CBG, in the person of Keith Edgar, have posted a 2 page apology in all residences about the unfortunate remarks of “their representative.”  We thought he was a Senior Executive!  You will find it on its own page under the Bulletin Board section of this website.

 They are planning to publish a further letter regarding inaccuracies on our side.  We look forward to reading this with interest.  They are now also holding House Manager’s briefing sessions to discuss how to stop the RTM movement which is growing inexorably throughout their residences, 147 of which are now harbouring members of Carlex.  Might we suggest that an immediate cut to HM flat rentals and a positive statement about exit fees could be of help to them in the current circumstances.

We are now front page news on the online magazines, Goodbye9to5 and NewsontheBlock.com.  Links to both these publications appear in our links section, to the right and lower down this page.

PS : The small group of complainers has now generated more than 22,000 hits on this website.

PPS: Sunday night – they are still out there logging on – this “small group” has now gone past 23,000.

Went out and started a new wall today only to be rained right off so made a series of prints onto tshirts.

If you want to buy one of these prototypes at £8.00

(Inc P+P within the UK.)

let me know via email: betarok75@yahoo.com

Peace!

]]> http://betarok75.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/beta-blackbook-rok-16-11-09/ Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:55:55 +0000 betarok75 http://betarok75.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/beta-blackbook-rok-16-11-09/

Super cool night in with AZID AND POIS!

Strictly ink..no pencil milarky.

Hi,

über bink.nu habe ich gesehen dass unter http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=e05aecbc-d0eb-4e0f-a5db-8f236995bccd

der Forefront TMG 2010 Eval Download verfügbar ist.

Allerdings ist auf dem TMG Team Blog noch nichts davon „offiziell“ zu lesen … aber bereits auf der Tech-Ed 2009 in Berlin verwendete David Cross (Senior Product Manager) die RTM Version von Forefront TMG 2010 und verkündete, dass Forefront TMG den RTM Status erreicht hat. Verfügbar soll die TMG RTM Version für den 01.12.2009 in US und auch Deutschland sein.

[Update 17.11.09] Jetzt hat auch Yaron Zakai-Or (Group Program Manager, Forefront TMG) in seinem Artikel Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 Release das offizielle RTM angekündigt![/UPDATE]

Na dann, Viel Spass beim selber Testen!
CU

Aquatabs – the Hybrid Social Distribution Model

Last month I spoke to Michael Gately, Marketing Director of Medentech.  The company is well known for its Aquatabs brand of rapidly dissolving tablets. It is one of the best known and most respected names in point-of-use water purification globally and is used to disinfect billions of litres of water every year.

TN: What is the public private partnership?

MG: It is a collaborative model that involves WHO (World Health Organization), UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Fund) and at country level it also includes central, local governments and NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations).

TN: Your Route-to-market strategy revolves around a hybrid model. Can you elaborate on this?

MG: The hybrid model includes three legs:  Emergency preparedness, retail sales supported by above the line advertising and door to door social marketing.  At the retail level we normally work with local importers. However , in a number of countries, NGOs such as PSI (Population Services International) can also fulfill the role of importer and distributor at the retail level.

TN: Can you explain the door to door distribution?

MG: In some countries NGOs are organizing a door to door sales person. This person fulfills the role of a community based distributor and also an outreach worker. They derive their income from the sales of Aquatabs and other products. Door to door distribution is very important as the sales person finds himself right there where the child might be sick today. The sales person also has the opportunity to hand them a behaviour change message and handle any objections they might have. This is very hard to do with above the line advertising.

TN: What is your pricing strategy?

MG: We don’t arrive in a country with a price point and we normally work backwards to make sure everybody in the sales channel earns a livable wage. We also want to make sure that our prices are in line with what people are willing to pay for our products. The margins that people can earn are very attractive and Medentech has a long term commitment to keep their prices affordable.

TN: How do you forecast demand?

MG: Pre-positioning is a big part of what we do and we have stock pre-positioned all over the world. The businesses we are in have enormous search capacity. You don’t know when another Tsunami might happen.  We normally plan five years ahead and are currently constructing a new factory in India. Our capacity is way beyond what any urgent search might require. However, having products available in local shops is the ultimate in crisis preparedness.

TN: Do you provide any training to partners?

