News & Reviews For Technology Enthusiasts

New MSN Homepage (Preview)

2009-11-04T22:51:00.002+05:00

Microsoft has introduced a new homepage for MSN. The new look is cleaner than before and it loads seamlessly because Microsoft is using latest web technologies. A new functionality is introduced that users of Windows Live, Twitter, and Facebook can easily update these services from homepage.

You can preview new msn.com here.

Skype will be released as open source for Linux

2009-11-03T19:11:00.005+05:00

Skype is very useful and well known software for those who want to make audio and video calls to their family & friends. It is available on PC, Mac, Linux but good news for Linux users is that soon it will be available in open source and Linux developers will be able to influence the development of the Skype.

When Linux Crunch contacted Skype, he was replied:

We appreciate our user community's enthusiasm and realize this is something they have been wanting for a while. We realize the potential of the open source community and believe that making Skype for Linux an open source application will help to speed up its development and enhance its compatibility with different versions of Linux. While it is our goal to make Skype for Linux source code available to the community in the nearest future, we are not at a point to disclose an exact release date yet.

Download 10 free Win7 Chapters

2009-11-03T18:34:00.003+05:00

Windows 7 Chapters from Microsoft Press Books are now available for download from the following links:

From Windows 7 Inside Out:

Chapter 2, “Installing and Configuring Windows 7”
Chapter 11, “Backup, Restore and Recovery” (new)
Chapter 21, “Performing Routine Maintenance”

From Windows 7 Resource Kit:

Chapter 23, “Support Users and Remote Assistance”
Chapter 29, “Deploying IPv6”

From Windows 7 Step by Step:

Chapter 1, “Explore Windows 7”
Chapter 2, “Navigate Windows and Folders”

From Introducing Windows 7 for Developers:

Chapter 2, “Integrate with the Windows 7 Taskbar, Part 1”

From Windows 7 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant:

Chapter 5, “Managing User Access and Security,” and Chapter 9, “Installing and Maintaining Programs” (new: a single download)

News Source: Microsoft Press

Google announces Chrome based Operating System

2009-07-09T14:33:00.001+06:00

Google has announced that they plan to release a Chrome based OS.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Google plans to open-source its code later this year and offer Google powered netbooks in 2010. Company officials confirmed that Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips. Google is currently working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year bundled with the new Chrome OS.

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Chrome OS is being created for people "who spend most of their time on the web" according to Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management at Google.

The move is ambitious and has wide spread implications not just to consumers but to dominant market leaders Microsoft and Apple. Google has managed to dominate the search market and internet advertising space and having an operating system it controls will certainly help keep them at number one in those markets.

It's not going to be an easy future for the Google OS, Microsoft officials claim that 96% of netbooks run Windows so penetrating that market share will be tough. Google is in an advantageous position to market its Google Apps to compete with Microsoft's Office products. Could this be the equivalent of Apple's AppStore for iPhone where Google provides a controlled and secure development environment for web developers?

Google removes 'Beta' label from Gmail, other services

2009-07-08T10:40:00.004+06:00

Google announced on its company blog that starting from today the company will remove the beta label from Gmail, Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk.

Matthew Glotzbach, Director of Product Management, Google Enterprise noted:

We're often asked why so many Google applications seem to be perpetually in beta. For example, Gmail has worn the beta tag more than five years. We realize this situation puzzles some people, particularly those who subscribe to the traditional definition of "beta" software as not being yet ready for prime time.

Google says it has added new features to the Google Apps suite. Offline access to e-mail and calendars and better access to Google Apps for BlackBerry users are some of the improvements. Google admitted that they have come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn't fit for large enterprises that aren't keen to run their business on software that sounds like it's still in the trial phase. Many analysts have argued that big businesses were concerned Google could keep to their SLAs and this may help win more confidence.

Although Google is removing the beta tags today, users who like the tag will be able to bring it back in Gmail by enabling the "Back to Beta" setting.

IE's market share falls below 60%, Firefox surpasses 30%

2009-07-05T10:35:00.001+06:00

With Firefox 3.5 being recently released, and hitting five million downloads in 24 hours, Firefox appears to be gaining more market share, and Internet Explorer's market share is slipping according to Favbrowser, and a graph by statcounter shown below.

Internet Explorer fell from 62.09% to 59.49%, while Firefox rose from 28.75% to 30.33%. But Firefox isn't the only browser that's gaining market share. Opera, recently released the beta version of version 10 of its browser, rose from 3.23% to 3.36%, Safari, recently released version 4 of its browser and hitting 11 million downloads in three days, rose from 2.65% to 2.93%, and Chrome rose from 2.42% to 2.82%.

