June 5, 2008
Microsoft responds to user demands
IT World Canada
Greg Meckbach shares Gregg Keizer, of ComputerWorld U.S.’s news on Microsoft’s Windows XP Home.
“ Microsoft’s decision Tuesday to allow low-cost desktop makers to install Windows XP Home on their hardware until June 2010 reverses a move it rejected just two months ago. At the Computex trade show that opened Tuesday in Taipei, Taiwan, the company said it would allow computer manufacturers to pre-install Windows XP Home on what it called ‘nettops,’ which it defined only as ‘low-cost desktops,’ through June 30, 2010.”
Author creates Quillr, an online book
The Globe and Mail
Mathew Ingram writes how Nicola Furlong, a B.C.-based author, has created a “Quillr,” which incorportates text, audio, video and still images for her new mystery/suspense novel, “Thy Will Be Done.”
“In a sense, they (Furlong and her colleagues) have created their own TV-style adaptation of the novel. At the Web site (www.hereendsthebeginning.com), readers/viewers can see the first five chapters laid out like a traditional online book, but with added audio, video and still photos that enhance the narrative. In one chapter, for example, music plays through an embedded audio player (although the sound can be turned on and off), and then a video clip shows actors portraying a pivotal scene in the novel. Furlong herself even appears in one scene as a secondary character.”
Microsoft seeds HP PCs with Live Search
Channel Register
Chris Williams outline’s Microsoft’s latest deal with HP.
“Ever determined to close the gap on Google, Microsoft has cut a deal with HP to dope all new PCs it flogs to North Americans with Live Search. From January next year HP machines will come with the Live Search search engine toolbar pre-installed in Internet Explorer, and the homepage set to Live.com. Microsoft isn’t saying how much it’s stuffing into HP’s back pocket for access to its millions of North American consumer customers. A similar deal between Google and Dell, inked in 2006, was thought to be worth $1bn over three years.”
