With the release of Windows 7 drawing ever closer, there is definitely no shortage of articles about it and Windows Vista as well.

Let’s start off with a post about a version of windows Vista I didn’t know existed “Vista Starter. Apparently this version is about as stripped down as it gets, and was designed for “developing nations”. In other words “the poor”. If you don’t have money – then you can browse the web, and that’s about it. And people wonder why Linux is popular in these countries.

I was surprised to read on Slashdot (of all places), that the Windows 7 beta seems to be going amazingly well, purportedly the most solid beta version of Windows put out to date. It looks like it’s so popular that some people are installing Windows 7 on their netbooks.

Another surprising post this week comes from Gizmodo where they answer the question “Why should you go 64 bit with Windows 7?“. Apparently the answer is memory. Like I always said – why would you want to use 4GB of memory in your box when Windows Vista (or XP, or whatever) can only use 3.3GB of it anyway in a 32 bit version. That coupled with the fact that like a year ago all kinds of devices and drivers didn’t work for squat in 64 bit windows. No more is the case I guess, and guess what? With 64 bit Windows you can use up to a Terabyte of RAM!! If you’re considering Windows 7, I guess you should be trying the 64 bit version unless you have all kinds of legacy gadgets.

Another unusual post was the one about the Microsoft REC (Retail Experience Center) store. They have setup a 20,000 square foot store (that you can’t shop at) to show retailers how their products should be displayed.

And if you’re sick of all this Windows Vista and 7 Hype, read How to make windows XP last 7 more years – you’ll be glad you did!

There’s all kinds of Windows news about this week, including the new version of Mac OS – Snow Leopard. It seems there was no mention of it at MacWorld, and it was Apple’s chance to beat the Windows 7 launch in mid-2009.
It seems as though in an attempt to foster good thoughts after the bungled “Vista Ready” campaigns, Microsoft will offer free Windows 2007 upgrades for anyone that buys a PC after June 2009. Is that really a deal? I mean come on – windows 7 is supposed to be out by that date. They should offer Windows 7 for free to anyone who buys a PC in 2009 period. Looks like there are 2 restrictions to the upgrades, you have to upgrade to the same language version, and you have to upgrade to the straight path (ultimate to ultimate, etc).

You know, this recent article reminds me of one Vista quirk I never wrote about, the fact the IE stores all it’s downloads in My documents -> Downloads folder. It’s funny I think that Windows seems to remind you about every GD thing in the universe you don’t want to know about (storing passwords, visiting secure sites) – but it never bothers to tell you where the downloads go. New users are just confused until they figure it out.

I read a post about Michael Dunner comparing Vista and Windows 7 security, bringing to the surface once again the problems with the evil UAC (User Account Control) in Vista. This is by far the most annonying feature that Microsoft has ever invented. I’ve blogged about this before – but how come each and every time that the IT rags write about UAC they don’t just come out and say that Microsoft was blatantly copying Linux (Ubuntu) when they created UAC? I mean, come on – in Ubuntu Linux even if you were the one that setup the PC you have your own account separate from root. If you try to do something on Ubuntu that your privelege does not allow, it prompts you for the “root” password So many things in Vista are blatant rip-offs of both Mac OS X (based on UNIX anyway) and Linux it’s not funny – from UAC, to the sidebar, Aero, screen and window effects, and more…the “new” versions of Windows are oh so….COPIED!

I came across another feature I didn’t know about in Vista this week, it’s the hidden checkboxes feature. Wish I’d known about this one awhile back.

You might also like to know about the new “Pre-Boot shells” that are coming available with some newer laptops. You can surf the web without ever entering windows and save up to 25% of your battery life at the same time. Pretty cool. My laptop has a Linux/Vista dual boot – and 95% of my time is spent in Linux anyway.

I’m wondering how many people out there (on average) have updated their Vista laptops and desktops to SP1 not that it’s been available quite awhile. I have to say – I haven’t updated my laptop yet at all, especially since I read that (despite the initial hype) machines aren’t running faster at all post-upgrade, they’re (mostly) in fact running slower!

This guy at TechIMO reports his system running squirrelly after the upgrade, so he backed it out with system restore.

Then again – it’s a double edged sword, since if I don’t upgrade in the near future my machine might be vulnerable to new exploits, the one recently announced that renders Windows Vista security useless.

It looks like I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t, and I may have to make a choice this year. Have you upgraded your Vista yet? What have you experienced?

