26 Apr 2009
Windows 7 To Include XP

Good grief! Did somebody at M$ grow a brain? Certainly it's a step in the right direction, but I gotta think that it's gonna be really, really fun for guys like me to insure that our shipping software runs in such an environment...

Paul Thurrott's WinSuperSite reports that Windows 7 will include a built-in virtual machine with a fully licensed copy of Windows XP Professional SP3. The VM runs in a modified version of Virtual PC, and applications running in the VM can interact directly with the host operating system as if they were running on the Windows 7 installation itself. While details are scarce for now, it looks as if this feature will only be available as a (free) addon for Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7. Also, a processor supporting hardware virtualization will be required, indicating that this is perhaps aimed more at power users and corporate users, rather than consumers. Microsoft confirmed the feature last night.

(link) [Slashdot]

07:56 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Apple fined $19m in 'Predictive Snooping' case

If you wonder why Apple, M$, IBM and other huge corporations file what appear to be the silliest of patents, look no further. Their claim: "It's self defense!" And to a large extent, as this suit shows, they're right!

But of course, once filed and granted, defensive patents begin to look like serious money in the bank to corporate lawyers. So more suits are filed, and the whole spiral descends another level.

If we can't effect reform soon, we're going to be in a place where everything is somebody's "intellectual property", and nothing can be done without paying someone for the privilege of doing it.

Apple has been ordered to pay $19m in damages after losing a patent infringement case which its lawyers hoped might only cost the firm $270,000.

(link) [The Register]

07:53 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Laughing hyenas, wailing levees, the sound of cheese and blaring bagpipes

Now this makes me wish I were an acoustical researcher ... maybe I could capture the sound of wool growing!

Deteriorating screws in bridges, fish that listen in the dark, medical devices that use sound to treat disease, the detected comeback of a long-gone whale, the sound of hyenas, cheese, and bagpipes, and what evolution can teach us about cowardice.

(link) [EurekAlert]

07:48 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link