MG: We have developed a comprehensive training program for emergency water treatment. It is a day long training program that we provide to all of our distributors. The training program covers key issues such as water treatment options and what to do in an emergency.

TN: What does the future hold for water purification?

MG: The water sector is going to become more and more stressed and the need is growing.  There are 5,000 children a day dying due to diarrhea and we can have a substantial impact. Hybrid social marketing is still a relatively new science and we are learning all the time.  However, there are organizations with expertise in the area, in particular, PSI, AED and Path. The mood among our network is that we just need to get on with it and do it.

Sau đây là link tải trực tiếp (file ISO) của Win7, phiên bản RTM mới nhất (build 6.1.7600.16385) của Win7 Ultimate/Professional/Home Premium Edition. Dung lượng đều không dưới 2Gb và là phiên bản tiếng Anh.
Tôi cũng không rõ nhưng có lẽ bản RTM này cũng cho phép sài thử trong 90 ngày ?
Đọc tiếp… »

Oggi vi proponiamo questo pack contenete tutti i Wallpapers di Windows 7 RTM. Il download lo trovate in basso . Buon download!

Downloads

Windows 7 RTM Official Wallpapers Pack | Download

The scores for graphics are higher than under Windows 7 RC – lifting the overall score – but the experience is not much changed: it’s still snappy and responsive.

Drivers are provided, out-of-the-box, for for all of the XT’s hardware bar the multi-touch screen. The touch screen’s manufacturer, N-trig, have made Windows 7-specific drivers available; although the as-of-writing link on the page refers to the “Windows 7 Release Candidate”, the download itself seems to contain up-to-date drivers for Windows 7 RTM.

To enable automatic re-orientation of the XT’s display when switching between notebook- and slate-modes, install the Dell QuickSet application (the XT does not have an accelerometer like, say, the iPhone). Dell do not appear to be providing Windows 7-specific drivers (and other software) for the XT, but the Windows Vista version of QuickSet seems fully compatible with 7.

Golden Goose Resources (GGR) – listed at $0.20 – high since $0.49 – .325 – completed financing, one of the best junior gold stocks around with over 1 mln ounces of gold, with mills close by, scoping study underway, and has just started a new drilling program to increase the resource.

Mirasol Resources Ltd. (MRZ) – listed at $0.17 – high since $1.00 – .66 – has been going up with no hard news, drilling by Coeur d’Alene continues on one property in Argentina, company has also identified significant new silver/gold drill targets on another.

Rolling Rock Resources Corp. (RLL) – listed at $0.10 – high since $0.25 – .17 – another junior with a resource of 944,000 oz. gold along with a completed scoping study, stock slowly trending up.

Tawsho Mining Inc. (TAW) – listed at $0.085 – high since $0.20 – .185 – shows a resource of over 400,000 oz gold in the Chibougamau camp, actively looking at other projects.

Takara Resources Inc. (TKK) – listed at $0.03 – high since $0.05 – .045 – has sold gold properties to Garson Gold (GG) for shares which it distributed to shareholders as a stock dividend, currently doing private placement in conjunction with acquiring St. Eugene (SEM) which has right to acquire the Tartan Lake Gold mine in Manitoba.

Medallion Resources Ltd. – (MDL) – listed at $0.13 – high since $0.21 – .15 – market changed and could not finance iron-titanium deposit in Quebec, has changed direction, did a private placement and with management having great expertise in rare earth and lithium, is currently looking at new properties.

Prospector Cons. Res. Inc. – (PRR) – listed at $0.045 – high since $0.055 – .035 – tungsten deposit in Yukon is currently on hold, has been looking at acquiring a new property along with a financing.

Gossan Resources Limited – (GSS) – listed at $0.075 – high since $0.27 – .24 – a mixed  bag, new process for extracting magnesium from their dolomite deposit gave positive results, just completed a field program on lithium property adjacent to Avalon Rare Earth’s Big Whopper deposit.

Source Exploration Corp. – (SOP) – listed at $0.11 – high since $0.28 – .20 – got extension on property, has over $1 mln cash, new president with silver mining experience, started drilling on Zacatecas silver property with a Silver Standard calculated historical resource of 14.4 mln ounces silver.

