Windows Server 2003 users can get SP1 here: http://www.microsoft.com/te... The 64-bit versions of Windows should be available soon. I believe most distributors that carry OEM packages (such as NewEgg) will carry the x64 version. Also I believe Microsoft may be offering a trade-up program for owners of 32-bit versions of XP and Server 2003. For XP, watch this page for developments:http://www.mic... MSDN subscribers...

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Dear Microsoft, Over the last year or two you’ve done some great things. You’ve also done some stupid things. Here I will point out both the good and the bad, and attempt to clearly contrast what you should keep doing and what you should stop doing. Good thing #1) Microsoft Office 2003. This was a great product to begin with. But more important than that was your follow-up. The swift, decisive implementation of InfoPath and OneNote SP1 with countless features that developers and users...

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You might have seen a couple weeks ago that Microsoft announced a second MSN Search Champs program to take place this April. Well, I actually found out about it when I got the invitation e-mail J Needless to say, I’m excited by the opportunity. I don’t know who else is going to be there, but given some of the brilliant and interesting sorts of people who were a part of the last one – you can imagine just how intimidated I am! In other MS news, my friend Rebbie has been offered a...

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A lot of times I post to this blog from my favorite coffee shop, Uncommon Grounds. They have free WiFi access. It's unsecured, but there's no annoying capture portal, and the speed is on par with most any cable modem (that is what it's connected to, after all). However, I also often do some reading at Panera, as I am tonight. The connection here is also unsecured, but it has one of those annoying capture portals that takes forever to present a kind of miniature EULA and then forward me to Panera's...

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Caught this in the Neowin forums. Cute. Window Sounds Remix

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Dare Obasanjo and Ian Hixie say “Call an Apple an Apple.” Fine. I don't really care what it's called. I don't care if it's been around for ages, or who made it. Okay, well, I'm happy to know more about it... because I'm a geek like that. But that's not why I'm talking about it. I'm talking about it because I think it's going to be important this year. Why? Well, think about what Mark Lucovsky said when he went to Google. What's the best part about developing a Web Application? Deployment....

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Joe Wilcox at Microsoft Monitor has some interesting comments about the Flickr deal. He shares some insight into the future of the MSN/Google/Yahoo competition. I think there are some important changes underway for the internet. For years the Web has been loosely connected in a very static, impersonal fashion. That’s changing. Google changed the way we find information on the web. But that was only the beginning. Now we’re sharing information and content with services like Flickr, Blogs...

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So we’ve been hearing that song for about a month now… And yesterday it finally happened. Regarding that, Michael Gartenberg brings up an interesting point. Michael says that wireless carriers have missed the boat regarding data services, and become “wireless bit pipes.” He’s right, for now. But I wouldn’t give up on those guys just yet. The problem is, companies like Sprint don’t have any Vision (pun intended). They keep trying to leverage their ownership...

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Yesterday I got GPS working on my Car PC. I'm using Mapopolis with the trial maps. It works, but it doesn't work perfectly with Landscape mode - hard as it tries. There's a new version of TomTom Navigator (version 5) coming out soon, which claims to support the hx4700 (v4 did not). So I may check that one out if they have a trial version. Though, I think it might be out of my price range. In which case, Mapopolis should work fine. It's $99 for all the North American maps. Not bad. And it seems to...

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For a while the Car PC project was put on the back burner. I’ve had it operating for a while with the following capabilities: - Audio and Video playback of files from the SD card and MicroDrive - One-touch Outlook synchronization with my computer from the parking lot using WiFi. - Internet access using available WiFi or Sprint PCS Vision by using my PocketPC Phone as a Bluetooth modem. - Appointment reminders read aloud to me by MS Voice Command through my car stereo. - Voice commands for music...

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So where were we? Ah yes. Several factors had been weighing on my mind in making this decision. I had the following goals: 1) Get the most functionality. 2) Spend the least amount of money. 3) Not make any drastic changes to the interior of my car. Part of goal number 3 has to do with an on-going uncertainty about how long I’m going to be keeping this car. Also I didn’t want to do anything too hard. Well, I ended up giving in a bit on #2. So I got one of these: It’s an HP hx4700...

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I started writing this a while ago. So don’t be surprised when Part 2 shows up real quick after Part 1 ;) So for a long time I’ve wanted a PC in my car. Countless others have done it. In fact, one of my best friends put a modded Xbox in his Camry over a year ago. He got an LCD display and mounted on the top of the dashboard (above the glove compartment), and put the Xbox in the trunk. He loaded it up with music and movies and used Xbox Media Center to give it a friendly UI. So back in...

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I posted some comments a few days ago on the MSNsearch blog regarding the “MSN Found” site. Basically, I think the campaign is garbage. And I think it could have been great. If you want to know what I think they should have done (and still should do) go read my comments over there. Scoble said something on there that got me thinking. He said that kids 10-18 are using RSS more and more to keep tabs on their friends (using sites like LiveJournal, Xanga, MSNSpaces, etc). He’s right....

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Alright, so I’ve been a bad blogger. I haven’t posted in far too long. I did write up a nice long response to John Dvorak’s article about Microsoft’s lack of marketing ability, most of which was agreement. But I never posted it because it wasn’t quite finished. Maybe I’ll get back to it later today. So… the first thing I want to talk about is this. I’ve been saying that for a while. In fact, I’ve suggested several times that Microsoft really...

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