Vista SP 1 Ships in 2008, the First Beta Drops in 2 Weeks!
After a long period of Windows Omerta, in which Microsoft gagged all details related to the future development plans for the Windows platform, the company has come out and confirmed the availability dates for the first beta of Windows Vista SP1, as well as for the final release of the refresh.
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29.8.2007 Microsoft Hands out XP SP3 beta – Final SP for XP
In an email sent to selected testers telling them they have been accepted to begin testing XP SP3, Microsoft has also informed them that this will be the final Service Pack for the now aging OS.
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5.10.2007 A Mac user switches to Vista?
Say something critical about Microsoft and Windows and no one bats an eyelash. But write anything even faintly judgmental about the Macintosh and in comes a flood of hate mail from Mac users. The worst part is the tone of most, which generally tend toward religious zealotry. So before I begin, let me begin by saying any e-mails of that type that are sent in response to this story will be deleted, with no reply.
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3.2.2007 A Mac-to-Vista Switcher in Pink
This weekend, my 13-year-old daughter and I set out to replace her first-generation MacBook. She instead picked a pink Sony VAIO running Windows Vista Home Premium.
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3.12.2007 Vista Will Have Little Impact on Mac Sales: Analyst Says
While the launch of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system will drive consumer PC sales in the coming months, the operating system's impact on sales of Apple's Macintosh are expected to be minimal, according to a recent report.
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17.2.2007 No cheap upgrade to Vista for Mac users
After years of delays and billions in development and marketing efforts, it would seem that Microsoft Corp. would want anyone who possibly can to buy its new Windows Vista operating system.
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23.2.2007 Mac OS X Leopard vs. Windows Vista
HardwareLogic has partnering up with Newegg to sponsor the User Guide Of The Month.
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8.5.2007 Windows Vista Beta 1 vs. Mac OS X "Tiger
From Paul Thurrotte's SuperSite:
In part one of my comparison of Windows Vista Beta 1 and Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger," I looked at three key aspects of each system: Look and feel, desktop search, and data visualization and organization. For the most part, OS X came out well ahead of Windows Vista, as you'd expect, since it's a polished finished product. Vista, meanwhile, is all knees and elbows, an awkward teenager on its way to maturity.
. Microsoft will iron out the details, I'm sure, but the end result will likely not change much. Specifically, OS X will always be elegant, and Windows will almost certainly lag behind in the fit and finish department. The only questions are how much Vista will improve when compared to previous Windows versions, and whether it will be enough to keep customers from moving to OS X.
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29.11.2005 Mac Virtual Machine Update Runs Vista
Enhancements to Parallels Desktop for Mac include support for the recently released multi-processor Mac Pro tower equipped with 3.5GB of RAM, as well as for the developer build of Mac OS X 10.5, code-named Leopard.
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22.9.2006 Contest winner: Vista more secure than Mac OS
Dino Dai Zovi, the New York-based security researcher who took home $10,000 in a highly-publicized MacBook Pro hijack on April 20, has been at the center of a week’s worth of controversy about the security of Apple’s operating system.
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1.5.2007 Vista use grows as Mac OS X stays flat
Windows Vista's share of online users has increased every month this year, while rival Mac OS X -- to which Vista has often been compared -- has shown little, if any, growth, a metrics company reports.
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24.7.2007 Mac OS 10.5.2 = Vista made in Apple?
I’ve heard many different complaints about Mac OS 10.5.2 since it was released, from my own Skype/podcasting problems to issues with just about everything else, including: printing, third-party wireless routers, software freezing and problems with Time Machine.
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5.5.2008 Apple names Mac OS X Leopard: Windows Vista 2.0
Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference that started today will apparently be the host of a surprising and clear shot at Microsoft’s next-generation OS Vista. This is probably how Steve Jobs is hoping to attract attention on his Macintosh alternative, Leopard OS.
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7.8.2006 Vista puts Mac OS X font rendering to shame
One of the first things I noticed when I switched to Windows Vista earlier this year was how much of an improvement in font readability Vista has over earlier versions of Windows for the screen fonts.
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17.8.2007 Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard to Take a Bite Out of Windows Vista?
