Arriva alla carica la nuova suite Microsoft, molto contrastata da rivali (magari anche Open Source)  quali OpenOffice.org oppure iWork che però non hanno ancora strappato alla società di Gates il controllo del settore.

Microsoft quindi non molla, e propone diverse “novità”: quella che a mio avviso si avvicina di più a qualcosa di rivoluzionario è la possibilità di usare Office con il sistema del Cloud Computing (e qui vi rimando al mio articolo su EyeOS), con le solite critiche riguardo alla sicurezza. Microsoft però sembra aver predetto questo tipo di complicazione, e ha prontamente creato un sistema di sicurezza che consiste nel creare una nuova sessione di Windows (probabilmente su una partizione di SWAP o sulla RAM, posso immaginare) in cui Office viene eseguito, in modo che contenuti dannosi o potenziali “spioni” restino confinati nei pochi megabyte dedicati a Office.

Un’altra novità è quella dei “Ribbons”. L’idea di base è piuttosto semplice: Una barra strumenti dinamica si aggiorna in tempo reale proponendoci una selezione di strumenti adatti a seconda dell’operazione che stiamo eseguendo.

Altre novità della nuova versione della suite riguardano, su Outlook, la possibilità di inviare e ricevere e-mail dai Social Network. A mio modesto parere, potevamo farne tranquillissimamente a meno. Già di Facebook abbiamo l’applicazione per iPhone, per cellulare, per computer, il widget, l’integrazione nei forum, nei blog e nel browser. Mi mancava solo la versione per Outlook. Il mondo è conquistato.

Ma tralasciando le mie perverse idee sui “social network”, queste sono le novità, e sinceramente anche un anti-gatesiano convinto come me ha voglia di scoprirle.

Yours Office-man,

The Sign Painter

Mal wieder ein kleines News-Potpourri, weil so viel passiert ist:

Die Diskussion zwischen Apple, AT&T, Google und der FCC über die nicht in den App Store hineingelassenen Google-Voice Apps läuft ja bereits einige Zeit. Apple behauptete bisher, dass sie die App nicht verboten hätten, sondern, dass sie sich immer noch im Prüfprozess aller Apps befinde.
In dem Zusammenhang veröffentlichte Apple ein Dokument mit geschwärzten Stellen, in denen genau dies stand.
Doch heute entschied sich Google: Lass uns doch mal das schwarze weg-photoshoppen und zeigen, was wirklich los ist:

Das ändert nämlich alles:
Apple hat die Google Voice Applikation nicht zugelassen und zwar mit der Begründung, sie würde iPhone eigene Funktionalitäten kopieren (telefonieren).

Fortsetzung folgt… (Infos und Foto via fscklog.com)

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Fast zeitgleich wurde dem Apple Development Center eine große Neuerung hinzugefügt: Das “App Store Resources Center for Developers”

Funktion dieses Services ist es, Entwicklern für iPhone Apps eine zentrale Anlaufstelle für Informationen zum Bereitstellen und zu Verkauf ihrer Apps zu ermöglichen. Apples Beschreibung:

We are pleased to introduce the App Store Resource Center, a single destination designed to make it easier for you to find details on everything you need to know about distributing your app on the App Store — from how to prepare for app submission to managing your app once it’s been posted.

Make sure you also check out the News and Announcements section of the iPhone Dev Center for tips on submitting your apps to the App Store, turnaround time for app review, new program features, and guidance on everything from development and testing to distribution and marketing.

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Microsoft will seine Studenten zurück. Das MacBook ist aufgrund der vielen Unis (vor allem in Amerika), die das Notebook als kostenlosen Studiumszusatz anbieten, das beliebteste Notebook an Unis. Das möchte Microsoft unbedingt ändern und bietet Windows 7 ab Ersscheinungstag für alle Studenten zum Kampfpreis von 30 $ an.
Der Haken ist: Dieser Preis beinhaltet nur eine Download-Version. Wer ne richtige CD haben will, muss erstmal 18 mehr blechen…

via maclife.de

Si conferma ormai come un pezzo grosso del software 3D per Mac e Windows Daz3D, che in questi giorni rilascia la versione 6 del celeberrimo Bryce, software di editing di immagini orientato nella creazione dei paesaggi. Dovrebbe tra l’altro essere ancora disponibile in versione gratuita la versione 5.5 dello stesso Bryce, accessibile a chiunque si registri con il sito di Daz.

