windows

Vista's biggest problem is Windows XP

Computerworld reports on a recent survey of nearly 600 U.S. and European companies that have more than 1,000 employees; the study says 84 percent of all those companies' PCs now run Windows XP, up from 67 percent the year before."

That sounds pretty good for the Windows monopoly, right? So, one could assume that Vista should start to creep into those numbers.

Nearly a third of the polled businesses--32 percent to be exact--said they would begin deploying Vista by the end of 2008, while another 17 percent said they would start in 2009 or 2010.

Still good, … Read more

Dealing with software crashes, Part 2

The first part of this posting on dealing with software crashes covered preventing the leakage of personal information, portable applications, and controlling the programs that run automatically when Windows starts up. Here we look at dumps, event logs, and disk checking, but first, we pick up on the topic of drivers.

Driver Verifier

In Windows, the term "driver" refers to software used by the operating system to control the hardware in the computer. Each piece of hardware (sound, video, printer) has an associated driver program.

The last topic in the previous posting was an airplane analogy to illustrate … Read more

Microsoft still hoping consumers see 'Wow' in Vista

Microsoft is hoping that with some of Vista's wrinkles ironed out, customers will start noticing more of the advantages the year-old operating system has over its predecessor.

In an interview Wednesday morning, Corporate Vice President Mike Nash acknowledged that the initial experience for many consumers was a frustrating one as they found their old software might not work right or that their hardware lacked the proper driver.

But, he insists, the situation is much better now. Not only are the hardware drivers out there, they are readily available.

"You don't have to go on a scavenger hunt,&… Read more

Report: Microsoft planning a Flickr clone

Judging by a Microsoft job ad, the software giant wants to add a Flickr-like service to its online efforts.

According to text from the ad, republished by Long Zheng's istartedsomething blog, the company is looking for a program manager for a new division of its Windows Live effort.

"This feature team is building a next-generation photo and video sharing service that will compete with Flickr, SmugMug and other photo web solutions today. This is a 'v1' opportunity," the ad said. And video will be a part of the effort, too: "This role will work across … Read more

Mac vs. PC: CNET TV Top 5

Now that Mac OS X Leopard has arrived, and Microsoft's Windows Vista slowly gains more acceptance, it's time for another battle of the heavyweight operating systems. Tom Merritt counts down the five biggest differences between Mac and Windows in another edition of CNET TV Top 5.

HTC Touch Cruise...on by the States, please

While HTC has joined the Open Handset Alliance and will certainly have a hand in manufacturing Google Android handsets, it's still committed to making Windows Mobile devices. In fact, the company just announced another drool-worthy smartphone called the HTC Touch Cruise.

Aptly named the Cruise, the device can help you cruise around, thanks to the built-in GPS receiver and TomTom mapping and navigation software. The Windows Mobile 6 (Professional Edition) device also features the TouchFLO interface found on the HTC Touch and HTC Touch Dual, and has a 2.8-inch touch screen, a 3-megapixel camera, and an FM radio. … Read more

Microsoft aims to acquire Musiwave

Microsoft's mobile phone strategy and its digital media strategy often seem to be in different worlds. For mobile phones, the company has focused primarily on the Windows Mobile OS, a few mobile applications (Outlook being the most useful one), and--more recently--online services such as Live Search that can be used on many mobile platforms, including (gasp) the BlackBerry (the No. 1 competitor that Windows Mobile has in its sights).

For digital media, the company first pursued its partner-driven approach, promoting the Windows Media Platform for both online stores and devices, and then went with the end-to-end approach of Zune. … Read more

Microsoft aims to quell Vista grumbles

Microsoft plans to release a trio of updates for Windows Vista this week, a move the company said should help ease some of the top complaints leveled against the operating system.

The patches, expected to be issued Tuesday, address core issues like performance, reliability, and stability of the nearly year-old operating system.

One update aims to improve battery life on mobile devices, boost stability of wireless connections, and improve the operating system's response time following a period of inactivity.

A second patch deals with the operating system's interactions with USB ports, in particular when systems wake from sleep … Read more

Microsoft is selling open source on Windows Marketplace

Windows Marketplace is a bit like the Red Hat Exchange: it's a place to learn about, download, and try applications that run on Windows. It's a Microsoft site that aims to increase use of Windows.

It's not, however, limited to Microsoft and its proprietary friends, as this picture shows:… Read more

Microsoft is readying a Flickr competitor

The big news out of Redmond today is that Microsoft is working on a Flickr competitor.

A job posting on the software giant's career site reveals that the Digital Memories Experience Team is trying to recruit a program manager to lead the project.

"This feature team is building a next-generation photo and video-sharing service that will compete with Flickr, SmugMug, and other photo Web solutions today," according to the posting. It's clear who the competition is.

Flickr has a really strong and popular product right now, so if Microsoft wants to be competitive in this space, … Read more