Study: Zune Sales Slow But Steady
While Microsoft is adamant that sales of its Zune player are 'meeting expectations,' data from market research firm Current Analysis indicates that the device failed to break into the top 10 in sales, and is competing in the wrong market segment.
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6.1.2007 Worldwide Software Piracy Rate Holds Steady at 35%
A new study reveals that 35% of the software installed in 2006 on personal computers (PCs) worldwide was obtained illegally, amounting to nearly $40 billion in global losses due to software piracy.
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16.5.2007 Tailoring Windows 7 to Solid-State Drives
Microsoft is tailoring Windows 7 to solid-state drives. Mum's the word on the matter as far as the Redmond giant is concerned, but this will no longer be the case come November 2008.
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7.10.2008 SanDisk: Windows Vista not optimized for solid-state drives
SanDisk said Monday that Windows Vista is not optimized for solid-state drives, delaying the delivery of optimized drives until next year.
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22.7.2008 The State of Microsoft Beta Programs
Before I kick off this editorial let me just state that I am no big-time tester and I haven’t even participated in a Windows beta (yet), but I do have some knowledge about such beta programs, I have people who may be considered “big-time” testers that I regularly talk to, and at the moment I’m participating in both the Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Beta and the Office 2010 Technical Preview, which is really the catalyst for me writing this article.
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20.7.2009 Stallman on the current state of GNU/Linux
Richard M. Stallman is defined by Wikipedia as being an "American software freedom activist, hacker and software developer."
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11.7.2009 Windows 7 Migration Tool to Move From Windows XP to Windows 7
In past we had covered guide on upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7. Unfortunately there is no direct upgrade path from Windows Xp to Windows 7 and you have to use Windows Easy Transfer utility if you want to move your user and program files from XP to Windows 7.
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22.11.2009 Vista SP1, and then Windows 7, Windows 8 and Non-Windows Midori
2008 saw the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Server 2008, but Microsoft's journey on the Windows path is far from over.
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5.8.2008 Windows 7 RC Brings Windows XP Mode Beta and Windows Virtual PC Beta
The Release Candidate of Windows 7 will bring with it the first Beta development milestones for Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC.
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29.4.2009 Windows Reactivator 2.0 - Backup & Restore Activation Status of Windows XP with Windows Reactivator
Every time you reinstall your windows XP you need to reactivate it online using your product key & worst if you lost your Windows XP product key.
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3.6.2009 Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2
Feb 26th, 2008. Principled Technologies has released two Microsoft commissioned reports on Windows Vista SP1 performance. In these tests, Principled Technologies measured responsiveness of Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2 when performing a set of common business and home tasks.
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28.2.2008 Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9 – 1 Billion and Counting
Is Windows dead? Or, at least, is this the beginning of the end for Microsoft's proprietary operating system?
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15.9.2008 Week in Microsoft: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9
This week in Microsoft, we covered 128-bit support possibly coming to Windows 8 and Windows 9, Windows 7, Windows Mobile 6.5, Bill Gates, Office 2010 Starter, Microsoft MVP status, Windows Live Hotmail, the EU, and Microsoft Security Essentials.
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10.10.2009 Windows Vista Build 5231 and Windows Media Player 11 Leaks!
Windows Vista Build 5231 has leaked to the web. The new build is said to include Windows Media Player 11 included. View the screenshots below! This is a Main branch build that was released on September 12th, 2005 at 8:20PM.
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Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3: Official Release Dates
A French website, PC Inpact, has posted the official Microsoft product change request forms for Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3.
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6.2.2008 Download Free Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2 Straight from Microsoft
Via the Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image. That's right! Microsoft is offering access to free downloads of Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2.
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6.3.2008 Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copy
"Its interesting that people seem to think that Vista under performs in every area of the system which is quite an incorrect perception.
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27.5.2008 Windows Fiji Has RTMd as Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008
Microsoft officially confirmed that Windows Fiji has been released to manufacturing.
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18.7.2008 Windows 7 Beta Doesn't Play Nice with Windows Azure Cloud OS Tools
The promise for Windows 7 is that it will deliver an evolution when it will come down to stretching into the Cloud compared to its precursor, Windows Vista.
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16.1.2009 Internet Explorer 8 MUI packs for Windows XP, Windows Server 03
As detailed in our previous blog post, the following Internet Explorer MUI packs shipped today.
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17.5.2009 Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta adds Windows 7 support
Microsoft announced the release of Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta, along with news that it will feature Windows 7 support.
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20.7.2009 Check for RAM Error or Defect in Windows 7 and Vista with Windows Memory Diagnostic
Memory or RAM is one of the most important electronic hardware component on a computer systems, not only in term of speed or clock frequency and size, but also the reliability of hardware ecosystem of the RAM sticks or memory modules and its subsystem.
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1.10.2009 The Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98 Threat Mitigation Guide
Well, Microsoft still puts effort in old Windows versions...
