hocuspokus » windows

MS Announces Six Editions of Windows 7

Daz — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:43:48 +0000

Should have expected this really. I would have thought producing all of these different versions of the OS would make development harder and more expensive - why not just produce one or two versions i.e. one for consumer and one for business use if you really need to segregate and fleece one market? Still at least it’s one different SKU down from Vista’s seven!

Microsoft has announced how it will package Windows Vista’s successor, Windows 7. And as ever, Microsoft has put segmentation ahead of clarity.

The one bright spot in Microsoft’s Windows 7 news is that - contrary to some reports - it won’t add a brand new edition solely for netbooks. Although even this is not that straight forward.

On Tuesday, the company Tuesday said Windows 7 would come in six editions: Windows 7 Starter Edition, Home Basic, Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate.

Not that the news was presented like this. Microsoft led on the fact that “most” customers would be served by “two primary” editions - Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional that respectively target consumer and business users.

via The Register

AVG Free Gets an Update

Daz — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:40:02 +0000

If you, like most of the world, are a Windows user, having to run things such as anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are just a part of everyday life to try and keep your system running nicely.

My personal favorite, that I install on all the Windows PCs that I regularly have to keep in check (family, friends who haven’t seen the light of Mac or Linux etc.) is AVG. Great news is that AVG plan to release the new free edition of AVG 8.0 on Thursday now with added spyware protection to boot! Great news, and sounds like it could be an essential upgrade.

AVG Technologies plans to release a revamped version of its popular, free anti-malware scanner on Thursday.

Version 8.0 of the software will add anti-spyware and safe search features to its core anti-virus engine. Safe surfing features, that give users warnings about visiting insecure websites all the time not just when they search, will remain a paid feature of AVG’s full fat product.

Both the safe search and safe surfing features use Linkscanner technology, acquired by AVG when it bought Exploit Prevention Labs last December

via

Britain Advises Against Vista, Office 2007 for Schools

Daz — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:19:35 +0000

Although I do have to admit to liking MS Office (and indeed MS Office 2007 is good), I have to agree with this recommendation. There is pretty much nothing MS Office could do that OpenOffice could not do for you in a school setting - so why shell out all that money for Office licenses and force the kids parents to as well (or resort to dodgy copies) when free software is good enough. And as for Vista… Linux has my vote for schools every time.

Britain Advises Against Vista, Office 2007 for Schools: “An anonymous reader writes ‘The British government’s educational IT authority has issued a report advising schools in the country not to upgrade their classroom or office systems to Windows Vista or Office 2007. According to this InformationWeek story, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency says costs for Vista and Office 2007 ‘are significant and the benefits remain unclear.’ Instead, Becta is advising British schools to take a long look at Linux and open source suites like OpenOffice.org.”

via