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I’ve been highly critical of many of Microsoft’s moves lately, mostly because they have felt like the awkward ramblings of a company one step behind the curve, but the other day Microsoft made, what in my view, is a smart play. They bought [URL="http://www.powerset.com/"]Powerset[/URL], a San Francisco-based semantic search company …

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Member Avatar for EddieC

The Wall Street Journal reported this morning (and thousands of others since then) in a [URL=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121496732802022117.html] front-page story[/URL] that Microsoft is seeking new channels of opportunity for acquiring the search business of Yahoo. Redmond has reportedly been in talks with Time Warner and WSJ parent company News Corp., cooking up …

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According to the official Microsoft Developer Network [URL="http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/default.aspx"]IEBlog[/URL] Internet Explorer 8 will come packed with a whole host of new security features. These will include the SmartScreen Filter which replaces the Phishing Filter in current versions of the browser. Eric Lawrence, Program Manager for Internet Explorer Security says that this …

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Member Avatar for EddieC

That’s it. I’ve had enough. Today I draw a line in the sand with me and Windows XP on one side and Microsoft and any of its new operating systems—including Vista—on the other, for ever more. What got me started on this—the reason for this pledge—is simple: Yesterday Microsoft said …

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Member Avatar for Techwriter10

My colleague Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols recently wrote a piece on his fine Practical Technology blog called [URL="http://practical-tech.com/operating-system/dear-microsoft-thanks-for-the-help-linux/"]Dear Microsoft, Thanks for the help, Linux[/URL] in which he argues that Microsoft’s ill-timed decision to cut off easy access to XP tomorrow (June 30th) combined with its announcement it would be releasing the …

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It wasn't due for another six weeks or so, but today Microsoft surprised many folk by starting to sell its new Hyper-V server virtualisation software. Microsoft had repeatedly told anyone who asked, and anyone who was listening, that it would be released in August. However, Microsoft customers were alerted to …

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Speaking before the start of the Microsoft [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/jun08/06-25GFWBigPicturePR.mspx"]Big Picture[/URL] gaming showcase in San Francisco, Jon Schappert, a Microsoft Corporate VP, took the opportunity to lay claim to Windows being the biggest gaming platform on the planet. Not Microsoft, you might like to note. Not the Xbox. But rather, and specifically, …

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Member Avatar for EddieC

You’re about to begin a project that will tap into or integrate data from a database. You’ve been looking for low-cost ways to clear that data of duplicates, near-dupes, and obsolete or garbage data. But cleansing tools are expensive. As of today, there’s a free solution for you to think …

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Member Avatar for EddieC

Easier installation, 3D desktop effects, digital music and video management and an up-to-date OpenOffice are among the enhancements in openSUSE 11.0, which became generally available this week. Designed for the novice as well the advanced, installation options include a choice of Gnome 2.22 or KDE 4 desktop environments and the …

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How much is $630 worth? According to [URL="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/19/ebayer_live_search_game/"]The Register[/URL] the rather surprising answer is $714. That is the price that an enterprising eBayer has put on some money, and by manipulating the Microsoft Live Search advertising cashback offer implemented by Microsoft last month the guy reckons you can turn a …

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Member Avatar for happygeek

It has not been a good couple of weeks for Microsoft, at least not when it comes to how the online search space is fanning out anyway. Following on from the refusal of yahoo to take the Microsoft buy out bid seriously, comes the news that it is jumping into …

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Member Avatar for Techwriter10

When I opened my mail box today and picked up this month’s [URL="http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=10395&page=1"]Streaming Media Magazine[/URL], [URL="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000325/"]David Caruso[/URL], aka Horatio Caine on [URL="http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi_miami/"]CSI Miami[/URL], stared out at me from the cover in his trademark shades. Not exactly what you expect from a magazine aimed at video geeks, but apparently Caruso is …

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Member Avatar for happygeek

Following announcements at the [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/events/teched2008/itpro/default.mspx"]Microsoft Tech Ed IT Professionals 2008[/URL] conference in Orlando this week, it would appear that Internet Explorer 8 will concentrate on getting things right for the business user. This means a focus on deployment issues, a focus on improving compatibility and updates to the IE admin …

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Member Avatar for Brian.oco

I'd hate to be Jerry Yang's therapist today. The Yahoo CEO turned down a $33 per share buyout offer from Microsoft several months ago, with some saying the price could have gone as high as $37 per share. But that was then and this is now. The Associated Press is …

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Member Avatar for EddieC

At the risk of sounding like just another Microsoft bashing session, I already trust Apple’s [URL=http://www.apple.com/mobileme/] MobileMe[/URL] more than [URL=http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2364.html] Microsoft’s Mesh[/URL]. Apple today unveiled the new service which it says will be up and running in July. MobileMe will replace the venerable .Mac online file storage service and compete …