The gap between the 2001 release of Windows XP and that of Windows Vista in 2007, created a window of opportunity for the growth of rival operating systems from Apple and the open source community.
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10.10.2007 Windows Vista vs. Mac OS X vs. Linux - for the Last Time in 2007
At the end of 2007 one thing is clear... Windows Vista is far from the Wow revelation that Microsoft aimed for with the late January worldwide consumer launch.
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1.1.2008 Vista SP1 and XP SP3 vs. Mac OS X and Linux
Despite constantly downplaying the relevance of Linux and Mac OS X, because of a variety of reasons, from high Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) to security risks and inferior shipment volumes, Microsoft is well aware of the real threat to Windows represented by the open source platform and Apple's operating system.
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1.8.2008 Microsoft Brings a Piece of Windows Vista to Linux and Mac OS X
Microsoft has announced that it will bring a small piece of Vista to both the open source Linux operating system and the UNIX based Mac OS X. The Redmond company's partners will work to extend Network Access Protection to Linux and OS X desktops.
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13.11.2007 Vista SP2 and Windows 7 More Secure than Linux and Mac OS X Leopard
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is the absolute apex in security when it comes down to operating systems, Kevin Turner, chief operating officer for Microsoft, has indicated at the Midmarket CIO Summit earlier this week.
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12.4.2009 Vista Growing to Match the Lack of Security of XP, Mac OS X and Linux
Microsoft has touted Windows Vista as the most secure Windows operating system available, ever since the debut of the Wow.
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15.8.2007 Linux and Mac OS X Eat Away at Windows, Even with XP SP3 and Vista SP1
Even with the latest service pack releases for the two supported Windows clients, rival operating systems Linux and Mac OS X are still eating away at the install base of Microsoft's proprietary operating system.
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3.7.2008 Mac OS X and Linux Left Scrambling for Wow Crumbs in the Windows Vista Dust
Microsoft is celebrating a veritable Windows Vista feast, while Mac OS X and Linux are left scrambling for Wow crumbs.
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2.11.2007 Mac OS X vs. Linux - Red Hat vs. Windows 98 and Above Including Windows Vista
Microsoft's Windows operating system came on top out of three different alternative platforms including Mac OS X, Linux (Red Hat), and Solaris 8/9/10, in terms of the volume of holes it contains.
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18.1.2008 MAC meeting?
Get a Mac Mini for free!
With the popularity of Mac Mini's, people are snatching them up quickly before they are all gone. We've done this offer for a free one and so should you! The quickest way to get your free Mac Mini it to sign up to the Rhapsody service through the link below (it will only cost you 99 cents) and follow the directions.
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Windows XP on a MAC?
Apple has formally given its thumbs-up to attempts to install and run Windows XP on Intel-based Macs. It has posted a tool called Boot Camp that allows iMac, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini owners to run the Microsoft OS more easily. The company also confirmed the next major Mac OS X release, Leopard, will integrate the twin-OS technology.
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5.4.2006 Apple's "Get a Mac" attack
Apple Computer may have broken bread with the Wintel camp, but that doesn't mean it's finding the closer association easy to swallow.
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5.5.2006 Mac clones to rise again?
I remember fondly the heady days of the Mac clones. Cloner Power Computing promoted their 225MHz PowerPC tower at Macworld Expo in Boston by offering free bungee jumps off a 225 foot crane tower outside the Hynes Convention Center.
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14.4.2008 Do not make Win 7 too Mac-like
Blogger Paul Thurrott has written a couple of interesting posts about the difference between “simple” and “easy” in the context of Windows 7.
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4.12.2008 Windows 7 on a Mac Mini
Finding myself with some free time on Tuesday, I decided to try and see whether and how Windows 7 would install using Boot Camp on a Mac.
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29.1.2009Parallels Mac Virtualization Gets Major Update
Parallels updated its software
that allows Mac users to run
Windows within Mac OS X on
Thursday, adding support for
Vista Boot Camp partitions,
among other enhancements...