GLG Life Tech Corporation – (GLG) – listed at $7.40 – high since $12.96 – 9.73 – many positive developments, great product, recent earnings report was right on target and has enormous potential BUT just announced a prospectus financing along with a listing application for NASDAQ and a surprise 4 for 1 consolidation of the shares (prices changed to reflect this)…. which has resulted in stock tanking from $11 level. Disappointment, but to attract funds in US market, a natural progression.

Explore Resources Inc. – (EXS) – listed at $0.34 – high since $0.54 – .39 – acquired large Timmins claim block which holds great potential, has a number of other good gold properties as well, will require a substantial funding to explore property, letterwriter Greg McCoach recommending stock.

RT Minerals Corp. – (RTM) – listed at $0.22 – high since $0.25 – .21 – tight stock as less than 18 mln shs out, geologically one of the better junior gold properties in Timmins West area, just completed private placement to fund deep penetrating geophysical, has lined up a larger financing that is linked to sponsorship for listing on TSXV, will drill property this winter.

Red Pine Exploration Inc. – (RPX) – listed at $0.12 – high since $0.125 – .08 – optioned off their Timmins property to WTM (now Lake Shore Gold) which was reason for this listing in first place and lost all leverage there, very disappointing, has Abitibi-West gold property in Swayze greenstone belt and just optioned block of adjoining claims.

Windows 7 steht seit dem 22. Oktober in den Regalen. Seitdem wurde ich immer wieder gefragt, ob irgendwie ein Upgrade von Windows 7 RC (Release Candidate) auf die fertige Verkaufsversion möglich ist.

Deswegen möchte ich auf einen Artikel hinweisen, den ich im August verfasst habe und nochmals betonen, dass ein Upgrade durch die einfache Änderung einer einzigen Datei möglich ist: Upgrade von Windows 7 RC auf Windows 7 RTM.

Microsoft empfiehlt allerdings eine Neuinstallation, um mögliche Komplikationen zu vermeiden. Aus persönlicher Erfahrung kann ich aber sagen, dass bei mir ein Upgrade hervorragend funktioniert hat und mit keinerlei Komplikationen verbunden war.

Hier also nochmals der genaue Ablauf, den ihr für ein Upgrade befolgen müsst. (Wenn ihr mehr dazu lesen wollt, klickt den Link oben an!)

• Installations-DVD auf der Festplatte entpacken.
• Verzeichnis der entpackten DVD öffnen und in den Unterordner sources browsen.
• Dort dann die Datei cversion.ini (zB mit Notepad oder dem Editor) öffnen.
• MinClient=7233.0 ändern in MinClient=7000.0 und die Datei speichern.
• setup.exe im Verzeichnis der entpackten DVD starten.
• Bei entsprechender Aufforderung Upgrade wählen.

If you own a flat in the United Kingdom, chances are that you are under a leasehold contract. If you are in London and you are a foreigner, you may not be very familiar with this concept and I hope this article will be of your interest.

In my experience in buying and selling properties, both under a leasehold and freehold tenure schemes, I learned that under the leasehold tenure conditions YOU MUST keep yourself up to speed with the articles and covenants of your lease, as well as the relations between the organisation that manages the building and the leaseholders (all the leaseholders, not only yourself).

For those who are not familiar with the leasehold concept, this is in simple words a licence to dwell in the property for limited amount of time as specified in the lease documentation. This time can be variable and, as you would expect, these contracts have a time value that can influence the market value of your property. If you buy a property with a too short residual lease time, you may face several problems when selling or remortgaging the property. In the former case buyers may be turned off by the length of the lease and their interest may fade even at lower prices, in the latter case a bank may refuse financing your purchase or – even worse – to refinance your property once your first or past mortgage agreement has expired. This is, in one word, a disaster. In practical terms, you will have a big debt to pay, nobody willing to buy your property for that value, and nobody willing to refinance, leaving you possibly with a very expensive tracking interest rate to pay.

One option would be of course to buy the freehold or to have the terms of your lease extended for as much as needed. It goes without saying that this will cost you money.

But the main point of this article is that management companies are very often more interested in making money and than in providing services and fulfilling their responsibilities. The way things are in the UK, you just have to pay what is required, when you receive an invoice. However, the law gives you the tools to challenge the actions of the managing agent and a great deal of rights. For example, you can review and inspect the accounts and bills, and you can also team up with the other leaseholder to gain the right to manage. There are certain conditions to satisfy but it’s far from being impossible and you don’t need to demonstrate any dissatisfaction with the service provided: it is simply a decision that can be made at any time, if the conditions and circumstances are right.

