De acordo com rumores a Microsoft estaria, junto com a IBM, preparando o lançamento do chip "Jasper". Em comparação com o chip Falcon, o Jasper faz menos ruído e um sistema de refrigeração mais simples.
Nada confirmado, mas o chip aparentemente sai em agosto.

We return to a popular (at least to yr (justifiably) humble svt) topic here in this nanocorner of the ‘Sphere©. Previously:

In an apparent blow to the true-believing open source community, OLPC and Microsoft have reached an agreement to make Windows available on the XO laptop.

It is only fitting that the NYTimes' story has as its header a photograph of students in India praying before class time, since there is no doubt that in the world of personal computing technology, operating systems are a religious choice. Windows vs. Apple vs. Open Source (mainly, Linux).

Pal Pillai/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Students pray before working on their computers in Vasti Vidhalaya, India. The XO laptop comes with a video camera.

Microsoft Joins Effort for Laptops for Children

By STEVE LOHR |Published: May 16, 2008

After a years-long dispute, Microsoft and the computing and education project One Laptop Per Child said Thursday that they had reached an agreement to offer Windows on the organization’s computers.

Microsoft long resisted joining the ambitious project because its laptops used the Linux operating system, a freely distributed alternative to Windows.

The group’s small, sturdy laptops, designed for use by children in developing nations, have been hailed for their innovative design. But they are sold mainly to governments and education ministries, and initial sales were slow, partly because countries were reluctant to buy machines that did not run Windows, the dominant operating system.

Education ministries want low-cost computers to help further education, but many see familiarity with Windows-based computing as a marketable skill that can improve job prospects.

Nicholas Negroponte, the visionary who has championed One Laptop Per Child from an outrageously impractical idea (a $100 computer suitable in every way to provide educational computing to the most remote of the developing world's children) to spectacular realization, is, unlike many idealists, a practical business operative. 600,000 of the machines have been sold to governments so far, a most impressive number.

The kids don't care about what operating system runs their shiny green boosters to the endless world of knowledge, but then they don't buy the XOs either.

Governments do (paying about $200 each thus far, although Negroponte's goal is for economies of scale to get the eventual price down to that [ever more elusive, in these inflationary times] $100), and government education ministry bureaucrats understand Windows but they do not want to understand open source. For many governments, providing computers to young school children is less about opening up access to the gigantic world beyond their villages, and more about teaching marketable computer skills.

And, if adding Windows to the XO makes the program more palatable to the guys holding the purse strings, and Microsoft can be persuaded to price Windows appropriately, then OLPC can deliver both world wonder and practical PC skills.

Sounds like win-win to me.

[Please click the link below for the complete article -- but then please come on back!]

Microsoft Joins Effort for Laptops for Children - New York Times

Of course, Mr. Negroponte's pragmatism has offended open source zealots, but I believe that this is not a zero-sum issue. The kids whose governments opt for the Windows version will very probably eventually get machines that include a ported version of the simplified Sugar software, certainly appropriate for exploratory self-managed inquiring education.

And, learning their way around Windows will certainly speed their integration into the global network of business.

So, my congratulations to One Laptop Per Child, Nicholas Negroponte and to Microsoft and Bill Gates, for finally reaching common ground. After all, it's about educating the world's most deprived children.

Regardless of the the children's religion, or the computers'.

It’s it for now. Thanks,

--MUDGE

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A aliança pretende começar a entregar um XO com dual-boot em agosto ou setembro tanto com o sistema operacional próprio Sugar como uma versão para estudantes do Windows XP, segundo o representante da OLPC, Kyle Austin.

O fundador da OLPC, Nicolas Negroponte, se referiu no passado ao dual-boot no XO, mas este é o primeiro anúncio oficial a respeito da integração de ambos os sistemas no aparelho conhecido como "laptop de 100 dólares".

A integração do Windows dará a clientes mais escolha de sistema operacional e permitirá a instalação e uso de ferramentas educacionais para Windows, afirmaram ambas. Clientes e parceiros de todo o mundo pediram à OLPC pelo Windows, continuaram.

Mais

Ver galería

That doesn't mean that the PlayStation 3 won't also be getting some downloadable content though - just that the Xbox 360 will get some stuff the PS3 won't. Or does it? Eager to clean the whole confusion up, Gamasutra came right out and asked Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg the situation for Grand Theft Auto IV and DLC. Will Sony be getting any downloadable content from Rockstar?

