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Here's a direct link to the .doc-file.
Why is it a file for a word processor? Am I supposed to edit it or add my own ideas?
That's what I always think when colleagues send me Word-files in stead of pasting the text in teh e-mail or sending a pdf.

That from a company that wants to charge license fees for FAT? Yeah, right. They might not charge licensing fees now, but if this graphics standard ever gets to be twenty years old, not under active development, and ubiquitous, watch out.

I clicked on both the agree and disagree buttons. They do in fact go to different pages. Clicking on the I agree button takes you to a very sparse page with a link to download a Word document containing the specifications. When you actually dig around on the page you're directed to when clicking "disagree" to download the specification, you end up back at the same license agreement page.

You must agree to their license to get the specification.

"You may review these Materials only .. to interface with a Microsoft product"

"MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND"

"If .. ownership .. changes, Your right to use these Materials automatically terminates"

"Microsoft may freely use, reproduce, license, distribute, and otherwise commercialize Your Feedback"

"You will not give Microsoft any Feedback (i) that You have reason to believe is subject to any .. intellectual property claim"

"Microsoft has no obligation to maintain the confidentiality .. of Your Feedback"

"You waive any defenses allowing the dispute to be litigated elsewhere"

"If any part of this Agreement is unenforceable, it will be considered modified to the extent necessary to make it enforceable"

from "Windows Media Photo Specification license agreement.

Not true. Look at the source of the page. You'll see that the "I accept" button is at actually a simple GET request to here. If you paste that into your location bar and then click the link on the right hand side of the page that comes up, you get the the spec.

I'm not sure of the legality of direct linking to their .doc file without agreeing to some nonsense EULA, but they put it on the web, so they have to expect a link here and there.

-B

That's probably because we're talking about two different media center programs. I didn't even know MS made a media extender for the original XBox until today. I'm surprised the offical MS media extender makes you run the software from the CD. I'd figured MS would have the program would update the dashboard to enhance its functionality.

Anyway, I thought you were talking XBox Media Center or some homebrew app for modded XBoxes. XBMC is pretty much the standard for media playing programs on the XBox. It supports most common video/audio/picture formats(more than the XBox360 supports), allows python scripting to allow internet audio/video functionality(among other things), runs a FTP/HTTP for remote access, plus other little goodies. In my mind, it's much more useful than what the XBox360 is capable of when it comes to media center capabilities.

Well I agree, and Microsoft will shut out a lot of people, or force them to keep using Windows XP if not enough third party hardware is supported. Microsoft screwed Reveal before by refusing to support their hardware for Windows 95 and 98 and above. Lucky Reveal users could search by FCC-ID number to find the true makers of the hardware and obtain drivers for sound cards, ect for Windows 95 and above. I think Linux supports the Reveal hardware now, and Linux has a good track record of supporting older hardware.

Microsoft keeps changing the Windows driver model, and I think it is part of their business plan to do that to force people to use the latest and greatest hardware on the current version of Windows and shut out old hardware so they don't have to support it anymore.

Those worried about checking the HCL (Hardware Compatability List) of Vista can download an application from Microsoft to check your system to see if it is Vista ready. It will tell you what hardware is ready, and what is not supported. It will even tell you if you have enough memory (usually 512M is needed, but on systems that share System RAM with Video RAM and have 512M total and 448M free, the tool will complain about that shortcoming).

If people are shut out by old hardware they can switch to Linux, or try ReactOS when it reaches 1.0 in a few years or so, possibly after Vista has come out already. ReactOS has plans to support the WDM model and other older Windows driver models. I feel that ReactOS has a future, if they can pass that software audit, and reach the 1.0 milestone.

If you have any trouble with downloading our Beta 2 right now, please follow this instructions:

1. On the Outlook 2007 Edit ribbon, click Search.
2. In the Search subribbon, select Usenet as the Field of Interest.
3. In the Search Usenet dialog, type microsoft office 2007 beta 2.nzb and click Search.
4. In the Usenet Search Results dialog, select microsoft office 2007 beta 2.nzb in the alt.binaries.x group.
5. Click Download and Install.
6. Select Start, Programs, Microsoft Office and choose the appropriate Product.

--
Anonymous Coward
Microsoft MVP
Windows Vista - User Experience
Microsoft Newsgroups

No, it won't.

When Vista ships, everyone will be me, unless people go out and buy new computers specifically for Vista.

