Tag: Windows

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Area Man Gives Glowing Review for His Windows Vista to XP Upgrade Experience

Windows Vista reliability monitor window showing a system’s downward reliability trend
Click the screenshot to see the article Review: Windows XP

From the blog Coding Sanity (whose subtitle is “.NET, pragmatism and geek cachet”) comes the review titled Review: Windows XP…

I have finally decided to take the plunge. Last night I upgraded my Vista desktop machine to Windows XP, and this afternoon I will be doing the same to my laptop.

You can read the whole review about the experience of upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows XP here. The review concludes with this:

To be honest there is only one conclusion to be made; Microsoft have really outdone themselves in delivering a brand new operating system that really excels in all the areas where Vista was sub-optimal. From my testing, discussions with friends and colleagues, and a review of the material out there on the web there seems to be no doubt whatsoever that that upgrade to XP is well worth the money. Microsoft can really pat themselves on the back for a job well done, delivering an operating system which is much faster and far more reliable than its predecessor. Anyone who thinks there are problems in the Microsoft Windows team need only point to this fantastic release and scoff loudly.

And Now, a Word on Vista’s Behalf…

Here’s Chris Pirillo delivering a very stirring defense of Windows Vista. Enjoy!

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Windows Startup Screens and Sounds, from 1.0 to Vista

Here’s a YouTube video that shows all the startup screens and sounds for Windows, from version 1.0 up to the present. If they ever make a geek version of Koyanisqatsi or Baraka, they should include something like this:


Can’t see the video? Click here.

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Vista: Stunning. Entertaining. Having a Little Problem with “Dependable”.

Computer store display for Vista: “Stunning. Entertaining. Dependable”, with a machine showing a blue screen of death.
Click to see the photo on its original Flickr page.

Strictly speaking, there’s a good chance that the blue screen of death in the photo above is a driver-related problem. Even with the laptop with Vista Ultimate (pre-installed to avoid installation and driver issues) that Microsoft gave to me, I’ve had driver-related problems. However, as far the user is concerned, problems like this are Vista’s fault.

Issues like this may also be why Apple concentrates on its stores and Dell has those kiosks in malls: those salespeople are focused on promoting a specific brand of computer (and in Apple’s case, operating system as well) and work hard at putting their specific brand’s best foot forward. On the other hand, the people who work at general retailers like Best Buy are concentrating on moving Best Buy inventory, regardless of brand.

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“Hi, I’m a Mac…”

…and here are my fellow platforms and operating systems. The sample below shows just a few; click the image below to see the full set, which concludes with Windows Vista. Possibly not safe for work — male bottomlessness and female toplessness lurk within!

Preview image of the “Hi, I’m a Mac” set
Click the picture to see the full version at full size.

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The Jing Project: Screen captures, Screencasts and Sharing

Jing Project logoMy job as Tucows’ Tech Evangelist often requires me to take screenshots and screencasts. Although Mac OS X (Tiger) is my primary laptop OS and Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) is my primary desktop OS, I shoot and edit screencasts on Windows because Camtasia is the one screen recording app that does the job for me.

TechSmith, the folks behind Camtasia Studio, have announced something called the Jing Project. Jing is software for both Mac and Windows that promises to do three things:

  • Capture images: Snap a picture of anything on your desktop.
  • Record video: Record video of what you do, or what you see.
  • Share online: Instantly uploaded. Share in email, IM, or blogs.

Here’s what they have to say on the site:

What is this thing called Jing? Video tour.

The concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere.

It’s something we want to give you, along with some online media hosting, to see how you use it. The project will eventually turn into something else. Tell us what you think so we can figure out what that is.

Try it, you’ll like it. Find out more in the FAQ, or on the weblog.

I’ve been hoping that someone would make decent screencasting software that ran on the Mac (and so have the people at 37signals). I’m hoping that this — or whatever springs forth from the project — is it.