"It's not possible as far as I'm aware, but that would be a good question to ask Rockstar," said Greenberg. "Rockstar and Xbox have only said there are exclusive episodes coming this fall to Xbox 360. I might put that up for a bit of wishful thinking on their [Sony's] end."

...which seems almost like a long-winded way of saying 'Dunno' to us, but nevermind. Either way it looks like Microsoft isn't entirely sure on the situation either and the PlayStation 3 owners may yet bag themselves a little bit of extra of the Niko-factor.

Are you still ploughing through GTA IV, or were you thoroughly unimpressed with the whole thing? Let us know what you think in the forums.

Talvez (ok, seguramente) recuerden las imágenes de Soul Calibur IV, donde Ivy, por ejemplo, aparece con una gran "pechonalidad" y un traje que le tapa muy poco.

Bueno, resulta que Namco Bandai hizo un pequeño cambio en su atuendo para que aparezca un poco más tapada, pero sólo en la página oficial estadounidense del juego, mientras que en la japonesa aparece tal como la vimos en un principio.

Así que a la derecha pueden verla como aparece en la página estadounidense, y a la izquerda como sale en la japonesa.

Supongo que la mayoría ya está rezando porque ese cambio no se traslade a la versión gringa del juego, verdad?

Si te gustó este artículo, vota por Pixel o' Rama en el ránking de blogs.

Flight Simulator X with/without DirectX 10:

Download DX10 WinXP:

http://rapidshare.com/files/115626001/DX10.WXP.RC2.F3.rar

Olá amigos,

Após alguns meses de registro do Web Downloads, estamos iniciando hoje as postagens de softwares e artigos sobre diversos programas e áreas. O primeiro programa que apresentaremos a vocês é o Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, da Microsoft.

O programa simula outros computadores, você pode cria-los e utilizar os mesmos como se você tivesse diversos computadores em casa. Você pode criar uma máquina virtual (se prefirir chame de computador virtual) e instalar o Windows Vista, Windows XP um Linux e por aí vai, e tudo em um único computador, sem interferir no Sistema Operacional que você usa no seu computador.

O Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 é um ótimo programa para você que faz testes com Sistemas Operacionais, ou precisa utilizar um determinado programa que só roda, por exemplo, no Windows XP e você usa o Windows Vista, nesses casos o Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 salvará a sua pele!

Página do Desenvolvedor: Microsoft Virtual PC

Sistemas Operacionais: Windows 2k / XP / Vista

Licença: Freeware (Grátis)

Download (1): Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1 - 37.71 MB [32 bits]

Download (2): Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1 - 31.83 MB [64 bits]

Aproveite!

Informação

SP1 - Service Pack 1 é um pacote de correções feitas desde o lançamento da primeira versão comercial / lançada do produto.

Dünyanın Her Yerinde Geçerli Meslek!

Dünyadaki şirketlerin büyük bir çoğunluğu Microsoft’un bilgi teknolojilerini kullanmaktadır. Bu yaygınlık Microsoft sertifikalı uzmanların Türkiye’de ve tüm dünyada iş arayan değil, aranan kişiler olmalarını sağlamaktadır.

Microsoft Sertifikalı Uzman olan katılımcılar tüm dünyada tanınan özelliklere sahip olurlar:

• Uzmanlıklarını bütün bilişim sektörü kabul eder.

• MCPD olduklarını kanıtlayan sertifika, transkript, MCPD kartı ve rozetleri bizzat Microsoft tarafından kendilerine gönderilir.

• Microsoft’un teknik dokümanlarına MCPD’lere özel web sitesi araclığıyla ulaşabilirler.

• Microsoft ürün ve servislerinden indirimli yararlanırlar.

• Eğitimlere, teknik konferanslara ve organizasyonlara davet edilirler.

• Amerika ve Avrupa’daki bazı üniversitelere kabul edilme ve kredi saydırma şansına sahip olurlar.