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31.3.2006 Windows Vista comes with 19,500 drivers on DVD – more on Windows Update
Ever needed to find a driver for a product and wished Windows would either just have the driver in it, or that their Windows Update service could provide it? With Vista, it can – and new features and updates will be forthcoming too. It’s about time!
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20.11.2006 Windows XP Home No Longer Qualifies for Windows Vista Upgrades
Windows XP Home Edition no longer qualifies for Windows Vista Business Upgrade or Upgrade + SA through Volume Licensing.
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17.10.2007 Microsoft Offers a Complex Windows Vista vs. Windows XP Perspective
A new standard of security is an integer aspect of the evolution puzzle represented by the move from Windows XP to Windows Vista.
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3.11.2007 Windows XP SP3 to Drop Concomitantly with Windows Vista SP1?
Yes, it's time for every Windows user's favorite obsession: Windows XP Service Pack 3. The third and final service pack for Windows XP has been quite elusive for the past three years.
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25.11.2007 Windows Vista vs. Windows 9x/Me, NT Server, 2000 and XP
If at just a couple of weeks short of the first anniversary since Windows Vista hit the shelves you are still looking for reasons to upgrade to the latest Windows client, then Biplab Paul, Partner Technical Consultant with Microsoft India, has an impressive, and exhaustive list of features that are bound to tilt the balance in Vista's favor.
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14.1.2008 Free Windows Vista Business and Windows XP SP2 on Parade
Free Windows... Not a concept you would expect from Microsoft. With a business strategy focused on proprietary software, the Redmond company is by all means at the opposite technology spectrum from open source and free software.
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9.3.2008 Microsoft Presents the Lost Comparison: Windows Vista vs. Windows XP
With both Windows XP and Windows Vista being available concomitantly on the market, Microsoft is doing nothing more than inviting the consumers to compare the two operating systems.
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20.4.2008Apple lops $500 off the price of SSD-based MacBook Air
With the price of NAND flash memory continuing its steady sequential decline, Apple Inc. this month cut the price of its Solid State Drive
(SSD)-equipped MacBook Air by half a grand, AppleInsider has discovered.
The Cupertino-based Mac maker is now selling its
super slim 13-inch 1.8GHz MacBook Air with a 64GB Solid State Drive for $2598, down from the $3098 fetching price that was listed as recently as last
week.
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03.07.2008Microsoft: Windows 7 to boost solid-state drives
Will solid-state drives thrive on Windows 7? Microsoft is set to address that question at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference this week.
Microsoft will speak to both overall support for solid-state drives and Windows 7 support for Netbooks in Los Angeles at WinHEC
2008, which kicks off Wednesday.
In a conference abstract titled "Windows 7 Enhancements for Solid-State Drives," Microsoft
states that "PC systems that have solid-state drives are shipping in increasing volumes" and that it is planning "Windows enhancements that take
advantage of the latest updates to standardized command sets, such as ATA."
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05.11.2008PC Growth Expected Slower but
Steady
Notebooks are favored in PC
shipments, which are still
increasing yearly, analysts
say...
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21.12.2005NeowIn-Focus: Solid-state drives revealed
Welcome to this, a comprehensive guide to understanding solid state drives. The purpose of this article is to help the reader understand how
commercially available solid state drives came into existence as well as clarify some of the terms utilized when talking about these devices and some
advantages and drawback this new technology presents. Once done with this article, the following article should make perfect sense: >Until recently,
solid-state drives were too costly for mobile computing.
Read full story.....
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02.12.2008Two timesavers when Windows misbehaves
Windows occasionally gets into a weird state where, well, things just stop working - the start menu doesn't launch some apps anymore, clicking links
in Internet Explorer doesn't work, context menus stop working, etc.*
Instead of rebooting Windows to get things working again,
try logging out and logging back in. When Windows (and the apps that plug into the Windows shell) get into some weird state, you don't need to
reboot; a logoff shuts down the Windows Explorer, and a logon loads it again.
The system services in Windows generally don't get
into too weird a state. So they can just keep on running during your logoff/logon.
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22.01.2008Let the music play: NY State passes on download 'iTunes tax'
New York governor David Paterson and leaders of the state legislature stated on Wednesday that thanks to incoming federal stimulus money, the state
will stand down on plans to "nuisance tax" a wide assortment of goods, including music, movie and ebook downloads. For now, anyway.
..
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11.03.2009Solid-State Drive Industry Leaders Seem to Be Hedging Bets
WINHEC DAY 3 A panel of
four leading figures in the
marketing and engineering of
solid-state drives appeared to
agree that the development of
solid-state disk drives, even
as flash technologies evolve
and NAND prices continue to
avoid bottoming out, will
never result in the
replacement of traditional
HDDs for any market category...
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18.05.2007State media: China Mobile close to iPhone 3G deal
After reports of an on-again, off-again relationship between Apple and China's state-run telco, a government-owned business paper is reporting talks
are going well...