Ulteriori software distribuiti dalla Software House sono il celeberrimo Carrara 7, storico programma per il modelling in tre dimensioni, e lo stuzzicante DAZStudio, che permette di modellare personaggi preinseriti oppure disponibili separatamente (Spesso anche a gratis).

Per concludere, vi consiglio di prendere in visione la pagina dedicata al modelling 3D di Sourceforge.

E perché no, non dovrebbe schifarvi nemmeno il caro vecchio Google SketchUp…

Questo è quanto,

R

E così Microsoft, (fatalità giusto due mesi dopo che Apple ha lanciato Snow Leopard, ma non siamo qui per fare uno dei soliti PC vs MAC) annuncia Windows 7…

Anzi! Sarebbe il caso di dire Windows 8, se consideriamo le distribuzioni principali (3.1, 95, 98, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, W7), in ogni caso, sembra che questo Windows 7/8 sia già praticamente pronto, tanto è che Microsoft ha già rilasciato per il download la Release Candidate, anche in Italiano, reperibile –> Qui <–

Se volete cimentarvi nel testing di questo sistema operativo, però state attenti! Avrete tempo di usarlo al suo 100% solo fino al primo maggio 2010, dopodiché, il vostro computer si spegnerà ogni due ore, fino a giungere alla morte e alla morte di croce il 1 giugno, data in cui la Release Candidate si autodistruggerà irrimediabilmente. Il consiglio quindi? Usatelo con attenzione, e non usatelo come OS principale.

Porto ora la vostra attenzione sull’ennesima “innovazione” Microsoft. Ebbene sì, questa nuova release di Windows integrerà un sistema di mini applicazioni dette “Widget”. La cosa è molto stuzzicante, in quanto i Widget spaziano veramente in tutti i campi.

Questo ci va a significare che noi comuni esseri mortali che non abbiamo intenzione di comprare Windows 7 non potremmo mai usare questi Widget? Diciamo “nì”. No perché non ci sarà possibile usufruire della particolare versione del sistema Widget di Microsoft, ma sì, esistono altre piattaforme Widget, probabilmente anche più carine di quella (in beta) di W7.

Ergo? Quali sono queste alternative?

Per Mac e Windows (non-7) potete provare il vaidissimo Konfabulator, progetto esistente in rete già da qualche anno. Offre una varietà veramente gigantesca di programmini, ed è abbastanza leggero.

Su Mac (Da OSX 10.4 in poi) è integrato Dashboard. Premendo F12, oppure il tasto con un contachilometri se avete un portatile, accederete all’ambiente Dashboard. Per scaricare altri Widget è sufficiente collegarsi al sito della Apple.

Linux e gli altri potranno installare l’ambiente KDE, disponibile –> Qui <–. Non dovreste avere problemi nell’installazione, se questo è il vostro primo ambiente Desktop, tuttavia se avete già GNOME, è possibile che i due DE entrino in conflitto, quindi leggete le doc prima di applicare grossi cambiamenti.

Apparentemente, questo è quanto

The Sign Painter

So vielversprechend der Titel auch klingt… viel passiert ist nicht in den letzten drei Tagen. Deshalb sehe ich die Überschrift eher als Mutmacher, denn bekanntlich macht der Mai alles neu

naja.. jedenfalls ist dann noch die Eröffnung des ersten Französischen Apple Stores bekannt geworden, in der Nähe des Louvre können sich jetzt alle Pariser ihren (Microsoft-) Frust von der Seele kaufen. macliife.de hat bereits ein kleines Foto der Location bereitgestellt.

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Mac OSX 10.5.7 ist in den Startlöchern, und bereits jetzt stehn einige wenige großen Änderungen fest; iTunes 8.2 wird einige interessante Features beinhalten:

• Notizenabgleich mit dem iPhone/iPod touch
• Verwaltung mehrerer iTunes Store-Accounts auf einem Mac

Natürlich wurden einige große Bugfixes getätigt über die aber natürlich keine weiteren Informationen  ans Tageslicht gebracht wurden

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Die 4. “Laptopexpertenwerbung” aus der genialen(und teuren und gecheateten) Produktionsmaschine Microsofts ist auf die YouTube-Server und die Fernseher AMerikas gelandet:

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Das war´s leider schon… mehr interessantes gab´s nicht. Freuen wir uns in diesem Sinne auf einen (hoffentlich) interessanten Mai 2009!