Yetişmiş Uzman Açığı

Türkiye Bilişlim Vakfı’na göre Türkiye’de 2004 yılında 160 bin bilgi teknolojileri uzmanına ihtiyaç bulunmaktadır. Türkiye ve KKTC’de tüm üniversitelerdeki bilgisayar mühendisliği kontenjanının sadece 5.000 olmasına karşılık her sene yaklaşık 150.000 aday bilgi teknolojileri eğitimi almak ve bu konuda bir meslek sahibi olmayı istemektedir. Bu konudaki eleman açığı sadece Türkiye’de değil tüm dünyada bilinen bir gerçektir. IDC tarafından 2003’de Avrupa’daki bilgi teknolojileri uzmanı açığı 1.5 milyon kişi olarak belirlenmiştir. ITTA (Amerika Bilişim Derneği) ve ABD Çalışma Bakanlığı’nın araştırmalarına göre ise ABD’deki eleman açığı 2004 yılında 1.5 milyon kişinin üzerine çıkmıştır.

Yüksek Kazanç

Amerika’da Microsoft sertifikalarına sahip yazılım uzmanlarının gelirlerinin başlangıç olarak yıllık 70 bin USD’ye ulaşması belirtilmektedir (Kaynak; www.salary.com). Uzmanlık ve tecrübe ilerledikçe yıllık 100 bin USD ve üzeri maaşlara ulaşıldığı bilinmektedir. Türkiye’de Chip dergisinin yaptığı araştırmaya göre yazılım uzmanları diğer çalışanlara göre daha yüksek maaş seviyesine sahiptirler.

Görevi Aylık Kazanç (YTL)

1 Yazılım Uzmanı 2.000 – 3.000

2 Veri Tabanı Uzmanı 1500 – 2000

3 Analist Programcı 2.000 - 4.000

4 Yazılım Test Uzmanı 1.800 - 4.000

5 Yazılım Uzmanı (Yeni Mezun) 900 - 1.500

MCPD Ne Yapar?

1.

Proje ile ilgili tüm birimlerle görüşerek ihtiyaç analizi yapar, hedefleri ve doğru teknolojiyi saptar.

2. Yazılım geliştirmek için uygun yöntemleri ve kaynakları seçerek planlama yapar.

3 Mantıklı veri modellerini ve programlama dillerini seçer.

4 Çeşitli bilgisayar programlama dillerini kullanarak verimliliği en üst düzeye çıkaracak özel programlar tasarlar ve yaratır.

5 Programların analiz, tasarım, test ve bakım işleriyle ilgilenir.

6 Kullanıcıların programlarda karşılaştıkları problemleri giderecek çözümler üretir ve eğitimlerini verir.

7 Geliştirdiği programların kullanıcılar tarafından verimli kullanılmasını sağlar.

Uzmanlıkları

1.

Visual Studio .NET 2008

2. .NET Framework 3.5

3 C# 3.5, ASP.NET 3.5, ADO.NET 3.5

4 Object Oriented(OOP) Modelleme ve Tasarım Teknikleri

5 Web Programlama

6 IIS 7.0

7 XML & XML Web Servisleri

8 Remoting

9 Visual Studio 2008 Team System

10 İlişkisel Veritabanı Teorisi

11 Veritabanı prensipleri, prosedürleri ve performans faktörleri

12 Veritabanı ve Yazılım güvenlik prosedürleri ve stratejileri

13 SQL Server 2008

14 Mobil Uygulamalar

Detaylı Bilgi İçin Besay Bilişim Akademisi

Am I a Mac user or a PC user? Take a wild guess.

Do you know anyone who loves Windows? Me either. I've been using it for two decades, and the frustrations are as big and fresh now as they were more than 20 years ago. We have been told and sold Bigger! Faster! Richer features! blah, blah, blah. But you'll still probably have to restart several times a week (or a couple of times a day). Check out these instructions for traveling with Outlook Web Access:

Make sure you can close the browser. If the computer won't allow you to close the browser by the usual means, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE (if you're using Microsoft Windows) and end the browser process from the Task Manager.

20 years later, and we don't have a reliable way to close a browser. Meanwhile, the program still sits on top of that piece of crap DOS.

When Microsoft releases a new version of software, I know I'm going to get hosed. All that time and effort invested in learning, say, MS Office will be out the window(s). In marketing terms, I get to make a fresh start. In reality, the latest products come at the expense of my productivity. Functions get regrouped in even less intuitive ways than before; simple operations (like saving a file) seem to disappear; old functions are given new names; features are touted that have been in the software for years; bells and whistles triumph over essential functions like stability. And by the way, you may need to upgrade your equipment in order to run the new behemoths.

