Morning Paper

Use Of Safari Jumps On On Windows! Designers Rejoice!

0.21% is the jump that Safari on Windows has made since it went from 3.0 to 3.0.1 says Net Applications, a browser and OS tracking company.  More and more Windows users are giving the browser from Apple a try, especially since it force fed itself onto them via iTunes.  But however they try it, they're trying it and apparently a growing number of users are liking it.

This is great news for Apple and for any web designer.  I myself in the last two weeks have discovered how painful IE7 really is.  On another site in development, the site looks and preforms beautifully in Safari and just about every other browser than IE7.  IE7 is the only one that completely messes everything up.  The IE8 Beta even does a better job at rendering.  After reading page after page and forum after forum, I quickly found out that I'm not the only one who wishes everyone would stop using the lousy browser.  And that's not just coming from a Apple fanboy, the bulk of which are PC users.

Anyway, this is a good sign that more and more PC users are moving away from IE7 and trying out other browsers, Safari being one of them.

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Blamestorming: Microsoft Board Indecisive, Yahoo Still Yahoo

This just gets more and more silly with each passing day.  The WallStreetJournal Online reports that the MS Board meet and did nothing more than show off each others business card stock.

The MS board could not reach a conclusion as to which way to go.  Should we just take em with insider operatives?  Or should we simply gather up and head on out? 

As I said before, I believe this thing is going to reach a very quiet end.  Microsoft will walk away from this bad idea, softly and and with the new checks they ordered unopened.

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Microsofts Eyes Are To Big For Their Wallet

Is there trouble ahead for Microsoft?  Me thinks not, their hands are in every pot that comes out of ikea, but what is fact is Microsoft has been losing ground as of late.  The whole Vista, XP ordeal hurt them in the wallet, The European Commission hurt them in the overseas bank account, and this whole Yahoo thing is hurting them in the ego.

But let's be real about this.  Two real issues are really hurting them right now.

1. Google
2. Apple
3. Steve Ballmer

Yes I know, that's three.  But Google has been hurting them since 2005, it's a slow wound that isn't healing.  Apple is new phenom, so it's a bit more relevant, and Steve Ballmer is.... I don't know what the hell that guy is, besides rich.

But according to some looking very closely at the Microsoft attempt to take Yahoo, MS can't even really afford it right now.  Did you ever think you would hear someone suggest such a thing?  Their shares have been falling, 6% from this time last year, and it doesn't look any better for them in the future given the recent economic down turn.  Oh yeah, and the fact that they really haven't wowed anyone since XP. 

I think there is a good chance we may hear a slow back out from the Yahoo deal.  If analyst are correct, their money is a little funny right now.

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Windows XP To Be Executed On June 30th, Dell Is Shinning Knight

Good ole Steve Ballmer, always around for a quote or two, but never for the retraction. You may remember that Ballmer gave Windows XP a proof of life statement, basically saying that MS could wake from the bad dream of killing off a platform that the majority of Windows users love.

Reaction: Nope. Gone June 30th. Bye-bye, no more, hang on to your love.

But while Microsoft is sharpen the knife and building a "Surface" that only ten people in the world can afford, Dell is saying, not so fast. We have a loophole here. Found it!!!

Due to the loophole Dell stands to make a good stash from PC buyers who want a new PC, but not Vista. Dell will continue to sell machines pre-loaded with XP, along with a Vista upgrade DVD. Sounds like Dell got one over on the man.

Except for the fact that Dell is the man's brother-law. So I find it hard to believe that this isn't a game play by Microsoft to save face and still make a buck twenty-eight.

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Microsoft: Windows XP SP3 Drops

It would seem that it is safe to go into the water as of yesterday.  All of those patiently waiting the full clean release of XP SP3 can get themselves that good time feeling, something new!

SP3 promises a ton of fixes for your aging XP.  There's no IE7, but there are upgrades to IE6 and 7 (Go figure).

Improvements to “black hole” router detection.
Network Access Protection, which is a network policy enforcement platform previously seen in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
Enhanced Control Panel Security Options which better explains the impact of the various settings.
Product key-free installation now possible.

You know what to do so get er done and have a happy OS!

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Joy Division and Zune? Oh My Youth!!!!

Is there nothing sacred?  Don't answer that, just let me go on believing that somethings are pure and holy in this world.   Like Joy Division, real Punk, and no selling out.   I'll just go on not believing that Microsoft is about to release a Limited Edition Joy Division Zune player to kick off the release of the Joy Division DVD.

Nope not going to happen on June 10th. 

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Wear Your Mouse On Your Hand? Microsoft Patent

How do you feel about wearing your mouse on your hand?  I'm not so sure how this is going to fly, but Engadget has uncovered a new patent that puts the mouse on your hand.

A hand movement will turn the cursor on or off while you type.  I'm not sure if this helps Timmy who's home alone on the weekend and on his computer....Late at night.

MicroSoft Surface In Five US Cities Today

If you happen to live in one of these five cities:

New York City
381 Madison Ave
New York, NY 10017

350 Park Ave
New York, NY 10022

Atlanta
3429 Lenox Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30326

San Antonio
13127 San Pedro Ave
San Antonio, TX  78216

San Francisco
1206 El Camino Real
San Bruno, CA 94066

....And you are in walking distance of a AT&T store, you might want to get your brave on, come up with some lame excuse, and take yourself a long lunch today.   The Microsoft Surface surfaces today for your drooling pleasure.

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Zune VideoX...Whatever

Everything with the Zune seems to involve the words "iPod, iTunes, iPod Touch Killer" and it has yet to kill anything except the hopes and dreams of the person who convinced Microsoft to build it. 

Now Microsoft is seeking to shine some kind of attention back onto the Zune by introducing a new "Video Experience" dubbed "Zune VideoX".

basically what this is in a nutshell is iTunes.  It reports to do everything that iTunes does, but for your Zune.  One good thing I can see for Zune users.  Since there are so few of you, you won't have to worry about server issues.  The whole thing might even bring back that old record store community, because you'll all shop there and know each other by name. 

Which when I think about it, sounds pretty cool.

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Windows SP3 To Hit On April 29th....Maybe

Well, well, well.  What do we have here?  A slight admission that most Windows users would rather use XP than Vista, or is it a normal OS support update?  Probably a little of both.  It was no secret that it was coming but it seems it might be coming a tad bit sooner than originally planned.

According to InformationWeek, SP3 will be ready to jazz up your XP on the 29th of April.

"Bloggers at Neowin.Net on Tuesday said that Windows XP, Service Pack 3, will be released to original equipment manufacturers and to Microsoft's MSDN and TechNet subscribers on April 21st. XP SP3 will be generally released to Windows XP users through Microsoft's online Windows Update service on April 29, the blog said.

Neowin said it obtained the dates from an internal Microsoft schedule. Microsoft officials could not immediately be reached for comment."

Well what ever the case, there will be a lot of Happy Windows users out there if this one holds up.