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More Details About Vista SP2 Emerge

Mark Edward Soper — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:27:01 -0600

ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley has the goods on what's coming in Windows Vista SP2. In addition to the new features we told you about earlier this week, look for improvements in:

Hardware support for new form factors and the new VIA 64-bit CPU
Security improvements
Reliability and performance improvements in resume and RSS feeds sidebar
Fewer resources needed for sidebar gadgets
Better support for Spysweeper and Zone Alarm
Compcln.exe removes outdated files when they are replaced by SP2
Better handling of errors, incompatible hardware warnings, and system event logs
Fixes DRM problems caused by updates to Windows Media Player

Wondering about "missing" features like Hyper-V virtualization? Join us after the jump to find out why Vista SP2's not just for Vista, and for your chance to sound off.

Consumers, Enterprises Turn to Used PCs in Quest for Cheap Windows XP Licenses

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:15:42 -0600

In recent times, there have been quite a few reports about some enterprises having professed their liking for Windows XP. The consumers and enterprises that have vowed to abstain from Windows Vista, or plan on running old software owned by them, are scampering for used XP-toting PCs.

There is no dearth of Windows XP PCs as millions of users are supplanting their old PCs with newer ones that run Vista; a Gartner study pegged the number of discarded XP PCs in 2007 at 197 million.

Another reason for the current demand for XP-based PCs is “standardization”, according to Josh Kaplan, president of computer repair firm Repaircom. However, some prehensile resellers are resorting to selling PCs loaded with illegitimate copies of Windows XP to thrifty users desperate for a cheap Windows XP license.

Kaplan advises consumers to be slightly more cautious while purchasing secondhand PCs online as they are very likely to come loaded with a pirated version of XP.

The talk of Vista and XP is known to have elicited some passionate responses from Maximum PC readers in the comments section before and so you are expected to be ready with your astute views on this occasion as well.

New Browser-Based OS for Netbooks to Challenge Splashtop

Paul Lilly — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:20:35 -0600

While the battle between Windows and Linux wages on, a similar struggle is set to take place in the cloud. Instant-on computing has been gaining ground, helped in large part by Asus pushing a custom version of SplashTop on select motherboards and Eee PCs, and now Good OS steps into the browser-based OS fray.

If the name looks familiar, it's because the company's gOS Linux debuted in Wal-Mart's ill-fated $199 Everex gPC. But this time around, Good OS is focusing entirely on the cloud with an instant-on derivative appropriately called Cloud. The company showed off its browser-based OS running on Gigabyte touch-screen netbooks at the Netbook World Summit in Paris today.

"We are excited to preview the Gigabyte Touch-Screen Netbook with Cloud and Windows together," said a Good OS spokesperson. "With Cloud, Gigabyte Netbooks will power on to the Internet in seconds, while still supporting killer applications together with Windows XP."

Instead of loading a typical desktop, Cloud runs entirely in a browser that looks nearly identical to Google's Chrome. At the bottom of the browser, an integrated dock gives quick access to several apps and Web 2.0 portals. But like SplashTop, Cloud isn't meant to replace the main OS, and instead run alongside it.

Good OS plans to make more details available at CES in January, 2009.

Justin Long's a Liar, Apple Tells Mac Users to Install Antivirus Software

Paul Lilly — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:00:00 -0600

Talk to any Mac-inite and he'll tell you how secure his Mac is compared to your Windows-based PC. And admittedly, he's right. But is it because Mac OS X is inherently more secure than Windows, or do virus writers simply not give a damn when there are so many Windows users to target? Justin Long doesn't say, and instead insinuates that Mac users needn't worry about malware - see for yourself.

In what might be an ironic twist, Apple's ad campaign has helped Macs increase its market share and potentially draw attention to the platform as a viable target. For the first time ever, Apple is telling its users to install antivirus software.

"Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult," Apple posted on its support site.

But don't take that to mean that Apple suddenly thinks its operating system is wrought with security holes. As Dave Marcus, director of security research and communications at McAfee points out, malware is targeting data and not a specific OS. Vulnerabilities in Flash and the Safari web browser, for example, have given rise to non-OS attacks.

Reaction to Apple's recommendation? Hit the jump and post your thoughts.

Windows Market Share Hits Lowest Point in 15 Years

Paul Lilly — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:41:40 -0600

Perhaps DRAM makers and Microsoft's top brass should join each other at the local watering hole and lament the state of the industry, as the two share a somewhat similar woe. The memory market is the worst it has been in 15 years, and likewise, Windows market share has dropped to a 15-year low, according to market research firm Net Applications. But the similarities end there.