Having repeated this cycle again and again, I've learned that every release of a Microsoft product is a beta. That makes customers beta testers. Purchase the products at full price, then find dozens or hundreds of bugs as we attempt to use them. MS might or might not fix the bugs. Remember the old "joke" about AT&T: "We don't care. We don't have to." Ah ha ha. Meanwhile, Microsoft (with $52 billion in the bank as of Feb 08 ) scans the horizons for takeover targets. "Yoo hoo - over here. I'm a customer. Remember me? Could I get some help? Hello?"

I work with a longtime Mac user. It's tantalizing to see the ease with which she manages to do dozens of things at once while I'm hacking away on a PC. She says that her Mac works like her brain. Inconceivable! No PC user is going to make an outlandish claim like that. But PCs still dominate the market, so she has to use one. What a burn.

Apart from these considerations, I'm pretty happy to be part of the wonderful world of PCs and Windows.

Actually, the only reason I keep Vista is for Microsoft Office. I'm an advanced formatter, and unfortunately, Openoffice.org on Ubuntu just doesn't cut it for me. Since I haven't needed to do any real formatting in a while, I have had no need to access Windows!

I've been thinking about completely removing Vista... I currently have it on a 40gb partition, and 20gb of that is taken up by the actual operating system. If I did this, then I would install XP on a virtual machine, most likely VMWare, and install Microsoft Office into that. The problem with this though, is that I am unable to access the internet, OR use any external drivers, such as a flash drive. In fact, even connecting my laptop to an ethernet cable doesn't even work. This means that there is no way of getting files in or out of the virtual machine!

So unless I can get a way to have a working copy of XP installed onto a virtual machine, I will have to keep Windows. It feels great having the terribly overweight operating system hope to get chosen in GRUB every single time I boot my computer, only to have to slump down again when I choose Ubuntu. Life is good!

Microsoft and the laptop organization announced Thursday that the nonprofit's green-and-white ''XO'' computers now can run Windows in addition to their homegrown interface, which is built on the open Linux operating system. That had been anticipated for months, but it amounts to a major shift.

Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the laptop project - which aims to produce $100 computers but now sells them at $188 - acknowledged that having Windows as an option could reassure education ministers who have hesitated to buy XOs with its new interface, called Sugar. Negroponte had hoped to sell several million laptops by now; instead he has gotten about 600,000 orders.

Beginning in limited runs next month, XO buyers will have the option of computers loaded with or without Windows. Versions with Windows will cost $18 to $20 more; $3 of that is for Windows, and the rest covers hardware adjustments, like an additional memory-card slot, needed to make Windows run.

Soon Negroponte hopes to sell just one kind of machine with a ''dual-boot'' mode, meaning users would have Windows and Linux and choose which to run each time. Because that will take advantage of a broader hardware redesign, the dual-boot XOs will cost about $10 more than today's versions, Negroponte said.

Despite the higher price - and Windows' inability to take advantage of some key features of the XO - Negroponte said his project would benefit from Microsoft's strengths in selling and deploying technology.

''I think our goals are dramatically enhanced with Microsoft's decision and this partnership because we will reach many more children,'' he said. ''There are now many more countries prepared to look at the XO and collaborative learning and some of the things we stand for.'

Según Maxconsole, Microsoft hace pasar consolas reparadas por nuevas para poder venderlas. Para confirmarlo, se abrieron 10 consolas al azar, compradas como nuevas por 199 euros y ninguna contenía la placa base Falcon (la actual), montaban las viejas unidades lectoras Hitachi 47 o las Samsung MS25 y poseían la pegatina del servicio técnico en ellas.

En resumen, Microsoft, según Maxconsole y Logic-Sunrise estaría utilizando viejas consolas reparadas para venderlas como nuevas.
Es una acusación seria y esperamos que Microsoft lo aclare, ya que de ser verdad, sería algo ilegal e imperdonable.

