Window XP Reprieved until 2010

Microsoft has announced that Windows XP, which was expected to reach the end of its life later this month, has been given a reprieve and will continue until 2010. However, before XP fans start celebrating it’s worth reading the small print. It turns out that MS is basically extending the deadline for manufacturer’s to sell licences for XP, mainly for use on low cost and ultra-compact laptops like the eee PC and OLPC (one laptop per child project). There’s also provision for XP to continue on low-cost desktops or ‘nettops’, which are essentially simple web-surfing machines. On the plus side this means XP will be supported for a while longer, probably well beyond 2010, but the chances are the next over the counter or mail order PC you buy will have Vista pre-installed, but there’s nothing to stop you wiping the disc and installing XP, if that’s what you really want.

Tour Space With Microsoft

It’s okay, Bill Gates hasn’t bought NASA, at least not just yet, but Microsoft is giving away a free virtual tour of space with a new web-based application called Worldwide Telescope. Be warned, you’ll need a reasonably quick PC, preferably with a dual-core CPU, and ideally running Vista, though it will still plod along under XP. The images are stunning and based on actual ground and spaced based telescopes, you can zoom in on astronomical features, explore the solar system and warp across the Milky Way. Okay, so it’s a bit like Google Sky, but there’s a bit more depth to it, better controls and it looks like it could become a very useful educational tool.

XP Gets All the Love, Just Leftovers for Vista

It’s nothing but love for Windows XP and all scraps, crumbs and leftovers for Windows Vista. One inherent consequence of having an operating system dig its roots into the market for five years, is the creation of not only a loyal user base, but also of a community of developers that find it equally difficult to transition to a new platform. Additionally, Windows Vista has virtually changed the rules for software developers with the introduction of the User Account Control, forcing them to rethink products in order to run with standard user privileges. This has caused developers to steer clear of Vista, as long as XP still has a strong grip of the operating system market, a situation illustrated amply by Evans Data’s Spring 2008, North American Development Survey. Read More »

Introducing the Popfly Game Creator

Game development, like it or not, remains a territory largely off limits as it involves hard coding. And if this is the general rule, Microsoft offers the exception. The Redmond company has evolved its web and mashup tool in order to accommodate game creation. Now, the fact of the matter is that users won’t be able to create their very own sequel to a preferred title, but Popfly will enable the creation of simple, casual games without writing a single line of code. This is now possible through the addition of the Popfly Game Creator.

“Popfly is about more than mashups and web pages. It’s about making it fun to build things and share them with your friends. And one of the things we’ve heard loud and clear is that games are the kinds of things that people would like to try to build. What kinds of games can you create? Just about any kind of two-dimensional game, a category that includes things like the original Super Mario, Frogger, Asteroids, and a host of other old arcade games”, revealed a member of the Popfly team. Read More »

Gateway ships retail PCs with 64-bit Windows Vista

You knew it was coming. Gateway, to our knowledge, has become the first large PC vendor to ship most of its retail PCs with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium. The refreshed product line also brings back an Intel quad-core processor, which had been dumped by the company in the previous product cycle.

When we wrote about Gateway’s spring retail PCs back in January of this year, it was quite obvious that, at least for that product cycle, Gateway had thrown out Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q6600 quad-core processor in favor of an AMD Phenom X4 chip. Back then, company representatives assured us that an Intel quad-core would return soon. It took some time (four months), but an Intel chip is back, but only for the pricey “FX” version. Read More »

Introducing Zune 2.5

Microsoft continues to hammer away at its Zune digital media player and the services built around the device, but the evolution is largely a case of going where Apple has already taken the iPod and iTunes. On May 5, 2008, Microsoft introduced the latest update to Zune, not only adding new features and enhancements to the device itself but also evolving the Zune software, Zune Social and the Zune Marketplace. The focus of the update is to build on top of what the company started with “Zune Social” in November 2007, namely to extend the social networking community created around the device.

“Zune owners are pretty passionate, and they had a lot of great ideas for making the community more valuable to music fans. And I definitely fall into that category myself - the main reason we’re all here is we love the music,” stated Brian Seitz, a Group Marketing Manager for Zune. Zune Social offers users the possibility to interact in terms of music discovery, comments, playlist browsing, with the update bringing to the table additional capabilities including the ability to send messages to friends, explore their music collections and even drag-and-drop Zune Cards. Read More »

Windows Live Hotmail Joins Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Hotmail has joined Windows Live Messenger in order to extend the support of the “i’m” initiative. Microsoft debuted “i’m” back in 2007 as a way to enable Windows Live Messenger users to have a say as to where would a portion of the Redmond company’s advertising revenue from its instant messaging client would go. A year after the initiative was launched, no less than ten social cause organizations around the world received a total of over $1 million because of the users who started Windows Live Messenger conversations with “i’m.” As of May 5, the “i’m” initiative is no longer restricted to Windows Live Messenger, having migrated from the instant messaging client to Windows Live Hotmail. Read More »

Microsoft Gives Free Taste of Madonna’s Hard Candy

Microsoft is gearing up to deliver a free taste of Madonna’s Hard Candy album via MSN. The Redmond company will offer access at no charge to Madonna’s performance at New York City’s Roseland
Ballroom on April 30. Via Control Room and MSN, fans will be able to watch the singer’s concert streamed live, with Microsoft promising that the event will feature the No.1 single “4 Minutes,” from the Hard Candy album released on April 28.

“Madonna is a legendary performer, and we’re thrilled to be bringing this live online broadcast to her fans on the heels of her Hall of Fame induction, her record-breaking 37th top-10 single ‘4 Minutes,’ and in conjunction with the launch of this hotly anticipated new album,” revealed Aaron Grosky, Control Room president. Read More »

XP SP3 Brings Nothing New for Gaming

Windows XP Service Pack 3 is a case of “much ado about nothing” when it comes down to gaming. SP3 was released to manufacturing on April 21, 2008, almost two months after the RTM date of Windows Vista Service Pack 1. But if Vista SP1 does bring to the table advances that will affect the gaming experience of end users in comparison with the original version of the latest Windows client, SP3 will not do the same for XP SP2 users. This is, of course, due to the fact that Microsoft has virtually ignored the graphics components of XP in the move from XPSP2 to XP SP3.

With Vista, SP1 delivered DirectX 10.1, an incremental update from DirectX 10. In fact, Microsoft has continually referred to version 10.1 as a superset and a minor update to the component which is shipped by default with Windows Vista. Read More »

Watch Out Windows

Radio, phone, GPS, MP3 player, TV, camera… been there done that, but just when you thought there wasn’t anything else that could be shoehorned into a wristwatch, think again. A company called Epoq has managed to fit a copy of Windows Mobile onto one, which you drive using a 1.4-inch OLED touch screen, and just for good measure the EGP-98B has built in 1.3MP camera, wi-fi, Bluetooth and a 4-band GSM phone. Now, it might all be a wind-up (pun intended) because details and availability are all very sketchy, and good images are also hard to find. Read More »