While Windows market share is as low as it has been since Windows 3.11, Microsoft still dominates the landscape by claiming just under 90 percent. The problem for Microsoft, if it can be called that, is a steady decline since Net Applications started providing market share data in October 2004. At the time, Microsoft's market share was at 96.4 percent, then 95.5 percent in November 2005, 94.2 percent in November 206, and 92.4 percent in November 2007.

Hardly a landslide, but with open-source alternatives such as Firefox and Linux gaining ground in the browser and operating system arenas, Microsoft might want to take a cue from what the competition is doing right rather than running 'told you so' ad campaigns like Mojave to convince skeptical users that it's been right all along.

Microsoft's WARP10 Will Let You Run DX10 on CPUs, Crysis at 7 FPS

Paul Lilly — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:15:05 -0600

If your graphics card doesn't support DirectX 10 or 10.1, don't worry about it, Microsoft has your back. The resourceful programmers at Redmond are working on a new component called WARP10 (Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform) to be included in Windows 7, which essentially ports DX10 duties to the CPU.

The upshot is that everyone will have access to DX10 eye candy even if the hardware doesn't support it. Minimum requirements for WARP10 are the same as they are for Vista - an 800MHz processor and 512MB of RAM. So if you have the hardware to run Windows 7, then in theory, you should be able to enable advanced effects regardless of your videocard.

"Our primary goal during WARP10 development was to produce a rasterizer that met or exceeded all the precision and conformance requirements of the Direct3D 10 and 10.1 specifications," writes Andy Glaister, Principal Development Lead of Microsoft Desktop and Graphics Technologies. "We wanted to do this while achieving a high level or reliability and stability. If this rasterizer was going to be used as a fallback for when hardware was not functioning, it’s important that it worked in all scenarios, configurations and different types of machines."

Hit the jump to find out how WARP10 compares to integrated graphics.

Linux: Fedora 10 Now Available

Paul Lilly — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:50:26 -0600

We typically recommend that those new to Linux get their feet wet with Ubuntu, but if you think you're ready to explore alternative distros, the Fedora developer community has announced the official release of Fedora 10. The release was originally planned to go live a few weeks ago but suffered a delay as Fedora developers verified its source code had not been compromised following a hacker attack back in August.

Like Ubuntu's recently released Intrepid Ibex (8.10), Fedora 10 is built on the Linux 2.6.27 kernel. The new kernel, which was released last month, offers better webcam support and the new Atheros ath9k wireless drivers, among other goodies. Firefox 3.0.4 also finds its way into Fedora 10's default installation.

ArsTechnica takes an in-depth tour of the distro's several new features, including the glitch-free PulseAudio (PA). In addition to support for controlling the volume of individual audio streams and movie streams between multiple devices, PA also sports some advanced capabilities, such as dynamic volume adjustment and network transparent stream redirection. But perhaps the biggest improvement to the rewritten PA is the significant reduction in the potential for dropped audio.

Other upgrades include a new version of the Network Manager utility, an overhauled RPM package, and a more tightly integrated PackageKit, which is a GUI-based package management frontend.

You can download Fedora 10 here.

Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) Alpha 1 Now Available

Paul Lilly — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:00:00 -0600

Before the most recent version of Ubuntu (8.10, Intrepid Ibex) was even released, founder Mark Shuttleworth was already looking ahead by introducing The Jaunty Jackalope, or what will later be known as version 9.04. That was just over two months ago, and now eager Linux users can take a peek at what the upcoming release has in store by downloading the distro in Alpha 1 form.

In continuing to bring Linux to the mainstream, Shuttleworth listed some specific goals it hopes to meet with Jaunty. Chief among them is improving the distro's boot time, both in standard cases and "when it is being tailored to a specific device." But speed isn't the only improvement he hopes to make in 9.04. The new distro will also look to have tighter integration between web services and desktop applications.

Ubuntu users hoping to get a first look at Jaunty Jackalope can download the Alpha 1 release now, although developer Colin Watson warns that the pre-release isn't intended for anyone needing a stable system.

"This is the very first roughly working set of images off the production line, and they haven't all been tested, so you should expect some bugs," Watson wrote in the release announcement. "Prominent among these are that some of the images are oversized and can only be tested using a DVD or a virtual machine, and that the desktop CD isn't ready yet!"

The next major Alpha release is scheduled for December 18th, followed by additional pre-releases until the final version debuts on April 23.