Windows 7: the licensing mess continues

Monday, October 19th, 2009

There’s a fabulous new document on Microsoft TechNet entitled “The 10 Things to Do First for Windows 7″, which is an excellent checklist on what you need to think about doing in your organisation before you move to Windows 7.

I was particularly thrilled to read “Section 3: Plow through licensing”.

Now maybe I am just being a stick-in-the-mud, and I accept it is a Monday morning and I have a headache, but my headache is made worse by reading this:

(more…)

The shame of Microsoft’s Media Center EULA

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

For reasons too boring to relate, I just had to fire up a Windows Media Center installation on an HP touchscreen device – the one that comes with every bell and whistle, and is actually quite a nice box.

In going through the TV setup for a DVB-T TV tuner which is built into the device, you get to this glorious licence screen. There are a half-dozen lines of text in that box, and then sixty-nine, yes SIXTY-NINE pages to scroll through. It’s 67 pages if you maximise the window to full screen on this large, high-res display. (more…)

Windows 7 review: why PC Pro won’t be rushing its verdict

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

I’ve already received a couple of emails from readers asking why PC Pro hasn’t produced a Windows 7 review now that the RTM is officially out – and the reason is simple. We don’t want to rush to a verdict we may later regret.

To a certain extent, I think this happened with Windows Vista. Back in the hazy days of late 2006, early 2007 we nailed our colours to the mast and the operating system earned a five-star review. If I’m honest, I think we were too forgiving of its foibles, as we were so used to the OS being a beta. (more…)

How to make stubborn 32-bit apps work on 64-bit Windows

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

By now you’ve hopefully seen my feature on 64-bit Windows in the latest issue of PC Pro. And perhaps you derived some comfort from my breezy assurances that “you don’t need to worry too much about application compatibility. Almost all modern 32-bit software should install and run flawlessly on a 64-bit edition of Windows.”

Well, of course, whenever you write something like that you’re asking for trouble. (more…)

No upgrades to Windows 7? Microsoft is doing us a favour

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Microsoft’s pricing and upgrading plans for Windows 7 in Europe are bordering on a farce. You can’t upgrade from a previous version of Windows, but you can elsewhere in the world. You can buy the upgrade product but you will get full retail box instead.

And it won’t come with Internet Explorer 8, in a strangely “the sky is falling down” reaction to the antitrust spat with the EU. Microsoft hopes that this is enough, the EU doesn’t appear to be convinced.

But this could be a marvellous thing indeed. By forcing you to wipe the machine and start afresh, it is possible to ensure that all that accumulated crap is wiped from the machine. A clean OS is a happy OS. (more…)

Are netbooks really “better with Windows”?

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Asus – the company that started the netbook phenomenon with the Linux-based Eee PC 701 – has apparently decided that the open-source OS isn’t so spiffing after all.

The company has teamed up with Microsoft to create the rather prosaic It’s Better With Windows website.

“Windows helps you quickly and easily get online and connect to your devices and services – without dealing with an unfamiliar environment or major compatibility issues,” the site proclaims. It then shows a series of videos, with Eee PC-wielding people going about their lives in blissful harmony.

(more…)

The key to Linux’s mainstream success

Monday, March 30th, 2009

Our esteemed editor, Tim Danton, recently ran a thought piece wondering whether Linux would ever hit the mainstream, his ten cents worth clattering down on the side that says “probably not.”

His conclusion was an interesting one, principally because I haven’t heard it before. To paraphrase Tim, Linux will remain niche because open-source vendors don’t have the inclination to push it that extra mile, to front up for “the hassle-free” experience that users expect in their operating system. Not when they have a devoted, tech-savy user base already to hand.

It’s an intruiging point of view, but one predicated on a fallacy. If anything, Linux works the hardest for the hassle-free experience of any of the operating systems. Each alpha, beta and RC is passed through thousands of hands before it ever gets anywhere near an end user. Each line of code is mulled, every aspect of the operating system considered – by that I mean that unlike the revolutionary three years jumps of Windows or Apple’s OSes, Linux is in a constant state of evolution.

(more…)

Thè jóy öf áçcênts

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

If you ever refer to foreign words or names, you’ll know the trauma of typing accented characters on a UK keyboard. Microsoft Word has its own system – for example, to type an “é” character you can press Ctrl-’ followed by the letter “e”. But what if you’re not using Word? What if you’re writing an email, or a batch file, or – shock horror – a blog post?

The traditional way to type characters that aren’t on your keyboard is to hold down Alt and type in the extended ASCII character code on the numeric keypad; so to get “é” you’d hold down Alt and type 130. That still works, even in Windows 7, but the codes aren’t exactly convenient to type, nor easy to remember – especially since they’re in a completely illogical order (check it out). (more…)

Something fishy about Windows 7

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

Been playing with the new 7022 build of Windows 7 which [cough] arrived on my desktop as a handy ISO file.

And something has been bugging me about it. Couldn’t put my finger on it. Something really just a bit out of kilter.

Then a Twitter posting by Someone Who Shall Remain Nameless inside Microsoft pointed it out. There are bubbles coming from the fish. Fish don’t breath, and certainly don’t exhale bubbles. Maybe this is just one big Windows 7 super intelligent joke.

Apparently the fish is actually a Siamese fighting fish, known as a “betta fish”. Pronounced beta.

When Windows 7 succumbs to a virus, will we see boils and skin rashes and dead fish on the bottom of the screen too?

Wagon wheels

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

Now I’m a 100% signed-up, baptised, confirmed lover of Microsoft Office 2007 – it’s the software that’s made the most difference to how I work ever. But even I think that the latest advert (as featured on this very site, so please don’t tell our ads team I’m blogging about it) is going too far.

“A PC without Office 2007 is like a wagon without wheels.” Well, for starters, if Microsoft believes that’s so then why on earth isn’t it bundling Office 2007 with Windows?

And secondly, it really isn’t. Office 2007 is fantastic, but there are lots of different ways to create documents and crunch numbers without spending the extra money on Microsoft Office.

Perhaps the advert should read “A PC without Office 2007 is like a slightly awkward wagon that you won’t enjoy using quite so much as a PC with Office 2007.” Equally catchy, I’m sure you agree.