Bill Lindner

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is offering the first affordable PCs with English and Spanish versions of Microsoft Windows Vista Basic and Home Premium to Spanish-speaking consumers and small businesses. "With this expansion of our PC portfolio, we are ... delivering products our Hispanic customers have told us matter most to them," said Mark Sanchez, vice president and general manager, Consumer Computing -- North America, HP. "This community is the fastest growing segment in the United States, and HP is committed to providing them with ready access to technology to work, play and connect with others." Two ... (view more)

Nvidia, the manufacturer of PC graphics cards is facing a possible class action lawsuit over "designed for Windows Vista" claims with their new "Series 8 GPU" line after they announced that their 8800 graphics card series were "Windows Vista ... Capable." The graphics cards were released before Windows Vista was officially released. Nvidiaclassaction.info is gathering information from victims around the world who believe that Nvidia and their manufacturing partners deceived and defrauded them. The site alleges that the graphic card was being sold for about $700 with the statement "Built for ... (view more)

Dell has announced that it will begin offering Windows XP on some of their consumer systems due to significant customer demand. The company said many customers have been asking for XP as part of the Dell IdeaStorm project, which asks customers to ... help the company come up with product ideas. "We heard you loud and clear on bringing the Windows XP option back to our Dell consumer PC offerings," Dell said on its Ideas in Action page. Users vote on various suggestions. Bringing Windows XP back received over 10,000 votes. Interestingly, adding Linux received over 123,000 votes. Starting ... (view more)

"Protected Mode provides the safety of a robust Internet browsing experience while helping prevent hackers from taking over the system and installing programs or deleting your information." At least, that's what the Windows Vista web site and all ... the commercials tell you. The problem is, you're not as protected as you thought you were. According to Microsoft, users with Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) in Windows Vista are better protected from malicious web exploits than users with IE7 in Windows XP -- all thanks to the introduction of Vista's Protected Mode. With Protected Mode enabled on a ... (view more)

In what appears to be a last ditch effort to sell more of it's newest operating system (OS), Microsoft has notified computer manufacturers that by the start of 2008, they will no longer be allowed to ship PCs loaded with Windows XP. "The OEM version ... of XP Professional goes next January," said Frank Luburic, senior ThinkPad product manager for Lenovo. "At that point, they'll have no choice." "Dell recognizes the needs of small business customers and understands that more time is needed to transition to a new operating system," Dell said on its Direct2Dellblog . Dell plans to continue offering ... (view more)

In the first of what may become many law suits involving Microsoft Windows Vista, a class action suit was recently filed alleging that people who bought "Vista Capable" and "Vista Ready" computers last year have found themselves with a machine ... barely capable of running Vista, not capable of running "the real Vista." Last year, before the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft and several computer makers launched a program to put "Windows Vista Capable" logos on computers that met hardware requirements to run the new operating system when it came out. The law suit alleges that people bought the ... (view more)

Research carried out by analyst Vanson Bourne shows that UK firms have little enthusiasm for the new Windows Vista operating system. Nearly 6 out of 10 businesses say they have no plans to deploy it. (Source: Techworld.com ) 100 IT directors and ... chief technology officers at UK companies employing more than 1,000 staff were surveyed. 1 percent of those surveyed planned to deploy Vista immediately. 58 percent of those surveyed were not. In larger companies that employed more than 3,000 staff, 68 percent of those surveyed said they had no plans to deploy Vista. 78 percent of respondents across ... (view more)

Hewlett-Packard's (HP) newest energy star PCs won't ship with Windows Vista. In order to comply with the new Energy Star 4.0 business desktop computer standards, the Compaq dc5700, dc5750 and dc7700 will be loaded with Windows XP Pro, despite the ... fact the HP recommends Windows Vista Business. Ted Samson, a writer with InfoWorld , interviewed Todd Kruse, the global desktop product manager at HP. "We will introduce Windows Vista configurations that are Energy Star 4.0-ready in the near future. Because we were able to begin testing all the components including the 80% efficient power supply with ... (view more)

The recent release of Microsoft Vista and Exchange 2007 has IT managers and system administrators taking a long hard look at upgrading their organization's infrastructures reports. (Source: processor.com ). While there may be some advantages to the ... new products such as enhanced security features, optimized mobility functions and integrated searching, there are just as many if not more challenges, including hardware upgrades and compatibility issues. Keith McCall, founder and CTO of Azaleos, a company that builds appliances with Microsoft software preloaded and preconfigured then provides ... (view more)

Some versions of Windows Vista can be run for at almost a year without being activated, says Brian Livingston . Livingston, who publishes the Windows Secrets newsletter said that a single change to Vista's Registry lets users put off the operating ... system's product activation requirement an additional eight times beyond the three disclosed last month. With more research, said Livingston, it may even be possible to find a way to postpone activation indefinitely. Despite the fact that Microsoft has online documentation spelling out the pertinent Registry key, Microsoft promptly labelled the ... (view more)