Bing bites Google very, very slightly

2009-07-03T19:10:00.003+06:00

The latest usage share data tabulated by StatCounter, a private Web analytics service, confirms that Microsoft's new Bing search engine really did capture usage share of US Web users from rival Google, without damaging share numbers for #2 search engine Yahoo. Just how bad was the damage? Bing gained 0.42% usage share in June from predecessor Windows Live's US numbers, while Google's declined by about that much.

Bing's US-based usage share now stands at 8.23%, StatCounter estimates, based on numbers that closed out yesterday, June 30. This compared to Yahoo at 11.04% and Google at 78.48%.

StatCounter's analysts called the event a "positive trend." We put this trend on a little graph for ourselves, and we estimated that if Microsoft were to keep up this trend indefinitely at this rate capturing just under half a percent per month from Google it could catch up to the American search engine leader in nine years.

From a global perspective, though, the trend doesn't look so predictable: Ever since Bing consolidated the search services of Windows Live and MSN, Bing's global numbers have not consistently outperformed the trend for its two predecessors combined. Only in recent days, Bing has outperformed Windows Live/MSN globally, according to StatCounter's statistics, by about a third of one percent. This while Google's usage share numbers flirt with the 90% mark.

However, StatCounter's statistics differ dramatically from those being compiled by analytics competitor NetApplications. This morning, NetApplications tallies Google's global usage share at 81.22%, versus StatCounter's last reported 89.45%. And according to NetApplications, Bing is pulling in 5.31% of global searches, while StatCounter estimates that figure to be 3.36%.

So if Microsoft wants to be really hopeful about this, it can tout the fact that the margin of error for these predictions appears to be plus or minus 100%.

Swedish software firm agrees to buy Pirate Bay

2009-06-30T17:00:00.002+06:00

Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory X AB said on Tuesday it had agreed to buy file-sharing website The Pirate Bay for 60 million Swedish crowns ($7.7 million).

The Pirate Bay is one of the 100 most visited websites in the world and hosts torrent files for a magnitude of illegal content. The 4 owners named as Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde were sentenced to 1 year in prison earlier this year for "aiding in copyright infringement" coupled with a fine of 30 million Swedish kronor (£2.4 million/$3.6 million).

"We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site" said Hans Pandeya, CEO Global Gaming Factory X AB.

The Pirate Bay requires a new business model, which satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary. Content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it. File sharers' need faster downloads and better quality" continues Hans Pandeya.

The Pirate Bay confirmed the news in a blog posting, "a lot of people are worried. We're not and you shouldn't be either! TPB is being sold for a great bit underneath it's value if the money would be the interesting part. It's not. The interesting thing is that the right people with the right attitude and possibilities keep running the site."

It's a shock move but one that may pave the way for a subscription all you can eat service for media content in the future.

Microsoft Security Essentials Beta released

2009-06-23T23:21:00.001+06:00

Microsoft is offering it's free anti-virus product, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) to 75,000 lucky people today.

The company is offering the product via a beta program and will likely extend the cap of 75,000 downloads depending on demand. MSE is Microsoft's free anti-virus and anti-spyware product that is set to replace Microsoft's paid Windows Live OneCare subscription service which is being withdrawn a week today.

MSE is being distributed on Microsoft's Connect site as a beta program. For more information please visit Microsoft's MSE site.

Download: Microsoft Security Essentials beta

Anti-Malware Test by SSUpdater.com

2009-06-23T21:32:00.002+06:00

This is the first Anti-Malware test performed by SSUpdter.com in 2009.
In this test they used a total of 754.650 malware samples, and they concentrated only on the samples from the past 16 months.
In this test they wanted to use as many known variants of all the famous names in the world of malware as possible, to name a few: Zlob, Monder, Conficker, Virtumonde, FraudPack, Renos, TDSS, AutoRun, Virut, Delf, FraudLoad, AutoIt, Inject, Kolab, Kolabc, Buzus, Poison, Bifrose, Palevo, Obfuscated, Adload, Zbot, Rbot, IFrame, Small, FakeAV, KillAV, Hupigon, Rukap, MyDNS, DNSChanger, Sinowal, Banker, Monderb, Sality, Midgare, Cinmus, Vanti, Stuh, Iksmas, Iroffer, OneStep, BlackHole, Magania, OnLineGames, Swizzor, Singu, Mudrop, Ciadoor, Qhost ........................