Gestern war der Tag der Veröffentlichung des zweiten Gates-Seinfeld-Spots erschienen. Er nennt sich “New Family” und die beiden Microsoftcracks mischen sich hier in eine normale Bürgerfamilie und erleben viele alltägliche Dinge.

Das Prinzip ist das gleiche: Am ende soll Bill wieder ein Zeichen geben, um zu zeigen, dass es mit Microsoft aufwärts geht und macht Seinfeld als Beweis eine Robotervorführung (also… er selbst bewegt sich wie ein Roboter).

Hola, amigos de la seguridad y de mi blog:

he estado explorando googling casi durante dos horas buscando un script para añadir usuarios, pues un cliente con 50 usuarios quiere implementar un sistema del trabajo y dar de alta 50 usuarios uno por uno es un rollo, la verdad que me he vuelto loco buscando, por aquí por allí, sólo veía soluciones para sistemas con Directorio Activo, que por cierto aborrezco.

La solución es muy simple, simplemente con los comandos net user y net group estaría listo.

Es decir, para crear un usuario: pepe

contraseña: 32UFfs3

Grupo: Usuarios de Terminal Server

Los comandos serían:

“net user pepe 32UFfs3 /add /expires:never /passwordchg:no“

Crea un usuario pepe con contraseña 32UFfs3, no caduca el password y no se puede cambiar password.

“net localgroup “Usuarios de Escritorio Remoto” pepe /add”

Agrega al grupo Usuarios de Escritorio Remoto el usuario pepe.

Con estos dos comandos, podemos fácilmente elaborar un script en cualquier lenguaje

Lo encontré en unos video-tutoriales de hacking para windows XP, una moda muy útil.

http://www.revver.com/video/808922/how-to-hack-an-administrator-account-in-windows-xp/

Añado a este tutorial una entrada de registro para ocultar el usuario pepe:

reg add “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList” /v pepe /t REG_DWORD /d 0

Ya está disponible para su descarga (versión beta) el “World Wide Telescope” de Microsoft, para poder explorar las estrellas.

El WWT es un entorno de visualización tipo web 2.0 que permite que tu ordenador funcione como un telescopio virtual, en el se muestran las mejores imágenes del espacio captadas con los mejores telescopios del mundo para una perfecta exploración del universo.

[What is WTT? - Word Wide Telescope]

Lamentablemente la descarga está disponible sólo para usuarios Microsoft.

Se podría decir que es algo parecido al proyecto de Google (Google Sky), sólo que con un poco más de maquillaje.

Sugiero que primero verifiques los requerimientos necesarios antes de instalar para ver si tu PC/Windows puede soportar el programa.

Technorati tags: Windows XP

I came across a computer recently, that when booting would choke just after the POST test with the error “Unmountable Boot Volume”. As always a quick search of Google came up with more than one solution, but the one that was the easiest and was the one I actually trusted was from Microsoft. Most errors that happen after POST when Windows is starting it’s loading of drivers are caused by a corrupt file system, a corrupt Master Boot Record or a corrupt registry.

This error just happens to be a corrupt file system, which with most of these errors can be fixed using the Windows Recovery Console. All you need is a Windows install disk, or the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows which I consider the best all purpose Windows Live CD. Once you get to the Recovery Console you run “Chkdsk /r” without the quotes. Walk away, go do something else because this isn’t going to finish anytime soon. When it does finish you should be able to reboot your system.

Check out the MSKB Article here.

Stumble It!

Today I was catching up on some reading and came across this post by Robert Scoble. He said:

Several people have told me about an off line version of Gmail, coming soon. Other people say that Google, or a company working with Google, is going to come out with a new server that will let corporations replace their Exchange servers with ones made by Google.

Now, wouldn’t it be interesting if Google did in fact come out with an e-mail client to rival Microsoft’s Outlook or Outlook Express? And, to take that one step further, what would happen if Google did release a server that could replace Exchange servers allowing all existing Outlook and Entourage users to just continue using the same client software with the new server without ever knowing the difference? Obviously, that’s not something Microsoft wants to see, but it may  be coming.