I spent a long time managing some of my properties and have now developed the idea that freeholders and leaseholders would greatly benefit from having someone like me to manage their properties. Among the unethical behaviours that I can mention about the management companies, there are: double charging, reluctance in taking care of the premises, foggy accounting, overcharging, inflating costs by mean of conflicts of interest, tendering necessary works and give the job to owned companies, receive commissions on building insurances, and so forth. The list is long.

As I said, I gained substantial experience and one day may decide and commit to putting my experience to the service of the inexperienced buyer and leaseholder. I am not money driven and I am not sure I would like to do this as a job, but would be keen to help where I can, covering my costs by charging a honest price. Meanwhile, if anyone read this article, I would welcome some feedback and questions.

Recently, my Win7 RC has been pretty tight for HDD space. I went to disk management and I found out my HDD had 2 unallocated chunks. I right clicked on my C drive and the extend option was unavailable. If any one has any ideas, leave a comment or reply here http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7hardware/thread/93aeb43b-be18-4cb8-80c3-99c30a00a82f
Thank You

In principal saptamana trecuta a fost acaparata de subiectul “Windows 7″ si s-a cam pierdut mare parte din surprize, din cauza lansarii variantelor beta si RTM cu atata timp inainte. Nu e rau, nu e nici bine, se cam impart procentele. Dar acum ca e oficial, si ca e la vanzare, cu pretul de 199$, Windows 7 va fi urmatorul “must-have” si nu datorita pretului sau a noilor implementari. Ci doar simplul fapt ca e cel mai nou, deci cu ceva mai bun decat Vista si XP.

Cei pasionati de IT&C stiu probabil ca dupa lansarea XP-ului din 2001, au aparut niste zvonuri cu privire la un “nume de cod” ce parca anunta un viitor Windows. Acel nume de cod era Longhorn si in 2003 la Profesional Developers Conference a fost in centrul atentiei. Pe vremea aia ideea din spatele Longhorn reprezenta un salt imens fata de XP, era ca trecerea de la CLI-ul MS-DOS, la GUI-ul Windows 1.o. Era prezenta interfata Aero, ce stim acum normal in Vista, avea si un nou File System, WinFS, ce era la baza un NTFS (cel din XP), dar cu SQL in spate pentru indexare. Pana la Windows Vista, in 2007, s-au mai adaugat un kernel nou, cel din Windows Server, un sistem de securitate mai bun, mai nou si finisarea interfetei grafice.

Acum suntem in 2009, avem un nou Windows, multi fiind entuziasmati de cat de bun e, si cat de “prost” e Vista. Altii lauda viteza XP-ului comparativ cu Vista si 7.  Luate pe rand, Windows 7 nu e “the quantum leap” peste Vista. Este doar un Vista cu ceea ce-i lipsea Windows-ului Vista, adica un timp, 1-2 ani, in care sa se creeze niste impresii, oamenii sa se obisnuiasca cu Aero, cu noul File Systemsi tot ce aducea Vista nou. Acum mai toti isi pot pune mai mult de 1 GB RAM, dar desi nici in 2007 nu era mare lucru 1 GB, multi au criticat “apetitul” Vista. Acum piata e altfel, mai receptiva, iar 7 a beneficiat si de perioada “beta” si de antemergatorul Vista.

Nu vad in Windows 7 un “Mesia” printre sistemele de operare, ci un Vista mai sedimentat, mai cum trebuia sa fie Vista in ianuarie 2007. Acum ca Microsoft incepe sa se implice iar, sa-si recupereze p[rocentele pietei pierdute, nu putem spera decat la produse mai bune.

Acum ca alternative avem Ubuntu, SuSE, Mandriva, Sabayon etc.. Poate chiar Mac OS. Cu hardware-ul Apple, un Mac OS X este chiar stabil, viteza este remarcabila si reuseste sa impresioneze prin simplitatea interfetei si a modului de a instala aplicatii.

Eu sunt Nostradam.012, si voi mai reveni cu articole, diferite ca tema, poate ceva din IT&C sau din presa. Lasati niste comentarii ca prime impresii.

Former Umno stalwart and propaganda minister Mohamed Rahmat has done everyone a service by revealing in his recently-published political memoirs why he was (somewhat affectionately by some) called Umno’s Goebbels during the excesses of the Mahathir era.