The malware categories used in this test: Windows Viruses, Trojans, Backdoors, Worms, Spyware, Adware, Rootkits, Exploits, Keyloggers, Hacking Tools, Malicious Scripts and other malware

No unknown malware samples were used in this test.

The test was conducted in virtual environment using Microsoft's Windows XP SP3 with all the latest updates. We used a total of 25 programs.
All the programs used in this test were set to their maximum detection capabilities which include heuristic detection of unknown variants.

The Results:
(Program name, Detection Rate)

1. Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Premium – 99.43%
2. a-squared Anti-Malware – 99.37%
3. G DATA Antivirus – 99.18%
4. avast! Professional Edition – 98.95%
5. Kaspersky Antivirus – 98.64%
6. Norton Antivirus – 98.58%
7. BitDefender Antivirus – 98.49%
8. ZoneAlarm Security Suite – 98.36%
9. F-Secure Antivirus – 98.16%
10. Nod32 Antivirus – 97.83%
11. McAfee Antivirus Plus – 97.51%
12. Comodo Internet Security – 96.93%
13. AVG Antivirus – 96.65%
14. Panda Antivirus – 96.22%
15. Rising Antivirus – 95.78%
16. Sophos Antivirus – 94.86%
17. F-Prot Antivirus – 93.47%
18. Outpost Security Suite – 92.58%
19. VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware – 92.49%
20. VirusKeeper – 91.31%
21. Spy Emergency – 73.62%
22. Dr.Web – 71.05%
23. CA Antivirus – 68.84%
24. BullGuard Internet Security - DNF
25. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware – DNF

*Note: Both BullGuard and Malwarebytes were unable to complete the scan therefore they classified as Did Not Finish.

Top rated programs:
(This is their opinion based on the performance and detection ratios as well as programs behavior during the testing)

1. AntiVir
2. a-squared
3. Avast
4. G DATA
5. Kaspersky

*Note: All of these programs are known to produce False Positives.

Most improved program:
(Based on the improvement in the past few months on both detection rates and overall program improvement)

Comodo Internet Security

*Note: They only evaluated the Antivirus part of Comodo Internet Security and not all of its components.

Programs that disappointed the most:
(The programs that showed no improvements since the last test)

1. Sophos Antivirus
2. Spy Emergency
3. Dr.Web
4. CA Antivirus

*Note: BullGuard and Malwarebytes are not on this list as they didn’t finish the test, therefore talking about any improvements is pointless.

Program versions/builds

Avira AntiVir Premium 9.0.0.420
a-squared Anti-Malware 4.0.0.79
avast! Professional Edition 4.8.1335
AVG Anti-Virus 8.5.287 Build 1483
COMODO Internet Security 3.8.65951.477
BitDefender AntiVirus 2009 Build 12.0.12.0
Dr.Web 5.00.1.04130 for Windows
Norton AntiVirus 2009 16.5.0.134
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.36
Sophos Anti-Virus 7.6.0
McAfee VirusScan Plus 2009
Nod32 Antivirus 4.0.417
F-Secure Antivirus 2009 9.00.149
G GATA Antivirus 2010 20.0.1.1
Kaspersky Antivirus 2009 8.0.0.506
VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware 3.1.2710
Agnitum Outpost Security Suite Pro 2009 6.5 (2525.381.687.328)
ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 8.0.298.035
VirusKeeper 2009 Professional 9.0.17
F-Prot Antivirus for Windows 6.0.9.1
Spy Emergency 2009 6.0.305
Rising Antivirus 2009 21.22.30
Panda Antivirus Pro 2009 8.0
BullGuard Internet Security 8.5.0.17
CA Antivirus 2009 10.0.0.177

*Note: The program versions presented were the latest builds and versions when the preparations for this test took place.

Additional information:
Detection ratios were determined by counting the undeleted files as all the programs were set to delete all detected files.
All the programs were updated on the same day within the 3 hour time span.
For all the programs separate image was created containing the same malware package, OS....

One can find the Test details at SSUpdater.com

Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate 2 released

2009-06-22T19:57:00.002+06:00

Mozilla, famous for their Firefox browser, have released the second release candidate for the upcoming version 3.5, for public use. This build comes not long after the first release candidate, and as you can expect, packs some changes. The Washington Post has a great overview of all the next features in the updated browser.

