customers

While the debate over whether or not Windows Vista is driving sales for large PC vendors rages on, Vista reportedly appears to be helping push sales of ' white box ' PCs with Windows XP for smaller system builders. Some system builders have seen ... sales increase this year as consumers and small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) come to them for 'white-box' PCs with Windows XP installed instead of buying brand name PCs preloaded with Windows Vista. Small system builders say the demand for Windows XP has risen steadily this year as the hype after Vista's January launch wore off and complaints ... (view more)

Last week we reported on the release of a new legal downloading page called "SpiralFrog.com," which boasts free downloading but disallows users from uploading material to an iPod. Since it's not much of a competitor for iTunes (although it will ... surely take a few customers away), Amazon has a more deadly new weapon in its arsenal. Already firmly established as the world's largest online compact disc retailer, it's really not much of a leap for Amazon to take on Apple in this sphere. Although iTunes certainly retains great name recognition when it comes to online music sales, Amazon's recently ... (view more)

The most "hip and trendy" music download site is combining with the one retail environment that may just as well define "hip and trendy". Yeah, that's right, Apple's megapopular iTunes music service has teamed up with overpriced java distributor ... Starbucks, promising free songs to customers waiting for a caffeine fix. According to reports, Starbucks intends to dole out some 50 million free tunes in its domestic coffee shops to promote iTunes' upgrade to wireless service, set to debut in select markets soon. What's the deal? For the month between October 2 and November 7, Starbucks ... (view more)

Following in the footsteps of Dell, Lenovo and Novell recently announced an agreement to provide preloaded Linux on Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks and to provide support from Lenovo for the operating system (OS). The announcement came at the LinuxWorld ... Conference ... (view more)

Windows Vista Ultimate director Barry Goffe has apologized for Vista's 'Ultimate Extras.' What are 'Ultimate Extras'? Ultimate Extras were initially a key selling point for the Ultimate edition of Windows Vista. When the operating system (OS) first ... launched in January of this year, four extras were released: Windows Hold'Em, 16 language packs, Secure Online Key Backup, and Windows BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool. But since then, the ultimate extras have fallen flat. In fact, not a single extra has been released since January, except for a beta version of a feature known as DreamScene. ( ... (view more)

Although chairman and recent Harvard graduate Bill Gates has bragged that Microsoft has shipped its new operating system, Windows Vista, some 40 million times, there has been much criticism of the product. That's not news. However, word that ... Microsoft will offer more simplified methods of "downgrading" new systems to Windows XP, is. Much to the company's chagrin, customers have demanded that newly purchased computers ship with the outgoing operating system XP rather than Vista, which took some ten years to create. (Source: networkworld.com ) The new, XP-friendly initiative will help customers ... (view more)

Microsoft has admitted that many customers are reluctant to switch to Windows Vista because of its sub par reputation, and the company is now trying to convince customers that there is no need to worry. In a newsletter, Microsoft said, "some ... customers may be waiting to adopt Windows Vista because they've heard rumors about device or application compatibility issues, or because they think they should wait for a service pack release." Although Microsoft will be releasing a Service Pack later this year, the company is anxious for users to adopt the new operating system now. (Source: slashdot.org ... (view more)

Blockbuster is stepping up its game. The movie rental giant has decided to lower online rental prices in an attempt to battle competitor Netflix. Up until recently, Blockbuster only offered the Total Access plan, which allowed customers to utilize ... an online rental system in addition to in-store rentals for $17.99 per month. On Tuesday, the company announced that it would drop the price by a dollar for customers who do not use the in-store portion of the deal. (Source: betanews.com ) Netflix, which does not have any retail stores, offers a similar online-only plan for $17.99 per month. But ... (view more)

The Bank of America and Citibank are now offering nationwide services that allow their customers to do routine banking tasks using only their cell phones. As "smart" cell phones continue to revolutionize the market for mobile devices, so too will ... more banks look to remove the hassles of physically being inside of a financial institution in order to make simple transactions. The two social functions are merging as never before, combining work and play. The service provided by Bank of America allows customers who have cell phones with Internet access to check balances, pay bills and transfer ... (view more)

Dell has come under fire once again -- this time, it's for misleading customers. New York Attorney General Anthony Cuomo has filed a lawsuit against the company claiming that it misled customers on the financing arrangements of their purchases. ... (Source: arstechnica.com ) Specifically, the lawsuit accuses Dell and its Financial Services unit of deceiving customers with enticing financial offers which carried an abundance of restrictions and limitations. Cuomo said that consumers "who purchase Dell's products often find that many of the benefits and inducements featured in Dell's advertisements ... (view more)