Arriva Messenger TV, un servizio che permette di vedere video all'interno della chat: si potranno scegliere i nostri programmi preferiti, metterli in pausa per commentarli insieme al nostro interlocutore.
Grazie alla partnership che microsoft ha stretto con le principali emittenti televisive (tra cui Mtv Sony, Bbc), msn tv sarà disponibile in oltre 20 nazioni (ma non negli usa) con un'offerta di qualità: in Italia avremo certamente alcuni programmi di Mtv, come "Very Victoria" e "Loveline", e alcuni dei programmi Mediaset.
Si aggiunge dunque una nuova tipologia di Tv online, basata sul mix programma professionale/snack size/ esperienza sociale; un'esperienza nella quale più che il programma di per se, conta la conversazione che genera, la relazione che attiva; già adesso il traffico maggiore generato un video è il rislutato del passaparola tra utenti, il suo essere materiale per conversazioni e spunto per altre produzioni.
Che Microsoft abbia avuto una geniale idea, cogliendo il vero senso della parola Televisione? Intesa come forma culturale, infatti, la Tv è un insieme di testi, il cui valore dipende dai significati che attiva nei suoi pubblici. Secondo John Fiske "ciò che l'apparecchio nel salotto trasmette è <<televisione>>, significanti audio-visivi che potenzialmente attivano significati e piaceri. Questa potenzialità è la sua testualità, che viene attualizzata diversamente nelle varietà dei momenti di visione [...] La testualità della televisione, l'intertestualità del processo di costruzione di senso e piacere a partire da essa, può manifestarsi solo quando le persone portano le proprie differenti storie e soggettività all'interno del processo di visione" (J. Fiske, Moments of television: neither the Text, nor the Audience, 1989).
Sarebbe interessante a questo punto usare gli strumenti dell'etnografia per una ricerca sulla fruizione di questo nuovo medium... nel frattempo, non possono non tornarmi in mente i lunghi pomeriggi trascorsi, ancora adolescente, a guardare "Non è la la Rai": in una mano il telecomando, nell'altra la cornetta del telefono... la bolletta era alle stelle, ma l'esperienza di visione in compagnia della migliore amica, davvero impagabile!

• 0218 7th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
• 1536 Anne Boleyn's 4 "lovers" executed
• 1620 1st merry-go-round seen at a fair (Philippapolis, Turkey)
• 1630 Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi, 1st to see 2 belts on Jupiter surface
• 1750 Tax revolt in Gorinchem
• 1756 Britain declares war on France (7 Years' or French & Indian War)
• 1792 24 merchants form New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street 
• 1804 Lewis & Clark begin exploration of the Louisiana Purchase 
• 1804 Napolean Bonaparte proclaimed emperor
• 1845 Rubber band patented
• 1846 Saxophone is patented by Antoine Joseph Sax 
• 1875 1st Kentucky Derby: Oliver Lewis aboard Aristides wins in 2:37.75 
• 1884 Alaska becomes a US territory 
• 1910 Canada sets the designs for the 1¢-50¢ coins
• 1915 National Baptist Convention chartered
• 1928 9th modern Olympic games open in Amsterdam
• 1932 Congress changes the name "Porto Rico" to "Puerto Rico"
• 1939 1st sports telecast-Columbia vs Princeton-college baseball
• 1946 President Truman seizes control of nation's railroads to delay a strike 
• 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage, biggest civil rights demonstration to date (District of Columbia)
• 1967 Dylan's 1965 UK Tour is released as the film "Don't Look Back"
• 1970 Hank Aaron becomes 9th player to get 3,000 hits
• 1971 Washington State bans sex discrimination 
• 1973 Stevie Wonder releases "You are the Sunshine of my Life" 
• 1975 NBC paid $5 million for rights to show "Gone with the Wind" one time
• 1980 Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state erupts 
• 1980 Major race riot in Miami FL - 16 killed, 300 injured
• 1980 Paul & Linda McCartney appear on Saturday Night Live 
• 1989 Vincent Van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr Gachet" auctioned for $825 million
• 1990 Cheers' star Kelsey Grammer sentenced to jail for 30 days for DWI 
• 1993 Intel's new Pentium processor is unveiled 
• 1998 Antitrust case begins against Microsoft Corp.

Born on May 17th:

