windows

Microsoft vis-a-vis the App Store

When Apple launched its App Store on Thursday, I checked to see if I could find anything from Redmond.

There were applications from Salesforce.com and Oracle, but nothing from Microsoft. The company has made some noise about wanting to be on the iPhone, particularly with Silverlight, but it doesn't appear the software maker has anything imminent.

"I'm not aware of anything," said Scott Horn, a general manager in Microsoft's mobile communications business. Microsoft has said that it was looking at Apple's software developer kit and I wouldn't be surprised if some business … Read more

Ballmer: We'll look at open source, but we won't touch

Steve Ballmer is at least willing to talk with the open-source crowd now, as his comments at Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 demonstrate. He's just not willing to actually engage in open source as an appreciable part of his company's business. Fair enough.

Ballmer lacks the imagination to conceive of a world where Microsoft could open-source code and still make a lot of money (He's apparently not heard of "Google."):

No. 1, are our products likely to be open-sourced? No. We do provide our source code in special situations, but open source also implies free, free is inconsistent with paying for lunches at the partner conference. (Applause.)

But at least he's willing to work with those who do grok that the future of software business (meaning: money) is open source:

Will we interoperate with products that come from like Linux, from the open-source world? Yes, we will. Will we encourage people who want to do open-source development to do it on top of Windows? Yes, we're proud that the best PHP system in the world is actually the one that runs on Windows today, not the one that runs on Linux.… Read more

Are Mac users buying the remaining copies of Windows XP?

Six hours ago Ina Fried wrote that Windows XP is a hot item at Amazon.com. The full version of XP Home was number 15 on the software hit parade and the full version of XP Professional was number 21. Amazon updates the list hourly. As I write this, XP Professional is up to number 14, though XP Home slipped down to 16.

There are many ways to slice and dice Windows XP, but I'm going to focus on three "families" - full (expensive), upgrade and OEM (cheap).

The two best selling versions at Amazon are from … Read more

Windows XP a hot item on Amazon

Although Microsoft officially stopped selling Windows XP as of June 30, retailers can keep selling it as long as they have copies.

Perhaps as a result of its potentially impending scarcity, XP is near the top of Amazon.com's software list, with the full version of XP Home at No. 15 and the full version of XP Pro at No. 21.

The highest ranked Vista edition doesn't crack the top 25, although it does come on nearly all new PCs these days so most people don't need a boxed copy.

For those keeping score, Apple's Mac … Read more

Treasure hunt: Palm Treo 800w user guide unearthed on Sprint's site

You can run, but you can't hide, Palm. It appears that some enterprising individual unearthed the user guide for the yet-to-be-announced Palm Treo 800w on Sprint's Web site yesterday. This news actually isn't a complete surprise as these rumors have been circulating the Web for a while now. However, this latest find makes the speculation all the more believable. The Treo 800w will reportedly run Windows Mobile 6.1 with support for EV-DO Rev. A, GPS and Wi-Fi, and a 320x320-pixel resolution touch screen. No one seems to know the exact launch date, although Sunday, July 13th … Read more

Vista Compatibility Center still MIA

Apparently 20 months wasn't quite long enough to wait to introduce an online "Vista Compatibility Center."

The Web site, which was due to launch on Tuesday morning, still hasn't launched as of 2 p.m. PDT Wednesday.

The idea was to offer a Web site where consumers and small businesses could easily check whether their hardware and software are Vista-ready. Since yesterday afternoon, however, the site has greeted visitors with the message "The Windows Vista Compatibility Center will be launching soon, please check back!"

Well, I have been and it hasn't. No word … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 762: Linux for housewives

At least in Taiwan, the Linux version of the Asus Eee PC is very popular among housewives and students. Meanwhile geeks want the Windows XP version. Also on the show today Microsoft finally declares war on Apple's advertisements, and an Xbox 360 price cut may be coming as early as Sunday. Oh and there was something about the iPhone. Apparently people are excited about it. Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 762

Apparently, one third of us have been copying DVDs! http://www.cnet.com/8301-17914_1-9985794-89.html http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080708-breaking-the-law-one-third-of-us-residents-rip-dvds.html

Xbox 360 price … Read more

Microsoft updates Hyper-V, server products

There wasn't a ton of news out of day 2 of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, but the company did announce a few product milestones.

Its small and midsize business server products have both hit the near-final "release candidate" stage. Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (formerly code-named Centro) and Small Business Server 2008 (nee Cougar) are scheduled to launch and be fully available on November 12.

Microsoft also said its recently completed Hyper-V virtualization hypervisor is now available via Windows Update, as expected. The product had been available since late last month, but only as a manual … Read more

There's more than one solution to a common wireless problem

Life would be so much simpler if each problem we face had a single solution.

Of course, "simple" and "computer" are two words you rarely find in close proximity, except when you hear someone say, "My life would be so simple if I didn't own a computer."

For about two weeks, my notebook computer balked at linking to my wireless router. It would eventually connect, taking its own sweet time about it. Vista's Network and Sharing Center showed that Windows was struggling to acquire a network address.

A quick Web search indicated … Read more