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Microsoft’s tricky balancing act in 2009 will be to phase out Windows XP while boosting demand for Windows Vista and building anticipation for Windows 7.

Compounding this challenge is that Vista has been Microsoft’s most embattled operating system, and though recent reports say that Vista has improved over the past year, there are also reports of a growing indifference from users. Many are sticking with Windows XP for now (or even requesting to “downgrade” to XP with new computer purchases) with the hope that Windows 7 will be more nimble and efficient than Vista.

 Recent market share numbers from Net Applications Inc. show that Microsoft’s market share is slipping with both Windows and the Internet Explorer browser, while companies like Apple and Mozilla keep making incremental gains. A silver lining in the Net Applications report is that Vista grew its market share in November and cracked the 20 percent mark for the fist time as Windows XP fell 1.81 percent.

With the definite release of Internet Explorer 8 and the possible release of Windows 7 happening in 2009, plus Microsoft’s aggressive push into cloud computing with the Windows Azure operating system, the coming year looks to be a pivotal one for the software giant.

Keeping the Windows 7 Hype Machine on Low

So far, the hype surrounding Windows 7 has been kept to a minimum by Microsoft, likely an effort not to repeat the over-hyping that hurt Vista’s release. Playing it cool with Windows 7 will also give Vista some breathing room as Windows XP slowly becomes less prevalent.

Tim Bajarin, president of consulting firm Creative Strategies, says that the potential conflict of enhancing demand for Vista while raising awareness about Windows 7 “does not seem to be impacting new sales of Vista on PCs. In fact, pushing Windows 7 appears to be keeping people from downsizing to Windows XP at the business and consumer level as people are now anticipating upgrading to 7 in the near future, and it is not worth the trouble to go back to XP.”

The low-key marketing of Windows 7 is a smart tactic, says Michael Cherry, analyst with Directions on Microsoft, but warns that Microsoft should not become standoffish about the value of Windows 7.

“They are being much more low-key in discussing the features of Windows 7 to put the Windows team in a position where they have under-promised and hopefully can over-deliver,” Cherry says. “But Microsoft has to begin to share information with partners and customers to help reduce any potential compatibility issues.”

Though Cherry believes Vista is not as bad as its reputation, he thinks that with Windows 7 Microsoft needs “to do a better job of telling customers what hardware they truly need to run the OS, and they have to be able to articulate the value of upgrading to both consumers and businesses.”

Windows 7 Release: Sooner Is Better

Microsoft has not given an official release date for Windows 7, but has said publicly that it expects to ship it within three years of the January 2007 consumer release of Windows Vista.

Gartner Research has predicted that Microsoft will ship Windows 7 in time for the 2009 holiday season, which would require shipment to take place around August 2009.

Gartner analyst Michael Silver expects that Microsoft will try to differentiate Windows 7 from Vista by keeping ship date hype to a minimum and then delivering earlier than anticipated.

“If they don’t give a date, it’s harder for people to say they were late,” Silver says.

Bajarin believes that Microsoft needs to ship Windows 7 as fast as possible and move quickly to start getting all of their PC users to upgrade. “If it is ready by mid-2009 as many believe it can be, there is no reason to delay it.”

Another benefit of shipping Windows 7 as soon as possible, says Bajarin, is it could quash the lingering stigma of Vista.

He adds, “As long as Windows 7 is rock solid when it is released and gets good reviews, the Vista stigma will most likely fade away quickly.”

source:- pc world news

For several years, trade shows-technology trade shows in particular-have been in serious decline. From Comdex to E3, large trade shows have been dying out or drastically changing their focus. Even Macworld Expo hasn’t been immune, as the east coast show was canceled after the 2005 event. (The Expo was moved from New York in 2004, and Apple declined to participate in the Boston show that year; the show lasted only one more year before being canceled.) The annual San Francisco Macworld Expo, however, seemed safe from the troubles. For nearly 20 years, the January event has been the one place to see and be seen in the world of all things Apple.

With Tuesday’s announcement that the upcoming Expo is Apple’s last, however, that era is coming to an end. While it’s entirely possible the show will survive as a smaller, more-focused version of its prior self, it simply won’t be the huge, all-encompassing event that it’s been with Apple’s participation. Without Apple’s huge booth-and the promise of cool new products delivered in an enthralling keynote presentation-both vendors and attendees probably won’t feel a compelling need to be at the show each January, so we’re not going to see a huge show with thousands and thousands of attendees walking a show floor loaded with hundreds of companies…and that’s really too bad.