• 1444 Sandro Botticelli Italian painter (Birth of Venus)
• 1451 Engelbert II earl of Nassau-Dillenburg-Dietz/viceroy of Luxembourg
• 1490 Albrecht von Hohenzollern 1st duke of Prussia
• 1551 Martinus A del Rio Spanish/South Netherlands lawyer/historian/theologist
• 1568 Christoph Thomas Walliser composer
• 1576 Ferdinand van Apshoven the Older, Flemish painter, baptized
• 1673 Jozef LD von Königsegg Austria, military minister of Austrian Netherlands
• 1691 Antoine Court French reformed theologist
• 1732 Francesco Pasquale Ricci composer 
• 1803 Robert Smith Surtees novelist
• 1878 Conway Tearle US actor (Klondike Annie, Should Ladies Behave?) 
• 1924 Lord Tombs CEO (Rolls Royce) 
• 1936 Dennis Hopper Dodge City KS, actor (True Grit, Blue Velvet, Easy Rider)
• 1955 Bill Paxton actor (Brain Dead, Next of Kin, Indian Summer, True Lies)
• 1956 "Sugar" Ray [Charles] Leonard Palmer Park MD, welter/middle/light-heavyweight boxing champion (Olympics-gold-76)
• 1956 Bob Saget Philadelphia PA, comedian/actor (Danny-Full House, America's Funniest Home Videos) 
• 1967 Cameron Bancroft actor (Beverly Hills 90210)
• 1970 Jordan Nathaniel Marcel Knight Worcester MA, rocker (New Kids on the Block-Hangin' Tough) 
• 1974 Marcia Turner Cambridge MA, Miss America (Massachusetts-Top 10-1996)
   

As if consumers needed another reason to avoid DRM in general, and Microsoft products in particular, Windows Vista sufferers now report that Media Center blocks the recording of NBC broadcast TV shows. This just 3 years after the DC Court of Appeals struck down the FCC's deplorable Broadcast Flag rule.

 read more | digg story

Sí, lo sé, no es SoulCalibur IV, pero desde luego que será un gran juego. Soul Calibur saldrá como un juego de Xbox Live Arcade este verano, y para saciar la curiosidad de los seguidores, Namco ha sacado un puñado de imágenes para mostrarnos como va el juego.

Este port tiene colores más vívidos que el original, pero tiene el mismo conteo de polígonos para los modelos y los escenarios. Lo que salta a la vista es el "insert Coin" que se ve en la parte superior de la imágen.

Denis Dyack, cabecilla de Silicon Knights, anunció que el demo de Too Human está siendo preparado para presentarse en el Xbox Live Marketplace.

"Aún no hemos anunciado ninguna fecha, pero nuestra meta es tenerlo listo antes que el juego salga a la venta. Daremos a conocer la fecha en cuanto podamos," comentó Denis.

Según comentó, tienen planeado sacarlo un par de semanas ( o más ) antes de que el juego se encuentre e las tiendas, y quizá para principios de Agosto esté ya disponible, pues el juego saldrá el 19 de Agosto.

Pues para los que le gustaron esos juegos pero tienen Windows XP aquí esta la solución, todos los juegos de Windows Vista corriendo en XP.

El pack contiene los siguientes juegos:

Freecell
Hearts
Inkball
Mineswepper
Purble Place
Shangai

Estan alojados en Rapidshare en dos partes:

Parte 1
Parte 2

Windows provided that experience by creating a platform that pretty much worked on whatever hardware you wanted to, so you could slum it out a bit.  Yet Windows is still for the most part expensive software and is often bloated so you still need expensive hardware to get around efficiently, so no, still not a viable solution.  So now here comes Sun with OpenSolaris, and critics seem to think that Sun should have gotten behind Linux, like everyone else has, but no, uh uh.

The smartest thing Sun ever could have done was to avoid getting behind the Open Source product, like everyone else in information technology had digressed towards doing, and offer their own product.

Who cares if big corporations are behind an open source product.  When I run Ubuntu or Fedora yeah I know large corporations are behind them and I may or may not have to pay for support.  I definitely have to pay for support for Red Hat's enterprise product, and that is okay, because I would much rather an IT department actually pay for someone well trained on how to help them than to be searching and pecking around Google looking for help.

Sun is doing everything for free on the surface, taking a loss here or there and redeveloping their flagship product into a free OS for x86 architecture, and it is a beautiful thing.  Who really cares that it has a fraction of the packages that Ubuntu has; most of those packages you will never use, never have a need for and offer no real added value to the OS!  Yeah Microsoft offers a lot of added features to, well all of their products, as well so who really cares.  Give me what I want, what I really need and nothing else!  Yet before you think I'm working for Sun or are just a fanboy I still have a few concerns though.

Where is the marketing of this product!  Are hobbysts going to be the guinea pigs here or is this product simply not ready for prime time.  People found out about Open Office the hard way but I can tell you this; it does what I need for it to do effectively without a lot of hassle.  I'm not out looking for something off of the new interface ribbon and it does the job done simply without a lot of hassle or configuration.