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09.06.2007Windows Vista and Mac OSX see surge in consumer use
While businesses and corporate entities may have little interest in using either Vista or Mac OSX, both are gaining popularity and market share but
only in the area related to home or home office use which is both good and bad.
Its good in the fact that Vista now has a 10%
market share in computers that are connected to the Internet, its bad that corporations are either not going to deploy Vista or have delayed
deployments so much that by the time it comes around again, Windows 7 may be out.
Mac OSX now has something in the area of a 7%
market share, Mac use has seen excellent growth over the past year but has not been without its
share of problems. Large corporations would never deploy OSX on a wide scale so that is not a concern there.
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03.12.2007Microsoft promises SP 'milestone' for Visual Studio 2008
First, it was Windows XP SP1. Then Windows Vista SP1. Now its the Visual Studio and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, due by the end of summer. The connection?
Microsoft's service packs keep growing in importance as a means of updating key products between official releases.
Promoting
the first SP for Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5, officially launched just six months ago, Microsoft has said SP1 - like its predecessors -
is no ordinary SP.
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02.08.2008Market Share 2007: Mac OS gains 3.15%, Vista grabs 10.48%
Throughout 2007, according to reports by Net Applications, Mac OS increased its market share by 3.15% while Vista managed to grab 10.48% market share.
Windows XP lost 8.39% of the OS market share in the same time period, quite unsurprising considering Vista is its successor, while Linux increased by
0.26%. Nothing too mind-boggling, but definitely interesting, to say the least. At the end of December 2007, the (incomplete) standings are as
follows:
Windows XP - 76.91%
Windows Vista - 10.48%
Mac OS - 7.30%
Read full story.....
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09.01.2008Vista use grows as Mac OS X stays flat
Windows Vista's share of
online users has increased
every month this year, while
rival Mac OS X -- to which
Vista has often been compared
-- has shown little, if any,
growth, a metrics company
reports.
According to
Net
Applications, in June
Windows Vista accounted for
4.52% of all systems that
browsed the Web, up from
January's 0.18%. Vista grew
its usage share each month
since its release to consumers
Jan. 30, hitting 0.93% in
February, 2.04% in March,
3.02% in April and 3.74% in
May. Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X,
meanwhile, accounted for 6.22%
in January, hit its high point
of 6.46% in May, but slipped
back to 6% in June.
If Vista's uptake trend
continues, it should pass Mac
OS X in Web usage share by the
end of August. ..
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23.07.2007Mary Jo Foley Will Windows Service Pack History Repeat Itself?
Mary Jo Foley: One of my editors at Redmond magazine -- the ever-doubting Ed Scannell -- recently posed an interesting hypothetical question about the
future of Windows. Might Microsoft yank some features planned for Windows 7 and put them into a Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 2 that would include
not just fixes, but also new features?
In other words: Could Windows history repeat itself, with Vista SP2 taking the form of a
whole new operating system release -- in everything other than name -- a la Windows XP SP2?
Microsoft officials said last year
not to expect Vista SP1 to be anything like XP SP2. Vista SP1 was designed to be a collection of fixes and patches, aimed at improving security,
reliability and performance. But the 'Softies haven't said anything about their thinking in regard to Vista SP2. Might Microsoft use the next Vista
SP to deliver some of the features that otherwise might have to wait for Windows 7, currently slated for 2010?
As tasty as that
option might sound to some, I'd give it a very low likelihood for a few reasons.
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03.06.2008Vista, Mac OS X gain users; Firefox loses market share
As Microsoft Corp.'s Windows
Vista and Apple Inc.'s Mac OS
X continued to grow their
share of the operating system
market last month, Mozilla
Corp.'s Firefox suffered its
biggest-ever drop in usage, a
Web metrics company reported.
By the end of May,
Vista accounted for 3.74% of
all operating systems on
machines connecting to Net
Applications Inc.'s clients'
Web sites. The total share for
Mac OS X -- which included
older editions running on
PowerPC processors as well as
version 10.4, or "Tiger," on
Intel-powered Macs -- was
6.46%. Vista was up about
three-quarters of a percentage
point from April, while Mac OS
X was up a quarter of a point.
