Vista Start Menu
Vista Start Menu is the convenient alternative to the plain Start menu you find in Windows XP and Windows Vista.
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11.9.2008 Vista Start Menu 2.1 PRO
Vista Start Menu has been in development as an attractive and efficient alternative to the Start Menu in Windows XP and Windows Vista for one year.
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28.1.2007 Windows 7 Start Menu
Windows 7, the successor of Windows Vista, is set to bring to the table an overhauled graphical user interface.
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26.2.2008 From Windows 95 to Windows Vista SP1 RC1 - the Evolution of the Start Menu Button
From Windows 95 to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate 1 one item of the Windows operating system is a virtual landmark in the platform's graphical user interface landscape: the Start menu button.
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6.1.2008 Remove or Restore New Briefcase At Right Click Menu of Windows 7 and Vista
Briefcase is an ancient feature in Windows operating system, existed since Windows 95. Briefcase works as a special folder that supports two-way file synchronization with another folder on local disk or external USB/FireWire drive and network drive.
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13.6.2009 The Real Reason Why Windows Vista Was Delayed
Last night, during my dinner with Jim Allchin, we discussed the reasoning for delaying the consumer launch of Vista until January. Up until now, conventional wisdom would say that this is a bad move ? missing the precious holiday season sales. In fact, Microsoft has been slammed by most tech journalists about the delay. Of course, there?s always more to the story ? and Jim let us know it.
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25.5.2006 Windows Vista on Super Nintendo, As Real As Vista on PSP
We're puzzled and confused... How can a console that's at least ten times less powerful than the acclaimed PSP cope with Windows Vista's requirements?
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15.8.2007 October 15, 2008: the Real Kill-Off Date of Vista SP1 Pre-Release Builds
Microsoft confirmed that there is still some life left into the pre-release versions of Windows Vista Service Pack 1.
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11.7.2008 Start++ 0.3.2 for Windows Vista
Users of WDS on XP may recall the Deskbar Shortcuts functionality that allows you to create little aliases between words or characters with commands and searches.
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24.2.2007 Microsoft: Fast start for Vista in businesses
Microsoft is predicting that Windows Vista will be adopted by companies at twice the speed as its predecessor, Windows XP.
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1.10.2006 Update on the Microsoft Windows Vista Start-up Sound
Windows Vista Start-up sound was designed to move beyond the boundaries of a basic audio alert, reflecting the operational status of the system. As an embedded sound, it has a core concept of a trademark segment of media, initializing, personalizing and reflecting the Windows Vista brand and Experience.
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24.9.2006 The real Windows 7 testers?
Microsoft claims that over 10 million people contributed to the Windows 7 Beta some way through the opt-in Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP).
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23.7.2009 Microsoft Office Gets Some Real Competition
Despite all of the hullabaloo around OpenOffice as of late, Microsoft's real competition (as modest as it is) on the Windows-based office-suite front comes from Corel.
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18.1.2006 Microsoft: Will the Real Name of Windows 7 Please Stand Up
Obviously, Windows 7 is not the label under which the next iteration of the Windows client will be made available on the market.
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2.7.2008 Incoming - Real and fake Win7 patches
Microsoft has made available a patch to a Windows 7 bug in the Release Candidate (RC) and is preparing to roll out some fake test patches to verify Windows 7s automatic-updating abilities this week.
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13.5.2009 Mac clone beats real Macs in benchmarks
Ive completed some initial Benchmarks of the Psystar Open Computer. The results below are from Xbench 1.3 running on the following systems:
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14.5.2008 Inside Bill Gates real Facebook account
Ever wondered what Bill Gates' Facebook really looks like?
This week, reports have surfaced that Bill Gates stopped using Facebook because too many people wanted to add him as a friend.
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26.7.2009 In answer to Google & Yahoo, MS to acquire 24/7 Real Media?
If your complaining doesnt work, try doing the same as what you were complaining about.
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1.5.2007 Start Windows
Something old is new again in Microsoft marketing: Start.
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17.2.2009 Is Microsoft Going to Start a Linux War?
With software, the idea is to create some sort of code that is jammed into Linux and whose sole purpose is to let some proprietary code run under Linux without actually "touching" Linux in any way that would subject the proprietary code to the GPL.
