GuruNews, Volume 9 Number 29, 8-13-09

Thu Aug 13 18:31:55 PDT 2009

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Vol. 9, No. 29                           

8-13-09

1 Windows XP gets another stay of execution        

2 Welcome to Vista

3 Cyber yard sales, Social Security blunder, another blow to Fair Use, Office oopsie

4 Password protection

5 Gadget port woes

A few weeks ago I warned you that if you wanted a new PC with XP you’d better move quickly.  It seems things have changed and Microsoft, reminiscent of it’s termination of Windows 98, has extended the deadline yet again.

Currently the death date for new sales stands as October 22nd, the date of the Windows 7 release.  Likely it will be pushed back again, but for now that’s where we stand.

I think MS is desperate to put Vista behind it and move onto a new and hopefully popular platform, and I must say I’ve liked what I’ve seen from the Windows 7 Beta so far, they’re stuck with two uncomfortable facts.

First is the woeful uptake level of Vista into established businesses.  Companies from small Mom-and-Pop shops to huge corporations simply refuse to replace or upgrade every PC to enable them to run Vista, the cost just can’t be justified for an OS at least as hated as Windows ME.

Second is the current popularity of netbooks.  I talked about these a couple of months ago after I got one and, while great for their intended purpose, they simply lack the power to run Vista.  They currently come with either a flavor of Linux or XP Home.  While not boosting the Vista sales numbers at least XP home on these devices is an income source.

Microsoft is likely hoping Windows 7 will change that.  It has a smaller resource footprint than Vista and ditches a lot of the annoying and wasteful features.  It runs on older equipment much better and the low power Atom processors in netbooks will at least run it, although it’s not exactly snappy.  It’s still based on Vista though, and I think killing XP before the market gets a feel for Windows 7 will likely drive down sales of computers in all sectors.  

Customers have been bitten before and will likely not jump at the chance to get nailed again.  If MS is smart, they’ll continue to sell XP well into 2010 in order to give IT professionals the chance to test not only the compatibility of 7 with existing hardware and peripherals but with custom applications.

Windows 98 got the sell date extended maybe eight times (well into XP territory, which totaled three OS iterations) so extending XP sales isn’t without precedent.

MS is a lot of things but they aren’t stupid.  Keep October 22nd in the back of your mind but don’t count on that as a hard date just yet.

Kevin Mefford, Editor

pcguru at microdome.net

Terry Wise

www.ratland.com

Tech News of the Week

Want to get rid of some of your stuff online, but don't want the hassle of dealing with the money aspect?  Check out this link for Listia.  You sell an item, you get credits, and you want an item you trade your credits in.  Shipping is to be worked out between the buyer and seller, but it probably works best for local pickup:

http://www.listia.com

The government gives back to Social Security benefactors after a glitch a couple of years ago in their computer system left many flagged as 'felons' in their database and withheld the benefits:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/11/AR2009081103282.html

Fair use gets another slap in the face today as Real Networks product RealDVD gets classified as being illegal for allowing people to make backup copies of their DVD's:

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/12/1220211/Judge-Rules-Against-RealDVD

Microsoft gets told to stop selling copies of Word by a Texas court after another company claims patent over some functionality that Word builds in to allow the creation of XML files  Pigs seen flying over the Alamo:

http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/314620/injunction_microsoft_word_unlikely_halt_sales

Copy us in on the good stuff!

Daniel A. Williams

daniel at thepcgurus.com

Download of the Week

The LSN Password Safe helps you keep track of your passwords with a free encrypted 'safe' on your PC. Once you have it set up it's easy to add a new record to your safe, with entries such as login, password, URL or e-mail; but using it for the first time might leave you scratching your head. LSN offers an impressive (sometimes daunting) number of security features including a virtual keyboard, multiple encryption options and CAPTCHAs to help keep your data safe from spying software.  NOTE:  LSN Password Safe is likely best suited to power-users who want strong security features and don't need much instruction.  

Get it here: 

http://tinyurl.com/pmfmqf

Carlita Lupino

Cards57 at gmail.com

Email Question of the Week

Q:  I have an AXIM50V I purchased in Nov. 2005. The female end of the Axim, > where you insert your charger and or blue tooth is loose and it keeps going off and on.

I paid $465 for the unit.

1. Is it fixable and where do I go.
2. Do you recommend a new one
3. If so, what model?

A:    Likely the port is worn and needs to be replaced.  I would first call Dell to get an estimate for repair, then prices new PDAs and decide which makes more sense.

I would lean toward a new one since a repair like that will likely cost at least $100 and may not be worth it for a device that old.

Of utmost importance for a replacement would be the ability to import your data, so check for that before you make a decision.  If none will do it the repair might be worth it...

Kevin Mefford

pcguru at microdome.net

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