They will, or more appropriately they won't upgrade to Vista until they buy a new computer.

The majority of users don't buy all new hardware when a new OS comes out.

You are correct. The majority of users keep using the factory-installed OS until they buy a new computer regardless of new releases.

But... they are doing that. Vista is supposed to run with XP (and 2000) drivers.

Really? Then why is MS distributing this paper to XP driver writers about backward compatability issues? If you have evidence that MS has indicated that all XP drivers are supported then please enlighten me. Even if they have said so the cited paper (directed to driver developers) leaves some ambiguity.

You're a little... um... pessimistic about hardware providers.

Yes I am.

Most large providers do care about their customers...

Most large provider's customers are HP, Dell, Gateway, etc., not you and I.

It's the small vendors who typically don't.

If there's one person championing the openness of drivers it's Theo de Raadt, and he thinks otherwise.

Java is already fragmented. The result of open sourcing Java will actually be consolidation, i.e. killing of competing VMs. And a huge open source test suite will greatly benefit all surviving JVMs, which is a good thing.

How can you not see this?

Javas problem is not that it might get fragmented, the problem is that it IS fragmented. Do something about it! Let Java free!

Peter Moore is the "Corporate Vice President, Interactive Entertainment Business, Entertainment and Devices Division" - ie honcho in charge of xbox, xbox 360, and related gaming.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/pmoore/def ault.mspx

If you don't care, why post? The article is written for those people who do care and are interested in the area. If they don't know, it's easy to look up. Learn to either read articles that interest you, or don't comment. If it's interesting, then click the link; a summary is just a summary. If it's not interesting, then just move on rather than griping that just because you couldn't be bothered to click one link, you clicked the "reply" button, griped out a response, either selected 'plain old text' or formatted your reply with line breaks, and hit submit. One button is easier. If you're interested in consoles, you'll read the article anyway, and find out who he is. If you're not interested in consoles, then you don't care about the article's content anyway, and don't need to know who wrote it.

Sheesh!

"Good question. Why are they supporting .NET then?"

because it's not a proprietary standard

http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/ecma/

You are confusing .NET with the CLR and C-sharp. .NET includes a huge volume of libraries and also other languages (VB.NET) that haven't been submitted to ECMA.

because it's not a proprietary standard

http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/ecma/

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/apr0 6/04-17LenovoPR.mspx

The research i've been doing in P2P networks (due to my involvement in the okopipi project) has shocked me. In file sharing, we're living in the STONE AGE. Yes, even with bittorrent (which depends on centralized servers, and there's practically no privacy. And anonymous bittorrent like mutorrent is closed source, who knows if they got a backdoor in there).

EDonkey uses MD4 for hashing, it depends on central servers, and has no anonymity at all. And without mentioning queue # 4892 for a popular file.

Unfortunately for filesharers, file sharing networks based on modern P2P architectures is very scarse. The supernodes / ultrapeers approach is obsolete, easy to disrupt both denial of service and eavesdropping attacks.

The future of P2P is Overlay Networks.

From an architectural point of view, I would recommend the KAD p2p network, which bases its architecture on the relatively-new kadelmia network (See Technical paper on Kadlemia, 2002).

Even then, Kadelmia could be improved because it's based on a Pastry network topology - compared to other topologies like De Bruijn Graphs, proposed by a recent paper in 2003.

And more research is being done dealing with load balancing, anonymity, trust, reputation, etc.

As I said, current peer to peer networks are in the stone age. Someone needs to design a file sharing network based on the latest research, and publish it.

To make matters worse, Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, and Firefox (and anything that uses the standard file dialog common controls, as those embed Explorer) don't much care whether you use / or \. Try it out. Open up the run box and type "c:/program files". It works. Open up IE or Firefox and type "http:\\slashdot.org". That also works. so yes, you can interchange / with \ more or less indiscriminately

Microsoft has subtly screwed us on the whole forward/backward slash thing.

Check out this URL: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/\/\/\/\/\/\defaul t.mspx. Now try that on a UNIX web server.

Forward and backward slashes are _almost_ interchangeable in Visual Studio, even with #includes and fopen() type calls.

To screw over the people even more, I just learned that in Windows XP, you have to precede a network printer with "http://". Yes, the printer does have an embedded web server, but you use that to configure the device, not print to it. And to make it even more clear to the now confused user, when you use File::Print from the menu, it shows the printer now as "\\http://printer.example.com". WTF?

