vista and your wanting to revert back to XP. My question is… what am I doing wrong or right? I feel as though I am the only one not having any real problems with Windows Vista, and I am running the 64-bit version. The only small issue I am having is that Adobe Flash Player does not have a 64-bit Flash Player, so I am running 32-bit Firefox to view flash-based websites. Visual Studio 2005 runs great, as does Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop CS3 and all of my hardware. Most of the work I do on my platform is web design, software design and and putting together photo-based publications.

Read more on Vista vs XP…

Mooreyameen Mohamad, in response to Operating System Choices:

I don’t understand what is the big deal with operating systems. So Apple has Mac OS X and PCs have Windows Vista and a bunch of other stuff such as the much heralded Ubuntu… but at the end of the day it’s the applications (Google Apps?) that a computer user would / should be most concerned about, right? Internet browsing experience depends pretty much on the internet browser, which is largely independent of the OS and the bandwidth of the internet connection.

Read more on What’s Missing in an Operating System?…