Category Archives: In the News

Tech news and opinions

XP just can’t be friends with Windows 7

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Well, it’s bad news for anyone using Windows XP who thinks that maybe they’ll be doing an upgrade to Windows 7. Microsoft have said that you will only be able to actually upgrade without cleaning your hard disk if you have Vista. Windows XP users will have to do a clean install, and whichever way you put it – that’s not an upgrade, it’s a clean install.

Microsoft does this every time and it does bug me quite a lot.

In my opinion, Microsoft should have an upgrade system for XP because they know very well that there are a huge amount of us still happily using out XP systems, and if Microsoft even wants to make us think about moving up a gear, they should at least make it a little easier for us. Instead, we have to go through all the hassle of backing up files, finding program disks and product keys. Oh it’s just such a hassle.

Come on Microsoft, put your thinking caps on!

Microsoft confirms Windows 7 editions

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Microsoft has confirmed the versions of Windows 7 that will be available to the public on the release of Windows 7. They are relatively similar to Windows Vista, except from a few minor changes.

Windows 7 Home Basic: Almost identical to features of Vista – no Aero and now Media Center. Worryingly, there are rumours that Microsoft has set this so you can only run 3 applications at the same time. Apparently, Microsoft has set this version to be for “developing countries”.

Windows 7 Home Premium: Again, similar to Vista. Introduces Aero interface and Media Center and supposedly removes 3 application limit if that rumour is true. Also introduces media streaming (?).

Windows 7 Professional: I’m guessing just a knock-off of Windows Vista Business. Will supposedly include file encryption facilities, user-group policy management and a couple of other useful business facilities.

Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate: Similar comparison to Vista Ultimate. You get some extra features that may come in handy to both business and home users.

As for the Windows Home Basic rumours, Microsoft has said that most “developed countries” such as Japan, Europe, the US and Australia won’t ever see Home Basic. It is thought that Home Basic will only be introduced there to keep them “away from Linux and pirated copies of Windows”.

Home Premium will become the standard in more “developed countries”, which I personally think is a good thing. I hate Vista Home Basic and can’t live without my Home Premium so I won’t miss Home Basic.

But that looks as if that is the plan of action from Microsoft. I’m looking forward to the launch of the Release Candidate of Windows 7, but we’ll have to wait and see as to when that is due for release.

Skype 4 finally released!

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Well after a long wait and several beta’s, Skype have finally released the final version of Skype 4.0.

It’s very simular to the last beta version of Skype, just a few bug fixes.

Check it out – calls and messages all work OK, so I guess it’s worth the upgrade.

You can grab a download direct from GEEK! as it’s on our Program and Website Resources page, so grab a direct download here.

Enjoy!

Asus EeePC 1000HE on the way with 9.5 hour battery claims!

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Asus’ latest addition to the well known EeePC series is the very good looking 1000HE. Asus claims that it has a 9.5 hour is battery life which is perfect for that long plane flight or tiring car trip.

EeePC 1000HE

Above: EeePC 1000HE

It doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive so film-watchers will be dissapointed, but it does have a 160GB hard drive (plus 10GB online storage provided by Asus) with Windows XP preloaded so you could load a few movies onto the hard drive. I’m not sure that the inbuilt graphics card would cope with very high quality films but it should be able to cope with a fair quality film.

It also comes with a 1.67GHz processor which is quite enough for word processing and document handling in Windows XP, plus the fair sized keyboard will make typing much less of a chore on such a small device.

It also has 1GB RAM preloaded, so you might even be able to do a little bit of multitasking on it.

The screen size is thereabouts 10″ so it’s not great unless you have good eyes, but most people should find it just-about usable – and any user of the previous EeePC’s should have no problem.

I was unable to find any information about the actual screen resolution, but I would guess it was either 1024×600 or 1024×480 judging by previous models of the EeePC.

The product itself has a 1 year warranty, but the battery warranty is only 6 months – so you may have to replace the battery ever so often to keep that 9.5 hour claim up.

Generally, it looks like a nice piece of kit for any regular traveller. I won’t use one myself because I love my 13.3″ dual core laptop which is fine for my travels, and I don’t think I could live without a DVD writer (or even player) built in as I watch a lot of DVD’s on my laptop.

It’s price tag is about 300$ in the US, which means it should be around £230 in the UK.

What do you think of it? Take a look at the Asus promotion page at http://promos.asus.com/US/1000HE/ASUS/index.html

No second Windows 7 Beta, next release to be Release Candidate

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Microsoft has repeatedly said, and reminded us Windows 7 users today, that there will be no Windows 7 Beta 2.

The next release that is due from the Windows 7 team is the Windows 7 Release Candidate (1?). No dates have been confirmed as to when the Release Candidate will be avaialble, and on that note when the final release will ship. But people are still passing round rumours that Microsoft want to release Windows 7 by Christmas – I’ve still got my doubts.

As soon as there is news on the next release of Windows 7, I will let you know. But for the moment, Microsoft says they are evaluating feedback and “making progress”.