Soo Windows 7 has been buzzing around the Internets for a few months now and finally beta 1 has recently hit the torrent sites.  Additionally, Microsoft announced a public beta 1 release but happen to pull it due to “high demand“.  There has been some squawking about Windows 7 Beta 1 benchmarks performing faster than Windows XP and Vista, but I’m sure all this nonsense will stop once the bells and whistles are included.

I personally think it’s humorous how Windows 7 was named.  Microsoft claims that this new operating system is the 7th Windows version, at least according to their internal code versions.  The internal versions they’re going by doesn’t make any sense to me.  For example, Windows 95, 98, 98SE, NT, and ME, all counted as version 4.0.  Windows 2000 internally was NT5.0 and XP was version 6.0.  Now perhaps this shows how much of a thorn Vista is in Microsoft’s side, but taking into considerable the vast difference between 2000 to XP and XP to Vista, shouldn’t Vista be 7.0?  Instead, Microsoft made Vista as version 6.1 which completely throws a monkey wrench in the entire version sanity.  Vista has been a car wreck since day one, they even have to disguise it as another operating system in their commercials as a controlled experiment.  I mean seriously, this is almost as bad as Hyundai not putting their emblem on the front of the new Genesis.  Well okay maybe that’s a bad analogy, at least the Genesis is a decent car.  In any case, Windows Vista should be 7 and “Windows 7″ should be “Windows 8″.

Finally, I think Windows 7 is what Vista SHOULD have been.  It took Microsoft 5 years to progress(or lack thereof) from XP to Vista.  So in reality, it took Microsoft 8 years to progress from XP(October 25th, 2001) to Windows 7(Holiday season 2009).  This of course is assuming Microsoft stays on track with their release time frame.  Well I think that’s enough griping, here’s some links to first impressions:

PC World
ZDNet
Computer World
Tech Review Source
Chron

The no good dirty rat bastards at the RIAA have dropped MediaSentry, which is the company they used to help gather evidence for cases against consumers downloading illegal music.  The RIAA is a bunch of filthy rat scumbags that should die a painful, long lasting, yet self indulging death.  Their filth, slim, and utter disgusting presence has echoed throughout the world in a lavishing distaste for what the music industry has become.  Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the RIAA, I just know that their management and general business practices are morally and ethnically wrong.  Suing 70 year old grandmothers for their entire 401K and investment portfolio’s while in the same breathe hitting college kids and single moms in one quick swipe with no remorse is just utter bullshit.  Not to mention shows total lack of business management skills.  Usually when a company does not do good making profits and has to dig into such a low stance to generate money, isn’t the management accountable?

Unfortunately, the RIAA has announced they will use Copenhagen-based DtecNet Software ApS in place of MusicSentry to continue their despicable business practice.  I have a better idea for the RIAA, why don’t you stop hoarding all of this cash for your army of legal teams and outsourced tracking systems and use that extra money to figure out a way to make music more affordable to download?  Why not make it a more predictable business model and create an affordable monthly/yearly subscription, instead of charging $1-2 per song packed with DRM where customers shit themselves when they realize they don’t have the flexibility they once had before.

I couldn’t help it.  I just HAD to post on this one.  The Washington Postreports that adultfriendfinder.com has filed with the SEC to go public and hopes to raise $460 million in the IPO.  They claim their subscriber base is 946,598 for their adult services.  Penthouse acquired AFF in Dec 2007 for around $400 million.

But isn’t AFF one of the biggest adult scam sites on the net?

This has been dubbed as the biggest gmail deployment to date.  The New South Wales Department of Education & Training will dump the Microsoft Outlook/Exchange Duo for gmail as their email platform.  This is not the first move by educational institutions switching away from Microsoft products to the more streamlined Gmail platform.  Macquarie University in Sydney did the same thing in Sept 2007.  Five US colleges have adopted Google Appes and several others in Ireland, Israel, and Japan.

Hosted applications has been creeping up over the past few years.  Quite possibly becoming the transition between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0.  Web 2.5 anyone?