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8.11.2006 Should Microsoft start paying for vulnerabilities?
Hackers are starting to agitate for Microsoft to start paying for information on security flaws found in its software products.
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16.3.2007 A Quick Start with ASP.NET
ASP.NET is a server side technology from Microsoft that allows you to create dynamic websites and web applications that run mainly on Windows web servers.
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29.12.2007 AT&T to start sending copyright warnings
AT&T Inc., the nation's largest Internet service provider, will start sending warnings to its subscribers when music labels and movie studios allege that they are trafficking in pirated material, according to an executive.
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28.3.2009 Security Tab Fixer for Windows XP - Activate Security Tab Under File, Folder Property Menu
Unlike Windows Vista & Windows 7, Window XP do not show Security tab under file or folder properties dialogue box.
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28.6.2009 Xbox 360 Off to Slow Start in Japan
Microsoft may have to try a little harder in marketing the Xbox 360 to Japanese consumers if initial reports coming out of the country Saturday are correct. According to several press outlets, reaction to the new console from Japanese customers appeared to be somewhat apathetic.
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11.12.2005 Microsoft to Start Charging for Office 2007 Beta 2
The tester count for Office 2007 Beta 2 is now at more than three million. Given "how dramatically the beta 2 downloads have exceeded (Microsoft's) goals.
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30.7.2006 HP and Acer Start Netbook Price War
Hewlett-Packard and Acer have lowered prices of their netbooks as the back-to-school sales season kicks into gear in the U.S., offering bargains for users.
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26.8.2008 Fix Windows 7 Does Not Start After Force Shutdown of Computer
No Microsoft operating system is bug free and it starts getting uncovered as more and more users start using it.
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10.10.2009 Windows 7 Upgrade Program start date shifts to June 28
TechARP made a few updates to their popular Windows 7 Upgrade Schedule. According to TechARPs new schedule, the Windows upgrade program will begin on June 28, 2009 instead of the previously mentioned July 1, 2009 date.
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23.2.2009 Windows 7, Linux and Mac OS Start the Market Share Ballet
At almost six months since it was initially introduced to the public in Beta stage, Windows 7 has gathered an audience almost half the size of all distributions of Linux available on the market, according to statistics from Net Applications.
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2.6.2009Death to the Start Menu Part I
Viral Tarpara: So I have been playing around with Vista SP1 RC and so far it has been a much more enjoyable experience from a usability perspective.
The number UAC prompts are down, network performance regarding file sharing is now what it should have been at release time and stability is much
better. I always thought the UI in Vista was better than its predecessor though it did take a few weeks getting used to especially with the initially
annoying Network and Sharing Center. Since switching to my Mac for personal use a few years ago prior to joining Microsoft, Ive had to go through the
pain of using the Start Menu again *learned a lot about usability in the process*.
Start Menu, pain? Surely you jest, you might
be thinking. Actually, it is my opinion that the Start Menu is one of the most outmoded concepts that makes Windows, well umWindows...
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27.12.2007Microsoft feedback survey: Windows 7 start menu (concept). Here, let me show you it.
Long Zheng: Ah, product feedback surveys, what will we ever do without you? You share your most intimate secrets and future product ideas with
complete strangers all in the name of marketing research. Thankfully Microsoft surveys are no exception.
Windows 7 Start menu
searchAn anonymous tipster pointed out to me in a recent (private) Windows feedback survey sent out by Microsoft, asked how often users use the Start
menu search functionality, was a screenshot highlighting the aforementioned feature but not of Windows Vista and certainly not anything weve ever seen
before.
The most logical explanation would be of course, this is a mockup of Windows 7...
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26.02.2008Vista Desktop Search Annoyance
I thought people might find this fix interesting because it annoyed the hell out of me when I first started using Vista. In the XP days, I was a huge
Windows Desktop Search (WDS) fan, and like many WDS fans Vista search wasn't that exciting because of new features but rather, it gave visibility to
mainstream windows users that desktop search would change the way they computer.
When I used WDS I typically indexed my whole
C: and I carried that practice over to Vista's indexing service. That's when I started having issues. I wanted to to search all my content on
the machine, but when I would search for any files in the Start Menu, I would never get any results returned on a search unless they were
applications. For example, if I was to search for an excel file, it would not return in the Start Menu even though it was located in "Documents" --
it was very frustrating.