In an interview with the Star on Sunday, Tok Mat “freely admits that his job was really as a Propaganda Minister (while he was information minister for a dozen years).

He also explains that “in 1995, during the Sabah state elections, he sent 500 ministry staff members to ‘campaign for Umno’ to topple Joseph Pairin Kitingan’s Parti Bersatu Sabah from the state government.

Other points in the interview:

• Very few were working (100%) for Dr Mahathir. I was totally devoted to him (when Mahathir was challenged by Musa Hitam, Tengku Razaleigh and, later, Anwar Ibrahim.

• Developers of the Second Link to Singapore, Dr Mahathir’s “friends”, tried to acquire village land in his constituency at 80 sen per sq ft so they could resell it at RM17.80 psf.

• His relentless promotion of Dr Mahathir indirectly made him “the most hated man in Malaysia”, he says. People called him the “barking dog of the government”

• He was dropped as Information Minister in May 1999 because “forked tongues” whispered to Dr Mahathir that he was a secret Anwar supporter. “Dr Mahathir dropped me without any hati budi (grace and gratitude).”

• Dr Mahathir blamed Pak Lah (for everything) “even though the initial problems were caused by he himself. This is the ‘expertise’ of Dr Mahathir”.

• Corruption really became a “cancer” within Umno during Dr Mahathir’s era.

‣ Full report at Sunday Star

Gestern kam über den RTM-Blog ein kleiner Tipp, den ich so bereits praktiziert habe. Dennoch wollte ich ihn an dieser Stelle nochmal erwähnen und um einen weiteren Tipp erweitern!
Kurz umschrieben empfiehlt der Blogeintrag, dass man Suchlisten auch über RTM verwalten sollte. DVDs, CDs, Bücher, alles, was man irgendwann mal kaufen oder ansehen will, kann man in einer separaten Liste hinterlegen und hat z.B. mit einem modernen Mobiltelefon per Internet immer Zugriff auf diese Listen. So verspricht der RTM-Blog Zeit- und Frustersparnis, wenn man in der Videothek vor den Regalen voller Filme steht, und nicht weiß, was man ausleihen mag (;

Nun kann man diesen Tipp aber auch erweitern: Man gibt die Suchlisten für die Öffentlichkeit frei. Und schon hat man einen öffentlich zugänglichen Wunschzettel, wie man ihn z.B. von Amazon kennt, nur eben unabhängig von dem Online-Handel und mit beliebigem Inhalt füllbar!
Die freigegebenen Listen sind dann einsehbar über http://www.rememberthemilk.com/home/USERNAME
Einziger Wermutstropfen an der Sache: Wenn man z.B. bei Büchern die ISBN-Nummer als Notiz zu der “Aufgabe” hinterlegt hat, schaut der Betrachter in die Röhre. Die Notizen werden nämlich nicht veröffentlicht. So bleibt wieder nur der Link zu Amazon als Lösung (;

For a while now I’ve been using my own version of Get Things Done (GTD) and it seems to work for me so I thought I’d sahre my experiences and thoughts so far.

I got into GTD because lots was going on around me but I was loosing track of what I needed to do, or kept loosing any notes I’d made about important stuff.  While I thought I was an organised person, this wasn’t really the case.  So I done what most people do these days, I turned to the web for help.

There’s certainly plenty of websites out there to help you track ToDos with Remember The Milk (RTM) and Google Tasks being two of the popular ones I’ve tried.  And then there’s also loads of ways of keeping notes, such as a simple text document or wiki’s or Google Notepad or Evernote, all of which I’ve also tried.  And then there’s various GTD methodologies that I’ve dabbled in.  However the majority of these need time to plan in front of a computer so you can organise yourself, and then you need to commit to some ritual that you slavishly need to stick to (you can tell my thooughts on these ).  I’m trying to spend less time in front of the computer, not more! – although I have recently received my nice new Dell laptop, now with Win7 Ultimate on it!

A while back however I stumbled across Moleskin notebooks at one of my favourite sites Lifehacker.  From here I found various articles about how people have used Moleskin norebooks to help them organise themselves.  Going back to ‘analogue’ sounded interesting so I decided to try pen and paper!  I carry my personal Moleskin (large lined) most places with me, and I have one for work as well.

