Yikes, tough times for Microsoft indeed. Microsoft has finally encountered for the first time since the early nineties what it fears the most. Competition. Apple is now a viable threat to their PC dominance in the home and is also gaining ground in the business market. Linux is chomping away at their server business and eating away at the low end with Netbooks being pre loaded with Linux. Add in the fact that Google is now aiming at them with the Chrome OS and things are going to get worse. And if they continue to throw money at unprofitable side businesses like Bing and the X-Box, things could get bad more quickly than they realize. I really think they need a new CEO who could really get them back to focusing on their core Windows and Office business.

It seems that Service Pack 2 for Office 2007 is now available for download from Microsoft. I am not sure if you can get via windows update yet, but it should be there soon. I tested the opening and saving of the Open Document format and so far it looks good. Now you can use MS Office and not be tied into a proprietary format any longer. It also has the ability to publish files in PDF format which should be helpful for those who do not know about any of the free pdf print drivers that are out there.

Upgrading MacPro Memory.
I need more memory, because it looks cooler if I have more.

First Textmate post!

Main entry continued

Many people have been posting tons of stuff about the apparent fact that Apple is using DRM to encode the new HD movie files that you get off of the iTunes store. But I think many of these people are confused about how HDCP works. I believe that many of the video cards that have shipped in recent Macintoshes all support HDCP. I know the GeForce 8800 in my Mac Pro does. The DRM in these files looks like it needs HCDP capability of the video card and the Monitor to be able to use it. That is where it sucks, anyone who has the older aluminium Apple Studio displays is out of luck for playing encrypted HD formats. I am not sure about iMac’s and Macbook/Macbook Pro’s displays. People are also upset since Steve Jobs said he was going to steer clear of the Blu Ray format until the licensing terms settle down. Many assumed if that was the case, then no HDCP support would be in the Macintosh, however it looks like it already is. I am guessing they sneaked it in on one of the Quicktime/iTunes updates and did not tell anyone. Hopefully soon I will be able to watch my Blu Ray movies on my Mac.

Saw something interesteing today at my local Target. It seems they are selling the EeePC at target, both the Linux and XP versions. $299 for the Linux version, $349 for the XP version. The XP version does have an 8GB SSD drive vs. the 4GB for the Linux version.

Not only did I get an new 24″ iMac for the ridiculously low price of $999, but I did all the updating at work. Take a look at the network speeds I get.

I win!

You have to love the freetards at the FSF who give you 5 reasons to not buy an iPhone. My favorite is the lack of support for Ogg Vorbis and Theora files. How utterly ridiculous. No one outside of a Slashdot Linux article is going to give a f**k about that. I can think of some actual reason for not getting it; the iPhone 2 OS is buggy right now and AT&T are evil. (note: I own an original iPhone and will get a new one when this one dies)    

Microsoft has announced that they will be releasing SP1 for Office 2008 for Mac. Info on that here.

They have also announced that Visual Basic support will be reinstated for the next version of Macintosh Office. How do you like that, Microsoft listening to its customers? I guess enough people with some pull convinced the project managers to reconsider. Nice.

Brian Caulfield of Forbes.com is kind enough to let us know that you suckers who bought the first generation of iPhones are going to be upset when the next generation of iPhones hits the streets! Oh noes! I thought my iPhone would be the only version that Apple would ever release and never be obsolete! I need to become a writer for Forbes, apparently brains are not a requirement.