The world of technology is always interesting and ever changing.

Last week I ordered a couple of Linksys WVC54GC web cameras to test out the technology for potential use at work. Well, they arrived this afternoon so I couldn’t resist the temptation to unbox one of them and set it up. I had to know if it was as easy to set up as I had heard. Well, it’s not.

I must say the first roadblock I ran into was the requirement to use Windows to run the setup software. I figured it would be like a Linksys wireless access point and they would have a web interface to setup the hardware. But, that wasn’t the case. I couldn’t use my Mac to set it up. I had to use a Windows based computer. Grrr!

Once I ran the setup program and configured the wireless web camera I went to my Mac to see the streaming video image. But, it didn’t work. I went back to a Windows computer and entered the IP address of the camera and it then prompted me to install an ActiveX program. Grrrr! It requires Internet Explorer and ActiveX to view the camera image. So, I not only can’t configure the camera using my Mac, I can’t even watch the video image from my Mac.

Believe it or not, the video image on the Windows computer was decent. It had a much higher quality than I expected. I was able to point the camera to a television and then watch that TV through the web browser (provided I was using Internet Explorer — Grrrrr!). The only fault I have with the video image is the size — it’s fairly small (320 x 240 resolution). You can enlarge that on the viewing end to a full 640 x 480, but it’s a just “fat” pixels, not an improvement on the image resolution.

If you are a Mac user and need a web cam, this is not the model for you. Keep shopping. But, if you are a Windows user this may be just the web camera you were looking for. It worked very well using the Windows computer.

Yup, Apple is finally shipping a database for the rest of us. Yesterday they released a new product called Bento by FileMaker.

As you may know, FileMaker is an Apple company that provides database software designed for small to medium sized businesses. Now, they are selling a new $50 database product for individuals who want to track collections of things or just plan a party.

This product fills a whole in Microsoft’s offering as Office for Mac doesn’t include database software. Now, Mac users have a database program that will fill that need. I wonder how well it integrates with Microsoft Word or Excel.

By the way, did you know that “bento” means “lunch box” in Japanese? It does.

I haven’t installed the demo yet, but I will do it this week and let you know what I what I find out about integration with Microsoft’s office software.

Now, that’s a headline that you are unlikely to read any time soon. Though, if Microsoft is successful in their $44 billion bid to purchase Yahoo then something will have to change if Microsoft isn’t going to make that headline a reality. Why? Because last year Yahoo bought Zimbra for $350 million and now owns and supports Zimbra, the open source Exchange-server-compatible e-mail system

If Zimbra is truly an open source product and if it is in direct competition with Microsoft and their Exchange server product, then will Microsoft kill Zimbra as soon as the Yahoo acquisition becomes final? Can they kill it? Will they provide an open source alternative to their commercial product? Will they support and improve Zimbra as an alternative to their flagship e-mail server product? What do you think?

“Zimbra” and the Zimbra logo are trademarks of Zimbra, Inc.

Many corporations have held back and not upgraded to Microsoft Windows Vista, instead choosing to continue to use the stable and highly compatible Windows XP operating system. This has significantly hurt sales of Vista. Then, several months ago a CNET article reported that Microsoft agreed to allow users to down-grade their Vista computers so they could run Windows XP.

A recent survey by CDW shows why users have not upgraded. Some of the reasons not to upgrade to Vista included the hardware requirements, the way in which Vista is a memory hog, incompatibilities with existing Windows applications (which run fine on XP), security holes, and the lack of any significant advantages over Windows XP. Some people are hoping that Vista’s first service pack (SP1) upgrade will solve some of the problems, but most have already decided to stay with Windows XP and are looking forward to XP’s next service pack (SP3).

When I read this article by eWeek I couldn’t help but wonder if Microsoft was ready to give up on Vista and move on to the next version of XP, referred to as Windows 7. They have released less-than-stellar versions of Windows operating systems before. Do you remember Windows ME? In some ways, Windows NT Workstation and Windows 2000 never really took off like Windows 98 or XP. Some organizations (including where I work) stayed with Windows 98 until Windows XP was released. We totally skipped both Windows NT Workstation and Windows 2000 as the standard for the PC’s in offices and computer labs. Now, we must decide if we will do the same with Windows Vista.