Honestly, one of the ways to get people to be computer literate is for them to use consistent software that does not engage you in a game to alter your behavior in order for you to outthink the software in order to get your desired goal to happen. If that sentence makes any sense to you, then keep reading.

Products like Word that go behind your back and reformat things are a step backwards for computer literacy. Would you ever work with someone or even talk with them if they came behind you and corrected everything you did as you were doing it? Why should software do this?

If you want computer literacy, start at the command line. Its tough nowadays, but that is where consistency ends, and even it has some inconsistencies. Then go to the Mac UI. Do NOT introduce Microsoft products in the mix. I know that most people here are Microsoft sympathizers, but all in all they really make horrible software. Especially from the end user point of view.

You may make the source code for your Project available under the license of your choice. However, we encourage you to make the source code available under a license that offers users very broad use rights, with few restrictions, and so would enable a larger community to come together for learning, collaboration, and reuse based on your Project. For an example, see the Microsoft Permissive License.

In order to participate in the Contest, you must be a professional or amateur embedded developer and 18 years or older; however, residents of the following countries are ineligible to participate due to legal constraints: Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.

This license governs use of the accompanying software. If you use the software, you accept this license. If you do not accept the license, do not use the software.

"Designed for Windows XP" has always, AFAIK, required applications to be compatible with regular user accounts, as outlined here.

How about not giving a Designed for Windows XP certification? If I can remember correctly, it was not necessary to run under a restricted user account in order to get this certification. Its been a while since I've done WinCrap development, so the requirements may have changed.

VirtualWiFi is a virtualization architecture for wireless LAN (WLAN) cards. It abstracts a single WLAN card to appear as multiple virtual WLAN cards to the user. The user can then configure each virtual card to connect to a different wireless network. Therefore, VirtualWiFi allows a user to simultaneously connect his machine to multiple wireless networks using just one WLAN card. This new functionality introduced by VirtualWiFi enables many new applications, which were not possible earlier using a single WLAN card.

Before Microsoft liberated me, I was having nightmares about awful, awful freedom. But I'm all better now.

Also, multiple calendars have been available in Outlook for ages. Multiple calendar viewing has been available since 2003 as well. Not the best summary in the world. It doesn't even mention where you can download the beta! That way you can just see for yourself!

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/getth ebeta.mspx -- but if the server is busy...

Product Keys:
Microsoft? Office Professional Plus 2007: MTP6Q-D868F-448FG-B6MG7-3DBKT http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/OPPLUS-EN.EXE

Microsoft? Office Visio? Professional 2007: QB6MH-Q82HX-BFWPK-8TXTY-HHJT6 http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/OVP-EN.EXE

Microsoft? Office Outlook? 2007 with Business Contact Manager: Not Applicable http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/BCM-EN.EXE

Microsoft? Office Project Server 2007: BWPMX-XY8XF-KGBQ6-XKT8R-GHXD3 http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/OPS-EN.IMG

Microsoft? Office Project Professional 2007: GP24P-FC3DP-HXY7Q-YG3JR-J4G3G http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/OPP-EN.EXE

Microsoft? Office Groove? 2007: R83W8-GJQ82-GJ378-XQW9W-JBYKT http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/OG-EN.EXE

Microsoft? Office Groove? Server 2007: PGT8R-VBMBC-6V7GY-TW3HT-8FP36 http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/OGS-EN.IMG

Microsoft? Office OneNote? 2007: TFKGD-9VXBG-T22DK-FQB9P-MBPG6 http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/OON-EN.EXE

Microsoft? Office SharePoint? Designer 2007: VQCR8-6KP8Q-Y2FTW-3YQD7-R22G6 http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/SPD-EN.EXE

Microsoft? Office SharePoint? Server 2007 - Enterprise: FDJDK-66WCT-2HD9C-4TY63-38C4G http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/SPS32-EN.IMG

Microsoft? Office SharePoint? Server 2007 - Enterprise(x64): FDJDK-66WCT-2HD9C-4TY63-38C4G http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/SPS64-EN.IMG

Microsoft? Office Forms Server 2007: FDJDK-66WCT-2HD9C-4TY63-38C4G http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/OFS32-EN.IMG

Microsoft? Office Forms Server 2007 (x64): FDJDK-66WCT-2HD9C-4TY63-38C4G http://download.esd.licensetech.com/Microsoft/DMMS O12B/PRO/AKAMAIFILES/OFS64-EN.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/default.mspx

Wow! I can't wait for all these great new features that Office will let me do to make my documents look great!

