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Most recently we were seeing plenty of fuss over the coming end of Windows XP, but it turns out that another, much older Windows OS has finally been discontinued.  Yup, Windows 3.x licensing has been officially discontinued as of this past November 1.

I am sure it is pretty safe to say that most have long since forgotten this 18 year old OS, but there were still plenty running it, of course they included items such as cash registers and in-flight entertainment systems and not your average household PC.

So, November 1, 2008 has become the last day anyone could have purchased a license, but it is important to point out that support for Windows 3.x ended back in December of 2001, and any licenses from that point were for the OS as an embedded system.

As anyone who has been around computers for a long time will realize, this once breakthrough OS is now not any more powerful than something many carry around in their pocket on a handheld device.  The system requirements were a measly Intel 80286 (or higher) processor with 1 MB or more of memory and 6.5 MB of free disk space although 9 MB was recommended.  That’s a far cry from the 1GHz processor and 20GB of hard drive space that Vista requires.

Read [BBC]

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A computer that did little but browse the web and do some mundane tasks?  That will never work.  Back in 2000, 3Com (remember them?) came out with the computer for people who didn’t want a full-fledged computer.  The 3Com Ergo Audrey was the device and it never stood a chance.

Take a look at this piece of engineering.  The Audrey had a touch screen, ran its own OS and could sync to Palm Pilots.  It even had an IR keyboard so you could type e-mails or URLs easily. 

Who was the target audience?  Where was this computer intended to go?  Find out more after the break.

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Sanjay Jha, Motorola’s co-Chief executive and chief executive of mobile devices says we’ll see a Windows Mobile 6.5 device by the 2nd half of 2009.  This is the first mention of 6.5 that I am aware of and points to a half step before WinMo 7 which we’ve been waiting for to at least stay competitive with the likes of Apple and RIM.

“Windows Mobile 6 has not delivered the experience that I think Apple has been able to deliver, but as you look at the plan that is Windows Mobile 7 and even 6.5, I think there are significant new added features which will help the platform,“ Jha said.

Significant new added features in 6.5 huh?  Hmmmm.  Keep reading to find out our best guess at what that means.

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At the 2-day Microsoft sponsored Professional Developers Conference which started yesterday, Microsoft gave a sneak peak at its upcoming Windows 7 OS as well as a preview of its newest take on cloud computing via a web-based application of its Microsoft Office application - Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

Microsoft plans to deliver the full-version of Windows 7 as early next year, and it is already encouraging professional developers to get their gears going to come up with great applications that would enhance the productivity value of its follow-up to the much maligned Windows Vista.  More after the break.

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Sections: Computers, Software / Applications, Web, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Websites

When I was in Sao Paulo last April, a free Linux based OS was the furthest thing from my mind as I surveyed the Favellas (slums) as well as the metropolitan parts of the city.  In this country of new hope, the government has taken an interesting tack: computers for all.  Their plan is to offer a free operating system to keep computer costs low and thus more affordable for all.  It is an interesting approach that is gaining acceptance.

To date, the OS has an installed base of 1.5 million and looks to climb to 2 million by year’s end.  The first open source OS for the country is Insigne, which opened a training center in Sao Paulo.  Working closely with vendors, Insigne prides itself on a simple UI and basic functionality for email, word processing, spreadsheets, and browsing.

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The Register seems to have started an interesting little rumor that despite all their recent ads and millions spent to lure users to Vista, Microsoft is actually extending the time OEMs have to sell PCs that come with Vista with the support to downgrade to XP.  The deadline had been January 31, 2009, and it has supposedly been extended by six months to July 31, 2009.

The whole extension hasn’t had any official confirmation by anyone in Microsoft or any OEM, just a “Reg reader” was sourced in the original article.  Guess we’ll see.  In a way, it would make sense if Microsoft is trying to keep XP available for companies until the release of Windows 7, expected to come out sometime in early 2010 or thereabouts.  I’m sure this move (if true), would make several who have been dragging their feet on the transition to Vista very happy.

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Sections: Computers, Hardware, Security, Software / Applications, Web, Websites

Because we all need all that extra stuff on our system when we bring it home from the store….right? Yeah. It seems as though Microsoft may actually be making a move in the right direction with this call. Their upcoming Windows 7 won’t include several of those built-in programs for email, movie making, and photo editing like they did include with Windows (*ahem*, memory hog) Vista.

In Vista, Microsoft had included Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Mail, and Windows Movie Maker as a part of the OS; until they later decided to offer separate downloadable Live programs that just pretty much replaced those programs with versions that were able to connect to online services from Microsoft and others. As per CNET, “Last night, Microsoft announced it decided to totally remove those features from Windows 7 and only offer the service-connected Windows Live versions as an optional free download.“

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Sections: Communications, Accessories, Email / IM, Computers, Hardware, Software / Applications, Gadgets / Other, Household, Lifestyle, Peripherals, Displays, Storage, Web, Downloads, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Web Browsers, Websites

“You thought the sleeping giant was still sleeping?“ Microsoft’s VP of Windows Vista consumer marketing recently said. “Well, we’ve woken up, and it’s time to take our message forward.“  And apparently the company is putting their money ...LOTS of money… where their mouth is. They have begun an ad campaign in the continuing market struggle with Apple that could feasibly end up running them an incredible $300 million investment. Their campaign claims we just need to learn the facts about Vista.

I’ve heard the tales from both sides of the fence. How Vista is horrible, horrible, horrible. Then again, how Vista is wonderful, oh so beautiful, secure, and simply the best OS ever made. The truth can probably be found somewhere in the middle of the two. The main battle that Microsoft obviously needs to overcome is, why do I want Vista when I’m perfectly content with XP?  And that is the question they are not having much luck answering to most users’ satisfaction.  No matter how beautiful they claim Vista to be.

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Android first sprung up on the Nokia N810 internet tablet a few months back, however the install process was a little more challenging. Well as technology goes, things generally have a way of becoming easier with some time and that certainly applies to completing the Android installation process on the N810.

Now its as simple as three easy steps.

1. Download “android.img.bz2” to the memory card in your tablet. That file can be found here or here.

2. Download and install the “android-installer.deb” file. That can be found here or here.

3. Reboot your N810.

Once the reboot is complete,  you will have the ability to run and check out Android. The start up for Android can be found in the extra’s menu.

Almost makes me wish I had an N810 to check it out. That said, we have not tested this personally, so I would recommend any important files be backed up first, just in case.

Via [Mobile Computer]

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I’ve been waiting for some kind of response from the big manufacturers to the iPhone.  Sure they’ve thrown some clones our way but nothing that puts them on the path to a true “iPhone killer”.  Today, they’ve shown they mean business by uniting the Symbian OS. 

Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DoCoMo have all joined forces to open up Symbian and work to encourage developers on the common platform.  By bringing together Symbian OS, S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) they will create one open mobile platform.  And they are working with carriers and other telecom giants like AT&T, LG, Samsung, STMicro, Texas Instruments and Vodafone to widen the net of users and developers.

This is a relatively big deal.  To me, it says, “we get the idea that software is king.“  To the world, it says,  “this is how we move forward.“  And a lot of weight moving forward it is.  Going open source and royalty free they hope to attract all the developers who have iPhones royalties in their eyes right now.

This is definitely a step in the right direction.  As my Econ professors used to say, “competition is a good thing.“

Read [Sony Ericsson]

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