Microsoft’s Outlook/Exchange product suite package is a very important revenue stream for the giant.  These are big blows to their bottom line and just compounds how much of a threat Google is to their software arsenel.  It also shows the disgust of Microsoft’s licensing platforms.  If an alternative solution that cuts the expenses by at least 2 or 3 fold then Microsoft seriously has to revamp their business model.

Great news for compulsive masterbaters and porn addicts!  According to search company’s statistics, there’s been a sharp increase in porn that’s viewable on the iPhone.  Now with 3G technology users will be able to get multimedia faster and probably stream movies right off the Internet onto the touch screen.  I use the phrase “touch screen” loosely as I’m sure programmers will find a way to make interactive naughty apps.  Apple has said that it will be a cold day in hell before they allow any adult-related applications on the iPhone app store but so what?  You can also install your own.

I find this bit of news humorous.  It’s no longer a surprise when a company will announce they’re very skeptical about transitioning their systems over to Vista.  But according to the Inquirer, there was an internal memo circulating that said Intel will not use Windows Vista in any of their internal corporate computers.  Now what is even more interesting is that Intel has full access to Vista’s source code and may even know it better than Microsoft since the operating systems need to work fully with Intel’s processors.  Does Intel know something more in-depth about the operating system than meets the eye?

What will Intel use for their own computers?  The other two options are Linux and Mac OS.  Microsoft’s Windows 7 is still about 1.5 years away from release and even with that Intel is not holding their breath.  Was this a wise decision by Intel leaving Microsoft out in the cold?  Time will tell.  As they say, the bigger they are the harder they fall.

A few days ago, two teens that dropped out of high school hacked Comcast’s domain.  Comcast’s registrar holding the Comcast.net domain is Network Solutions.  The two teens said they found a “flaw” on Network Solutions website allowing them into Comcast’s account to change the domain configuration.  They called the technical contact at Comcast to tell them they found a flaw in their system but the guy hung up on them.  They then proceeded to change the DNS settings for the Comcast.net domain to point it at their own servers.  Although a lawsuit is probably eminent they should hire these two as security consultants.  Unfortunately the incriminating picture on Gizmodo’s website may not allow them to land the job!

Gamestop has announced they will discontinue selling the Microsoft Zune multimedia player due to lack of sales.  Microsoft has sold 2 million Zune’s since their inception in November 2006.  Apple has sold 10.6 million iPod’s last quarter alone.  TechCrunch reports:

“We have decided to exit the Zune category because it just did not have the appeal we had anticipated,” said a GameStop spokesperson. “It (also) did not fit with our product mix.”

The health care system in the United States is out of control.  Exactly the same reason why there’s so many credit problems right now because the credit system is also out of control.  Perhaps the first step in redefining the health care system here in the states is by giving some of that control to the people.  Google Health Beta launched yesterday(5/20/08) with the intentions of just that.  It gives everyday people a platform to help them track their medical records, prescriptions, allergies, medical conditions, and so on.  Perhaps in the future Google will add additional features like a Google Health Analytics.  Such a feature could have an analytic and graphing system that tracks your blood pressure, sugar levels, PSA levels, white blood counts, and so on all on a easy readable pie or bar graph with a time line.  So every time you go for a checkup this information updates with the new data.  Did I mention Skynet is self aware?

I have been using Xobni Beta for the past month and like what it offers in terms of email management.  It does have a few quirks here and there(after all, it’s beta) but for the most part it does help being more productive.  I find myself spending less time digging around in emails when I was emailing someone back and forth on a particular subject or project.  This is due to its ability of grouping together replied and forwarded emails into “conversations” which you can easily see all those emails with one or two clicks.  There now seems to be another player in town that does something similar called ClearContext as stated in this Tech Crunch article.  Although it does not look as intuitive as Xobni, I may give it a whirl to check it out.