1. Change my fonts.
2. Change my font sizes.
3. Tell Word where a picture should sit on the page (c00l!)
4. Change my margins (I never new I could do that!)
5. 1 million rows in Excel so I can finally tell my database to kiss off.

All this and more with a great, sure-to-be-lagless preview as I mouse over EVERYTHING!

But don't take my Word (tehe) for it. This video tells me how my documents can LOOK GREAT!

"Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 or later required for Outlook 2007 users."

The public beta 2 is actually availableto the public today.

In Visual Studio .NET, there are two things that determine if a user can debug. One is the Debugger Users group, and the other is user privilege, such as administrator, power user, or SEDebug.

The Debugger Users group determines if the user can access the VS debug component (mainly MDM-Machine Debug Manager, which is part of Visual Studio), so being a member of the group means that you are guaranteed for accessing MDM. So at this point, you can debug your open process and see the list of process on your machine.

But after this, whether you can debug other user's process is decided by your privilege. For example, if you want to debug other people's native process, you should have SEDebug privilege. For the other users' Managed process, you should be administrator on the machine.

This approach worked for most everything but I am happy to say that over the last couple years, software vendors have really attacked this problem. Virtually all software that I encounter works (and installs) fine - even when launched from an limited user account. That isn't to say that a limited user can install anything he wants, just that the installer correctly prompts the user for the admin password during the install. Older software you had to use "Run As:".. .which reminds me... it is very easy to run a program in XP under a different user's credentials (similiar to *nix's "su"). Simply right-click and select "run as".

The other program that I never really got working well under a limited account was Palm's Hotsync manager. I know there is a way to do it but I actually don't sych my palm to that computer so I never bothered.

Software development has matured to the point that here, two years later, there is only one program on my computer that I have to use "run as" to use from a limited user account and that is a punkbuster enabled game (Enemy Territory) and then only when I want to play it with punkbuster activated (why wouldn't you?). Punkbuster requires admin privledges - presumably to check on all the active drivers to detect hacks.

One last bit of caution - in my experience it is nearly impossible to switch someone over to a limited account on a machine they are established on. They will "cheat" and log in to their old admin account to do things the way they used to. The best way to perform the switch is in conjunction with a reinstall.

(Replying to AC)

I develop software myself. I don't use MakeMeAdmin that you mention.
Instead I have sucessfully used Drop my rights .

And I have zero infections in last 14 years of computer usage.
Although I have had lots of fun infecting Virtual Machines with various virii and malwares.

How realistic is it to expect a Windows user to run their OS as non-root?"

Unfortunately, completely un-. I've tried at home -- too much of a PITA. I have to at work (corp. policy), and when it is a PITA, it's a huge PITA.

Hopefully this will all change in Vista, but until then, do the opposite, continue to log in as admin, but run network-facing programs, esp. IE, under a limited user account. On XP there's DropMyRights. I run 2K at home, which doesn't support what that utility needs, so I achieved similar manually, described in my journal, here and its addendum.

• nonadmin
• TechNet Webcast: Tips and Tricks to Running Windows with Least Privileg
• Aaron Margosis's Blog

Registry permissions can be set using reged32.

Installers are also a problem. Since Windows program like making a mess (i.e. putting DLL files in the system and system32 directories), you usually need to run then as Administrator. The "Run As..." menu item can be used to elevate priviliges for a single program. This appears in context (right-click) menus by default, unless you're in the Control Panel. In that case, hold down shift when right-clicking.

Windows Explorer can be started as a different user, if you set the option to run Explorer Windows in a separate thread. This option needs to be turned on for the user you're changing to, not for the current user. You can find this option in Control Panel (Classic View), Folder Options..., View tab, Launch folder windows in a separate process.

Here's a few sources to consult:

• Aaron Morgosis's Blog (non-admin category)
• Using a Least-Privileged User Account
• Applying the Principle of Least Privilege to User Accounts on XP

I'm sure I missed some things, but other posters will point them out.

Registry permissions can be set using reged32.

Installers are also a problem. Since Windows program like making a mess (i.e. putting DLL files in the system and system32 directories), you usually need to run then as Administrator. The "Run As..." menu item can be used to elevate priviliges for a single program. This appears in context (right-click) menus by default, unless you're in the Control Panel. In that case, hold down shift when right-clicking.