Private Browsing:
Firefox 3.5 includes a private browsing feature, much like the other main browsers on the market now, which means that you can surf the Internet without leaving a trace; history is not recorded, so it's perfect for those that are... looking for gifts for others. The one problem that people see with the Mozilla solution to this is that the browser does not show you if you are in private browsing mode; you'll just have to remember, although, you will get an occasional message the pops up.

To add to the privacy factor of the new 3.5 version, you can open up the History page, and then by right-clicking an item of history, you can choose to 'Forget this Site'. By doing so, you will (as expected) have all items of that URL gone from history.

Location Services:
Firefox 3.5 brings the interesting feature of location services; you can find your location by I.P. address, using nearby WiFi networks via Google Location Services. If you're using a WWAN card in your notebook, you can use the nearby cellphone towers to pinpoint your location. As it stands, this new service isn't particularly useful as not many sites support it, but in the future it could be very handy. The Washington Post tested it out and their location was found to within a couple of blocks, so if you're in a new city, using it to find nearby restaurants or other services could be extremely useful.

The other features that are improved in this new release candidate aren't exactly new, so they're not worth mentioning here (tear-off tabs and restoring your session from a crashed browser). If you want to download the second release candidate, you can either use the automatic updater within Firefox, or visit this link.

Is Google worried about Bing?

2009-06-15T17:15:00.003+06:00

Everybody knows about Microsoft's recent re-branding and re-engineering of Live Search, Bing, and how it has recently become available for the public to use. There was certainly a big fuss kicked up over this; there was an immense amount of speculation about 'Kumo' beforehand, and many people had their own ideas on what it could be. Now that everything is cleared up, the initial launch hype has died down a bit, and the rumors are gone, the question remains... how will Bing do against Google? Or, perhaps just as importantly... how do Google feel about it?

Most people thought that since Google has the largest market share out of all search engines, to the point where people now say they will "Google" something instead of searching for it, that they would not be too worried about competitors; according to the NY Times, this is quite the opposite. Apparently, Google co-founder Sergey Brin is worried enough about the new competition from Microsoft that he has put together a team of top engineers, to begin making vast improvements to the web service starting immediately. Brin is the head of said team, and the project they will be working on is trying to determine how Bing's search algorithm is different from that of his own; an insider (who asked to remain anonymous) said that, "New search engines have come and gone in the past 10 years, but Bing seems to be of particular interest to Sergey."

Additionally, it is said to be rare that the Google founders join on the daily operations of the company, so having one of them back leading a team there must be quite significant. Bing launched with a hefty "$80 million [to] $100 million" advertising budget behind it, which could also be cause for concern for Google. The new "decision engine" has already reached a market share of 11% (though this was reported that it could just be from the initial influx of users testing it out), over half of Yahoo!'s 20%, though still far behind Google's 60%. Regardless of what's happening, these rumors do help nail in the fact that competition is most definitely a good thing... with companies wanting to push their products and services to be the best, consumers will never come off second best.

New Video and Voice Chat in Gmail

2008-11-12T17:33:00.002+05:00

Google announced a brand new Gmail feature today: Video conversations in Gmail - called "Gmail Video and Voice".

This service combines the chatting abilities of GTalk, previously used in Gmail for chatting inside the browser. Google has now enabled full video, voice, and text chat inside the browser to Firefox, Chrome, or Internet Explorer users on Windows and Firefox users on the Mac, with possible expansion to Linux and mobile phones later. The service works by downloading and installing a small plugin which enables Gmail to use your webcam and microphone and enables the video and voice features of the service.

Gmail users will find this addition useful, because many of their existing contacts use Gmail or GTalk already, and no dedicated application is necessary.

Goodbye Windows 3.x

2008-11-05T13:48:00.003+05:00

Although many would agree that Windows 3.x has been dead for many years, Microsoft hammered the final nail into its coffin early this week.

The Redmond based software company stopped issuing licences for the Windows 3.x operating systems on 1st November 2008. Microsoft maintained support for Windows 3.x until the end of 2001, and it has lived on as an embedded operating system until 1st November 2008.

Windows 3.0 was originally released on May 22nd 1990. 3.0 came with a lot of improvements, but also with a lack of multimedia and network features, which led to 3.0 being replaced quickly by Windows 3.1. However, the improvements that Microsoft achieved with 3.0 were impressive. The platform offered 32-bit performance, advanced graphics, and full support of the more powerful Intel 386 processor.

