My background is that I'm a long-time Windows user, MVP for 12 years, and know Windows inside-out, except Vista, to which I have so far kept my exposure low.

I just got a batch of oldish 700 MHz / 256 MB / 15 GB computers and decided, just for fun, to put xubuntu on them. I guess this makes me a good source of well-founded newbie impressions.

The first impression is excellent. xubuntu 8.04 installed quickly, without fuzz, and ran just fine.

By Dennis Fisher, Executive Editor
07 Aug 2008 | SearchSecurity.com

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LAS VEGAS -- Two security researchers have developed a new technique that essentially bypasses all of the memory protection safeguards in the Windows Vista operating system, an advance that many in the security community say will have far-reaching implications not only for Microsoft, but also on how the entire technology industry thinks about attacks.

Google Beats Cuil Hands Down In Size And Relevance, But That Isn't The Whole Story

Michael Arrington
TechCrunch.com
Sunday, July 27, 2008; 9:12 PM

Try Cuil

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GIZMODO

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CherryPal's cloud-based computer is unique because it offers the technology without subscription costs

PC Magazine  - Jul 13, 2008

Here's the problem: Once you upgrade your XP installation to Service Pack 3, Windows won't ever allow you to install an older version (including earlier ...

[Windows news ticker]

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WIRED
Science : Discoveries

By Randy Alfred 05.01.08 | 12:00 AM

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1964: In the predawn hours of May Day, two professors at Dartmouth College run the first program in their new language, Basic.

Mathematicians John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz had been trying to make computing more accessible to their undergraduate students. One problem was that available computing languages like Fortran and Algol were so complex that you really had to be a professional to use them.

Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime

The Seattle Times

By Benjamin J. Romano
Seattle Times technology reporter

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Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes.

The researchers damn Windows in current form, urge radical changes

By Gregg Keizer
April 10, 2008 (Computerworld)

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Calling the situation "untenable" and describing Windows as "collapsing," a pair of Gartner analysts yesterday said Microsoft Corp. must make radical changes to its operating system or risk becoming a has-been.

Many Windows Vista users worldwide have been able to use their sound adapters only because of the efforts of Daniel_K, a talented programmer who modified Creative Labs' drivers, enabling many functions that were not compatible with Vista.

Creative looked on, but when Daniel_K began to enable functions that were deliberately blocked, they stepped in and are now trying to shut him down.

In the heavy-handed fashion that is typical for bigger companies they did not contact him directly, but instead published their demands, which was quite detrimental to the company's reputation.

On March 31 Google came up again with a new feature—predated mails. They call it Gmail Custom Time.

Opinions on the morality of this feature differ, and so they allow you only 10 predated emails per year.

How does it work? When you create a mail, you click on Set custom time, and you can enter an earlier time that will become the time stamp of the email.