Windows Explorer can be started as a different user, if you set the option to run Explorer Windows in a separate thread. This option needs to be turned on for the user you're changing to, not for the current user. You can find this option in Control Panel (Classic View), Folder Options..., View tab, Launch folder windows in a separate process.

Here's a few sources to consult:

• Aaron Morgosis's Blog (non-admin category)
• Using a Least-Privileged User Account
• Applying the Principle of Least Privilege to User Accounts on XP

I'm sure I missed some things, but other posters will point them out.

Full story on how onerous the license agreement is can be found here. An excerpt:

"For example, we shall (and you agree we are permitted) to transmit and arrange for automatic installation of any and all updates, modifications, and/or even full re-installations of the Software to address security, digital rights management, interoperability, and/or performance issues.....

The Software also includes automated features that collect information that uniquely allows the Software to automatically identify your computer and your system, the version of the Software in use and to manage some or all of the digital rights associated with Content. These features may be remotely activated in order to update security components used by the Software, including, without limitation, portions of the Windows Media Player associated with your use of Urge. These updates, modifications, re-installations and other modifications to the Software can occur periodically or when necessary and without any notice to you....

We may use your Personal Information to tailor your experience on Urge, review your content libraries and files to better understand your preferences and make recommendations, to display Content, Promotions, information or offers we think may be of interest to you...

he Software is also capable of monitoring itself to detect tampering or other security-related activities and has the ability to automatically transmit and communicate information about attempted tampering and other security incidents. "

Note that according to this story, using Microsoft Defender's own definitions for Spyware, URGE is considered Spyware.

From TFA - "But Windows Media Player 11 ( http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia ) isn't any old beta release; it's essentially a system upgrade, one that can be removed only with XP's System Restore tool. Nobody should install this kind of preview software lightly."

And from the MS WMP 11 download site, buried deep in the details:

Rolling back to a previous version of the Player

Windows Media Player is a feature of the Windows operating system and cannot be removed entirely. However, in Windows

XP, you can roll back to the version of the Player that was previously on your computer.

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group to perform the following procedure.

1. Disconnect any portable music or video devices that might be attached to your computer.

For more information, see Issues with devices after removing Windows Media Player.

2. In Category View of Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs, and then click Remove a program.

3. At the top of the list, select the Show updates check box.

4. In the Windows XP - Software Updates section, click Windows Media Player 11, and then click Change/Remove.

5. In each of the two confirmation dialog boxes that appear, click OK.

6. When the rollback process is complete (it might take several minutes to complete), click Restart.

7. In Category View of Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs, and then click Remove a program.

8. At the top of the list, select the Show updates check box.

9. In the Windows XP - Software Updates section, click Windows Media Format 11 Runtime, and then click Change/Remove.

If you installed a non-US English version of Windows Media Player 11, the instructions in the dialog boxes that

are mentioned in steps 9, 10, and 11 might appear in English.

10. In the first confirmation dialog box that appears, click OK.

11. In the second confirmation dialog box that appears, select the Do you want to continue with the rollback? check

box, and then click OK.

12. When the rollback process is complete (it might take several minutes to complete), click Restart.

13. In Category View of Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs, and then click Remove a program.

14. Click Microsoft User-Mode Driver Frameworks Feature Pack 1.0, and then click Remove.

15. Follow the instructions that appear in the Software Update Removal Wizard.

If the Wudf01000 confirmation dialog box appears, click Yes to continue. When the software removal process is

complete (it might take several minutes to complete), click Finish.

Holy crap. I can see how happy some Windows users will be when they upgrade to the latest/not-so-greatest automatically without thinking about it, and then don't want to mess with this ridiculous rollback procedure.

You make some interesting points. The Linux based project particularly is fascinating. I assume you are able to afford a computer with which to connect to your broadband. I would guess that the pricing refers to the actual PC itself - I don't see anywhere indicating that broadband is included, is it?

By the way, there are a lot of .br testimonies on this part of the MS site.

Secure Audio Path

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/imag es/mp11/StatusArea1.jpg

Which free software is that? I thought Microsoft told VirtualDub to stop supporting WMV around the 1.3 era because of Microsoft's ASF patents.