Can we expect the same from OpenSolaris?  Will it load up without a lot of configuration will it get it's own interface, rather than ripping the look and feel of Ubuntu and will Sun integrate a two tiered support approach?  If I want to have a go at it I can check around in the forums, as I often do with Ubuntu, but if I need that extra level of support I can actually pick up the phone and call someone?  If Sun can offer a comprehensive offering and build on what they are doing with OpenSolaris there may finally be a viable answer to Microsoft on the desktop.

Again, Linux requires people to endure the abuse, narcissism, and straight up misanthropic view of geeks when it comes to support on-line.  Linux often needs to be configured, in which the best way is often through cutting and pasting code but people may want to actually click on some buttons here or there to get it work.  Finally, Linux is fragmented and there aren't any clear answers on which distribution is better than the next, which interface to go with (KDU or Gnome), which kernel, and so on and so forth.  These are the known obstacles and the inaccessibility that stands between people who know absolutely nothing about computers and Linux.

IBM is behind Linux, as are a bunch of other companies, but for serious use in the enterprise not for playing solitaire at home.  So will Sun finally offer the olive branch to laymen at home who just want to turn the computer on and do something simple without paying for something?  The opportunity is there, but can Sun actually find a way to monetize OpenSolaris to some degree?  People still think that if you aren't paying something that the technology is worthless.   So far Linux hasn't done that great of a job of changing anyone's opinion, doesn't have any real incentive to do so financial or otherwise and doesn't appear to be doing so at the end of the day.  But the bottom line remains; consumers need an efficient OS without a lot of the bloat that works that they do not have to maintain through antivirus software that doesn't get even slower as time passes by.  They need something that is straight and to the point; here's hoping that Sun finally gives that to them.

Microsoft lance un programme afin de promouvoir l'usage de son système d'exploitation Windows dans les PC à bas coût. L'un des effets de ce programme sera de réduire les possibilités matérielles de ce type d'équipements.

Ne pas mordre sur le marché des PC sous Vista
Microsoft entend offrir des rabais importants sur Windows XP Home Edition afin d'encourager les fabricants de PC à utiliser ce système d'exploitation plutôt que Linux sur les PC à bas coût. Afin d'être éligibles, cependant, les fabricants de PC devront limiter la taille des écrans à 10,2 pouces, les disques durs à 80 Go et ne pourront pas offrir d'écrans tactiles. Ce programme est décrit dans des documents confidentiels que Microsoft a transmis aux fabricants de PC le mois dernier, et qui ont été obtenus par l'agence de presse IDG News Service. L'objectif apparemment est de limiter les possibilités matérielles des PC à bas coût, afin qu'ils ne viennent pas mordre sur le marché plus important des PC fonctionnant sous Vista, ce que Microsoft comme les vendeurs de PC veulent éviter.

Pas de commentaire de la part de Microsoft
« Imposer des limites résout un certain nombre de problèmes pour l'industrie des PC. Cela permet aux fabricants de PC de fournir une alternative à bas coût, et cela empêche l'érosion des prix et des marges sur le marché principal du système d'exploitation, déclare Roger Kay, analyste et président de EndPoint Technologies Associates. Microsoft s'est refusé à tout commentaire concernant les documents. « Nous ne parlons pas de manière publique sur nos accords avec les fabricants de PC, a déclaré ...

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Prototip peranti yang dikembangkan oleh Microsoft Research and Office Labs akan dipasarkan sebagai alat presentasi bisnis. Peranti tersebut pengoperasiannya mirip PC tablet yang dapat disentuh dengan jari tangan. TouchWall akan diperkenalkan Bill Gates di kampus Microsoft hari Rabu mendatang sebagai bagian dari CEO Summit ke-12.

Sering dengar kalimat semacam kalimat di atas? Anda tergugah karenanya? Sabar dulu bung.. Jangan  terburu-buru.

Memang terlalu keji jika saya bilang kalimat itu (dan kalimat sejenis lainnya) adalah suatu kebohongan. Mungkin tepatnya adalah “kekurang akuratan”. Tetapi saya pribadi, setelah mengetahui kenyataannya seperti merasa dibohongi. Karena kenyataannya tidak seperti yang saya bayangkan.

