ROM-DOS

Visual Tour: 20 Things You Won't Like About Windows Vista
By Scot Finnie

. . .Microsoft is focused on casting off its yoke as the industry's security whipping boy. It's also intent on raising the bar to 64-bit architecture, driving the need for advanced video hardware and dual-core motherboards and pushing the RAM standard to 2GB -- all to help spur hardware and software sales over the next several years. Even though there are many great aspects of Windows Vista, taken as a whole, this next one could be Microsoft's first significant operating system failure in quite some time -- at least, as it's configured in Beta 2.

Here are the 20 Vista behaviors and functionalities that could turn off Windows users. Windows newbies may not mind some of these things, but they will definitely try the patience of the millions of Windows users who've got real experience and muscle memory invested in Microsoft's desktop operating system.

Read the full 13 page article for the complete review;

1. Little originality, sometimes with a loss of elegance.
2. Price.
3. Version control.
4. Installation takes forever.
5. Faulty assumption on the Start Menu.
6. Media Center isn't all there and falls flat.
7. Lack of Windows Sidebar Gadgets.
8. Problems without solutions.
9. Windows Defender Beta 2 is buggy.
10. Where are the file menus?
11. Display settings have changed for no apparently good reason.
12. Too many Network Control Panel applets, wizards and dialogs.
13. Network settings user experience went backwards.
14. Windows peer networking is still balky.
15. Some first-blush networking peeves.
16. No way to access the Administrator account in Vista Beta 2.
17. Two words: Secure Desktop.
18. User Account Controls $#^%!~!!!.
19. Aero stratification will cause businesses woe.
20. Minimum video system requirements are more like maximum.

. . .potentially you could see four separate versions of Vista on store shelves, as well as both upgrade and full-install variations.

The Home Basic version lacks Media Center, Tablet PC, Windows Aero support, Windows DVD Maker, Windows Fax and Scan, Windows Movie Maker for HD, and other features for corporate settings and backup. The plain truth is this: Don't buy a new PC or notebook with Home Basic. And if your existing hardware won't support anything but Home Basic, there's little reason to upgrade -- especially in a business setting. But even home users stand to gain very little from a Home Basic upgrade.

Home Premium is a perfectly reasonable version of Vista for home users. It's not the power user's version, but it's more than serviceable for advanced digital media and gaming pursuits.

The Business and Enterprise versions of Vista lack Media Center support and many of the digital media features. Most of what they add in is aimed at IT manageability, but a few features -- such as Fax and Scan, scheduled user data backup, Windows Shadow Copy, system image-based backup and recovery, and the ability to host Remote Desktop sessions -- probably belong in all the Vista versions. To get those features while also keeping Media Center and digital media features, you have to move all the way up to the top of the list and spring for Windows Vista Ultimate.

It'll probably come as no surprise that while Vista Business will be perfectly fine in enterprise settings, home and small business users who possess the latest and greatest hardware with media features will gravitate to the most expensive version of Vista.

So would it be surprising for Windows Vista Ultimate to have a suggested retail price of $329, $339 or $349? Don't bet against it. I don't see Microsoft effectively lowering the price of Vista Home Premium (akin to XP Home) or Vista Business/Enterprise (akin to XP Pro) -- especially when it's merging Tablet PC and Media Center features in many of these lesser versions.
Copyright © 2006 Computerworld Inc.

Dell will provide laptops with Skype pre-installed

"Well, now we can definitely says Dell is the winner. Besides Google software, laptops made under Dell's trademark shall also come with the popular and free VoIP application Skype pre-installed. The weird thing is that the owner of Skype is San Jose-based Web auctioneer eBay, which actually fights Google on the market, because of the alliance with Yahoo. Now they'll just have to co-exist on our Dell-made computers..."

"As the leading notebook supplier, Dell is committed to delivering cutting-edge technology that provides voice and video connectivity virtually anywhere," said Brett Faulk, worldwide marketing director, consumer notebooks. "Teaming with Skype, the trend setter in Internet communications, will provide our customers the very best experience when reaching out and staying in touch with friends and family around the world."

"Dell chose Skype to be pre-installed on its new mobile computers because it boasts 100 million subscribers, making it "extremely attractive," said Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden. "For the No. 1 supplier of notebooks to team up with a leading Internet communication company like Skype, it's really a good relationship for both." Skype will come bundled with Dell's new XPS M2010 "portable entertainment PC" and its XPS M1210, a lightweight laptop, which were both unveiled Wednesday. The XPS M2010 sells for $3,500 and the "ultraportable" XPS M1210 is priced at $1,300."

"All the laptops equipped with Skype will own a build-in web-cam and wireless capabilities that will allow users to speak freely using the VoIP technology, whether they're using a mobile telephone or Bluetooth headsets."

For more info on Dell's XPS laptops;
http://news.zdnet.co...22-6078433.html

AMD Announces Dual-Socket, Dual-Core '4x4' Platform
By Mark Hachman

Advanced Micro Devices is expected to announce a new dual-core, dual-processor platform later Thursday, in an attempt to roll over the competition in the enthusiast computing space.

Dubbed "4x4", the new enthusiast platform will debut at AMD's Technology Day in its headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. Two Taiwan ODM system makers will launch 4x4 systems beginning in the second half of 2006, AMD executives said.

