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Windows Vista, Windows XP Service Pack Previews Released, and I’m looking forward to both

A quick break for lunch and I saw this come across the news…



Windows Vista, Windows XP Service Pack Previews Released


IDG News Service – August 07, 2007



“Microsoft confirmed Tuesday that it released preview code for both XP SP3 but still would not say directly when the updates to each OS [Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista SP1] will be released in their final versions.


“While Microsoft said it will have a beta of Vista SP1 available “sometime this year,” it won’t commit to a more firm date or speculate when the final release will be available. Some insiders had expected a beta to be available by now, though one has yet to materialize. As for Windows XP SP3, Microsoft said it is shooting for the first half of next year but called that date “preliminary” and declined to disclose more details.


“A third service pack for XP, which has been in the works for some time, may seem a moot point now that Vista has been available to consumers for about seven months and to business users for nine. However, there are many XP users, particularly business customers, that would find a third service pack for the OS valuable, said Samir Bhavnani, a research director at Current Analysis West.”


Moot point? Don’t think so. 


I am running Windows XP and Windows Vista at home (along with Office 2003 and 2007), and I have machines that will continue to run XP even after Vista SP1 is released. This not an issue of faith in our new OS, but being practical Ias I have written here previously, we have older client machines at home that run XP, namely older PCs with smaller than currently average memory footprints and hard drives. These are PCs that our kids are happy to use for various games (many running under Win98 compatibility mode!), and one of the computers I use at home is running XP SP2 (Media Center Edition, acually) along side two PCs running versions of Vista.


At the office all machines in my office are running Windows Vista Enterprise edition. At some point my PCs at home will be retired and we’ll move them to a new Vista PC, but at home for me it is not a sprint to Vista. 


Is more info needed on these updates? Sure, IMHO.  And it will come.


There are many millions of customers in the same situation, looking to Microsoft to release another free update for Windows XP that offers offers improved security and the features touted in Windowsx XP SP2: protection against viruses, hackers, and worms, and features like Windows Firewall, Pop-up Blocker for Internet Explorer, and Windows Security Center.


Of interest:


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Blogger compares an Apple Mac Plus to an AMD DualCore PC

In a world of supersized fries and drinks, the blogger Hal Licino (who notes in his bio that he’s an IT expert who “lives for cats, pasta and Harleys”) compares the performance of a vintage 1986 Apple Macintosh Plus to a current, 2007 AMD DualCore computer. In many of the tests that Licino ran, he found that Apple’s System 6.0.8 OS with 4 MB of RAM compares or bested the 1GB AMD DualCore computer running Windows XP SP2.


“… For the functions that people use most often, the 1986 vintage Mac Plus beats the 2007 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+: 9 tests to 8! Out of the 17 tests, the antique Mac won 53% of the time! Including a jaw-dropping 52 second whipping of the AMD from the time the Power button is pushed to the time the Desktop is up and useable.


We also didn’t want to overly embarrass the AMD by comparing the time it takes to install the OS vs. the old Mac. The Mac’s average of about a minute is dwarfed by the approximately one hour install time of Windows XP Pro.


Is this to say that the Mac Plus is a better computer than the AMD? Of course not. The technological advancements of 21 years have placed modern PCs in a completely different league of varied capacities. But the “User Experience” has not changed much in two decades. Due to bloated code that has to incorporate hundreds of functions that average users don’t even know exist, let alone ever utilize, the software companies have weighed down our PCs to effectively neutralize their vast speed advantages. When we compare strictly common, everyday, basic user tasks between the Mac Plus and the AMD we find remarkable similarities in overall speed, thus it can be stated that for the majority of simple office uses, the massive advances in technology in the past two decades have brought zero advance in productivity.”


Hmmm… “zero advance in productivity.”


Perhaps. More than 20 years ago, I recall using an original Macintosh running spreadsheets, accounting software, word processing, email, page layout and graphics, all quite smoothly. (To accomplish these tasks, it had been upgraded to a screaming 1MB, and waited for a year or two for software.) I replaced with a powerful 68030 powered Mac SE, courtesy of a third party accelerator card. Yes, it was a small screen, but Radius changed all that when they brought out their full page displays. (Remember the pivoting CRT?)


Of course, I could then also stay up for nearly two days at a time without any negative impact…


I’ll guess that for most of the tasks, the findings would be similar with a modern Intel processor running on a Windows platform or a similarly configured Macintosh running Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger.

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A last migration to Vista, starting with Windows Easy Transfer

What a week. There are so many things going on at the office right now, with a number of meetings and reviews, and we’re just about to kick off a set of meetings to discuss (the continuing efforts of) how we can improve upon satisfying our customers and partners. (hello to all who are making the trip… dress for cool but sunny spring weather.) More on that next week.


Tonight after spending a rousing evening with 22 eight and nine year olds at my son’s ninth birthday party (at a local “Inflatable Party Zone“) and finally getting our boys to wind down, I began the migration of one of my last Windows XP machines at home to Windows Vista. As I ran Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor previously, I downlaoded and installed Windows Easy Transfer for Windows XP, a utility that helps move the files and settings on your current Windows XP (or even for PCs running Windows 2000 or Vista) to your new Windows Vista PC.