As it turns outs, the quick fix was to change the start menu settings so that the search bar is set to
"search entire index" instead of the default "search this user's files." The problem arises due to the user changing the "indexed locations"
to include all of the "C:" when the Start Menu is set to "search this user's files." This is a known bug and will be fixed in Vista SP1.
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05.09.2007Three Really Cool Vista Visual Tweaks
Andreas Verhoeven has released three really great Windows Vista tweaking
applications, designed to improve some of the visual decisions Microsoft made in Vista without much effort on your part. Download them and load
shortcuts to them into your startup folder (only one of them will do it for you) and you should really enjoy the results.
Glass
Toasts replaces the balloons that come out of your system tray with something a bit more ostentatious, a glass balloon that is too flashy for most
users. Then again, that is probably the point.
3D User Picture takes the picture that appears atop the Start Menu, makes it 3D,
and has it rotate. This means that your user picture, plus all the icons in the Start Menu that go up there when you select them, all get this cool
effect, and the effect only uses system resources when the Start Menu is open (so theres little cost to actual use of the computer.
Thumbnail Sizer lets you dramatically increase the size of the taskbar preview thumbnails, increasing seperately the height or the width (so if
you want wider, but not necessarily taller, thats easy). You can even slow down the fade in/out animation so you can enjoy that more.
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04.09.2007Review: Vista SP1 Release Candidate targets performance, reliability, security
The just-released Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC), like the previous beta, does more to improve the internal plumbing of Windows Vista than
it does to make any major changes to the interface. SP1 RC targets performance, reliability, and security, leaving the operating system's features
and functionality largely intact, with the exception of allowing users to substitute an alternate search tool for the one built into Vista, and
removing the Search link from the Start menu.
When the final version of SP1 (currently slated for next year) is released, the big
news will be the death of the so-called Kill Switch, which Microsoft prefers to call "reduced functionality mode." Whatever you call it, though, the
elimination of the switch will be good news. Currently, if you don't activate your retail copy of Windows Vista after 30 days, your desktop turns
black, and your icons and the Start menu vanish. You can't open your files (although you can copy them). You're able to use a Web browser for only
an hour before you get logged off.
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07.12.20073 Really Cool Tweaks for Windows Vista
Andreas Verhoeven has released three really great Windows Vista tweaking
applications, designed to improve some of the visual decisions Microsoft made in Vista without much effort on your part. Download them and load
shortcuts to them into your startup folder (only one of them will do it for you) and you should really enjoy the results.
Glass Toasts
replaces the balloons that come out of your system tray with something a bit more ostentatious, a glass balloon that is too flashy for most users.
Then again, that is probably the point.
3D User Picture takes the picture that appears atop the Start Menu, makes it 3D, and has it rotate.
This means that your user picture, plus all the icons in the Start Menu that go up there when you select them, all get this cool effect, and the
effect only uses system resources when the Start Menu is open (so there's little cost to actual use of the computer.
Thumbnail Sizer lets
you dramatically increase the size of the taskbar preview thumbnails, increasing seperately the height or the width (so if you want wider, but not
necessarily taller, that's easy). You can even slow down the fade in/out animation so you can enjoy that more.
neowin.net -
05.09.2007Command Line Tips for Non-Geeks
Sarah Perez: The command line doesn't have to be the sole domain of uber-geeks. With a little know-how, anyone can use the command line to perform
simple tasks on their computer. Below is a short list of command line tips that I've found useful in the past. These steps are easy to follow and you
don't have to be a computer nerd to use them. The commands I've listed work on Windows XP or Windows Vista. To use the command line, just go to
Start --> Run, and the type in "cmd" (without the quotes) and hit "Enter" on your keyboard. On Vista, you can just type "cmd" (again, without
the quotes) and "Enter" from the Search box on the Start Menu. Vista will know what you mean.
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15.12.2007Free Vista Sunday, 3D desktop with Real Desktop Light
Jonathan Schlaffer: Vista has been an all-around disappointment and even those with SP1 have reason to complain. Those with problems are probably
more outspoken than those that dont but the issues keep piling up and Microsoft does little about them. This program may brighten up your Vista
experience a tiny bit.
