To avoid having 8573 stories related to Vista atop one another, this item groups some of them. Fortune: "After five years in development, Microsoft's new operating system is finally about to hit the street. Is it a keeper? Fortune's Peter Lewis takes it for a test drive." eWeek: "Some have taken exception with Vista's permission-asking proclivity, but it may be that we've just become too cavalier about making fundamental changes to our systems." eWeek: "We check out the first systems bundling Microsoft's newest OS and tell you what you will, and will not, be getting with Vista." Click read more for, well, more items. This item will probably be updated regularly.
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Member since:2006-01-23
Member since:2005-07-17
PNGs can be very small to when compressing pictures with small amount of colours. I've just checked that 1024x768 picture with 5 random colours compressed to 100KB GIF and 150KB PNG. It's probably the best format for application screenshots, preserves detail and compresses big single-colour areas perfectly. It gets pretty big with photos though but that's to be exepected with loseless compression.
Member since:2005-08-28
Member since:2005-11-11
//GIFs are better for images with large areas with few colors (things like logos) because they can be made insanely small with no distortion. //
I take it you mean small as in file size, as oppsed to small as in area.
For most purposes that suit GIF eg: "images with large areas with few colors (things like logos)", a better option is perhaps SVG.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svg
SVG graphics can be scaled, and they can be animated. They can even be interactive.
"SVG allows three types of graphic objects:
* Vector graphic shapes (e.g. paths consisting of straight lines and curves, and areas bounded by them)
* Raster graphics images / digital images
* Text "
"Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML markup language for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and animated, and either declarative or scripted. Images can contain hyperlinks using outbound simple XLinks."
"SVG drawings can be dynamic and interactive."
The best bit about SVG is that "It is an open standard created by the World Wide Web Consortium."
The disappointing thing is, Vista does not support SVG rendering.
Edited 2007-01-30 01:14
Member since:2005-07-06
1) I wouldn't mind the new format if Microsoft turned around and said, "this is a great new format, and we'll allow anyone to implement it" - encourage freeware/opensource to implement it, for commercial vendors, they can pay a token amount if they bundle it with their application.
It would be great all around; and hey, Microsoft do want to become an IBM, a 'old grandfather' of the IT industry - its about time they started to act like one and see their innovation as more than just a money spinning tool but also a contribution to the IT world; an act of chariety if one wishes to be cynical.
2) I don't blame Microsoft for the DRM fiasco; lets remember, its the media, more correctly, the comanies who are members of RIAA/MPAA, put pressure on Microsoft; Microsoft want to offer all these things and the MPAA/RIAA turn around and say, "we'll only back you if you do...." and a list of conditions.
If you want to barate someone for that, barate the relevant organisations - with that being said, DRM can be used for more than just music and video; you can use it for protecting documents and a whole raft of other things; its best to define what you have problems with.
Remember, DRM is made up of two parts; the policy and the enforcement; if you have a problem, its the policy you have a problem with, not the DRM enforcement side; it is the policy of the distrbuted file which is defined by the author; they're the ones you should be grinding your axe over, not Microsoft, they're merely providing the platform for its customers to take advantage of.
Its like a person who rent out cars; some have very strict policies, whilst others have very few rules; you choose the vendor who chooses not to have overly draconian DRM policies in their files which they distribute.
Member since:2005-07-06
1) I wouldn't mind the new format if Microsoft turned around and said, "this is a great new format, and we'll allow anyone to implement it" - encourage freeware/opensource to implement it, for commercial vendors, they can pay a token amount if they bundle it with their application.
Indeed this is what they are doing by adding it to OSP. It was previously only going to be free if implemented as part of an XPS reader, but that restriction will no longer apply. A device porting kit (DPK) is available for implementing HDP on other platforms.
Links and other details here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/billcrow/
http://news.com.com/Vista+to+give+HD+Photo+format+more+exposure/210...
Member since:2006-02-06
"I don't blame Microsoft for the DRM fiasco; lets remember, its the media, more correctly, the comanies who are members of RIAA/MPAA, put pressure on Microsoft"
The big media concerns 'asked' MS, MS caved in, for whatever reasons.
I say let's blame them both.
Edited 2007-01-30 10:04
Member since:
2005-08-28
"At one time, it seemed like it would be a cold day in hell before Microsoft would release Windows Vista... Tomorrow, Microsoft will give the real Windows Vista kick-off - much splashier than November's business launch - in New York City. The forecast is minus 1 degrees Celsius, with gusty winds."
New York City is Hell?
"Microsoft is looking to supplant the ubiquitous JPEG with an image format of its own"
I'd much rather see JPEG2000 than a Microsoft format. And I'm not sure the article's comparison to PNG is really fair- JPEG replaced GIF for everything but, well, animated advertisements (and images with transparency, thank you Microsoft for that one); and PNG does not emulate GIF's animation format. That's MNG, which even Linux distros don't seem to support. Besides, animated GIFs are being replaced with Flash banners... I dunno, I use PNG extensively for digital picture editing.
As for JPEG2000, it sounds like (as with MP3) with the proper tuning and better compression software, the JPEG format can produce far better images... so JPEG2000's lead is not quite as big. I think it is used in high-end video capture like the movie studios use, though.
I suspect "HD photo" will run into the same problems any attempted replacement of PDF will run into.
"Security researcher Alex Ionescu claims to have successfully bypassed the much discussed DRM protection in Windows Vista, called 'Protected Media Path' (PMP), which is designed to seriously degrade the playback quality of any video and audio running on systems with hardware components not explicitly approved by Microsoft."
I have to wonder, with all the strange restrictions on buying and installing Vista (with the carrot that they're all on the same DVD), and all the Digital Media restrictions (though they can play the discs)... Is Microsoft intentionally enticing people to pirate Windows Vista (or hack its features)? To gain vast marketshare very quickly? Or to justify further, even more Draconian measures in the future?
EDIT: Just noticed this: HD Photos can be easily rotated in 90° increments. JPEG images must be decoded and re-encoded, degrading quality slightly with each change.
I'm pretty sure this has been overcome for JPEG images by now.
The rest of the statements seem to be valid, though; I'm not sure even PNG supports 32 bits-per-color. I know PNG has a 64-bit RRGGBBAA mode, but this sounds far more... uh, deep?
On a side note, are there any digital cameras that output PNG?
Edited 2007-01-29 21:58