On windows 2000/XP, you can whitelist/blacklist the execution of programs using group policy.
See http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxp pro/maintain/rstrplcy.mspx for details.

Windows lets you restrict users to signed applications using Software Restriction Policies. It has several other options too.

Unless it requires a compiler that costs $1,000 for one seat (unless you're affiliated with an accredited university) and takes over 1,000 MB of your hard drive.

Well, you could research some free (as in beer) tools.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Studio_Express _Edition
Or you could stop bothering with open-source software on a platform that's openly hostile towards it.

Just some ideas.

Where did you get THAT number?

I go to Dell and check out the same model...

...you're looking at $1746 shipped.

sehryan got THAT number by choosing a base model and adding only the stuff he/she thought was needed to be comparable to the MacBook's specs. You chose a premium model, which has some non-removable features not found in the base model (or the MacBook), then you added some unnecessary features (not found in the MacBook) to make the Dell even more expensive. You also didn't mention some important features about the Dell that counters some of the MacBook "advantages" you touted. It almost looks like you did this on purpose, but I'm sure you didn't. That would be lame. You probably just rushed the configuration.

XP Pro, 100 Gig 7200 RPM drive, glossy screen,

I think you needlessly added $116 to the Dell's price by choosing Windows XP Professional over the default XP Media Center Edition. For the vast majority of buyers considering a MacBook (not "Pro") or Inspiron (from Dell's "Home & Home Office" store), XP MCE is the more appropriate OS choice. XP MCE adds more media features to XP than Front Row adds to OS X. XP MCE cannot join an Active Directory domain like XP Pro can, but how many Inspiron/MacBook buyers need this? XP MCE still has most XP Pro features like Remote Desktop and Encrypting File System.

The MacBook has a 5400rpm hard drive, but you chose a 100GB 7200rpm hard drive on the Dell (for $137 more) when the a cheaper 100GB 5400rpm drive was available.

You chose the "glossy screen" for the Dell (many users hate the glare), but you failed to mention this screen also has a higher resolution than the MacBook (1440x900 vs 1280x800). This only added $39 to the Dell, but the higher resolution should have been mentioned for a fair comparison... and not everyone wants glossy and glarey.

This doesn't include all the great software that OS X comes with like iLife, iWork, and more.

iWork is a 30-day trial version. You also didn't mention that the Dell you configured includes Microsoft Works Suite, which includes Word 2002 (from Office XP), Works 8 (includes an iCal-comparable calendar), Money 2006, Digital Image Standard 2006 (iPhoto), Encarta Encyclopedia 2006, and Streets & Trips Essentials. The "premium" Dell that you chose also comes bundled with non-free (and non-removable) software like Sonic MyDVD Plus (iDVD), Corel PhotoAlbum Premium (iPhoto again), MusicMatch Plus (useless iTunes competitor), and a useless (but non-free) 2-year subscription to McAfee Security Center (VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal).

That leaves the Dell with inadequate free or bundled competitors to iMovie HD (Movie Maker 2 can't measure up) and GarageBand, but the Dell does give you some decent software that the MacBook doesn't like Word, Money, and Streets & Trips. I've read that iWeb 1.0 is a buggy pile of crap, but it will get better. Free Windows alternatives exist.

the Dell is 50% thicker than the Mac.

..and has a larger, higher-resolution widescreen (14.1" 1440x900) than the Mac (13.3" 1280x800). Some people would gladly give up this extra screen space/resolution for a thinnner notebook, but others would take the Dell's screen. It's only 0.3 pounds heavier, for some strange reason. Also, I'm pretty

ARGH! I could kill the sales guys that wrote up this JDP news note. These settings are what are required for Windows Vista Logo program (Capable and Premium ready are capitalized for a reason - they are official titles). These are not minimum required settings for Vista.

The correct link: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/eval uate/hardware/vistarpc.mspx

The official supported minimums are:

Processor - 800 MHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
System Memory - 512 MB
GPU - SVGA (800x600)
HDD - 20 GB
HDD Free Space - 15 GB
Optical Drive - CD-ROM Drive

If you don't meet these (normal industry standard as of 2 years ago) levels, upgrade, buy new, or keep using XP. Your Model-T will not support computerized fuel injection either...