Real Desktop comes it two
forms, Real Desktop Standard and Real Desktop Light; major differences set the two apart. With Real Desktop Standard you get all the features and
with Light, not so much.
The light version gives you a basic, fully 3D desktop environment. You can stack icons, drag them
anywhere on the desk, flip them around, upside down and several other neat things. What you cant do is change the wallpaper or orientation of the
camera. The other thing thats annoying is the light version lacks the ability to reset the icon positions; as you can see below, its very easy to
mess them up.
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02.03.2008PowerPlaylist for Windows Vista Media Center released on CodePlex
As
announced last
night on the Media Center Sandbox blog, a new application for Windows Vista Media Center has been released. The application, named PowerPlaylist,
adds a custom strip to the Windows Vista Media Center start menu with up to five tiles. Each tile represents an audio, slideshow and/or visualization
combination which will start when the tile is selected. PowerPlaylist is configured via an XML data file, and the application includes an editor to
customize the information in the data file, including the title of the custom Start Menu strip and the name, image, audio source, slideshow folder and
visualization for each tile.
PowerPlaylist has been released on CodePlex, and you can download x86 and/or x64 MSI-based
installers if you want to try out the application. You can also download source code (licensed with the Microsoft Permissive License) if you want to
see how the application works behind the scenes, modify it to add features, fix bugs, etc.
Here are some links for more
information about PowerPlaylist:
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03.10.2007Get Vista's Best Features in XP
Despite the fact that most of you
prefer XP to Vista and would rather
Microsoft extended XP's shelf-life, several new and improved features
available in Vista would be great to have in XP. This new functionality may not be enough to get you to switch to Vista, but that doesn't mean
you're out of luck. Let's take a look at a few ways you can incorporate Windows Vista's best features into your current XP PC for free.
We're going to focus on Vista's small and large features that are missing from XP, separated into three categories: applications,
functional, and aesthetic (e.g., transparency is aesthetic, the new start menu search is functional). This list is not exhaustive, but it does cover
the features readers feel make Vista worth it.
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14.05.2008Microsoft integrates Windows
Live into Vista
Microsoft-Watch reports that
newer Windows Vista builds,
5506 and up, include
references to Windows Live
software by default in various
locations throughout the OS.
It is unknown yet if the
concerned products are
installed with Vista or if it
only contains download links
to it.
The
Welcome Center in Vista is the
place where most references
are found. In build 5506, it
contains icons for Windows
Live Messenger, Windows Live
OneCare, Windows Live Toolbar
and Windows Live Desktop Mail.
Additionnally, the Start Menu
apparently contains a Windows
Live Messenger icon.
Though this is only
speculation, this may mean
that Microsoft is finally
removing Windows Messenger
from its Windows products,
using instead Windows Live
Messenger.
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17.08.2006Microsoft outlines Vista desktop search changes
Microsoft on Wednesday outlined the changes it plans to make to the desktop search feature in Windows Vista to satisfy antitrust concerns.
The software maker agreed in June to make the alterations to the way desktop search operates in response to concerns from rivals,
particularly Google.
The changes are coming with the first service pack to Windows Vista. Microsoft is launching a beta version
of the update in the next couple of weeks, with a final version expected early next year.
The search changes mean that, "in
addition to the numerous ways a user could access a third-party search solution in Windows Vista, they can now get to their preferred search results
from additional entry points in the Start Menu and Explorer Windows in Windows Vista with SP1," a Microsoft representative said in an e-mail to CNET
News.com.
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12.09.2007Microsoft Submits Test Version of Vista SP1 to DOJ
Microsoft Corp. has submitted a test version of its Windows Vista operating system with features that make it easier to use non-Microsoft programs to
search PC hard drives, according to a report issued by the Justice Department Friday.
The report, a regular update on
Microsoft's compliance with a 2002 antitrust settlement, said the Redmond, Wash.-based company was on schedule in other areas, including the massive
task of rewriting documentation it provides to licensees of its technology.
Microsoft agreed to make changes to Vista in response
to antitrust complaints from Google Inc., which in June said Microsoft's hard-drive search program was interfering with Google's own tool.