New features included at the time were program, file, and print managers, a completely rewritten application development environment with modular virtual device drivers (VxDs), native support for applications running in extended memory and fully pre-emptive MS-DOS multitasking. Microsoft also improved the set of Windows icons.

The program manager and file manager gave users Macintosh-like big icons to click and drag-and-drop. Although it was replaced quickly, Windows 3.0 was widely accepted and respected among third-party hardware and software developers because Microsoft released a new Windows software development kit (SDK) which enabled the developers to focus on writing applications instead of device drivers.

Your Dream PC

2008-11-03T21:02:00.002+05:00

Have you ever had an inspirational idea about the future of laptops? That stroke of genius that could change the face of how we use our laptops forever? Or maybe you just want to see something completely out of the ordinary and funny.

Asus and Intel have now setup a new site to allow you to collaborate your ideas, with the view of creating a new laptop influenced by the best ideas. Asus is evaluating all feedback left in the community!

View: WEPC Website

Windows Live to act as OpenID provider

2008-10-31T00:04:00.001+06:00

In July of last year, Microsoft threw its weight behind supporting the OpenID protocol. In February of this year, Microsoft joined the OpenID foundation's board. Now, Microsoft has committed to OpenID further by announcing that Windows Live will become a OpenID provider and that you will soon be able to use your Windows Live ID account to sign in to any OpenID enabled website.

OpenID is a distributed authentication method for allowing users to securely use a single digital ID to sign into multiple websites on the Internet. AOL and Yahoo already allow users to authenticate against their AOL or Yahoo credentials on sites using OpenID. Google so far has not adopted OpenID through any supported means.

Currently Microsoft's OpenID implementation is on their Windows Live ID Integration environment, intended for sites and software providers who provide OpenID authentication to test against the service. Your normal Windows Live ID cannot currently be used for OpenID. Microsoft does not seem to have any plans to allow the use of your OpenID to login to sites that require a Windows Live ID. Meaning you'll still need to maintain accounts at Yahoo, AOL and Windows Live to login to services on their individual sites. However, in becoming a provider, Microsoft has taken a step in the right direction towards opening up their services.

Microsoft has given no specifics on when they plan to make OpenID authentication available on their public servers.

View: Sign-Up for Testing

Spread IE8

2008-10-30T09:01:00.001+06:00

We have seen Spread Firefox which is a community supporting Mozilla Firefox. But now its turn of Microsoft’s very own web browser “Internet Explorer” which is bundled with all Windows versions.

“Spread IE8” is a new website which has been created to support Internet Explorer. It has been developed by “MeraWindows” which is a Windows dedicated community supported by Microsoft India.

The new Microsoft .NET Logo!

2008-10-30T00:36:00.003+06:00

Yay! After only 8 years of the old .NET logo, Microsoft announces a new logo for the best technology until the day of today, and I like it.

Some of you (like me) may think why change a logo? Well here’s the answer:

Why change? The original .NET logo was designed just before Forum 2000. It was designed to be attached to other Microsoft brands as a suffix. The result was a logo that did not stand well on its own and lacked impact.

We needed a logo that was in sync with the key values that we want .NET to stand for: consistency, robustness and great user experiences. We also wanted a logo that conformed to the design principles that are driving Microsoft’s brand identity evolution and is reflected in newer brands such as Silverlight, Surface and more. Finally, we needed a logo that is more strongly aligned with the portfolio of brands that .NET is most strongly aligned with: Silverlight, Visual Studio and our server products.

Pretty cool if you think about it for a sec.

Gmail cleans up contacts

2008-10-22T09:13:00.001+06:00

The Gmail team has decided to change the way that they auto-ad contacts to your Gmail Contact list. When Google first released GMail after you sent an email out if the email address wasn't listed in your contacts it would automatically add a contact entry for you. This received a lot of complaints so the Gmail team decided you would have to email that same address 5 times before the contact was automatically created.

With the start of the Android phenomenon just around the corner the Gmail Contacts team has decided this process needed a little bit of polishing. Gmail will no longer automatically add contacts to your "My Contacts" group but rather add them to a new group called "Suggested Contacts". Gmail will also move all of their previous auto-ad contacts to this new group unless the contact has been modified by the user. When you are sending out an email Gmail will still auto complete the address from both your "My Contact" group as well as the new "Suggested Contacts" group. Separating these two groups should make the Android mobile experience much more tolerable.

What other processes do you think Google will decide need some "polish" with the upcoming release of Android?

Microsoft celebrates antipiracy day

2008-10-21T23:27:00.002+06:00

Click on the map to go to the Microsoft site for the interactive aspects of the map.