Saya sudah beberapa kali mengikuti seminar migrasi ke Linux, dan seringkali mendengar kalimat seperti itu. Itulah salah satu alasan mengapa saya bersemangat terus belajar Linux pada awal - awal saya mengenal Linux. Karena diakui atau tidak, Linux memang lebih sulit dioperasikan (akui sajalah..). Tetapi begitu mendengar kalimat di atas, saya berpikir “Perusahaan besar saja berani mengambil resiko sulitnya pengoperasian Linux yang mungkin saja mengganggu bisnis mereka. Mengapa saya tidak berani mulai meninggalkan sistem operasi yang bajakan?”

Tetapi fakta berikut inilah yang tidak disebutkan oleh para pembicara dalam seminar - seminar itu : Perusahaan - perusahaan besar seperti A, B, C, X dan Y, serta kampus - kampus besar di Indonesia memang secara besar - besaran memigrasikan sistem operasi mereka ke Linux. Tetapi itu hanya terjadi pada SERVER mereka. Tidak demikian dengan WORKSTATION nya (komputer yang digunakan untuk pekerjaan sehari - hari [desktop]). Memang ada beberapa perusahaan dan kampus yang juga menggunakan Linux pada komputer desktop mereka. Tetapi jumlahnya (di Indonesia) tidak signifikan.

Mungkin hal ini jugalah yang seringkali menyebabkan gagalnya penetrasi penggunaan sistem operasi Linux di Indonesia. Calon pengguna baru digembar - gemborkan dengan banyaknya perusahaan besar yang memigrasikan sistem operasinya ke Linux. Tetapi mereka tidak diberitahu bahwa perusahaan itu memigrasikan servernya, bukan desktopnya. Sementara calon pengguna baru ini 100% adalah pengguna desktop, bukan sys admin, sys engineer, network admin, dll.

Satu hal lagi yang _sangat_ mengecewakan saya setiap kali mengikuti seminar dan diskusi tentang Linux. Mereka yang diundang sebagai pembicara, ataupun nara sumber ahli seringkali menyampaikan presentasinya tidak menggunakan Linux, ataupun software yang open source.

Bagaimana mereka bisa meyakinkan user (pengguna desktop), untuk bermigrasi ke Linux dan opensource, sementara untuk hal yang kecil dan sederhana saja mereka tidak bisa (tidak mau) melakukannya di Linux. (Membuat presentasi di OpenOffice tidak sesulit memindahkan aplikasi C# ke Mono kan?). Padahal mereka yang diundang jadi pembicara, atau nara sumber ini berasal dari perusahaan IT kelas nasional, internasional, akademisi dari kampus terkemuka dan juga kalangan elit pemerintah.

Saya “usulkan” kepada anda - anda yang mungkin diminta jadi pembicara ataupun nara sumber tentang migrasi ke Linux : Sebelum anda berbicara, pastikan dulu diri anda sendiri sudah mau bermigrasi ke Linux !! Cukup saya saja yang kecewa.

Tulisan dari: Okto Silaban

Mr. Steve Ballmer

CEO

Microsoft Corp.

One Microsoft Way

Redmond, WA 98052-6399

Dear Sir:

How did I end up here? I write to you on a Mac, since my PC (IBM/Lenovo T60) is inoperable using Window’s Vista Business software.

The computer is just a year old and has been productively in use about 1 month during that time. By way of Lenovo’s warranty, it has had nearly all parts replaced, HDD, planar card, DIMM, and yet still no joy when trying to use Vista OS, the computer is completely unstable, plagued by BSOD’s, cryptic messages from Windows—Message, Shadow, Host, etc., that render the computer useless. No online solutions are available from Microsoft, even after Vista’s SP1 was installed. I think you get the picture.

I would offer the following observations as a longtime (since 1987) Microsoft OS user:

·       I have switched over to Mac for personal and business computer requirements and solely due to the lack of reliable financial software for Mac, continue to run any PC with Windows at all

·       Amazingly, I am DOWNGRADING Vista OS to XP, hoping to make use of a $2000 laptop PC

·       My sister, and soon her kids, and my business partner have all switched to Macs; the implications of viral marketing are not lost on you

·       Current TV ads by Apple illuminate frustration of Vista’s shortcomings and blogs and forums are replete with examples of its failure as a reliable operating system

·       Lenovo’s  Web site offers new laptops with  an XP downgrade DVD!

·       Olympics’ staff in China will use Windows XP for all mission-critical operations

I reiterate; how did I end up here?  More to the point, how did storied Microsoft end up here?