As a business person, I think I completely understand Apple’s decision-not being tied to a huge annual event, occurring just after the Christmas buying season, is a good thing. Not spending a small fortune on everything involved in participating in a huge trade show is a good thing. Having more flexibility in releasing products whenever you want to is a good thing. Not having to come up with One More Thing every year is a good thing. So really, I get it; it makes perfect business sense. As an individual and Mac enthusiast, though, I think it’s one of the worst things to happen to the Mac community in many years.

Don’t get me wrong-I’m not saying this will have a negative long-term impact on Apple. There may be some short-term pain, but I do think it really is the right business decision (that doesn’t mean I agree with it, just that I understand it). But for the community that surrounds the Mac, this is truly the end of an era. The most-affected group, I think, will be the Mac fans who made the annual trek to the Expo. Speaking as one of those folks-yes, it’s my job to go, but I still have a blast going-I’ll definitely miss the keynote, the One More Things, the cool new products (not just from Apple but the other vendors as well), and that great psychological kick I get from seeing the show every year. But those aren’t the things I’ll miss the most.

Mac OS X Hints dinner, 2005Instead, what I’ll really miss is the once-a-year chance to meet with people who I would otherwise never get to meet in the flesh. When I ran macosxhints.com as an independent site, for example, I hosted a “Mac OS X Hints reader dinners” during Expo week in 2005. I had the chance to meet and talk to about 30 macosxhints.com readers who previously were only screen names and e-mail addresses to me. Converting those meaningless data items into real people, and spending a few hours talking with them, was priceless, and well worth the effort involved in setting everything up.

I also have friends from other places that I will only see at Expo-a buddy in London, for instance, or developer friends from various corners of the planet. During the year, iChat and e-mail were our only contact. But at Expo, we’d have the chance to sit down together and catch up in person. As a speaker-I’m giving my “Best of Mac OS X Hints” talk again this year-I’d also run into people in the speaker’s lounge who I rarely if ever talked to during the year. And yet, because we were Mac users, we were able to sit down and start talking again as if were just yesterday (and not a year ago) when we last talked.

In the Expo of the future, sans Apple, I fear such meetings are all but done; the attendees at such a show won’t come from all over the globe, and to even draw from around the country, there will need to be some very compelling reasons for people to fly in. Without Apple, it’s hard to imagine far-flung attendees and developers finding enough reasons to attend and/or exhibit, given the costs involved. Time will tell, of course, but it seems that my annual chance to catch up with some of my electronic acquaintances in real life has now passed.

The other group that will really feel the impact of Apple’s announcement are small developers. As a small developer, exhibiting at Expo presented the opportunity for great success. Sure, you needed to have an excellent product with an eye-catching booth to grab some attendee attention…but if you had that, you could find your product taking off in a big way, as the 50,000-plus attendees who had the chance to try out your product at Expo flew home and spread the word of your greatness. We’ll see that in the upcoming Expo, of course, with those who’ve already made their plans for the event.

Looking forward to 2010, though, I think many developers (large and small) will be hesitant to spend the money to exhibit, knowing that Apple-and the crowds and publicity it brings to the show-won’t be there. So while Macworld Expo was really the one annual chance for small developers to make a name for themselves with an excellent product, I think 2009 is the end of the road for that opportunity.

For the developers, and for myself and my fellow members of the Mac community, I really hope that Macworld Expo finds a way to survive and thrive in the post-Apple era. I’d love to have a must-go reason to attend Macworld Expo 2010, knowing the all the developers will be there with their cool products, and my friends will be there for the conference and to see said developers.

Unfortunately, it seems to me that Macworld Expo is now like a mall that’s lost its large anchor tenant. While the mall may continue to operate for some period of time, the number of shoppers will decline, smaller retailers will fold up shop, and-eventually-the mall will close with a whimper, leaving people only with memories of what used to be. I hope that’s not the future for Macworld Expo, but I fear that it is.

source :- pc world news

CNN has declared Sony’s PS3 “a sinking ship” riffing off last Thursday’s “plummeting” NPD sales results. CNN bases its gloomy diagnosis on Sony’s sales plunge of 19 points, compared to sales in November 2007. That’s a fair criticism, but it isolates a superficially negative statistic while ignoring the fact that this November only included two days of post-holiday sales (11/28 - 11/29) compared to last year’s eight total (11/23 - 11/30). I’m speculating here, but if you could adjust for that difference, it’s very likely PS3 sales would have increased, however slightly, year-over-year.