Since I work at a college, many of our I.T. decisions are tied to the academic year. We lock in an operating system in our computer labs for the entire year, not making any mid-year changes. When Windows Vista was released last year, we quickly determined that much of the academic software used in our computer labs would not run properly and so we couldn’t upgrade to Vista until the academic software was made compatible with Vista. Our assumption was that one year would be ample time for the vendors to update their products (it’s just a simple re-compile, right?). Well, we are more than half way through the year and we are still waiting for updates to many of the academic programs we use in the labs. That’s a problem. We’ve been reading articles about the number of organizations that have resisted the proposed upgrade path and stayed with XP as their desktop OS standard. Then, we begin to see rumors that Microsoft will be emphasizing the next version of Window XP, known as Windows 7, you can’t help but wonder if they are having flashbacks to Windows ME.

How long will it be until Microsoft announces the end-of-life date for Vista? I predict it will be years. After all, there are millions more users running Vista than were running Window ME at its peak. It took Microsoft a couple of years before they announced the end of that product line. I expect the same for Vista. Until they have a solid upgrade path in place (i.e. released Windows 7) they can’t give the impression that Vista isn’t a viable solution. After all, they need users to update to something if they are going to maintain a revenue stream.

The most surprising statement from the eWeek article came in the last paragraph. They wrote,

“For now, whether Microsoft likes it or not, XP, and not Vista, is the Windows those businesses will continue to use. And the companies that want to move on to a truly better operating system? They’ll be moving to Linux or Mac OS.”

OUCH!

Don’t you just love rumors about new technology. After all, you can dream about finally getting that product or feature you always wanted, but nobody will create. I think nobody spreads rumors as passionately as Apple users.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not speaking badly about Mac users. After all, I’m typing this blog post on my Mac laptop (Intel). And, I own a couple of iPods and every other member of my family owns at least one iPod, my teen-aged son owns more than one. So, my observations are not from an “outsider” nor am I some Microsoft Windows bigot. I actually see the value of all three of the most popular operating systems (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux). And I routinely use all three. But, I must confess that for everyday use; e-mail, web surfing, word processing, spreadsheets, etc. I prefer to use a Mac. It’s just more comfortable and just works. Oh, and I use it for viewing photos and listening to music all the time. Now you know where I’m coming from.

Back to the latest Apple rumors. Have you seen the Apple banners they put up at MacWorld? Like ancient medicine men interpreting tea leaves, Apple fans everywhere are trying to guess what they mean.

I am sending two of my I.T. staff to this week’s MacWorld in San Francisco. Being the weekend before a major trade show dedicated to the Apple Mac you know everyone is making their predictions on what Steve Job will announce during his keynote address on Tuesday. It’s always a big event, but this year it may be even bigger than last year. After all, last year Steve confirmed the shipping date for the iPhone, something they had announced about six months earlier.

This time, the speculation by Fortune magazine is Apple will announce a new sub-laptop. Something smaller than the 12″ screen laptop currently available. Rumored not to have a conventional hard drive, it is supposedly a memory-chip-only (flash memory) computer. If you haven’t already seen it, you should go here to see a regular MacBook Pro that’s been converted by replacing the hard drive with a Samsung SSD (solid state drive). I’m not sure there’s a big market for something like that. I would rather see a tablet Mac, like the IBM Thinkpad tablet, only it runs Mac OS X. THAT is something I could get excited about. Although, according to this article an Apple tablet (aka Newton) is not likely to happen this week.

While I am talking about wishes I have for Apple, I can’t pass on the chance to once again share my wish that they would develop a way for Windows applications to run natively on a Mac (in Mac OS X). It’s technically possible to do, but my guess is that Apple is not willing to engage in all out war with Microsoft and provide a direct replacement for the Windows operating system. That’s my guess. If Apple won’t build in the ability to launch Windows programs in Mac OS X, then I wish they would buy or license Parallels or VMware for Mac and include it with every computer they sell. That way, ALL of their computers can run Windows applications out of the box without buying anything else. I know that you can always buy Parallels or VMware for Mac, but it would be better if it were just part of the operating system with full Apple support.

In a little more than one day we will learn which rumors were on target and which rumors were born out of the imagination and wishes of a Mac fan. I predict most will fall in the latter category.