Patrick Moorhead, AMD's vice president of marketing, declined to comment directly on a report by RBC Capital Markets analyst Apjit Walia, which postulated that AMD was in a position to merge with or acquire Canadian graphics giant ATI Technologies. "I think that there's a lot to gain coming out with graphics folks," Moorhead said. "We're not a go-at-it alone type company; we're walking hand in hand with more folks."

When asked if Dell would be that customer, Moorhead initially remained silent. Dell acquired Alienware in March as an independent subsidiary, and Alienware former chief executive Nelson Gonzalez explained that his company would have the freedom to choose microprocessors from whatever supplier it wished. Dell's main PC division, however, has never marketed a PC with an AMD processor.

"We would always welcome Dell as a customer," Moorhead said. "I think it's going to be hard to play in the enthusiast space and ignore us."

4X4: the enthusiast market, evolved

According to Moorhead, the company's resurgence in the microprocessor market was built upon offering superior products to enthusiasts. In 2001, the company began preaching the virtues of performance measured in transactions per clock, rather than pure megahertz. In 2003, the Athlon FX offered an "unlocked" version of the microprocessor, returning enthusiasts to the early days of the PC, when users could push CPUs to their limits, Moorhead said.

The 4x4 initiative will be directly targeted at enthusiasts, according to Moorhead. Each socket will include an AMD Athlon64 X2 chip in a new AM2 socket, although what limitations will be placed on the clock speed will not be released until a future date, he said. Each socket will be connected using AMD's "Direct Connect" architecture, which already provides a dedicated channel from each of the CPU cores out to the system memory, and to each other. Due to the nature of the Direct Connect architecture, each CPU can access the other's dedicated memory store.

The 4x4 board will also tweak the front-side bus speed, according to Moorhead. The 4x4 architecture will use unbuffered, non-ECC DIMMs and AMD's "Pacifica" virtualization technology. "It's not a warmed-over workstation board," he said.

Moorhead also declined to comment on what type of cooling solution the new boards will require. Although AMD launched a line of 35-watt low-power desktop CPUs earlier this month, the company's standard Athlon64 and Athlon64 X2 processors will consume a maximum of 89 watts. "Expect a really unique cooling solution," Moorhead said.
Copyright © 2001-2006: Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc.

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AMD Live! PC Launch Backed By Free Media Apps
By Mark Hachman
 
AMD's partners are expected to announce the first PCs based on the AMD Live! entertainment platform on Tuesday, the day that AMD will begin to make available a number of specialized, free applications to improve the multimedia experience on Live! PCs.

Initially, Live! PCs will be not much more than existing computers designed around the Athlon64 X2 microprocessors that Advanced Micro Devices manufactures. Over time, however, OEMs including Acer, Alienware, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Gateway, HP, Sahara, and Tsinghua Tongfang will preload the five new AMD Live! Entertainment Suite applications, which AMD plans to add to over time to build out the new Live! platform.

The new Live! Entertainment Suite will rebrand existing third-party applications, tie them into the AMD brand name, and offer them to consumers for free. AMD is also considering whether to capitalize on any brand equity the new applications earn by pushing consumers toward a future Live!-branded portal, AMD executives said.

While a number of companies have set out to allow user-owned media to be played on multiple devices around the house, no one company has tried to navigate through the minefields of incompatible digital-rights-management schemes. AMD will also avoid this, for the time being. "We're not solving any DRM issues yet in our first iteration of AMD Live!," de Onis said. "We're focused on Windows Media Center applications."

Live! PCs must be powered by AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core machines running at 4200+ speeds or faster, and must enable Cool 'n' Quiet, the low-power desktop mode that is designed to lower the ambient fan noise when the highest performance isn't required. The PCs must also have Microsoft's "away mode" enabled, which will allow a user to "boot" to the desktop within two seconds from standby or hibernate mode. Finally, all Live! PCs must ship with Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition software installed.

Initially, users will have to download the five applications themselves from the AMD Live! web site. OEMs will begin to preload the applications in time for the holiday sales season, or about October, de Onis said. Over time, the website will evolve into a repository of tips and tools to help consumers build out their entertainment world, according to the company.
Copyright © 1996-2006 Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc.

Yahoo introduces improved video service
By Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service

Yahoo on Thursday launched a new site designed to make it easier for Web users to find and share videos.

The site builds on Yahoo's existing video search capability and will compete with video search services from Google, AOL, Microsoft's MSN, and other video-sharing sites like YouTube.com and MySpace.com.

Visitors to http://video.yahoo.com/ can store their favorite videos, browse based on category, and upload their own videos to the site. Site visitors can review and rate videos and also embed the Yahoo Video player in their own Web sites or blogs to share videos.
Copyright © 2006 IDG News Service

Wanna take over a web site?

I just found the strangest (or maybe it's the game music I'm listening to ~ lol)
empty site ever!! >> http://www.newssocket.com/
sign up for the Forum and use the name you use here (if you want)
and see what I mean ~ it's freaky ~ well that game music in the back ground is, at least!! ~ lol

OK, this is how I found them; http://www.webfoundation.net/
has a free image hosting site called; Image Socket
http://www.imagesocket.com/
plus a few other projects; http://www.webfoundation.net/projects/
like http://www.newssocket.com/ and http://www.arcadesocket.com/

Now click on the background music and sign up for the Forums and free image hosting while your at it ~ leave that damn game running in another tab for the music effect and check out the forum!

Let me know when your there and we'll take it over ~ lol

you got to check this out!!  ~ just for the fun of it!!