What’s more, Sony rightly points out that the PS3 has seen hardware sales grow 60% year-to-date. I realize the PS3 wasn’t selling well in 2007, so that figure’s less impressive than it sounds, but growth is growth, any way you slice it. What’s more, look at PS3 and Xbox 360 units sold in total worldwide, and Sony pretty much throughout 2008 has actually been playing catchup.

Then there’s the PlayStation brand overall, which when you factor in the PSP and PS2, topped 1 million units, more than the Xbox 360’s 836,000. The PlayStation brand has in fact pretty easily muscled past the Xbox brand practically every month since the PS3’s launch. Sony’s margins on the PSP and PS2 are almost certainly better than the PS3’s, so which company’s actually been more profitable in overall unit sales is less obvious than it seems.

On the other hand, CNN’s whacking the nail on the head when it raises the problem of the PlayStation 3’s price. The recession’s been on well and long enough for Sony to have reacted by now, and yet it’s stubbornly clung to that $400 entry point. Had it dropped the PS3’s price to $300 or even $350 it’s a safe bet October and November’s numbers would’ve tallied much more favorably. Both Microsoft and Sony have a solid stable of exclusives, and both have interesting companion services, but it’s price and not NXE/Netflix or PlayStation Home that’s deciding the battle at the moment.

Quick points…

CNN’s right that the video-game industry isn’t recession proof. Nothing is. The rest of us saying as much merely mean “recession-proof-so-far,” which it clearly is compared to other ebbing economic indices.

CNN says the differences between Blu-ray and DVD are hard to see on a TV less than 50″. I suppose that’d be true if your eyes are somehow genetically fixed at 720 x 480 (NTSC). For the rest of us, Blu-ray at even 720p (1280 x 720) with all its other commensurate upticks in sample rates and color quality is shockingly better than the visuals output of the average DVD.

And finally, “the PS3 just doesn’t have any must-have titles exclusive to the console.” Really? I guess CNN’s not familiar (or perhaps just not partial to) exclusives like Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Ratchet & Clank Future, Wipeout HD, Valkyria Chronicles, the original Resistance: Fall of Man (twice the game the sequel is, in my opinion), and MLB 08: The Show. When you’re talking new unit sales, you count the whole history of notable exclusives, not just the last month or two of holiday attention-grabbers.

source :- pc world news

There are a number of rumors circulating about what news Apple might make at next month’s Macworld expo. Last year’s Macworld brought the announcement of the Macbook Air, and two years ago, it was the iPhone. So what will be the big announcement this year? Depending on who you ask, we may see an Apple netbook, an iPhone Nano, or maybe just an updated Mac Mini.

An update to the Mac Mini line is long overdue, and a Wired report is giving some credence to this rumor. It cites an anonymous Apple corporate employee who said that the Mac Mini would see an update, though gave no specific details as to what those updates may be. The Mac Mini hasn’t had an update since mid-2007, despite strong sales (it is currently the number 2 bestselling desktop computer on Amazon.com), so an update with faster specs and an aluminum case seems almost like a no-brainer.

But Wired also notes that the updated Mac Mini is not meant to be the big announcement at the Macworld expo. Technology Business Research analyst Ezra Gottheil might have the answer. In a report today TBR stated that it expects Apple to announce a new line of netbooks to capitalize on the popularity of these smaller, less expensive laptops.

Given Steve Job’s statement that Apple doesn’t “know how to make a $500 machine that’s not a piece of junk,” the Apple netbook is predicted to be priced around $599. That would put it on the more expensive side of netbooks, but with the popularity of the Apple brand it would surely still be competitive.

Most interesting about the TBR prediction is that the proposed Apple netbook would make use of the iTunes App store for most of its software. This isn’t especially surprising given the tremendous success that the App store has been, but it leads me to wonder about something that the TBR report didn’t predict. If the hypothetical Apple netbook makes use of the iTunes App store, it is quite possible that it would implement a multi-touch display. Could an Apple netbook be the first Apple tablet?

Something that would have a touchscreen is an iPhone Nano–if it ever came to be. As we reported yesterday, an iDealsChina report says that Apple will soon launch a smaller, cheaper version of the iPhone. 

It’s all still rumors and speculation at this point, but it makes the anticipation of next month’s Macworld expo all the more exciting.

source :- pc world news

How to speed up Windows Vista?
Windows runs pretty well on its own, but there are many things you can do to increase performance.
I could write many books on all the tweaks you can do, but in this chapter I will focus on the key things you can do to get the most out of doing the least in terms of performance.

As always, I recommend you make backups before making major changes to your system. Refer to the backup Windows Vista page for guidance.