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Acer is the latest company to jump on the ultra-portable bandwagon with Aspire one, a 2.2-pound unit that sports a near-full size keyboard and can yield as much as six hours of battery life per charge, according to claims by the PC maker. Rival Asus last month began shipping [URL=http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2339.html] …

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Member Avatar for EddieC

If you’re a Ruby or Python developer building AJAX applications, you’ve got to learn JavaScript. Even if you’re converting Ruby code to client-side JavaScript with a tool like [URL= http://www.scribd.com/doc/220397/RJShow-it-works] RJS[/URL], it can still be helpful to know the AJAX component for adding features and debugging. Now Microsoft is promoting …

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Microsoft today gave [URL=http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-jun.mspx] advance notice [/URL]of a security bulletin it will release on Tuesday to repair seven vulnerabilities in Windows and Internet Explorer, three of them critical. The three critical warnings involve potential remote code execution, and affect Bluetooth, DirectX and IE. According to reports, the latter patch might …

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Member Avatar for Techwriter10

[I]Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night. ~Dylan Thomas. [/I] Every once in a while you come across a blog post from a writer that makes you sit up …

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This must truly be the end of days. Like Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters: “Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies, rivers and seas boiling…human sacrifice, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria.” Microsoft is giving advice on securing its software to Apple. It’s “laughable on …

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Bill Gates opened [URL= http://www.microsoft.com/events/TechEd2008/default.mspx] Tech-Ed 2008 Developers[/URL], its annual developers conference in Orlando, Fla., today by saying good-bye to a group the Microsoft founder said has been the company’s most important. “The success of Microsoft really is due to our relationship with developers,” he said in his keynote this …

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Channel Insider has [URL="http://www.pr-inside.com/channel-insider-names-red-hat-enterprise-r619668.htm"]announced[/URL] that [URL="http://www.redhat.com"]Red Hat Enterprise Linux[/URL] has beaten off the competition in the 2008 Product of the Year awards to scoop the server operating system award. This is important for two reasons: firstly the fact that awards are given to products which "exemplify attributes of high importance …

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According to an [URL="http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208401867"]Information Week[/URL] article, it would appear that gamers actually like the in-game adverts that they see while they play. Or rather Massive Inc, a Microsoft subsidiary that handles in-game advertising, has said as much. Gamers were surveyed and the results suggest that they will happily accept such …

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Member Avatar for Techwriter10

When [URL="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080222/105312322.shtml"]Bill Gates gave a speech[/URL] last winter and hinted that the need for a keyboard was going to be diminishing, the writer in me scoffed, but I should learn to take Bill’s little hints a bit more seriously because the next version of Windows (aka Windows 7) is going …

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There's an interesting story up at [URL="http://consumerist.com/tag/windows/?i=5010868&t=microsoft-and-the-1632-copy-of-vista"]The Consumerist[/URL] at the moment about some chap called Bill who has been charged $1632 for a single Windows Vista Ultimate upgrade license. It would appear what has happened is that Windows Live Marketplace kept saying to try again later when Bill pressed the …

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Maybe it’s all part of a kinder, gentler Microsoft; or maybe it’s something else. In the latest example of Redmond’s increase in openness, the “Evil Empire” in an [URL=http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/may07/05-16ANSIVotePR.mspx] announcement[/URL] last week said it backs the addition of the Open Document Format to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards …

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Member Avatar for Techwriter10

[I]I can’t stand this indecision married with a lack of vision Everybody wants to rule the world ~Tears for Fears, Everybody Wants to Rule the World. [/I] There has certainly been a lot of gamesmanship going on in the computer industry these past few weeks as the industry’s biggest players …

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Member Avatar for EddieC

I laugh inside when Microsoft loses ground, even in the slightest way. It’s particularly sweet when Redmond loses to a company like Novell, which owned the LAN market it pioneered through the 1990s, only to have it ripped from its grasp by the totally inferior Windows NT. This week Novell’s …

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American readers will have been delighted by l[URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7413099.stm"]ast night's announcement[/URL] ('last night' is relative, it was last night in the UK) that Microsoft is going to offer cash back on items bought through its partners from its search engine scheme. The idea completes a notion that began over a decade …

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[URL="http://www.slipperybrick.com/2008/05/iphone-runs-windows-vista-kinda/"]Slippery Brick reports[/URL] that it is now possible to run Windows Vista on your iPhone, well after a fashion at any rate. In fact what you get is a Vista emulator called VistaPerfection 2.0 which provides your iPhone with "wallpapers, sliders, sound effects and over 90 Vista-themed icons for everything …

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The End.