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02.09.2008Study: Zune Sales Slow But Steady
While Microsoft is adamant
that sales of its Zune player
are 'meeting expectations,'
data indicates that the device
failed to break into the top
10 in sales, and is competing
in the wrong market segment...
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05.01.2007Texas state Senate bans Vista from use in government agencies
The Texas state Senate yesterday gave preliminary approval to a state budget that includes a provision forbidding government agencies from upgrading
to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista without written consent of the legislature.
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03.04.2009Windows 7 HD and SSD Performance Analyzed
Today we're going to look at how various types of disks perform under Windows 7, both of the traditional platter based variety and new solid state
disks. We're not only curious about how disk performance changes between the operating systems, but if Windows 7's new solid-state specific
optimizations and tuning give you even greater performance compared to Vista.
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29.05.2009Toshiba's 3D memory, fuel-cell TV and Cell processors for PCs
BiCS. It's the acronym that could extend Moore's Law.
BiCS, which stands for Bit Cost Memory, is a three-dimensional flash
memory chip developed by Toshiba in which transistors can be stacked vertically. Stacking vertically, ideally, will allow engineers to continue to add
more transistors to a chip at a steady pace, which in turn means continual, steady improvement in electronics. Cost goes down, performance goes up,
and everyone can continue to sell new products to willing customers.
The company has created working samples and discussed the
technology at academic conferences, but is showing the concept for the first time to the broader public at Ceatec Japan 2007, the tech trade show
taking place here this week.
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03.10.2007Sandisk: Windows Vista not optimized for solid state drives
SanDisk said Monday that Windows Vista is not optimized for solid state drives, delaying the delivery of optimized drives until next year.
Solid state drives (SSDs) are used instead of hard disk drives in select high-end notebook PCs today such as the Apple MacBook Air and
Toshiba Portege R500.
The next generation of SSDs will use multilevel cell (MLC) technology, which will require a more
sophisticated controller--a crucial component in solid state drives. These drives will have capacities ranging up to 128GB, 160GB, and later, 256GB.
MLC drives are expected to appear in a wider selection of notebooks later this year.
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22.07.2008Analysis: The outlook for solid-state drives
Every year, solid-state storage advances just a little bit further, often just enough to prompt analysts to ask yet again, when will it be time to
declare spinning platters of magnetic data obsolete?..
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11.01.2008HP Settles Civil Suit; California Will Not Pursue Board Members
As expected, Hewlett-Packard
and the California state
attorney general's office
have reached a settlement in a
civil suit pertaining to the
company's methods in
investigating its own board
members. The company will pay
the state $14.5 million, and
in exchange, the state has
agreed to an injunction
against it pursuing any
further civil matters against
its employees, executives,
directors, or the company
itself...
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08.12.2006Calif. Document Format Bill Could Test Microsoft's Openness Claim
A bill introduced last week in
the California state
legislature would make it
state law next year for all
state agencies to create,
preserve, and archive their
digital documents using an
XML-based file format, and to
be able to receive new
documents in XML-based formats
as well. The bill does not
mention any format
specifically, though observers
believe it refers indirectly
to OpenDocument Format (ODF)...
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02.03.2007First Look Under Windows 7's Hood in October
Windows 7, for the most part, has remained fairly mysterious so far. Granted, we wouldn't expect anything different since it's still years ahead
from being released, but it's always good to get bits of information sprinkled here and there. The new Engineering Windows 7 (E7 for short) blog,
which was created by engineering managers Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky, points out two upcoming conferences in which "in-depth technical
information about Windows 7" will be revealed. The Professional Developers Conference (PDC) on October 27 will the first of the two, and the
aforementioned duo has promised to keep a steady stream of details flowing on their blog during the run-up.
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15.08.2008State Dept. loses, then recovers, anti-terrorism computers worth $30 M
For several months, according to an Inspector General's report discovered by a group of former State Department employees, the Dept. did not know the
whereabouts of some 400 laptops. And now, somehow, they've all been found...
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09.05.2008Engineering Windows 7: Support and Q&A for Solid-State Drives
Steven Sinofsky: Theres a lot of excitement around the potential for the widespread adoption of solid-state drives (SSD) for primary storage,
particularly on laptops and also among many folks in the server world. As with any new technology, as it is introduced we often need to revisit the
assumptions baked into the overall system (OS, device support, applications) as a result of the performance characteristics of the technologies in
use. This post looks at the way we have tuned Windows 7 to the current generation of SSDs. This is a rapidly moving area and we expect that there
will continue to be ways we will tune Windows and we also expect the technology to continue to evolve, perhaps introducing new tradeoffs or
challenging other underlying assumptions. Michael Fortin authored this post with help from many folks across the storage and fundamentals teams
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05.05.2009Microsoft Settles with State of Arkansas
The state of Arkansas has
begun distributing notices of
a proposed $37.8 million
settlement between the
state's businesses and
consumers and Microsoft. The
Redmond company denies any
wrongdoing...
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24.10.2006