Enhance SATA Disk Performance and speed up Windows Vista
This guide will help you improve the performance of your SATA hard drive by enhancing write caching.
If you are not sure whether or not you have an SATA drive in your computer, please check with your manufacturer.

A quick warning: If you turn this setting on and your computer is not connected to a battery backup, losing power increases you risk of data loss or corruption. If you are using a laptop, the chances of this are unlikely as you have a battery in the laptop that will act as a power source if there is an outage.

1. Click on the Start Button and type in Device Manager in the search box
2. Hit Enter
3. Click on the + Next to Disk Drives
4. Right click on your hard drive and select Properties
5. Select the Policies tab and check Enable advanced performance
6. Now click OK and close Device Manager

Speed up Your External Hard Drives to speed up Windows Vista
The default setting in Windows Vista disables write caching for external drives. This is done so that you can eject the drive at any time without data loss. If you are willing to eject your drive each time, you can
increase the performance of your external hard drives.

To turn write caching back on and activate advanced performance, do the following:

1. Click on the Start Button and type in Device Manager in the search box and hit enter
2. Click on the + Next to Disk Drives
3. Right click on your external hard drive and select Properties
4. Select the Policies tab and select Optimize for performance
5. Check Enable write caching on the disk and Enable advanced performance
6. Click OK and reboot your computer

Move Page File to Different Physical Drive and speed up Windows Vista
If you have more than one physical drive in your computer, this guide is for you. The page file can take a considerable toll on your system drive; by moving the page file to a separate drive, you can increase overall performance. Learn how to move the Windows Vista page file to another drive in this guide.

1. Press Start, right click on Computer, and select Properties
2. In the left-hand pane, select Advanced System Settings
3. Click the Advanced tab and under Performance, select Settings…
4. Click the Advanced tab and under Virtual Memory, select Change…
5. Uncheck “Automatically Manage Paging File Size for All Drives”
6. Select the different physical drive that you want your paging file to now be stored on (e.g. D) and select System managed size and press Set. (make sure this is the first partition on the second drive)

7. Select the drive that contains your paging file (usually C), select the Custom Size option, set the original and maximum size, and press Set Your page file will now need to rebuild on the new drive - this may temporarily slow performance.

Note: The reason for keeping around 1GB on the OS drive is because Windows Vista needs still some pagefile space there.

Rebuild the Page File to speed up Windows Vista
Windows Vista creates a pagefile, which essentially acts as RAM on your hard drive. This page file speeds up access to commonly used programs and becomes fragmented over time. Rebuilding the pagefile eliminates fragmentation; learn how to rebuild the pagefile in this guide.

1. Press Start, right click on Computer and select Properties
2. In the left-hand pane, select Advanced System Settings
3. Click the Advanced tab and under Performance, select Settings…
4. Click the Advanced tab and under Virtual Memory, select Change…
5. Uncheck Automatically Manage Paging File Size for All Drives
6. Select the drive that contains your paging file (usually C) and select the Custom size option
7. Edit the minimum and maximum page file size to 0 and press set
8. Now restart your computer
9. Now follow steps 1-5 and replace step 6 with System managed size and press Set
10. Press OK to save and after a brief period of sluggishness, while the computer rebuilds the page file, you should notice improved speeds.

Move Search Index to a Different Physical Drive and speed up Windows Vista
If you have more than one physical drive in your computer, this guide is for you. The search index can take a considerable toll on your system drive; by moving the index to a separate drive, you can increase overall performance.

To move your search index, do the following:

1. Press Start, type index in the search bar and press Enter
2. Press the Advanced button
3. Press Select new at the bottom and select a new location on a different physical hard drive
4. Press OK. Your search index will now need to rebuild, which may temporarily slow performance.

Disable Superfetch to Save Memory and speed up Windows Vista
Windows Vista Superfetch learns your typical activities with files and application access. By learning, it predicts your computer use actions and puts your most commonly used applications in memory. This is great if you have a lot of RAM, but if you have less than 2GB, then I suggest you disable this feature - saving you from sluggish computer use.

Please Note: Even with less than 2GB of ram, you may find this doesn’t help. If you notice no difference after a day or two, then you can probably re-enable Superfetch.

To disable Superfetch, do the following:

1. Press Start, type services in the search bar and press Enter
2. Locate Superfetch in the list of services, right click it, and select properties
3. Change the Startup Type dropdown box to disabled and click the stop button
4. Now click OK

Please remember, this will only help if you have less than 2GB of RAM.

Disable “Last Accessed” File Attribute to speed up Windows Vista
Every time you access a file on your computer, a Last Accessed file attribute is updated. You will likely not need this, so you can remove some overhead by following this guide.

