Bill Lindner

Is there more to Windows Vista being big brother than was originally thought? There appear to be features and services bundled into Windows Vista that stay in touch with the government and their associates, too. If this is true, Microsoft has gone ... too far. This post was in an abandonia.com forum, and appeared to get overloaded from all the attention it was getting. Whitedust.net had a copy of it on their site. A forum user switched to Windows Vista a month ago and actually had some good luck with it. He began noticing latency on his home network connection. He used port sniffing software and ... (view more)

Vista Compatibility and Vista Certified seem to mean many different things to both Microsoft and other manufacturers of software applications. It would be nice to get a clearer definition of each, if that's at all possible. One of the latest fiascos ... involving Vista compatibility involves Roxio's Easy Media Creator. In September 2006 when Sonic Solutions introduced the program, Vista compatibility was a point of emphasis. Roxio was touted as a "Windows Vista Premier Launch Partner" when Vista was rolled out. Sonic bragged that their DVD burning technology was being incorporated by Microsoft in ... (view more)

Paul Thurrott, a well known Windows expert and advocate, posted an article titled "Microsoft Ignoring Customer Needs with Continued Silence on Future Windows" in which he refers to Microsofts behavior as paradoxical, almost diabolical. When you read ... a short, sweet and to-the-point article from a well-known Microsoft Windows expert regarding company behavior, it's a relief knowing that you're not losing your mind. I'm not constantly bashing Vista because I enjoy it. I just don't like seeing newbie computer users taken advantage of, or seeing large monopolies playing games. According to ... (view more)

A report by the American Bar Association notes that from a litigator's perspective, Windows Vista makes it easy to uncover what's been performed on a particular PC. Quite simply, forensic evidence maintained by Vista makes it easier to find out what ... was done and when it was done. What am I talking about? Shadow copy is a new feature built into Vista that backs up all of your data and stores it on unused sectors of the hard drive. It was designed to prevent data loss but because the information it stores stays on there, it's easier for a forensic examiner to find deleted data. Transactional ... (view more)

So, we've read all about Windows Vista in North America. Despite selling some 40 million plus copies, it's generally considered a work in progress (with many consumers avoiding the new Microsoft product altogether). But, what's the mood in other ... parts of the world? In Australia, Queensland Purchasing, part of the Queensland Department of Public Works, procured bids to purchase desktop computers, portable computers and servers for 26 agencies. All the computers are required to be supplied with Windows XP SP2 licenses, Microsoft Office 2003 and media. (Source: InterGovWorld.com ) The department ... (view more)

Is Microsoft finally beginning to get it or is this more smoke? According to Softpedia.com , Microsoft has decided to continue focusing on desktop products. This means Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System will be followed by Windows Seven and ... Office 14. Kevine Turner, Chief Operating Officer at Microsoft, emphasized the fact that Windows Vista will not be the last big operating system release from Microsoft. That also holds true for Office 2007. "There will be another release of and launch of a Vista type operating system. There will be another release of Office, and we're going to ... (view more)

After spending months denying that there even was a Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), Microsoft will be rushing out the first Vista SP1 beta around the middle of July. After agreeing to change the search feature in Vista due to complaints by Google and ... leading everyone to believe the first beta of SP1 for Vista wouldn't be released until near or after the first of the year, it now appears that Microsoft is attempting to get the final version of Vista SP1 out around November 2007. There is also a lot of widespread speculation that Vista SP1 is being rolled out in an effort to encourage Vista ... (view more)

In another unprecedented move for Dell, the PC manufacturer is "stepping back" from telling businesses to upgrade to Windows Vista due to challenging migration issues and is warning them about hardware issues they'll have to deal with. "They need to ... be looking at the number of images they will be installing and the size of these images" said Dell's European client services business manager Niall Fitzgerald. "A 2GB image for each user will have a big impact." Microsoft has suggested that a 1GB image was fine for Vista, but Fitzgerald says 2GB image sizes are more likely. (Source: Zdnet.co.uk ... (view more)

Softpedia.com released a nice article regarding the plethora of Windows Vista "features and services" that collect, maintain and transmit your personal data to Microsoft and/or their "controlled subsidiaries and affiliates." If you're going to use ... Vista, you really don't have much say in the matter. Microsoft makes it crystal-clear that they're gathering information. The Vista Privacy Statement and the End User License Agreement (EULA) references most of these "features and services", but not all of them. "This disclosure focuses on features that communicate with the Internet and is not ... (view more)

...continued from Part 1 and Part 2 . Every year Microsoft introduces the "latest technology", bent on revolutionizing computers or their software. Anyone who's familiar with Microsoft is naturally suspicious when "new" technology is introduced -- ... and for good reason. Web TV, Microsoft TV and WinCE smartphones, Xbox, various versions of Media Center PCs, Watches, Media2go, Xbox 360, and the Zune (to name a few) are all products that either went away rapidly or lost billions of dollars. This year it's Windows Vista, Longhorn Server and a new Computer Table called "Surface" with a hefty price ... (view more)