Now that Vista SP1 has been released there's no surprise that performance tests and benchmarks are going to start flooding the Internet, and not surprisingly XP takes the crown in most of the cases. ZDNet has gotten the ball rolling (here and here) with their test results:
Over the course of the years as Microsoft has launched new versions of Windows, there have been three things (among many, really) that have consistently changed: the start-up screen, the calculator, and the program manager/Start menu. Thanks to a site I recently came across called Guidebook Gallery, I was able to get screenshots of all three from most versions of Windows starting at 1.01.
One of the things that I always do on a fresh Windows installation is have it show the extensions on all of my files. I'm not sure how many of you do this, but it seems like I'm changing around extensions quite frequently so it makes a lot of sense for me.
No, you didn't read the title of the article wrong. With all of the Vista bashing going on we thought it would be fun to take a step back and see what the initial consensus was of XP when it launched back in October 2001. Since so much time has passed it is easy to forget the messages that were filling the forums and reviews.
Stardock just released a new cursor management program called CursorFX (previously known as CursorXP). It is designed so that users can install any of the hundreds of cursor themes that have been created. One of my personal favorites is Uista, which is particularly slick on Vista.
There has been a lot of buzz around Microsoft's announcement that Vista SP1 has been sent to manufacturing, but it won't actually be available to the public until March 2008. The reason for the delay is that there are some driver compatibility problems for some users, and Microsoft is trying to figure out the best way to isolate the people who will have troubles with the Service Pack.
Computer World is reporting that there's a new development in the One Laptop Per Child computer program. According to Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of OLPC, they're working together with Microsoft to develop a dual-boot system which would make Linux and Windows available on the affordable computers being sent to developing countries.
Over in the CyberNet Forum, Richard pointed out a post from Download Squad that explained how you could surf the web on a Windows XP Computer by accessing a help file in a Windows application like the calculator.
I'm not sure how long this is going to be available, but it looks as though Windows XP users can download the first Release Candidate of Service Pack 3 (SP3) straight from Microsoft. One member over at the WinMatrix forum posted the download link, which directly points to XP SP3 executable installer located on the Windows Update server.
Microsoft is not going to stand on the sidelines when it comes to the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. They have given 40 engineers the daunting task of getting Windows XP running on the OLPC (a.k.a. XO project), which is equipped with a 433MHz processor, 256MB or RAM, and a 1GB flash drive.
It's another big milestone for Windows XP/2003 users! Vista Transformation Pack 8 ( VTP 8 ) was just released, and it will bring even more of the Vista finesse that you know and love without the hefty upgrade price tag. One of the most notable changes is the ability to use the "Aero Glass" without needing WindowBlinds.
Windows users have undoubtedly become accustomed to having the minimize, maximize, and close buttons located in the upper-right corner of every window. Mac's, on the other hand, have those buttons located in the upper-left corner of each window. Switching between the two operating systems can be rather tedious since you have to get used to two different button layouts.
It's that time again! Yep, time for more Microsoft leaks. This time around a "hack" has been exposed that will let existing Windows XP users download and install a Release Candidate of Service Pack 3 (SP3) via Windows Update. If this sounds familiar to you it's probably because a similar hack was already leaked back in October for Vista SP1.
I hang out over in the Donation Coder forum from time to time because there are a lot of people over there who have discovered some extremely useful apps. One example of this just happened a few weeks ago when Nighted, a member of the forum, pointed out a great freeware utility called ThumbWin (Google Translation to English).
I received a tip the other day from "S" who was letting me know that Webroot is giving away free licenses for their firewall software. This is for a limited time only, and I've already requested several licenses of it for myself.
One of the things that annoys me the most in Windows is the system beep. It's loud and often happens at the most inopportune times, like during a meeting or a class. All heads turn towards you as people wonder what idiot would have the sound turned on.
Mozilla has started to to post some more information regarding how Firefox 3 will adapt itself to the look of multiple operating systems. One of the big changes that Mike Beltzner, Mozilla's User Experience Leader, mentioned in an article was the two different icon sets that will be created for Windows alone. There will be one for Vista and one for XP.
Last year we gave away some copies of Mojopac, and a lot of people seemed excited about the features the software offered. With Mojopac you can carry your own your own copy of Windows XP wherever you go, including any applications that you use.
There have been tools in the past that monitor programs on your computer for updates, but none is like the new UpdateStar. This free app claims to check for updates on upwards of 80,000 titles including freeware, shareware and commercial software products. That's quite a database it has got built up!
Stardock just launched WindowBlinds 6, and there is no doubt that this is what the next generation of skinning is all about! It completely supports the blurring of window borders and menus...for both Vista and XP. I guess you could say that it helps blur the line between the two operating systems.