Their gains came
largely at the expense of
earlier versions of Windows,
such as Windows XP and Windows
2000, although Net
Applications' "Other"
category, which is essentially
Linux, also faded slightly. ..
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19.06.2007The happiest Vista customers: Mac users?
Microsoft blogger Joshua Allen has a post over on the Microsoft VisitMix blog that already has raised some Mac users hackles.
In
a post entitled,
œOur Newest Vista OEM: Apple, Allen cites a few stats that
are interesting (though, so far at least, not independently verifiable from what I can tell from the post). Allen said:
- Vista
runs great on Macs
- Ten percent of all new Vista licenses are sold to Macintosh owners
- Mac owners are more satisfied with
Vista than average
Why are Mac users allegedly happier with Vista? Allen suggested a few theories that he mentioned in the comments on
the original post. (His comments are not currently working; not sure if he closed them intentionally or this is just a temporary error.)
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28.11.2007Apple refreshes its Mac desktops with Intel Nehalem CPUs
The latest Mac desktops will include a new Mac Mini, iMac, and Mac Pro, as well as a new dual band Airport Extreme Wi-Fi base station and Time
Capsule.
..
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03.03.2009The Vista SP1 saga: the best ad for Mac and Linux yet?
Alex Zaharov-Reutt: First, it was a 5 year delay for Vista minus plenty of features, drivers and software compatibility. A year later, Vista SP1
˜launches, but few can get it yet. Then two SP1 pre-updates launch, only to have many reports of endless rebooting. What more can Microsoft do to
convince people to try a Mac “ or Linux?
I wouldnt exactly call the delay of Vista SP1 a ˜comedic situation, but the whole thing
seems to have gone from comedic to shambolic in less than three weeks since the February 4 announcement that Vista SP1 had gone to RTM.
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21.02.2008Apple unfazed by Windows 7 launch, says Analyst
The launch of Windows 7 on October 22 is unlikely to cause any significant damage to Mac sales, according to Wall Street analyst Brian Marshall of
Broadpoint AmTech. Marshall came to this conclusion by analysing the impact of previous Windows launches on Mac sales. In his study, he compared the
sales trends of Macintosh computers around the times of the launches of Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. In every case, except
for the launch of Windows 2000, Marshall found that Mac sales either remained stable or in fact increased. Upon the launch of Windows Vista, Mac sales
increased by a higher percentage than after any other Windows launch to date.
Read full story.....
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13.10.2009Mac Mojo: Audio/Video support in Messenger for Mac next year
One of the nifty features missing in the Messenger for Mac is Audio/Video (A/V) support. It is not possible to do a video or audio chat using the
Messenger for Mac. The recent update, Messenger for Mac 7 added A/V support for corporate services (works with Office Live Communications Server 2007)
but not for personal services(Windows Live Services). Mac Mojo, the Office for Mac team announced today that A/V support for personal services will be
available next year as an update on Messenger for Mac. Mac Mojo team said that the new release of Windows Live Messenger, which is currently in beta
delivers a new A/V protocol which makes easier to deliver A/V support in Messenger for Mac.
Read full story.....
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19.12.2008Mac cloner plans to take on Apple's Mac OS EULA
Miami-based Psystar is now offering a Mac clone for $399, and is vowing to fight for its right to produce the device should Cupertino's lawyers come
a-knocking...
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16.04.2008No Vista SP1 bits for users until mid-March
Mary Jo Foley: Customers who’ve been waiting for Microsoft to release
the final Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 bits are going to have to wait another month or two to actually get their hands on them at least through legal
channels.
In a posting to the Windows Vista team blog, Corporate Vice President of Windows Product Management Mike Nash explained
how and when users can get
the Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 bits. Microsoft released
Vista SP1 and Windows Server
2008 to manufacturing on February 4.
According to Nash, the schedule looks like this:
Mid-March:
Microsoft releases SP1 to Windows Update in five languages (English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese) and to the download center on
microsoft.com. “If Windows Update determines that the system has one of the drivers we know to be problematic, then Windows Update will not
offer SP1,” Nash explained. “Since we know that some customers may want to update to SP1 anyhow, the download center will allow anyone who
wants to install SP1 to do so.”
