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Windows

Wikis vs. Microsoft Office

As much as we love the concept behind wikis, we've often wondered how they will fare when they grow from adolescence to adulthood. (Translation: Can they make money?)

It's not that that we're obsessed with greenbacks, but we've been down this road before and tend to be a tad skeptical when people say "trust me." And other than advertising, we've yet to see an obvious business strategy for the wiki world.

JotSpot CEO Joe Kraus is hoping to change all that with the second version his 2-year-old company's hosted software. Kraus too … Read more

More on Microsoft's Windows for old PCs

For those who were intrigued by this week's release of Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs--software for turning archaic PCs into modern thin clients--Windows watcher Steven Bink has some more details and screenshots.

According to Bink, The software formerly known as Eiger requires at least minimum of 611MB of free hard drive space, though for some applications and systems, it may require nearly twice that. It calls for a 233MHz processor, though 300MHz is recommended. Finally, it demands 64MB of RAM, though 256 MB of RAM is recommended.

Time may be nigh for font rebellion

The pen--or in this case, the pixel--is proving again to be mightier than the sword in the Web 2.0 revolution. That, at least, is our interpretation of the open-source movement in type design.

The subject of proprietary vs. public fonts has been the object of much debate for years among Web designers and developers, so it is a natural issue for social-networking dynamics. And recent circumstances may have created a particularly opportune time for rebellion: Earlier this year, some reviewers noted that Microsoft had apparently dumped Times New Roman as the font of choice in beta versions of Office … Read more

Microsoft exec shuffle continues

In the latest reorganization of Microsoft executives, the software maker on Friday announced a new leadership team of Windows and Windows Live executives reporting to Steven Sinofsky, who was tapped in March to head those development efforts.

Three of Sinofsky's new lieutenants are moving from the Office unit, of which Sinofsky is also a veteran. Julie Larson-Green, who has been overseeing the user interface revamp of Office 2007, will lead up program management for Windows Experience. Grant George, who has led testing for the Office unit, will move into a similar role for Windows. Also on the testing side, … Read more

Microsoft hit with WGA lawsuit

Microsoft has found itself in hot water again over its Windows Genuine Advantage antipiracy software.

The software maker has been fending off flak from PC owners ever since it came out that the notifications tool in WGA checked in with Microsoft every time the system was restarted--it's even been called "spyware." On top of that, the company has had to deal with accusations that it had made unwitting guinea pigs of its customers by sending out a prerelease version of the tool.

Now a computer user from Los Angeles has sued Microsoft over the technology, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has reported. … Read more

Yellow chairs for free Wi-Fi

A pair of designer/artists in San Jose, Calif., are trying an experiment in community technology: If they can find a couple of households to volunteer their Wi-Fi networks, they'd like to set up yellow chairs within range for the public to use for free wireless Net access. The idea is modeled after projects in some parts of Europe where yellow bicycles are available for community use.