"The program applies only to Windows Vista Business and Ultimate versions..."

"As we were discussing, Gran Paradiso — the latest version of Firefox — is nearing release. Gran Paradiso includes a form of malware protection that checks every URL against a known list of sites. It does so by sending each URL to Google.

So why do Microsoft advertise so aggressively re the whole server issue? This is an interesting opinion piece about their strategy.

"Today, I think of Vista as the zombie operating system. It stumbles around, and from a distance you might think it's alive, but close up it's the walking dead..."

I think Microsoft has given up on Vista behind the scenes. I’m sending this via email because well, I know it sounds like tinfoil hat time, but I think there’s some validity to it.

One minute ago Microsoft made one of its first "open source" moves under the new Microsoft Reference License: the team in Redmond announced they'll make some .NET libraries available. I say "open source" because to me, open source means you can easily access a .tar or .zip of the code. Microsoft's effort is a bit more cumbersome.

Many people now believe that Linux represents a viable alternative. Today, with mainstream hardware vendors like Dell offering Linux installations and some folks thinking a major shift is about to happen, it's time to take another look at Linux on the desktop.

Almost two weeks ago, Blizzard Entertainment pushed through a required World of Warcraft patch that made the game unplayable for many Linux users, reducing frame rates to unacceptable levels, causing distorted sound, and making the OpenGL graphics engine more difficult to switch to. Considering TransGaming's history of rapidly addressing WoW patch issues, this is unusual behavior.