Interesting Software and System News

[Marc57]

Microsoft aiming to deliver Vista SP2 before Windows 7

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1643&tag=nl.e539


And it already has a place holder Knowledge Base article.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B948465

[DavidR]

Not much point in delivering it after windows 7

[Marc57]

Not much point in delivering it after windows 7

It depends on how many people move to Win7, After all XP SP3 can out after Vista and it did pretty well.

[DavidR]

I think that there are many people that are avoiding Vista like the plague (me for one, having just bought XP Pro for my new system in July). Some people were waiting for the kinks to be ironed out by Vista SP1 before they took the leap of faith and the early release of SP2 might make some more jump.

However, if windows 7 were released before Vista SP2 then I fear people wouldn't consider a switch to vista and that would just add to the Vista marketing teams woes. That is the point I was making. Considering MS are keeping their cards close to their chest on the spec for windows 7 for fear of damaging Vista sales. They may not be saying that in public, but I believe that is the reason having been burned by the Vista hype and dropped functions.

[.: Mac :.]

I think that there are many people that are avoiding Vista like the plague (me for one, having just bought XP Pro for my new system in July). Some people were waiting for the kinks to be ironed out by Vista SP1 before they took the leap of faith and the early release of SP2 might make some more jump.

However, if windows 7 were released before Vista SP2 then I fear people wouldn't consider a switch to vista and that would just add to the Vista marketing teams woes. That is the point I was making. Considering MS are keeping their cards close to their chest on the spec for windows 7 for fear of damaging Vista sales. They may not be saying that in public, but I believe that is the reason having been burned by the Vista hype and dropped functions.

Would there be a SP3 released after Windows 7 like what happened with XP? If nothing else it could just be a roll-up of prior security updates so that there would not be so much to download after you re-install the OS (with a slipstreamed CD/DVD of course)

[alanrf]

For now let's recognize that there are a significant number of users of Vista.  Whatever happens and whatever your personal opinion of Vista (I admit to being a Vista holdout like David) Microsoft has the same commitment to supporting Vista as it had for XP (so yes there will be further SP offerings of Vista - it is really a no-brainer) . 

From my own experience of providing support I know that there exist very contented Vista users while also being aware of its critics.

I have no special insight but I can see Microsoft not rushing Windows 7 for these reasons:

1) to maximize the slow but sure revenue stream of users moving to Vista by users (very much domestic but also business) simply buying new systems
2) to give them the chance to give the best impression of the maximized new features in Windows 7 (ie not making the Vista mistake of raising the expectations of the new features and then failing to deliver them)
3) they will be wanting to coincide with an eventual economic revival that will see domestic and business users on the wave of a re-investment in a new hardware buying trend as part of the recovery from our present economic fiasco.

[bob3160]

I'm running XP on one computer and Vista on 2 others.
Once Windows 7 comes out, it will go on one of the vista machines.
I'll need updates for all 3 operating systems.
I'm actually starting to enjoy Vista Ultimate. 

[bob3160]

Pre-beta Vista SP2

[bob3160]

Gmail gets emoticons :-)

[YoKenny]

Gmail gets emoticons

Is this new

[Lisandro]

Is this new

No, it's interesting
Like the thread name...

[drhayden1]

MTV launched a new music video hub today at MTVMusic.com. And it looks remarkably like online video site Hulu. Except instead of hosting hundreds of movies and TV shows, the site hosts thousands of music videos.
The site has a nice mix of new and older videos. You can watch videos on the site or embed them on another web page. And you can watch in full screen.
There's also a handy "similar artists" feature that will let you know that if you like Tori Amos you might want to look for videos from Fiona Apple. But the recommendation engine is far from perfect. For example, when you click on the page for Mike Doughty, you'll discover that Jack Johnson is a similar artist, but there's no link to the 5 music videos from Soul Coughing, the band Mike Doughty used to perform with.
The biggest challenge MTV Music faces is the fact that there are dozens, if not hundreds of places to find the exact same content on the internet, and then some. You can find a much wider selection of music videos on YouTube or dozens of other online video sites than you can on MTV Music. It's true that some of those videos may not have been uploaded legally, but they're out there.
So while Hulu is one of the few places you can go for free, legal, and full length TV episodes, MTV Music is jsut the latest music video portal to hit the web. And while the web page is new, it's not like MTV hasn't had hundreds of music videos on its website for years.
http://www.mtvmusic.com/
http://www.mtvmusic.com/video/?id=190233   I Want My MTV

[YoKenny]

David Bowie » Space Oddity
http://www.mtvmusic.com/video/?id=143503 <== restricted to US residents only

I want my MTV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACGUasFWVsI

[bob3160]

A first look at the Windows 7 PDC release

[FreewheelinFrank]

A first look at the Windows 7 PDC release

It's what vista should have been.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7695933.stm