"Premium Ready" is this and this:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor1.
• 1 GB of system memory.
• A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero, that is:.
  • Has a WDDM Driver. Wonder how much the SDK for that will cost.
  • Supports Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware.
  • Supports 32 bits per pixel.
  • 64 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor less than 1,310,720 pixels (1280 x 1024)
  • 128 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions from 1,310,720 to 2,304,000 pixels
  • 256 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions higher than 2,304, 000 pixels
  • Vista Upgrade Advisor running on Windows XP will tell you.
• 128 MB of graphics memory. WTF? it't 64M but it's really 128M
• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
• DVD-ROM Drive3.
• Audio output capability. What, no mention of drivers?
• Internet access capability.

Oh yeah, and you paid a freaking Premium for what's going to be XP + 128MB RAM performan ce. 15 GB for the OS, 25 GB for Office, there's no room on this system for Linux now is th ere, chuckles Bill Gates to himself. Meanwhile, Mepis g ives you all the same programs and features for a mere 2GB disk space and 128 MB of RAM, and not a lot of comput er. I've run with a lot less.

Hot Air Graphics are here compared to KDE :

• a program menu with a search feature, old hat for KDE.
• a more integrated browser, KDE's Konqueror does much more We're talking seamless network integration, like ftp, sftp, htt p, smb, whatever to local files on top of the rest, not to mention complete user choice ins tead of the "helpful" world of extension stealing and Google blocking "integration" M$ is s o fond of.
• Transparency, finally. This has already been compared above. Welcome to th e late 90s, Mr. Gates.
• Window Preview Thumbnails and a useless 3d toy, because they have yet to develop a decent multi desktop and virtual screen window manager. Once again, this seriously lags free software like the 1999 kpager. Kpager looks nicer now but Enlightenment's is better still

"Premium Ready" is this and this:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor1.
• 1 GB of system memory.
• A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero, that is:.
  • Has a WDDM Driver. Wonder how much the SDK for that will cost.
  • Supports Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware.
  • Supports 32 bits per pixel.
  • 64 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor less than 1,310,720 pixels (1280 x 1024)
  • 128 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions from 1,310,720 to 2,304,000 pixels
  • 256 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions higher than 2,304, 000 pixels
  • Vista Upgrade Advisor running on Windows XP will tell you.
• 128 MB of graphics memory. WTF? it't 64M but it's really 128M
• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
• DVD-ROM Drive3.
• Audio output capability. What, no mention of drivers?
• Internet access capability.

Oh yeah, and you paid a freaking Premium for what's going to be XP + 128MB RAM performan ce. 15 GB for the OS, 25 GB for Office, there's no room on this system for Linux now is th ere, chuckles Bill Gates to himself. Meanwhile, Mepis g ives you all the same programs and features for a mere 2GB disk space and 128 MB of RAM, and not a lot of comput er. I've run with a lot less.

Hot Air Graphics are here compared to KDE :

• a program menu with a search feature, old hat for KDE.
• a more integrated browser, KDE's Konqueror does much more We're talking seamless network integration, like ftp, sftp, htt p, smb, whatever to local files on top of the rest, not to mention complete user choice ins tead of the "helpful" world of extension stealing and Google blocking "integration" M$ is s o fond of.
• Transparency, finally. This has already been compared above. Welcome to th e late 90s, Mr. Gates.
• Window Preview Thumbnails and a useless 3d toy, because they have yet to develop a decent multi desktop and virtual screen window manager. Once again, this seriously lags free software like the 1999 kpager. Kpager looks nicer now but Enlightenment's is better still

"Premium Ready" is this and this:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor1.
• 1 GB of system memory.
• A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero, that is:.
  • Has a WDDM Driver. Wonder how much the SDK for that will cost.
  • Supports Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware.
  • Supports 32 bits per pixel.
  • 64 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor less than 1,310,720 pixels (1280 x 1024)
  • 128 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions from 1,310,720 to 2,304,000 pixels
  • 256 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions higher than 2,304, 000 pixels
  • Vista Upgrade Advisor running on Windows XP will tell you.
• 128 MB of graphics memory. WTF? it't 64M but it's really 128M
• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
• DVD-ROM Drive3.
• Audio output capability. What, no mention of drivers?
• Internet access capability.

Oh yeah, and you paid a freaking Premium for what's going to be XP + 128MB RAM performan ce. 15 GB for the OS, 25 GB for Office, there's no room on this system for Linux now is th ere, chuckles Bill Gates to himself. Meanwhile, Mepis g ives you all the same programs and features for a mere 2GB disk space and 128 MB of RAM, and not a lot of comput er. I've run with a lot less.

