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PaulThurrott posts

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft, Commercial

Windows Vista RC2 now available for public consumption

Windows VistaWindows Vista RC2 has been released and is available for download. Turns out we were wrong when we reported that RC2 would be available only to Microsoft beta testers. However, Microsoft is saying it will be available "for a limited time only" and "may not have the same level of support" as RC1 (whatever that means). The RC2 download is an ISO file that must be burned to a DVD, so if your computer doesn't have that capability, don't bother. Otherwise, go ahead and grab RC2 while it's hot, and have a look at some of those 1,400+ remaining bugs!

(Thanks, Bryan!)

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft, Commercial

Microsoft to release Vista RC2 on Friday

Windows VistaDespite its previous statements to the contrary, on Friday Microsoft will be putting out a second release candidate of Windows Vista, sort of. According to Paul Thurrott, what Microsoft is calling "RC2" is the last pre-release build that will be seen before Vista's official release to manufacturers, but isn't anything more than an ordinary interim build. Unlike RC1, RC2 won't be a public release and will only be made available to Microsoft beta testers, and MSND and TechNet subscribers. According to Thurrott, there are currently 1,400 open bugs in Vista, but they're being closed fast, and Microsoft hopes to "finalize the product" between October 25 and November 8. By my calendar that's three to five until Vista is--dare I say it--finished.

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Macintosh, Apple, Microsoft

Leopard vs. Vista: Who stole what from whom?

OS X Leopard vs. Windows VistaSteve Jobs & Co. spent quite a lot of time at Apple's WWDC on Monday talking about Windows Vista. A whole segment of they keynote, in fact, was dedicated to Microsoft's upcoming OS and how much it copies from Apple's OS X. Apple really, really doesn't want you to forget what features it came up with first--but what features did it really come up with first? Lifehacker explored this question the other day, but over at his blog Paul Thurrott has taken an in-depth view of the subject. Of course, Paul Thurrott is a Windows guy and some may be tempted to write him out as a zealot, but he makes a lot of sound points, not all of them in Microsoft's favor. This will probably be the last Win v. Mac post I'll make for awhile, but I'm sure volleys will continue to be fired by both camps.

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Microsoft

Internet Explorer 7 sucks on standards

Boycott IEWindows experts and web developers are unhappy with Microsoft. Yes, again. Since Internet Explorer 7 was announced, Microsoft has promised that supporting current web standards was high on its list. It turns out, though, that by at least one report, IE7 will only support 54% of the CSS 2.1 standard, as compared to 52% in IE6 and 93% in Firefox 1.5 and 96% in Opera 9. In addition to making a whole lot of web developers' lives a whole lot more difficult, IE7's lack of standards support is turning off a lot of Microsoft's most vocal fans, including Paul Thurrott, who runs the excellent Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows. In a recent Windows IT Pro column, Thurrott accuses Microsoft of leaving users and web developers in the lurch, concluding "My advice is simple: Boycott IE. It's a cancer on the Web that must be stopped. IE isn't secure and isn't standards-compliant, which makes it unworkable both for end users and Web content creators." Ouch.

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft, Commercial

What's new in Windows Vista build 5456

Windows Vista build 5456Microsoft has released build 5456 of Windows Vista to its closed testing group, the first test build since the public release of Vista Beta 2 a couple weeks ago, and Windows guru Paul Thurrott has his usual screenshot-packed overview of what's changed in this version. Thurrott wasn't especially pleased with Beta 2's bugs but says build 5456 "makes up a lot of lost ground," and that "it's hard not to view this build and not believe that Microsoft is absolutely back on track." He praises the build's much quicker setup time, networking enhancements, performance improvements ("much speedier than was Beta 2"), and "a new high-resolution mouse pointer." Head over to Paul Thurrott's Windows SuperSite for all of his notes on the release and a pile of new screenshots.

[Via Digg]

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft, Commercial

Paul Thurrott on the newest Windows Vista builds

Windows Vista
build 5365Genuine Windows enthusiast Paul Thurrott keeps us constantly supplied with new info and screenshots from Redmond, and this week over at his Windows SuperSite he's posted his review and screenshot gallery of the most recent build of Windows Vista, 5365. This is the last build of Vista before Beta 2, and Thurrott says, "Windows Vista is, overall, a huge improvement over Windows XP," which has been his opinion all along. However, he expresses a bit of frustration, saying, "in many ways, the Windows Vista we're going to get late 2006 fails to match the excitement Microsoft generated," and that "the reality of Windows Vista, like most things in life, is that there's good and bad. It's not perfect. But it's not a complete dog either." The screenshots are nothing too different from what we've been seeing, but you can get a peek at a few of Vista's desktop background and screensavers.

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With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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