Mid-April: Microsoft begins delivering Vista SP1 via Automatic Update. “That said,
any system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not update successfully will not get SP1 automatically,” Nash explained.
“As updates for these drivers become available, they will be installed automatically by Windows Update, which will unblock these systems from
getting Service Pack 1.” (And remember, there is a Vista SP blocking tool available for users who don’t want SP1 to install
automatically.)
April: SP1 will RTM for the remaining languages.
PC makers are getting the Vista SP1 bits
this week and will be able to start preloading Vista SP1 on new systems once they’ve sufficiently tested it. That could be weeks to a month,
based on previous track records.
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04.02.2008One year after Mac hack contest, Linux and Vista may be tested
One year after launching a controversial Macintosh hacking contest, the promoters of the
CanSecWest security research conference are thinking about giving hackers another shot at cracking the Mac. Only this time,
they're looking to broaden the field.
Last year, show organizers invited attendees to hack into a Macintosh laptop with the
successful hacker winning the computer and a cash prize. But this year, they're talking about giving attendees three targets to choose from. "We're
thinking of having a contest where we have Vista and OS X and Linux ... and see which one goes first," said Dragos Ruiu, the principal organizer of
CanSecWest.
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06.02.2008Office Open XML Support for Mac Delayed
Mac users will have to wait a
bit longer if they wish to
read or edit documents created
with the new Open XML formats
in Office 2007. Microsoft has
delayed an update for Office
2004 for Mac until two months
after the release of Office
2008 for Mac...
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16.05.2007Vista Service Pack 1: It lives
With all the
Microsoft-created confusion
out there around when — and
even whether — the company
plans to deliver the first
service pack (SP) for Windows
Vista, it’s nice to see some
concrete proof that Vista SP1
does exist.
The
http://www.winfuture.de/news,3
1801.html>WinFuture.de folks
managed to grab a quick
snapshot of a machine running
a build of Vista SP1 during
one of the Rally talks at the
Windows Hardware Engineering
Conference (WinHEC) in Los
Angeles this week. Plain as
day, it says: “Windows Build
6001 Service Pack 1, v113.â€)
I also saw a
PowerPoint slide mentioning
the existence of Vista SP1
during a WinHEC chalk talk on
“The Future of Input†at
this week’s show. (The
context: A shim for the
kernel-mode driver foundation
version of the digitizer
driver will ship as a Windows
Driver Kit sample in Vista
SP1. That was it.)..
winbeta.org -
17.05.2007Mac user: How Microsoft has cleaned up Windows
If you asked me a year ago what I thought about Windows, I probably would've said something along the lines of "disorganized", "a mess", or
"not adequate for my needs". So I was very surprised when I gave the Windows 7 beta, and then the release candidate, a real test run. I was one of
the people who never really liked Windows Vista, and to this day I dread working on computers that have it installed. While I believed it was a step
up from XP in many ways, Windows XP had a certain consistency to it that Vista still lacks.
Read full story.....
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24.05.2009Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.4.9
Apple on Tuesday released what
is likely to be its final
update to Mac OS 10.4
"Tiger" before it
releases Leopard this spring.
Included in the patch are
fixes for .Mac, Bluetooth, Mac
OS X's standard productivity
applications, networking, and
printing, among other issues...
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14.03.2007A Chat about Messenger
The Office for Mac Team Blog: Hi, my name is Anav and I work on the Messenger for Mac product in Mac BU. I follow the blog and newsgroup comments out
there and I know there are questions on the status of Messenger for Mac, and more specifically the status of Audio/Video (AV) support. Its been a
while since weve given you an update on Messenger, so here it goes¦
First, let me start by saying, Messenger for Mac is alive and
well and we plan to continue investing in the application. In August we released Messenger for Mac 6.0.3, which introduced support for Danish,
Finnish, and Norwegian languages. Messenger for Mac 6.0.3 is also the version that will ship with Office 2008. A couple of weeks ago we kicked off a
closed beta program of Messenger for Mac 7.0 for corporate customers*, and made great progress in the implementation of AV in Messenger for Mac.
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13.11.2007