“Download Windows Easy Transfer for your Windows XP-based PC so you can automatically copy your files, photos, music, e-mail, settings, and more to your new Windows Vista based PC. This software enables you to transfer data with Easy Transfer Cables or across a network, external drive, or CD/DVD.” 


My plan is to use Windows Easy Transfer to copy the data to an external drive and then move it to my new computer.


Interestingly enough, after downloading the app, I noticed the following…



What Others Are Downloading



What I found interesting was that the Windows Easy Transfer Companion (Beta) wasn’t listed as a recommended programme on the Windows Easy Transfer download page. When you download this beta app, you’re pointed to “Windows Easy Transfer for Windows XP” as something that others downloaded. Windows Easy Transfer Companion helps transfer programs from a Windows XP PC to a new PC running Windows Vista. Programs can be transferred with an Easy Transfer Cable or over a network connection (I’ll use the latter, as I have a cross-over Ethernet cable handy).


Now it’s off to run the apps on this machine.

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Dell’s EC280 is an answer to the Apple Mac mini… but only if you live in China


MSN reported last month (as did BusinessWeek and others) that the new Dell EC280 was unveiled in China, with prices ranging from about $335 to $515. It’s a shame that the system will only be sold in China: some of the very things that Dell said would appeal to Chinese would be interesting here: low price, lower power consumption and compact size.



“It’s actually one-eighth the size of an ordinary desktop and comparable to Apple’s (APPL) Mac Mini. It uses an Intel (INTC) Celeron processor, commonly found in laptops, rather than a Pentium. And the PC consumes far less power—65 watts compared to an ordinary PC’s 250 watts. Because it uses less power, it only needs one fan, which makes it much quieter.”


DellLet’s see… small, compact, quiet and inexpensive. Not a bad combination.


Dell’s Dimension C521 is roughly 15″ square (that’s it on the right, next to the larger Dimension E521), a little more than twice the size of the Apple Mac mini, but it offers more expansion possibilities than the mini (with one PCI, one PCIe and a PCIe x16 graphics slot).


And at about half the price of a mini, the Dimension C521 might be a good small-format choice.


View HP Pavilion Slimline s3000y series detailsAdditional info, 042207: I found a reference to HP’s Pavilion Slimline s3000y series (that’s a mouthful) in my email box, a third of the size of other Pavillion PCs with a gloss finish and the latest Intel dual-core procs. (The AMD models are noted with an ‘e’ suffix in place of the ‘y.’)Worth noting as it appears to be about 10″ square, but I could not find the dimensions on the HP product website. Still, IMHO, it’s easier to ask for a mini than it is to remember Pavilion Slimline s3000y…

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Have it your way: Dell makes Windows Vista and Windows XP available

It has been a busy week, and between catching up at work and a backlog of email, sick kids and just about everything else that eats up one’s time.


This from the “listen and respond to your customer” file: Jessica Mintz of the Associated Press reports that Dell announced that they will let buyers choose between Microsoft’s older OS and Vista. Dell maintains a good subsite on Windows Vista, off of their main website, that covers the four Vista options to choose from, “depending on your system configurations and what you would like to do with your PC.” (Dell also offers their own assessment page, to see if yoru current PC is ready for Vista, available here). The Seattle Times discusses this in their techtracks blog and notes that “Microsoft can’t be thrilled.”   


Why is this so surprising?


I know of a few families not ready to make the move to Windows Vista, given that the majjority of machines in their home and at the office are running Windows XP SP2. IMHO, the ability to purchase a new machine with the latest technology and the OS that they are most familiar may be a good option for some families: it allows them to support one OS and ease into Vista. In our own home, we haven’t found the need to upgrade our machines as Windows XP generally meets the needs and the bulk of what our family does at home: Internet access, educational software, word processing, spreadsheets and (of course) games. (Lately, there has been more video viewing and Zune subscription content management.)


On the flip side, we are a mixed OS household environment with Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista (as well as a lone legacy Apple Macintosh laptop and an old desktop Macintosh, which now sit in our storage closet), and we’re doing fairly well. I also bring home and roam on our network at home with my work Vista-powered Tablet PC, and haven’t had any isses: I’m able to share files, network printers and connection to the Internet.


In fact, I’m considering the move on our remaining Windows XP machines to Vista… but only as I have time to make the migration, and upgrade RAM; although 1GB is installed on these machines now, I’d upgrade both machines to 2GB. Upgrading machines will also mean upgrading hardware (where possible), such as video cards; laptops will be constrained to the on-board video card memory we have today (32MB Radeon cards) — fine for most general applications. This will take time and effort that I’m just not ready to invest, at leasts not until my next vacation 😉 nor is it clear what the benefit would be for the machines, which are predominantly used by our kids today.


But all said, my soon to be 9-year-old announced that “Vista is cool” and he wants it on his machine. As Jim noted in a previous post, the security features in Windows Vista can be locked down through the new parental controls…



“In fact, parental controls in Windows Vista requires that the user you apply controls to is not running as an administrator. Email, phishing, and other social engineering attacks are definitely among the most prevalent attacks that home users experience today, and his machine has been locked down in these regards.”


That alone may be worth the investment in Vista… that and a new GB of memory.


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