PC World has reported that Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or SP1 will be officially available to everyone on February 15th, 2008! Or will it? That date has been reported by Taiwanese news agency, and some sources close to Microsoft say that’s a “target date”, but Microsoft won’t comment. Some believe that SP1 will bring a new wave of adoption to Vista, espcially businesses. I just want my “blackout screen glitch” to go away everytime I log in. I read last year that this (among other video drivers fixes) should be fixed by installing SP1.

As many look for SP1 to make their Vista experience better, IBM is preying on the fact that so many people are having difficulty with Vista and businesses that are dragging their feet to upgrade from Windows XP. The are starting to swing the Linux hammer in an attempt to get people out of “Vista Hell”. They announced that they will offer an “Open Collaboration Client Solution with support for Ubuntu”. What is Ubuntu? Ubuntu is the most mainstream version of Linux I’ve ever seen, and IBM touts it as “personal computing software that is based on open standards, providing businesses with a cost-effective and security-rich alternative to Microsoft desktops”.

The timing is good for IBM, because Vista has a poor reputation among many. Can they re-brand themselves? I don’t know, being an IT person myself I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, anyone support open source standards and Ubuntu has got my attention. But we all know IBM is self-serving, and the proof in the pudding is that their “Open Collaboration Client” software manifest nothing but proprietary IBM apps based on Lotus Notes and Websphere. When you first read “Ubuntu” you expect to see things like “Open Office” on the list.

If you were doubtful about the fact that not only does Windows Vista have a poor reputation – but that Microsoft knows it and is worried about it, read this article announcing that Windows 7 may be released next year. Windows 7 is the next version of Windows, and Microsoft now has on it’s roadmap a release date in mid-2009. What will an early (3 year) release of Windows do to their 5 year release cycle? Will it make people angry (having to upgrade so soon), or will it placate all those who Vista pissed off? It’s a real catch-22 for business who may have been putting off a Vista upgrade, and now many surely put off until Windows 7. The only thing we can be sure of are Microsoft’s claims that Windows 7 will be the last 32 bit version of Windows. From that point forward, all versions of Windows will be 64 bit. What does that mean? It means that millions and millions of old PC’s will live on for years and years on Linux once older versions of Microsoft are no longer supported. It means (in my opinion) that Ubuntu will become even more popular among those with older or dontated hardware.

Windows Vista has many complaints of being slow for the amount of memory it requires. Can you speed it up? Sure you can…

One of the things that I’ve not done with Windows Vista is try to speed it up using the ReadyBoost technology that comes with it. What is ReadyBoost? Essentially you use a USB memory stick as a “cache”, which is of course faster than a disk cache (in access time), and unlike regular memory (which loses it’s contents when you shut the PC down), the contents of USB flash used as memory are immediately available when a PC boots up – making it more “ready” (and giving it a ‘boost’, doh!).

If you thinking that you could use any old memory stick you had lying around – that’s not the case. You have to have 256MB or more free space, so those old 128MB flash drives you got for free at the technology fair or with a spindle or CDRom’s aren’t going to cut it. Also (like regular memory and hard drives) believe it or not different USB sticks have different speeds. You need a memory stick that has at least 1.75MB per second read time and 512KB write time. What – you didn’t save the original blister pack from your USB stick with the specs? You might be able to get that information online at the manufacturer’s web site, or maybe online from the place you bought it. If not (or if you’re buying a new memory stick for this purpose), just be sure to get one that says “<b>Enhanced for Readyboost</b>”, and you’ll know it’s got the specs you need.

Believe it or not, you could use just about anything (you can plug in USB) for this technique, including SD Cards and things you plug in a card reader, like MMC Cards, MS Cards, Sony Memory Sticks, etc – as long as they meet the read/write requirements. So how does Readyboost work? When you plugin a new usb stick (or card reader), you’ll get a dialog box asking you what you want to do (open folder, run, Autoplay, etc.), and you want to choose “Speed up my System with Readyboost”.

Windows Vista isn’t just going to let you use memory that is insufficient or incompatible, it’s going to do a benchmark first. If the memory meets requirements after the benchmark, Readyboost will create a file on your drive or card called “ReadyBoost.sfcache”. That’s it! Your Windows Vista system should be running faster now! Think about how much easier this is than buying more memory for your notebook or PC. You can get a 1 or 2GB flash stick for under $20 online, and that could dramatically increase the speed of your computer!

