With the imminent release of Windows Vista to consumers this month, Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux, has claimed Microsoft's latest desktop effort is over-hyped and not a revolutionary advancement.
"I don't actually think that something like Vista will change how people work that much," Torvalds told Computerworld. "I think it, to some degree, has been over-hyped as being something completely new and I don't actually think it is."
The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg declared that Vista is a worthy but largely unexciting product on Friday. This was the overall finding after his months of testing Vista. However, he declared it the best version of Windows ever.
The review noted that Vista is much prettier than previous versions of Windows, but also noted that "Nearly all of the major, visible new features in Vista are already available in Apple's operating system, called Mac OS X..."
Microsoft Corp. will make its new Windows Vista operating system available for sale and download online, marking a new step for the software company, which has previously sold Windows only on packaged discs or pre-loaded on computers.
A relatively low number of computer users are likely to get Vista by downloading it from the Internet. But the mere availability indicates that Microsoft is fiddling with distribution methods for the extremely profitable franchise at the core of its business.
Microsoft maintains that by addressing the social aspect of IT attacks, the portion that can dupe even the smartest users into launching malware-laden attachments or clicking unknown URLs, Vista will improve PC security significantly.
Microsoft says the Windows operating system software is not the weakest link in desktop security, and contends that Windows Vista will help limit the greatest vulnerability of all?users' bad decision-making.
Microsoft is setting Xbox 360 to crack the toughest games market in Asia. According to a Reuters report, Microsoft plans to launch its fast selling games console in China within months. However, nobody is under any illusions that it is going to be easy. China, which now has estimated foreign reserves of US$1.3 trillion, has a growing middle class and, according to Reuters, more than 120 million Internet users. However, games consoles are a high priced luxury that few can afford. That goes double for the latest generation of consoles.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates on Sunday evening hit the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas determined to convince us Microsoft can connect digital content on devices, from mobile devices to the living room and into cars.
The new products center on family entertainment. Mr. Gates detailed several new products and services such as Windows Vista, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) enabled by the Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows Home Server, and a new partnership with Ford Motor.
Microsoft plans to make a new version of Microsoft Office for Mac available in the second half of this year. Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac will be available in Universal binaries ? optimised to work on both Power PC- and Intel-powered Macs.
Mac-only features include a publishing layout view in Word, Excel-based ledger sheets for common financial management tasks, and My Day ? a separate stand-alone application that offers a task list manager for at-a-glance schedule and task viewing.
Microsoft on Tuesday released four security updates to patch 10 vulnerabilities, seven of them judged "critical." But the company failed to fix multiple flaws in its popular word processor that have been exploited by attackers for more than a month.
January's security bulletins were half the number original expected, as on Friday Microsoft changed its mind and pared the number from eight to four without an explanation. Of the updates, three involve Microsoft's Office suite, while the fourth affects Internet Explorer, the developer's oft-patched Web browser.
For more than a decade, Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates and others in the tech industry have touted a vision of a connected lifestyle, in which digital content can move across devices throughout the home and be taken on the go.
It's been a slow march. But as Gates kicked off the International Consumer Electronics Show late Sunday, the industry has come further than ever in delivering on that concept.
"Every year represents a lot of progress," he said in an interview Sunday with The Associated Press.
The improvements have taken many forms.
Ever wonder why Microsoft hasn't released an HDMI cable for the Xbox 360, or whether the AV port was really capable of digital out? Well, here's your answer: we landed pictures of what appears to be the second Xbox 360 -- the Xbox 360 v2, if you will -- codenamed Zephyr. (The original Xbox 360, if you recall, was codenamed Xenon.) The long rumored about and awaited update to the console won't just feature a new, cooler 65nm processor, it's also finally added an HDMI port for full digital 1080p pleasure, as well as a 120GB drive, just what the doctor ordered.
