posted by Thom Holwerda on Wed 28th Jan 2009 18:20 UTC
Despite the success of the Windows 7 beta, which got leaked before it was officially released and had several deadline extensions, Microsoft isn't exactly sitting still. The beta build, with build number 7000, was built on December 12th, 2008, so that leaves enough room between then and now for several newer builds. One such build got leaked this weekend, and it contains some minor changes compared to the beta build.Several newer builds have been confirmed, namely 7003, 7004, 7012, 7015, 7016, and the leaked 7025, with the last one obviously being the newest; it was built on January 20th (at 18:50, if you're that interested). According to Ars Technica, it contains several bug fixes, as well as a number of visual changes in applications like Paint and Windows Media Player. It also comes with an updated build of Internet Explorer 8, and the screenshots over at PCBETA show quicklaunch - but don't be fooled, quicklaunch can be enabled on Windows 7 beta as well through a registry hack. For legacy reasons, Windows 7 still contains the quicklaunch folder (I'm guessing some installation programs complained about the lack of the folder).
The 7025 build can be obtained by the way of the pirate, but you might as well keep on using the stable and well-tested beta until Microsoft releases the Windows 7 release candidate somewhere between now and release-to-manufacturing, scheduled for late 2009 or early 2010.
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/14/12 1:07 UTC
"It's tough being a journalist, especially if you're covering technology and living in Silicon Valley, because it seems as if everyone around you is getting fabulously rich while you're stuck in a job that will never, ever make you wealthy. What's worse is that all these people who are getting rich don't seem to be any brighter than you are and in fact many of them don't seem very bright at all. So of course you get jealous. And then you start thinking maybe you could find a way to cash in on this gold rush. But how do you make gobs of money when your only marketable skill involves writing blog posts?" Absolutely brilliant down to the last letter. Coincidentally, I hold no shares, interests, or anything, in any company whatsoever. I'm a freelance translator by day. Not that anyone cares, but hey, full disclosure and all.
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/13/12 23:51 UTC
"A hybrid solution that takes the best parts of iOS's one-by-one acceptance and Android's expressed and obvious intents seems like a proper model here. In fact, Apple has many of the pieces in place elsewhere." This is a big issue. Nor Android's model (just list a bunch of confusing permissions), nor Apple's model (individual modal dialogs for each permission) is particularly workable - I doubt regular users check them on Android before installing an application, and in the case of iOS, Apple didn't think it was necessary to secure the address book, so every application has access to it without alerting users. Justin Williams proposes a hybrid solution.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/13/12 23:44 UTC
"Although current discussion of the Linux desktop tends to focus on the disharmony around Unity and the GNOME shell, the true revolution on the desktop is taking place out of sight of users. The Wayland display server is expected to reach version 1.0 later this year, and is seen by many as the long term replacement for the X Window System, with real potential to improve and transform the performance of the desktop for Linux users."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/13/12 23:40 UTC
Mozilla has announced plans to integrate its Firefox web browser with Metro for Windows 8 - including Gecko. "Windows 8 contains two application environments, 'Classic' and 'Metro'. Classic is very similar to the Windows 7 environment at this time, it requires a simple evolution of the current Firefox Windows product. Metro is an entirely new environment and requires a new Firefox front end and system integration points. The feature goal here is a new Gecko based browser built for and integrated with the Metro environment. Firefox on Metro, like all other Metro apps will be full screen, focused on touch interactions, and connected to the rest of the Metro environment through Windows 8 contracts." I haven't checked - does Microsoft allow different rendering engines?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/12/12 23:23 UTC
"One of the things that the GNOME design crew have been focusing on recently is creating a new approach to application design for GNOME 3. We want GNOME applications to be thoroughly modern, and we want them to be attractive and a delight to use. That means that we have to do application design differently to how we've done it in the past."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/10/12 23:46 UTC
"This is the first real release of Wayland and Weston. Wayland is the protocol and IPC mechanism while Weston is the reference compositor implementation. The 0.85 branch in both repositories is going to be protocol and interface stable. We have a series of protocol changes on the table before 1.0 but this branch marks a stable point before we jump into that." Change is coming to the Linux world. And yes, I get the irony of using this particular icon, but it's the closest I could find.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/10/12 15:39 UTC
Well, this is good news. "Germany will not sign an international anti-piracy treaty, despite having already agreed to it in principal, government sources in Berlin said Friday, February 10." with Germany on the side of reason - for now - we're a huge step closer to stopping ACTA.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/10/12 11:04 UTC
"Microsoft today issued a brief statement promising to make 'essential patents' available to competitors at fair and reasonable licensing rates, and promised not to sue companies making products that infringe these patents. The actual patents themselves weren't disclosed, but Microsoft joins both Google and Apple in making recent statements on so-called fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory licensing terms. Such licensing terms designate certain patents as essential to complying with industry standards, making them available for licensing at (supposedly) lower-than-usual rates." This industry is dysfunctional.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/10/12 0:13 UTC
"Like any space opera, the story of information technology is a very simple one. It is played out in a myriad of different ways by a revolving cast of characters, but it always has its loveable heroes, its predictably nefarious villains, innocent civilians to be saved, and bumbling bureaucrats that aren't inherently evil, but begin every story aiding the forces of darkness out of a misplaced belief they are preserving law and order in their corner of the galaxy." He might use Star Wars as an analogy (I strongly dislike Star Wars - Trekkie here), but it sums up very well how I feel about computing today.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 02/08/12 23:22 UTC
"Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique that allows graphics processing units and central processing units on a single chip to collaborate - boosting processor performance by an average of more than 20 percent."More News »
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