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or SP1 is now available to the general public (Release Candidate 1 or RC1), and Microsoft has prepared a 17 page document describing the changes that Vista SP1 will include. Looks like one of the biggest bug fixed we can look forward to is support for “exFAT” which will greatly speed up file transfers to flash drives (much needed!). These tidbits were courtesy Internet News. Meanwhile, many people may decide to remain on Windows XP – because Service Pack 3 or SP3 for XP is coming…and the exo-blog posted benchmark results that show Windows XP3 update gaining 10% performance gain over Windows Vista and Vista SP1.

I’ve been very surprised that the “performance improvements” listed in that 17 page MS RC1 document don’t seem to be posted in any of the articles I read announcing Vista SP1 RC1 at all. Is it Microsoft propaganda – or are these numbers real? I can only hope that one of you installing RC1 will comment back and let us all know. Here are the ones that intrigued me:

• Improves the speed of adding and extracting files to and from a compressed (zipped) folder
• Significantly improves the speed of moving a directory with many files underneath
• 25% faster when copying files locally on the same disk on the same machine
• 45% faster when copying files from a remote non-Windows Vista system to a SP1 system
• 50% faster when copying files from a remote SP1 system to a local SP1 system
• Improves the time to read large images by approximately 50%
• Removes the delay that sometimes occurs when a user unlocks their PC
• Improves overall media performance by reducing many glitches

Ready to download and install Windows Vista Release Candidate 1? Here’s you go…

Vista SP1 RC1 links you need

Offical MS Doc: Notable changes in Vista SP1 RC1
Instructions to install Vista SP1
Microsoft Official download link to Vista SP1

Oh, and for your “Vista Sucks” fix of the day, just read The Vista is not so Grand. My favorite quote from that article is:

As innovative as Apple is and as free as open source is, Microsoft still commands about 90 percent plus of the desktop computer market. The question that analysts, commentators and our own software pioneer Mark Shuttleworth keep asking is: for how long?

If you just love Windows Vista so far – I guess you should go and read Windows Vista: Official Magazine.

Microsoft has announced it will disengage the kill switch. You remember the kill switch don’t you? When you have a Windows Vista system you have to validate you have a legal copy with Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA). If you don’t or WGA fails – after a certain period of time Windows Vista activates it’s “Kill Switch” and turns off nearly everything except very limited browsing (probably only to activate Windows). Is that good? Yes, I suppose that it is. Because we all know that Windows (and Vista) can and will mistakenly identify you (a person with a legal license to use Windows) as a criminal at some point. Get a new hard drive? You’re a pirate. Have to reformat and reinstall and activate Windows more than 4 times? You’re a pirate. Like the article I linked to reads – disabling the kill switch is a good start, but they have a long ways to go before you don’t feel like a criminal every time you need to reinstall Windows.

Engadget recently put out a huge Vista vs. Leopard Showdown review in score card format. You should check it out – it’s a good real. But, if you’re interested in Windows Vista, but also in Mac’s Leopard OS, let me synopsize what I think you should know in a nutshell.

• Leopard has a better User Interface, BUT only Vista can do tablet and touch screens
• Leopard has a better Calendar, Contacts, and Email, but Vista has a way better Explorer
• IM, RSS, Text Editing, and File Transfer all better in Mac Leopard
• Leopard is hands down better at authoring DVD’s, editing video, and managing pictures
• Vista is hands down better at media hardware and extenders, and recording live tv
• Leopard has better system tools, remote desktop and no activation. Vista requires activation, no automation tools, and no remote desktop unless you have Vista Business or Ultimate
• Vista is better at filtering spam from email, but both are neck in neck in regards to security
• Gaming is better on Vista – period
• Leopard better at 64 but support and drive partitioning
• Vista is better at network storage and optimization

There are other features I’m sure you’ll want to read about in the checklist in that article. But I think my little laundry list clearly shows that if you are really going to make some kind of a decision between Mac Leopard and Windows Vista it really depends on your profile and what your main use of the machine really is. You can see for obvious reasons, that for the most part Vista is better for business users. Leopard can be great for people that wish to create dvd’s and edit video, and manage pictures. But if your more into gaming and want to do lots of tv recording or network storage Vista is definitely the one for you. I think that the main thing you get from this list is that Mac is finally some decent competition for Microsoft! You don’t have to be a photographer, graphic designer, or artist to want to use the Mac. But Mac users are still kind of “premium customers” in my book. Hardware costs more, support costs more, and you can’t always just jot off to Wal-Mart and pick up a new keyboard or mouse. Many things are interchangeable with PC’s, many are not. You’re not going to just run off to Staples and get a memory stick and slap it in your Mac. Caveat Emptor my friend, do a little research and reading before you buy!