Microsoft Corp. plans to stop using the word “my” as the default prefix for such folders as “My Documents,” “My Music,” “My Pictures” etc. So, Starting in the next Windows version, folders name will be called simply as “Documents,” “Music,” and so on.

This minor change will surely leave some influence to our daily life.

Quoted:
With any other product, such a minor change probably wouldn’t even be noticed. But the Microsoft operating system runs on more than 90 percent of the world’s personal computers, and its persistent use of the word has been one of its most conspicuous characteristics — helping to fuel widespread use of the “my” prefix in the technology industry.

[Source]

New Windows Media Player (WMP) 11, code-named Polaris, formerly called Aurora, will now be shipping in a public beta this November, coinciding with Longhorn Beta 2.

The final release of Windows Media Player 11 is roughly scheduled for early 2006.

[Source]

With Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1 set to debut next month, Microsoft has confirmed Windows 2000 will not be adopting the new Web browser. IE7 will require Windows XP Service Pack 2 due to internal security changes that rely on Microsoft’s latest operating system release.

Quoted:
It should be no surprise that we do not plan on releasing IE7 for Windows 2000. One reason is where we are in the Windows 2000 lifecycle. Another is that some of the security work in IE7 relies on operating system functionality in XPSP2 that is non-trivial to port back to Windows 2000.

Besides, support for both IE 5.01 SP3 and IE 6 SP1 on Windows 2000 SP3 will expire. Users running IE 5.01 or IE 6 SP1 on Windows 2000 should upgrade to Windows 2000 SP4 in order to continue to receive security updates.

[Source – IEBlog]

As we have probably known, Microsoft officially unveiled its next generation Xbox “game and entertainment system” two weeks ago. Given the Xbox 360’s all-new PowerPC-based embedded architecture, the question arises: What operating system is embedded inside the Xbox 360?

The earlier Xbox (shown on the right) is based on a Pentium-family processor and is rumored to run a variant of Windows 2000. But the Xbox 360 has a completely different architecture, based on a custom triple-core IBM PowerPC processor along with other specialty silicon including a custom graphics processor made by ATI, plus 512MB of system DRAM. So, since Windows hasn’t supported the PowerPC architecture since Windows NT 4.0 SP3, and Windows CE also doesn’t support PowerPC, below are some questions to ponder:-

• Has Microsoft ported Windows XP to the PowerPC for the Xbox 360? Or, Windows CE?
• Does the Xbox 360 run a version of some off-the-shelf embedded OS, perhaps a variant of BSD UNIX?
• Does the Xbox 360 run a completely new embedded software platform developed specifically for Xbox use?

Continue Reading »
What OS Runs Inside The Xbox 360?

IEBlog confirmed on May 16, 2005, that the next version of Windows web browser, Internet Explorer 7.0, which is code-named “Rincon“, has tabs.

They also admitted they should have integrated tab browsing feature earlier. :p

Quoted:
Some people have asked why we didn’t put tabs in IE sooner. Initially, we had some concerns around complexity and consistency… will it confuse users more than it benefits them? Is it confusing if IE has tabs, but other core parts of the Windows experience, like Windows Media Player or the shell, don’t have tabs? I think we made the wrong decision here initially, and we’re making the right one now.

Well, who doesn’t make mistake? As long as we learn from it and do the right thing next time. :)

Really looking forward to a better IE to be released end of this year, hopefully.

Microsoft Corp. has already moved its full version of MSN desktop search application out of beta version on May 16, 2005. Microsoft is now emphasizing its ties with the Windows operating system. The old name of MSN desktop search – MSN Search Toolbar – will be renamed to Windows Desktop Search.

Product unit manager for MSN Search, Dane Glasgow, revealed the MSN toolbar will be building tabbed browsing into the Internet Explorer browser.

Quoted:
MSN is announcing plans to release an automatic update to its new toolbar suite within the next few months that adds the ability to open tabs of multiple Web pages inside one browser window and to create routines where multiple sites are opened at once.

Windows Desktop Search appears to be part of Microsoft’s broader desktop search development for Windows, including the next version of Windows, Longhorn release, though company executives have said that MSN’s version of desktop search won’t be directly bundled into Windows.

As for MSN’s new desktop search application, it will be available as a free download in the United States for Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

[Source]