Redmond’s experimental designs department must be on vacation. Microsoft’s new VEDa concept, unveiled in a recently discovered patent application from Microsoft, looks more like a VHS tape crossed with a really old top loading cassette deck which is sitting on top of a lappy. I doubt that’s what Microsoft had in mind, however. One part of the rather lengthy discussion of the “technology” describes how the Start menu would contain tasks instead of the names of actual applications. An example, it seems, would be Web Browsing instead of Internet Exploder. Of course, how any of this justifies a patent is completely beyond me. All of the elements described are already in use in one form or another, and Microsoft can modify how their Start menu works any time they please.

written by Tyler Regas

Whee! If there was anything at all which could top the overall badness of Windows Vista and seal the deal for the end of Microsoft as a world dominating powerhouse, its Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates showing that Windows 7 will be nothing more than Microsoft’s Surface UI grafted on top of Vista’s diseased core. If you aren’t clear on what Surface is, just think a really big, really heavy iPhone which you can only use as a tabletop. Sure, it features the blatantly copied groundbreaking multitouch interface which allows images to be moved about and resized willy-nilly. You can read all about it at Gizmodo. Gee, I hope I can wait until Windows 7 comes out! It’ll be so neat. I can have a Mac and then next to it, see, I’ll have another Mac, but it won’t be a Mac. Yeah!

written by Tyler Regas

2 years. 2 million. Yeah. Apple sold 10.6 million iPods last quarter. Way to catch up, Microsoft!

written by Tyler Regas

I thought this was far from an interesting question when I first saw it on Digg, but soon came to realize that it was anything but mundane. Here, then, is your picture-based answer:

I have to say that I’m not surprised at this. A significant number of reviewers have stated that the Apple MacBook Pro is, hands down, the best lappy for Windows Vista. What I wonder is how often does Steve really spend on the Mac OS X side.

written by Tyler Regas

Like the shambling horrors which suck out your brains and won’t die unless you cut off the head, Windows XP apparently will shuffle like the undead until 2012. This comes from Thurott’s SuperSite via a Dell representatives note to a reader. The note clearly states that Dell will continue to offer Windows XP Professional available on several of its product lines. I can’t say that I’m all that surprised, considering Steve “Lunatic” Ballmer himself stated that Vista is incomplete.

Speaking of incomplete, Microsoft’s Zune portable tribute to the color brown is apparently getting Audible audio book support before the end of the year. Okay. Maybe what I really mean is whoop dee doo! Considering how long it took to get the incomplete Vista out the door, I shouldn’t be shocked at how long it would take Microsoft to add the ability to play audio files to its “popular” media player. We’ll confirm these when we can.

written by Tyler Regas

I’m sure you’ve already read this elsewhere seeing as how every other news outlet has already mentioned it, but I felt that you might enjoy The Dojo’s spin on the subject. In case you haven’t seen this already, Microsoft has announced that it has dropped the prices of Windows Vista in 70 countries, including the US. This price drop only affects retail copies, so it won’t make your PC any cheaper. Additionally, Microsoft is contractually required to make 90% of its sales to its OEM buyers to make only 10% of its stock available to retail. Vista Ultimate originally retailed for US$399 and is now available for US$319 (£169).

This is a ridiculously huge drop for a product which was in development for five years and is less than a year old. Microsoft claims to have already sold 100 million retail copies of Windows Vista but does not reveal the version breakdown and how many of those have actually been activated, or even more telling how many of those activated copies are still being regularly updated. Its not even clear of the 100 million refers to all distributed copies of Vista or just retail sales.

This is a very unpleasant time to be Microsoft. Apple is surging in the markets, Bill Gates is gone, Steve Ballmer is a wack job, Vista is a bomb, the European Commision has ordered Microsoft pay fines of 2.5 billion, and the Redmond giant is seemingly actively joining the open source commmunity. These are interesting times.

written by Tyler Regas

Wow! Didn’t see that one coming. Microsoft is apparently acquiring Danger, the designer of the HipTop and its software, more commonly known as the T-Mobile Sidekick. Danger originally designed the HipTop platform and operating system as a way to reduce carrier costs and ease development times for hardware OEMs. What started as an exclusive deal with T-Mobile turned into an “only carried by T-Mobile” deal. Now, Microsoft is acquiring Danger in order to improve their stakes in the mobile device game.

Combine this with the fact that HTC is making more touchscreen devices and SonyErricson has finally jumped onto the WinMo bandwagon, and you have a pretty clear idea that Microsoft is not happy with its lot in life. The Zune is an outright failure and people generally can’t talk about WinMo without describing the horrors it visits upon them. Meanwhile, Palm hasn’t offered up a new OS in 4 years and RIM can’t keep its network alive. Doesn’t anyone here see Apple’s iPhone marketshare growing this year? Not if The Scourge of Redmond can help it!

written by Tyler Regas

When trying to figure out which portable media player to buy, make sure to steer clear of the iPod section. Its full of misguided attempts by that perverted Apple (can you hear the bile in my voice?) to subvert your mind and your music. Look to the Zune as a source of freedom and song-sharing goodness.

Why? Because Microsoft loves you, and to prove that, they’re practically giving away their Zunes at bargain-basement prices. Take the 8GB 2nd-generation Zune, for instance. Its a real thunderball of media-pumping power, and it can be all yours for a mere US$179.

Okay, its really because NOBODY wants the Zune. Everyone wants the iPod. I wonder why.

written by Tyler Regas

Beta testers and developers know that RTM means Release To Manufacturing. This means that Microsoft has released Office 2008 for the Mac to be localized, duplicated, packed and shipped to be available worldwide by January 15th, 2008. This version adds Universal Binary support, the new file formats from Office 2007 for Windows, and brings a new Entourage which is supposed to be function identical to Outlook 2007 and have full Exchange support. I’ll have a more complete rundown closer to the MacWorld Expo.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: 2008, business, mac, news, office