A quick note: usually when you get an alert in the Toolbar, you worry.
This morning, an icon in the toolbar with an exclamation point boldly staring at me was a warning. Imagine my surprise when Windows Defender popped up and noted that there were no problems detected with my PC.
I like this feature: unlike the television network news, all news these days isn’t bad news.
See http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx for more details.
This week is a busy one… we have our annual conference on customer and partner satisfaction, as well as the much more press-followed WinHEC. Just ahead of both, we announced FlexGo, “an innovative technology that makes it easier for people with modest incomes in emerging markets to buy a full-featured PC for their families.” It allows people in these markets to pay by the hour to use a computer in their own homes, similar to the payment plans we see in many countries with pre-paid mobile phone cards.
More info is available at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/flexgo/default.mspx.
This coverage from BusinessWeek…
“The program will generally work like this: a user will pay for about half the cost of the computer upfront, and then will purchase pre-paid cards to get hourly access to the computer at home. If the pre-paid card runs out and the user doesn’t buy more hours, the computer stops working until the user buys another card.”
It’s exciting to see the product come to the market: the group developing it is top-notch.
Also see this story at CNNMoney.com:
“The pay-as-you-go model lowers the initial costs of buying a PC by 50 percent or more and the consumer owns the PC after a set amount of minutes are purchased, the companies said.
“Microsoft and its partners recently completed its first trial in Brazil and they plan to do a next round of trials in Brazil, China, Hungary, India, Mexico, Russia, Slovenia and Vietnam, according to Microsoft.”
My first post on this blog included a reference to the story of how long it would take a number monkeys to type Shakespeare…
“For what it’s worth, I hope that you get something out of these musings. (And I vow to eliminate the terms ‘cross-group’ and ‘strategic initiative’ from my vocabulary.) We’ll see how long it takes the monkeys to type out the blog entries.”
So a ‘thank you’ to the reader who sent me this link…
“… when six monkeys at the Paignton Zoo were given a computer for a month, they didn’t come up with Shakespeare. They didn’t come up with a single word. All they produced were five unintelligible pages. This result has been perceived by many as proof of monkeys’ inferiority to humans. I don’t see it that way, and think the monkeys deserve another chance.
“Maybe it won’t be Shakespeare, but given a fair chance, I see no reason why these monkeys won’t be able to grind out TV reality shows. Unless they’re already more evolved than that.”
Tags: Friday Link, monkeys typing, humour.
As noted this week, the specs for “Vista Capable” and “Vista Premium Ready” computers are now up on the Windows Vista Get Ready web site, detailing the minimum requirements for machines to run Windows Vista.
Vista Capable PC: A new PC that carries the Windows Vista Capable PC logo can run Windows Vista. All editions of Windows Vista will deliver core experiences such as innovations in organizing and finding information, security, and reliability. All Windows Vista Capable PCs will run these core experiences at a minimum. Some features available in the premium editions of Windows Vista—like the new Windows Aero user experience—may require advanced or additional hardware.
A Windows Vista Capable PC includes at least:
- A modern processor (at least 800MHz)
- 512 MB of system memory
- A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable
Windows Vista Premium Ready PCs: To get an even better Windows Vista experience, including the Windows Aero user experience, ask for a Capable PC that is designated Premium Ready, or choose a PC that meets or exceeds the Premium Ready requirements described below. Features available in specific premium editions of Windows Vista, such as the ability to watch and record live TV, may require additional hardware.
A Windows Vista Premium Ready PC includes at least:
- 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
- 1 GB of system memory
- A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero
- 128 MB of graphics memory
- 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space
- DVD-ROM Drive
- Audio output capability
- Internet access capability
As noted on Tuesday, the beta for Windows Media Player 11 is now available.
My initial reaction: WMP11 is clean and Urge is a robust subscription service (I’m trying it via the 14-day free trial): the $149 per year “to go” subscription is attractive. I’ll post a review this weekend.
Tags: Microsoft, WMP 11, digital music, PlaysForSure.