While I’ve had many notebooks in the past there’s something about the quality of Moleskins that make the experience different.  However what also helped was some organisation.  Now at the start of every notebook I have the following:

* Index

* To Do list

Each page is then numbered for easy reference.  The initial pages are marked with a couple of sticky labels to make it easier to find them.  And I’ve managed to attach a pen to my Moleskins with some Duct tape.  I keep opposite pages blank, this is in case I remember something later, or if I need to highlight something – or in my work one where I highlight my actions.

I find Moleskin brings a number of advantages over other notebooks:

* There’s a handy puch at the back for storing train tickets, business cards etc

* They’ve got an elestic band to help keep them closed when you stuff them with paper

* Better quality notebook – while a bit intangible it works for me

So now I jot down my notes in my Moleskin and index it at the front, with a simple ToDo list at the front as well, and that’s just about it!

It has proved really effective for me.  I don’t deny it would be a hassle if I lost one of my notebooks, there’s no ‘backup’, but maybe that just makes me more careful.

I do however ’still’ use eletronic notes.  I use the ToDo list on my mobile phone for when I need reminded to do something by a certain time/date (often!).  And I do still use Google Tasks on occassion.  I am also really trying to use Evernote as so many people rave about, I still though find it too onerous.  Maybe it’ll just click one day and I’ll live it, haven’t got there yet.

A final FYI, I wrote all this on my Moleskin while sitting on the train, with no internet (free) access.  For me a lot of the GTD theories seem to spend to much time planning and not doing!  Just like at school/Uni when I spent more time writing my study plan tha actually studying.  So I’ve nick-named my direct approach as Just Do It (JFDI)!  If you need to do something, write it down on your list, if you need to remember something, write it down and index it – SIMPLE!

Microsoft must be all geared up for the Windows 7 release, which is due October 22nd. This is going to be a massive event at Microsoft. After Windows Vista disaster, well – most people call this OS a disaster, folks at Microsoft must be keeping their fingers crossed. Personally, I don’t think folks at Microsoft have anything to worry about. Overall, feedback for Windows 7 has been exceptionally good, which should help release some tension at Microsoft.

Steve Ballmer is still apprehensive about this release though. As per him, Windows Vista feedback initially had been outstanding when it was in the Beta stage. But later, the cards were turned and Windows Vista did blow away Microsoft reputation to some extent. I think Windows 7 will bring back the pride for Microsoft. I have been using this operating system since the Beta release and I have not had a single crash till date when I am on to a RTM version.

I wish the folks at Microsoft all the luck. This time they truely deserve it. No matter what people say about Windows 7, you know being a copy of so and so operating systems etc, but I stand and support them for delivering an excellent product. Way to go Microsoft…

Nici nu incape indoiala ca majoritatea persoanelor care au folosit un MAC si un PC, (desktop sau laptop) prefera cel dintai in detrimentul celui de-al doilea. De ce? Deoarece multi opteaza pentru design, finete si un user-firendly mai eficient decat cel de la Microsoft.

Insa, cei de la Cnet (cu Dong Ngo in frunte) erau curiosi de alt lucru: daca Snow Leopard (ultimul sistem de operare pentru Mac) este mai bun decat Windows 7 (ultimul sistem de operare de la Microsoft pentru PC). Pentru testele lor, au ales un MacBook Pro din 2008, de 15 inch cu un procesor de 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB memorie RAM si placa video Nvidia GeForce 9600GT de 512MB. Pe acest Mac, ei au instalat Snow Leopard 10.6.1 si un Windows 7 pe 64 biti (RTM – ultima versiune). Rezultatele sunt urmatoarele:

• Snow Leopard are un boot-time cu 6 secunde mai bun decat Windows 7
• Snow Leopard a avut nevoie de 149.9 secunde pentru a converti 17 piese audio ‘mp3′ in formatul ‘aac’, pe cand Windows 7 a avut nevoie de alte 12 secunde in plus.
• Snow Leopard a convertit cu 300 de secunde mai rapid un film de format ‘mp4′ in formatul necesar pentru ipod.
• Snow Leopard a reusit sa fie activ timp de 111 minute, in timp ce laptop-ul avea doar bateria ca sursa de energie, pe cand Windows 7 doar 77 de minute.
• Snow Leopard a fost inferior la testele pentru performanta video, insa nu la o diferenta prea mare.