The Justice Department said preliminary testing shows the new version, which will let Vista users set a competing search program as their
default and see it in the Windows Start menu, works as expected. The changes will be available in Service Pack 1, a package of upgrades and fixes
expected in the first quarter of 2008, the department said...
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01.09.2007Modifying the All Users profile in Vista or Windows Server 2008
Peter Fitzsimon: Ok, so I just spend a few whistful hours trying to work out how to modify the "All Users" profile on a Windows Server 2008 system.
I wanted to add a program to run at login (e.g. in the Start Menu|Programs|Startup directory) for all users that login, but things are now a bit
different with Vista and Windows Server 2008.
I have found quite a few people asking similar questions on the Internet but no one
seems to have offered a solution that works so I thought I'd post my findings.
Firstly, for those who haven't hit this before,
the "C:Documents and Settings" directory where user profiles are stored in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems has changed to "C:Users"
in Vista and Windows Server 2008. (I regularly encounter XP users who have upgraded to Vista getting confused by this one)
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24.02.2008Microsoft on Vista: 'The time of worry is over.'
Microsoft wants its partners and customers to know that its done letting its competitors and critics walk all over Windows Vista.
We know our story is very different from what our competitors want us to think, Brad Brooks, Corporate Vice President of Windows Consumer
Product, told attendees of Microsofts Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston during a keynote address on'July 8. Today we are drawing a line and
are going to start telling the real story about Vista.
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08.07.2008Windows 7 M3 Build 6780: Pictures and Videos(soon)
ThinkNext: Yes, new post about latest Windows 7 M3 Build 6780. Background:
Ive
reported prior Windows 7 versions before.
Start
Menu: the visual design of search box and shutdown/lock buttons are changed. The right panel is simplified.
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20.09.2008Mozilla plans to "Ribbonize" Firefox
Mozilla has unveiled plans to "ribbonize" Firefox 3.7 for Windows Vista and Windows 7 in an attempt to reduce on-screen clutter and free up screen
real estate.
Mozilla
announced that “starting with Vista, and continuing with Windows 7, the menu bar is going away” and will “be
replaced with things like the Windows Explorer contextual strip, or the Office Ribbon.”
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23.09.2009Nintendo's Releases Wii System Menu 4
jcxp.net - 26.03.2009
Windows Mobile 6.5 to officially launch on May 11
It seems like Windows Mobile 6.5 will be out before we know it. Microsoft previously said that they don't expect it until later in the year, but it
seems they are ahead of schedule. A blog post on the Windows Mobile Team blog confirms that the 6.5 update will officially launch on May 11.
May 11 is also the first say of the Tech Ed Conference, so maybe we will see a final demo of it there. The last demo we saw of it was described
as an alpha, so the gold version should be a real step forward.
Don't be too quick to update though, Microsoft decided to add extra
requirements to the new update like requiring a start menu key, and others to be dedicated to the operating system. Manufacturers are also not
expected to update most devices that are already out, and instead just new decides that roll out.
jcxp.net - 18.04.2009
BSoD Takes On a Whole New Meaning
The definition of the Blue Screen of Death acronym BSoD may soon be replaced by a more ominous meaning, Black Screen of Death. In an e-mail sent to
Windows distributors a Microsoft representative laid out the details of what unlicensed Vista users can expect.
"Good afternoon, as of
this week, Microsoft has activated a function in Vista called 'Reduced Functionality.' This is a specific function in Vista that effectively
disables non genuine copies of Windows. Therefore anyone who has a pirated copy of Vista will experience:
A black screen after one hour of
browsing
No start menu or task bar
No desktop
Please communicate this anti piracy initiative from Microsoft to your resellers --
note this function has only just been activated in Vista worldwide and therefore any issues with non genuine versions will start to arise from now
onward."
While it isn't unusual for Microsoft to impede upon the functionality of unlicensed or falsely licensed copies of Windows,
this seems to be a new direction in regards to their stance on warning users. Typically users of unauthorized copies of Windows have been alerted to
the status of their software legitimacy via Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA). The new "Reduced Functionality" approach is certainly more aggressive,
and according to the Microsoft representative, will reduce the functionality of an unauthorized Windows system to the point of being near useless
until properly licensed.
neowin.net - 12.09.2007