Microsoft has announced that today, October 21st 2008, is Global Anti-Piracy Day and will proceed with a simultaneous launch of education initiatives and enforcement actions in 48 countries on five continents to combat the sophisticated, illegal trade of pirated and counterfeit software.

On their Global Anti-Piracy Virtual Pressroom a statement read: "Microsoft is taking these steps as part of its commitment to working with communities, national governments and local law enforcement agencies around the world to protect its customers and partners and promote the value of intellectual property as a driver of innovation."

Someone hacked my keyboard

2008-10-21T23:18:00.003+06:00

Swiss researchers have demonstrated keystrokes can be recorded wirelessly from wired keyboards by analysing the electromagnetic signals produced by every key press.

Martin Vuagnoux and Sylvain Pasini, researchers from the Lausanne Security and Cryptography Laboratory, published a report detailing their findings. The pair tested 11 common keyboards manufactured from 2001-2008 which were all vulnerable to at least one of their 4 attacks.

The researchers used a radio antenna to "fully or partially recover keystrokes" by spotting the electromagnetic radiation emitted when keys were pressed.

2 videos have been posted by the researchers that demonstrate the technique involved.

The pair concluded that wired computer keyboards sold in stores "are not safe to transmit sensitive information".

Microsoft sends Vista SP2 invites - beta release in 4 weeks

2008-10-19T11:36:00.001+06:00

Earlier this week it was revealed the company will release SP2 before Windows 7. Microsoft recently put a placeholder online for the upcoming betas of Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2.

Microsoft will include Windows Search 4 in Vista SP2 along with Bluetooth wireless support (including latest BT 2.1 fixes), support for the new VIA 64-bit CPU and additional application compatibility updates.

For Windows Server 2008 SP2, Microsoft will include Backwards compatibility with Terminal Services licensing keys, improved manageability features with DFS/FRS console, and Storage Resource Manager, print server and spooler performance improvements for printers in Windows Vista and Server 2008 and improved error reporting in DFSR to help identify incorrectly configured deployments which lead to failed replication.

Both builds are "anticipated" to be released within the next four weeks.

Microsoft confirms Windows 7 is final name

2008-10-15T23:55:00.001+06:00

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 7 will be the final name for the next generation operating system.

In a blog, Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Management confirmed the news.

"Since we began development of the next version of the Windows client operating system we have been referring to it by a codename, "Windows 7." But now is a good time to announce that we've decided to officially call the next version of Windows, "Windows 7" Nash said.

This is the first time a Windows OS has been named by its codename. The decision was made for simplicity. Nash added "this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore "Windows 7" just makes sense."

Microsoft is set to reveal a lot more about Windows 7 at its professional developers conference which starts on the 27th October.

News Source: Mike Nash Windows 7 Blog Post

Microsoft releases Silverlight 2

2008-10-14T00:41:00.003+06:00

Microsoft today announced the availability of Silverlight 2.

Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in to rival Adobe's Flash. It allows for developers to build interactive applications for the Web.

Microsoft also announced further support of open source communities by funding advanced Silverlight development capabilities with the Eclipse Foundation’s integrated development environment (IDE) and by providing new controls to developers with the Silverlight Control Pack (SCP) under the Microsoft Permissive License.

“We launched Silverlight just over a year ago, and already one in four consumers worldwide has access to a computer with Silverlight already installed,” said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Division at Microsoft.

Silverlight 2 features include:

Support for Mac, Windows and Linux in Firefox, Safari and Windows Internet Explorer
Improved server scalability and expanded advertiser support
Advanced content protection
Deep zoom, for zooming and navigation of ultrahigh resolution imagery
Advanced skinning and templating support

Silverlight 2 will be available to download tomorrow at http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight

News Source: Microsoft Silverlight

Mobile Firefox Enters Testing Next Week

2008-10-13T22:19:00.001+06:00

By this time next week, Mozilla will have unveiled the alpha release of its mobile Firefox browser, codenamed Fennec. But not too many people will be able to make use of it initially: the code will only be available for Nokia's N810 Internet Tablet. The alpha code is aimed at Mozilla community members, specifically to give the innovative touch user interface and the feature set a grueling workout, says Jay Sullivan, Mozilla vice president of mobile.

A release for Windows mobile is in the works, to be released "in the next few months," according to Sullivan. One possible interim option is a version to run on Windows PCs, in effect acting as an emulator.

News Source: PCWorld