Windows 7 a putut fi instalat pe MacBook Pro-ul de la Apple, utilizand drivere de la BootCamp 3.0, deci aceste teste ar putea fi oarecum subiective. De notat ca testele nu pot fi efectuate cu un Snow Leopard instalat pe un PC obisnuit, pentru ca persoanele din conducerea Apple nu sunt de acord sa permita aceasta instalare.

ألفا.. بيتا.. RC.. ربما يتسائل البعض منها عن معنى هذه الكلمات، حيث عادة ما نشاهدها عندما نبحث عن برنامج أو تطبيق ما، حسنا هذه الكلمات تدل على مراحل دورة حياة التطبيق (Software)، حيث أن أي تطبيق يمر بعدة مراحل للإختبار والتجربة قبل أن يتم طرحه على العامة تطلق على كل مرحلة منها تسمية ما، ، وأول من بدأ في هذا النظام هي شركة IBM المعروفة، وفيما يلي قائمة بأهم المراحل التي يمر بها التطبيق:

1. مراحل التطوير:
أ. مرحلة (Pre-Alpha): أولى مراحل تصميم وتطوير التطبيق، ولا تحتوي أو تشمل نسخة (Pre-Alpha) على كل الوظائف.
ب. مرحلة (Alpha): نسخة يتم طرحها لإختبارها وتجربتها داخليا (أي داخل الشركة أو المنظمة أو المجتمع المطور لهذا التطبيق).
ج. مرحلة (Beta): نسخة يتم طرحها لإختبارها من قبل مجموعة محددة من المستخدمين أو من قبل العامة وأحيانا يتم طرحها مجانا، تعتبر هذه النسخة غير ثابتة وقد تحتوي على ثغرات أو أخطاء.
د. نسخة  (Release candidate) أو تعرف إختصارا (RC): نسخة إجتازت بنجاح المراحل السابقة ومرشحة لتكون نسخة نهائية.
بعض الشركات أو المنظمات تستخدم كلمات أخرى كذلك، مثل جاما (Gamma)  ودلتا (Delta) والتي قد تدل على مراحل أخرى يمر بها التطبيق، والجدير بالذكر أن ألفا وبيتا وجاما أو غاما وسجما ودلتا هي أحرف يونانية.

2. مراحل الإنتاج:
أ. مرحلة (Release to Manufacturing) وتعرف إختصارا (RTM): هي مرحلة تسبق مرحلة الإصدار النهائي، ويتم توزيعها على المصنعين، مثال على ذلك نظام التشغيل الجديد من Microsoft المسمى بـ Windows 7 حيث يتم توزيعه حاليا على كبار المصنعين باسم (Windows 7 RTM) ومن المعلوم أن تاريخ الإصدار الرسمي هو 22 أكتوبر 2009.

ب. مرحلة (General Availability) وتعرف إختصارا (GA): مرحلة تكون فيها النسخة مستقرة تماما ومتوفرة للعامة أو المستخدمين النهائيين عن طريق التحميل من الويب أو عن طريق الوسائط المادية مثل القرص المدمج CD أو القرص الرقمي DVD.

المرجع:
Software release life cycle – Wikipedia

أمثلة:
Download Windows 7 RTM Windows 7 Preinstallation Kit for OEMs – Softpedia
Windows 7 Release Date | Windows 7 News
Mozilla Firefox 3 Release Candidate Release Notes

Here are two great junior gold stocks… one an exploration play with the right geology in one of the most productive gold camps, the Timmins Gold Belt, and the other with a 43-101 combined resource of over 1.5 million ounces and drilling to increase that resource…

RT Minerals Corp. – $0.18

RT Minerals Corp. (RTM-CNQ) is a junior gold exploration company with one of the better properties in the Timmins West Camp. In the opinion of several veteran Timmins Camp geologists, the Golden Property appears to have a very similar geology to that found at the Lake Shore Gold Timmins Mine.

The Golden Property is located along a southwest limb of the Destor-Porcupine Fault and ties directly on to the southwest portion of the combined Lake Shore Gold/West Timmins claim group.

RTM has commenced fieldwork with an excavator on site and a trenching and prospecting program has started on the approximately 4 km by approximately 6 km property. A field crew is prospecting and evaluating historical trenches on the east side of the property, where assays from grab samples from trench material yielded past values of up to 0.32 oz/t gold and historic drilling by Keefer Lake Resources intersected 7 gm/t gold over 0.60 m.