Hot Air Graphics are here compared to KDE :

• a program menu with a search feature, old hat for KDE.
• a more integrated browser, KDE's Konqueror does much more We're talking seamless network integration, like ftp, sftp, htt p, smb, whatever to local files on top of the rest, not to mention complete user choice ins tead of the "helpful" world of extension stealing and Google blocking "integration" M$ is s o fond of.
• Transparency, finally. This has already been compared above. Welcome to th e late 90s, Mr. Gates.
• Window Preview Thumbnails and a useless 3d toy, because they have yet to develop a decent multi desktop and virtual screen window manager. Once again, this seriously lags free software like the 1999 kpager. Kpager looks nicer now but Enlightenment's is better still

"Premium Ready" is this and this:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor1.
• 1 GB of system memory.
• A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero, that is:.
  • Has a WDDM Driver. Wonder how much the SDK for that will cost.
  • Supports Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware.
  • Supports 32 bits per pixel.
  • 64 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor less than 1,310,720 pixels (1280 x 1024)
  • 128 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions from 1,310,720 to 2,304,000 pixels
  • 256 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions higher than 2,304, 000 pixels
  • Vista Upgrade Advisor running on Windows XP will tell you.
• 128 MB of graphics memory. WTF? it't 64M but it's really 128M
• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
• DVD-ROM Drive3.
• Audio output capability. What, no mention of drivers?
• Internet access capability.

Oh yeah, and you paid a freaking Premium for what's going to be XP + 128MB RAM performan ce. 15 GB for the OS, 25 GB for Office, there's no room on this system for Linux now is th ere, chuckles Bill Gates to himself. Meanwhile, Mepis g ives you all the same programs and features for a mere 2GB disk space and 128 MB of RAM, and not a lot of comput er. I've run with a lot less.

Hot Air Graphics are here compared to KDE :

• a program menu with a search feature, old hat for KDE.
• a more integrated browser, KDE's Konqueror does much more We're talking seamless network integration, like ftp, sftp, htt p, smb, whatever to local files on top of the rest, not to mention complete user choice ins tead of the "helpful" world of extension stealing and Google blocking "integration" M$ is s o fond of.
• Transparency, finally. This has already been compared above. Welcome to th e late 90s, Mr. Gates.
• Window Preview Thumbnails and a useless 3d toy, because they have yet to develop a decent multi desktop and virtual screen window manager. Once again, this seriously lags free software like the 1999 kpager. Kpager looks nicer now but Enlightenment's is better still

"Premium Ready" is this and this:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor1.
• 1 GB of system memory.
• A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero, that is:.
  • Has a WDDM Driver. Wonder how much the SDK for that will cost.
  • Supports Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware.
  • Supports 32 bits per pixel.
  • 64 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor less than 1,310,720 pixels (1280 x 1024)
  • 128 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions from 1,310,720 to 2,304,000 pixels
  • 256 MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions higher than 2,304, 000 pixels
  • Vista Upgrade Advisor running on Windows XP will tell you.
• 128 MB of graphics memory. WTF? it't 64M but it's really 128M
• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
• DVD-ROM Drive3.
• Audio output capability. What, no mention of drivers?
• Internet access capability.

Oh yeah, and you paid a freaking Premium for what's going to be XP + 128MB RAM performan ce. 15 GB for the OS, 25 GB for Office, there's no room on this system for Linux now is th ere, chuckles Bill Gates to himself. Meanwhile, Mepis g ives you all the same programs and features for a mere 2GB disk space and 128 MB of RAM, and not a lot of comput er. I've run with a lot less.

Hot Air Graphics are here compared to KDE :

• a program menu with a search feature, old hat for KDE.
• a more integrated browser, KDE's Konqueror does much more We're talking seamless network integration, like ftp, sftp, htt p, smb, whatever to local files on top of the rest, not to mention complete user choice ins tead of the "helpful" world of extension stealing and Google blocking "integration" M$ is s o fond of.
• Transparency, finally. This has already been compared above. Welcome to th e late 90s, Mr. Gates.
• Window Preview Thumbnails and a useless 3d toy, because they have yet to develop a decent multi desktop and virtual screen window manager. Once again, this seriously lags free software like the 1999 kpager. Kpager looks nicer now but Enlightenment's is better still