As everyone now knows, the talks of a Microsoft-Yahoo merger have recommenced after this weekend.  So now what?  Well, first of all, Microsoft will put in a lower bid because all the lawyer and analyst fee’s have soured the deal a bit.  Not to mention, it appears that Yahoo will be losing their Bebo advertisement contract which will further diminish the company and its value.  AOL is finalizing the Bebo buyout for $850 million and once this is done they’re most likely not going to allow Yahoo in their advertising network because they will reserve it for themselves.(the whole point of the buyout)  It is now even more likely that Microsoft won’t even consider a buyout all together.  They may just work out some sort of advertising deal for the various Microsoft networks such as Windows Live.  I’m sure all the caretakers in the industry between both companies want a resolution already.  Jerry Yang seems to be taking the brunt of the heat on this deal, all fingers from Microsoft, analysts, shareholders, and exec’s seem to be pointing in his general direction.  Can he redeem himself?  Probably not, the initial bids from Microsoft are gone and will never come back.

Verizon has announced that sometime next year they will roll out a Linux based cell phone on their US wireless network.  The Linux based phone will NOT be the Google Android.  Although Verizon said they are not ruling out the Android and may or may not include devices running the operating system.  Verizon also accuses Google that the Android is not as “open” as they say it is.  Verizon’s company spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said that Google is calling the shots.  Which would mean less control for Verizon: “Google said ‘Here’s the plan. Sign on the dotted line if you support.’ It may end up being collaborative. It may end up being collegial. But it need not be.”

In an attempt to reduce customer frustration and volume of calls to HP’s call centers for support, HP announces to sit tight on XP SP3 to wait for a fix.  As AMD-XP users that have become frustrated after installing SP3, Microsoft tries to work with OEM’s to get the issue(s) resolved.  The problem originated from sysprep’d XP Service Pack 1 utilizing Intel hardware from OEM’s.  This practice has led us here today where yet again, customers are the ones that suffer.  Why didn’t this issue surface from the beta or release candidates prior to release?  Quite possibly because most beta testers are enthusiasts and build their own machine’s, therefore, never had a sysprep’d image from an OEM in the first place.

I have been reading these articles about the failure of Microsoft merging with Yahoo and can’t help but think if Microsoft really is in trouble.  Not so much in the short term but in the long term.  Rob Enderle, the President of Enderle Group, believes that Google’s strategy is to kill Microsoft.  Google has been slowly taking over the Windows desktop with Google Search, the Google Toolbar, and the Google Sidebar.  They have been adding features to the Windows XP platform that disinterest users from upgrading to Vista.  Not to mention, Google Docs, allows users to freely create and distribute documents/spreadsheets that they normally would have to pay Microsoft hundreds of dollars to purchase their Office Suite.  Furthermore, Google diluted the Yahoo deal by allowing them to advertise in the Google ad network during the Microsoft-Yahoo fiasco.  It was like Google gave Microsoft the finger and said go ahead, buy Yahoo!  But Google wanted to delay the merger for as long as possible, hopefully either ending in a hostile takeover or take a serious drain on Microsoft as the deal falls through.  All the while, Google is trimming Microsoft’s revenue streams down to give Microsoft no breathing room while they would be busy allocating all of their resources merging Yahoo and Microsoft together.

Google will need to take on Microsoft’s Enterprise sector head on by innovating new suites to run corporate networks.  Although they have been knit-picking the Windows desktop and Office suite market shares, the Enterprise is where Microsoft also gets a big chunk of profit.  Google would need to attack on all fronts in order to succeed taking out the giant.  But what would that mean for consumers and businesses?  Usually when you have one big corporation with little competition it invokes greed and laziness.  I hope Google and Microsoft can survive together as competitors to help drive the market instead of shifting a technology monopoly from one company to another.

Microsoft has signed deals with Hyundai & Kia to supply voice recognition kits for cars by 2010.  Pretty much getting a head start on the exclusive deal with Ford which expires on November.  Currently, Microsoft’s Sync system uses an ARM-based system that runs Windows Mobile for Automotive is provided by Nuance.  In case you’ve been under a rock recently and haven’t seen any Ford commercials, the system allows you to say an artists name or song name and the audio system will play that song in the media player.  It’s unclear as of yet what exactly Hyundai & Kia will use this system for.  It’d be kind of silly to only include it just to control your iPod or Music player device.  Most likely it will integrate into the future navigation systems for these vehicles.  The Reg reports.