Microsoft
Future Windows
Microsoft just held its annual Professional Developers Conference. As usual some hints about future developments in Windows were given.
You may not yet be using Windows 7 but there is already talk about Windows 8. As I mentioned last month, there is even a site about Windows 8. (It’s not an official Microsoft site, however.) [...]
Free Microsoft programs
Microsoft may charge a lot for Windows but it also has quite a lot of free software. At TechRadar Aditya Chandrasekhar has put together a list of 24 applications from Microsoft that he thinks are the best. (Actually, not all the applications on the list are from Microsoft.)
To take a look at what’s available from [...]
Left-handed mouse pointers for Windows
I’m not left-handed but, from teaching, I know that the standard mouse setup can be inconvenient for those who are. Changing the buttons on a mouse is a standard Windows adjustment but Microsoft has also supplied a set of mouse pointers (AKA cursors) for left-handers. They can be downloaded at this Microsoft link. The download [...]
Did Apple blow a golden opportunity?
When Microsoft was struggling with the poor reception for Vista, poor search market share, security holes, and other problems, Apple made some inroads on Windows. However, several observers have written that Apple failed to really take advantage when Microsoft was in a hole. Now with Windows 7 revitalizing Microsoft, they say the chance to [...]
Windows 7 borrowed from the Mac?
A small ruckus broke out when Simon Aldous, partner group manager at Microsoft, acknowledged that the design of Windows 7 had drawn on some inspiration from the Mac. In an interview at PCR, Aldous said:
One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that [...]
Bing updated
As posted yesterday, Google is updating its search engine. Not to be outdone, Microsoft isn’t sitting still and will be bringing out a new version of Bing. Mary Jo Foley has some details at her ZDNet blog.
The malware industry
I’ve posted before about how cybercrime has become an organized industry but here’s some more on the subject; it’s a Microsoft report entitled, “Microsoft Security Intelligence Report Volume 7″. PC World comments:
Malware makers – the criminals responsible for viruses and worms – have become increasingly organized and sophisticated, according to a Microsoft security report that [...]
Microsoft updates MSN.com
Microsoft is giving a new look to its Web portal MSN.com. Computerworld reports:
Microsoft plans to start rolling out a redesigned MSN.com on Wednesday in the U.S., the first major update for the page in more than 10 years.
Frequent visitors to the site will immediately notice one major change: The new page has only [...]
Microsoft re-patching
Gregg Keizer reports at ComputerWorld:
Microsoft yesterday re-patched Internet Explorer, the third time it’s been forced to repair one of the updates from its largest-ever bug fix, which was delivered on Oct. 13.
Monday’s fix targeted MS09-054, the update that patched four vulnerabilities, all “critical,” in Internet Explorer (IE). According to Christopher Budd, a spokesman for the [...]
Is Windows 7 the last major release?
Windows 7 is currently the focus of attention and will likely dominate the PC for a few years. But what about the future? At PCMag, technology industry analyst Tim Bajarin speculates about what comes after Windows 7:
So, Windows 7 does, in fact, matter. But for how long? At the moment, we live in a client/server [...]
Microsoft patches patched
Some of the Microsoft security patches from the October patch Tuesday were buggy. Microsoft issued some fixes yesterday. So you may need to check Microsoft Update. Details at InfoWorld.