Follow-up prospecting and sampling are also planned on the western side of the property, where historic values from grab samples assayed up to 15.6 gm/t gold (0.50 oz/t gold). The Destor Porcupine fault system traverses the entire property and will also be evaluated. Follow-up line cutting and a geophysical program will commence upon completion of the trenching and prospecting programs.

RT Minerals only has 16.5 million shares out, is closely held and is currently doing a small flow-thru financing (contact company if interested). In addition, at this time RTM is negotiating with a national firm for a larger financing to be combined with sponsorship of RTM for a listing on the TSX.

For maps and other information, go to: Tiimmins West Gold Camp

Golden Goose Resources Corp. – $0.33

Quite simply, I consider Golden Goose Resources (GGR-TSX) to be one of the most undervalued junior gold stocks in Canada. The Company currently shows a 43-101 indicated resource of 450,000 ounces and an inferred resource of 1.1 million ounces at the Magino Mine. The deposit is only 1.5 km from Richmont Mines’ Island Gold Mine and mill and there are two other mills in the area.

This deposit has an open pit component and is open to the west and at depth, with the grade improving with depth. Some of the best grams per meter intercepts on the property have been found outside the current resource, in the volcanics, which are still untested. Golden Goose is starting a drilling program to add additional resource outside of the current deposit envelope using the $1.2 million in flow-through funds now in the treasury.

A scoping study is now underway with its delivery expected in March, 2010. There are 51.5 million shares out, with insiders holding approximately 6.5 million shares. The stock did run up to $0.47 at the end of April, then drifted down to $0.225 and is now looking to break-out over $0.35. The Company recently hired Renmark Financial for their IR and will be embarking on a number of presentation trips for brokers in both Canada and the US. One interesting note here is that the founder of Renmark is the brother of the President of Golden Goose…   Henri Perron and Francois Perron respectively.

To view a Golden Goose power point dated October, 2009

For more background information, visit the Golden Goose web site.

Microsoft on Thursday concluded development on Exchange 2010 and said the new mail server would ship on Nov. 9 at the company’s TechEd Conference in Berlin, Germany.

Exchange 2010, which is a 64-bit only server, includes new storage and deployment options, enhanced in-box management capabilities, built-in e-mail archiving, new database clustering, additional hardware options, and a revamped Outlook Web Access client.

In addition, the server is being touted as a hybrid — equally at home as the foundation for a hosted e-mail service or a corporate messaging infrastructure. The hosted version of Exchange 2010, however, is not expected to ship until May or June 2010.

Microsoft already hosts more than 5 million users on Exchange 2010 as part of its Live@Edu program. And end-users are already planning corporate rollouts, including Ford Motor Co. with plans to deploy 100,000 seats.

“Our senior leadership team has signed off on the final code, and it has been sent to our early adopters for one final look before its public release,” read a blog post signed by “The Exchange Team”.

Microsoft has said previously that it has specially architected Exchange 2010 for high-availability and cross-domain integration using techniques such as pairing the server with Windows Server 2008 clustering technology and directory federation features.The company said that the ability to use Exchange as a hosting platform is now built into the product.

Lee Dumas, the director of architecture for Azaleos, a provider of remote management services for Exchange and SharePoint, says 2010 has challenges and rewards.

“I’m not slamming Exchange, but to achieve the level of [service-level agreements], and dealing with large amounts of data, multiple copies of databases, server roles, and load balancing makes complexity inherent in getting the whole system in place,” he says.

The rewards, however, will follow for those that heed due diligence, he says.

Network World Lab Alliance member Joel Snyder said in his Exchange 2010 review that corporate users should carefully assess the implications of the new server.

“The combination of clustering, replication and low-cost disk support means that reliability and scalability can be based on replicating small, inexpensive servers both within a data center and between data centers. E-mail managers thinking of deploying Exchange 2010 should step back and evaluate closely these new grid-style architectural approaches — and be sure that your Exchange team has adequate time to re-think and re-evaluate commonly held beliefs on how to build large Exchange networks.”

Exchange 2010 is the first in a wave of new Office products set to ship this year and next. Office 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Office Communications Manager 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 are slated to ship in the first half of 2010.