Download the Registry Hack
If you don’t feel confident working with the Registry Editor, you can download this registry hack. Simply
extract the file and double click on DisableLastAccess.reg. To re-enable the Last Access option, double click on ReEnableLastAccess.reg

Manually Disable Last Access File Updates and speed up Windows Vista
1. Press Start, type regedit in the search bar and press Enter (or press Winkey+R)
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
3. Update the value of NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate to 1
4. To undo this change, simply change the value back to 0

In order for this to take effect, you may need to restart your system.

Make Windows Shut Down Faster to speed up Windows Vista
As you install programs on your computer, it slows down - we all know that. However, what you may not
know is that the programs install what we call services. Windows is “kind” enough to patiently wait for these services to stop when you shut down your computer. It really doesn’t pay off to wait. Decrease the time it takes for Windows to shut down by doing the following:

1. Click the start button and type regedit in the search bar
2. Hit the enter key
3. You will see a screen like the one below. Find your way to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control in the left menu
4. In the right window you will see a key called WaitToKillServiceTimeout, with a default value of 20000 (20 seconds.)
5. Right click on the key and select Modify…
6. Change the value from 20000 to 5000. This can potentially reduce your shut down time by 15 seconds.

Please note: I do not advise setting this value to less than five seconds.

Source :-  windows-vista-tips-and-tricks.com

Changing your Vista boot screen and login screen
The first thing you see as you boot up your computer is your boot screen and shortly after you’ll come to your login screen (if you have login enabled.) Although you don’t spend much time using these interfaces, customizing them can be a nice touch. On this page you’ll learn how to customize both these screens.

To successfully achieve this in an easy manner, you’ll need two tools: ‘Vista Boot Logo Generator’ and ‘LogonStudio Vista’. Both of these programs do not need to run in the background, so the performance of your system does not deteriorate at all. These programs simply patch your system files, so you don’t have to do any shell scripting or editing of system files. Add a personal touch to your system as you follow this page.

Enable the Aurora Vista Boot Screen
The boot screen in Windows Vista is plain and lame. To change the boot screen, follow these simple steps:

1. Press the Start button, type ‘msconfig’, and hit enter
2. If prompted, select Continue
3. The System Configuration window will come up. Click on the Boot tab
4. Select your Windows Vista installation
5. Check the ‘No GUI boot’ box
6. Press OK
7. Click on Restart
Your computer will now reboot, and you will see the Aurora boot screen.

Making a Custom Vista Boot Screen
You can easily make your own boot screen for Windows Vista by following this guide: (Please note: this does not work for SP 1 yet.

1. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\en-US
2. Locate ‘winload.exe.mui’ and take ownership of the file
3. Rename the file to ‘winload.exe.mui.old’
4. Press the Start button, type ‘msconfig’, and hit enter
5. On the ‘Boot’ tab, check ‘No GUI Boot’
6. Press OK and when prompted to restart, select ‘Exit without restart’
7. Download Vista Boot Logo Generator
8. Install the software on to your machine
9. Open Vista Boot Logo Generator
10. Select your Vista boot screen (you’ll need both 800×600 and 1024×768 24-bit BMP files)
11. Select ‘File > Save Boot Screen File As… and save your new ‘winload.exe.mui’ file in C:\Windows \System32\en-US

Restart your computer to verify your boot screen works.

Customize Your Logon Screen
Logon Studio, created by the Stardock team lets you customize your Windows Vista logon screen. Choose from many styles that will make your computer stand out from the crowd.

Logon Studio is freeware, which can set any wallpaper as your logon screen. All you need to do is to download this utility and choose the wallpaper you want to use.

Logon studio lets you create custom screens within the program. Once you apply the screen, Logon Studio locks your computer so you can test drive the screen to see if it works for you.

How to Use Logon Studio
Logon Studio is simple to use, but in this guide, I’ll show you the basics. To change your login screen, do
the following:

1. Open Logon Studio
2. In the left-hand menu, click ‘Create’
3. Browse for your background image and then select ‘Save’
4. Now click ‘Apply’ to test your login screen

Use Windows Wallpapers for Your Logon Screen
You already have a collection of wallpapers that come with Windows. You may use any one of the wallpapers from the collection as your boot screen and I’ll show you how to achieve this easily.

1. Install login studio (if you haven’t already)
2. Download this zip file
3. Extract the .logonvista files to your desktop
4. Drag and drop the .logonvista files on to the LogonStudio Vista window

The new logon screens will appear on the right-hand side, under “Built-in logon screens”. You can now delete the .logonvista files.