beta

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)

Last Thursday, Yahoo announced a new beta version of its personalized My Yahoo start page. The launch will be gradual and will begin over the next few months. Although only a limited number of Yahoo members will be able to try out the beta version, ... these users will have access to create their personalized space by simply dragging and dropping the content they would like to include on their My Yahoo start pages. Beta testers will also have access to a pre-created My Yahoo page based on the other Yahoo services that they use. For example, members who often use Yahoo's shopping service will see ... (view more)

Now that Microsoft knows you want it, Office 2007 Beta 2 downloads are no longer a gratuity. Since its release two months ago, the extremely popular program has been downloaded a total of three million times, leading the Redmond-based company to ... start charging $1.50 USD, beginning August 2. According to Microsoft, the beta program -- 550 MB for the basic version, 2GB for the full suite -- and its explosive popularity have put a fantastic strain on the company's networks. Even Microsoft itself has been caught off guard by the intense downloading of the Office beta, stating that the 3 million ... (view more)

After nearly a year of delays, Microsoft and Yahoo are finally ready to release a combined Instant Messenger (IM) service. As of July 13th, 2006, the two companies have begun to offer a limited beta test to the general public. The new IM service ... connects Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger (the newest version of MSN Messenger) with Yahoo Messenger, using a single user ID. The service is merely an added capability to the Microsoft and Yahoo messengers; all that is needed is to download the latest beta update to either messenger to begin using the new service. The merge will spawn a worldwide ... (view more)

Just as Internet Explorer 7 is receiving some much-needed positive early reviews for Microsoft, Mozilla recently announced that the beta version of Firefox 2 will be available later this week. It is the first beta of the new browser released, and ... Mozilla hopes it will tempt software developers seeking to take advantage of updates to the original Firefox platform. Much of the purpose behind the beta download stems from Mozilla's hope that the new extensions in Firefox 2 are compatible with those used in the previous version. (Source: news.com ) Firefox 2: What's New? Although Mozilla is ... (view more)

Yahoo Mail, the world's most popular e-mail service, was recently attacked by a software virus (worm) dubbed "Yamanner" or "JS.Yamanner." Major anti-virus companies Trend Micro and McAfee disagree with Symantec (Norton) about Yamanner's threat ... level. Trend Micro and McAfee have categorized the virus as a "low" threat, but Symantec (Norton) is calling it an "elevated threat." Most worms are activated only after an infected e-mail file attachment is downloaded. Not Yamanner. Merely opening the mail is enough to automatically unleash the virus onto your computer. That is likely the reason for ... (view more)

After all the warnings and horror stories I've heard about problems with the beta versions of Internet Explorer 7 ("IE7"), it took a little courage for me to try it out. So far, I haven't seen any ill effects from installing IE7 beta, but was it ... worth the download? Short answer: No! Long answer below. ;-) Internet Explorer 7 Beta: Installation I downloaded the 12mb IE7 beta installer from Microsoft and fired it up. Not surprisingly, the first thing the installer wanted to do was to scan my PC to make sure I was running a legitimate copy of MS Windows. Since this wasn't an issue for ... (view more)

Because I previously wrote about the Windows Live trend of software as services, Dennis asked me to answer the following question submitted by "Jeanie": " Can you tell me any thing about this 'Windows Live One Care'? I downloaded it to try it. Of ... course, it had disable my antivirus completely. Can you tell me, does Windows Live work and is it any good? "When I replied, "Jeanie, this is probably not meant for you," watching Dennis' double-take via email made my day. ;-) I'm known to defend most things Microsoft and generally I'm pretty enthusiastic over their innovatio ns. ... (view more)

The world of 'the Internet' versus 'computer users' (realized as separate entities) is amazing, but I've found that attitudes on both sides tend to polarize folks. For example, you have The Browser Wars: Internet Explorer vs Netscape with Firefox as ... the latest Mozilla contender and Opera watching from the wings with an aloof cultured shrug; or The Operating System Wars: Apple vs PCs (IBM and clones), Windows vs Linux (pick your distro); add to this, GTalk, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, Trillian ... and your head starts to get dizzy. From my seat over here in the Old Newbie corner, I ... (view more)