Office 2010 scheduled for June release

Microsoft is set to launch an entirely new updated wave of Office applications in June 2010. The Office suite will be updated for Windows, including ribbon support for all products, and will also be launching Office 2010 for Mac OS X sometime in 2010.

Office 2010 will be released in six different flavours, including a free version that includes Microsoft Word and Excel, but comes with limited functionality and includes advertisements. The editions of Office 2010 will come in Starter, Home and Student, Home and Business, Standard, Professional and Professional Plus.

Office 2010 Professional Plus, which is available for public beta, will offer all of the office products, excluding Visio 2010 and Project 2010. Microsoft will be releasing Office 2010 with a full version and upgrade version, for users that have Office 2007 installed. Office 2010 will be available for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 in both 32-bit and 64-bit, excluding Windows XP x64.

No official pricing for the full version or upgrade edition of Office 2010 has been announced yet. Although the retail store date is scheduled for June 2010, users should be able to get their hands on a download-able version through TechNet and MSDN earlier than the street date.

For the time being, users with the beta can check out the top new features for Office 2010.

A complete list of Office 2010 applications include:

* Microsoft Access 2010
* Microsoft Excel 2010
* Microsoft InfoPath Designer 2010
* Microsoft InfoPath Filler 2010
* Microsoft OneNote 2010
* Microsoft Outlook 2010
* Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
* Microsoft Publisher 2010
* Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010
* Microsoft Word 2010
* Office Communicator 2010

Other updated products include:

* Microsoft Visio 2010 (not included in any Office 2010 Package)
* Microsoft Project 2010 (not included in any Office 2010 Package)

Thanks to Ci7 for the news tip.

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/11/30/office-2010-schedule-for-june-release

Microsoft Office 2010 The Movie...

Microsoft Office 2010, The Movie....

Microsoft Office heads to the Web

By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News

SEATTLE--In another clear sign that Microsoft sees the threat posed by its traditional business moving online, the company is readying a rival to Google's Documents and Spre

adsheets.

The software maker is announcing Office Live Workspace, a free online tool for viewing, sharing and storing--but not editing--Office documents online. (Its existing Office Live efforts will be rebranded as Office Live Small Business.) It's not quite ready--starting Monday customers will be able to put in their name to be part of a beta testing program expected to begin later this year.

Still, the effort is a recognition that competition is heating up in the productivity arena, an area that large rivals had basically ceded to Microsoft a few years ago. In addition to Google's effort, which as of earlier this month alsoincludes presentation software, IBM announced its free Lotus Symphony productivity software, which prompted 100,000 downloads in its first week of availability.

Adobe, meanwhile, on Monday is expected to announce it has acquired Virtual Ubiquity, a start-up that has built a Web-based word processor, called Buzzword, using Adobe's Flash and AIR technologies. Adobe is also introducing a service, code-named Share, that allows people to share and store documents via the Web.

A blend of online services and traditional software
For Microsoft, Office Live Workspace is also the next step in what the company touts as its "software plus services" strategy, essentially the notion that online services can serve as a complement to locally run software, but not necessarily fully replace software running on a consumer's own desktop machine or on a businesses server.

In some cases, though, Microsoft is also offering its traditional server software entirely as a hosted service. To start with, Microsoft is launching hosted versions of its Exchange e-mail and calendar program, its SharePoint portal software and Office Communications Server, its product for handling corporate instant messaging and telephony. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and other executives had previously said that such a service was coming.

Initially, the offer is aimed at large businesses that plan to use the software for more than 5,000 people. Microsoft Online Services, as that project is known, is born of a two-year-old effort in which companies such as Energizer Holdings and XL Capital essentially outsourced their desktop computing efforts to Microsoft.

Microsoft is moving cautiously with both efforts. By limiting the software hosting to the largest customers, it hopes to give partners that already offer hosted services some time to find a new niche and allow Microsoft to test itself with a smaller number of customers, before broadly offering the service directly. Partners will still be able to offer their own hosted service if they choose, or resell Microsoft's hosted service.

On the Office Live Workspace front, Microsoft will initially offer the product with no advertising, though Microsoft executives said that it has been designed so that ads can be shown in the future.

The company is also not allowing people to edit their documents online, but executives stressed over and over that Microsoft is committed to being the leader in productivity software and that includes online editing. (Translation: We don't think we need to have editing in there right now, but if that changes, we're prepared to do so.)

Another key project down the road is integrating Office Live Workspaces with other "Live" products such as Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger, so that people will be able to view Office attachments they get via e-mail or IM. Google currently allows Gmail users to open attachments in Google Docs.

Microsoft has already said it has big plans for Office Live. At its partner conference in July, COO Kevin Turner said the product has the potential to be one of the company's top three or four most-used products.

Nor is the company stopping there. It is also planning an ad-funded version of Microsoft Works, has trialed prepaid cards for time-limited versions of Office and is exploring still other approaches to offer Office in as many ways as it can without overloading customers.

"We've put more of our marketing IQ behind alternative business models and alternative distribution strategies in the last two years," Corporate Vice President Chris Capossela said in an interview at the partner conference.. http://news.cnet.com/Microsoft-Office-heads-to-the-Web/2100-1012_3-6210696.html

Windows XP Top Tricks n Cheats

Set Processes Priority

Follow this tip to increase the priority of active processes, this will result in prioritisation of processes using the CPU.

CTRL-SHIFT-ESC

1.Go to the second tab called Processes, right click on one of the active processes, you will see the Set Priority option

2.For example, your Run your CDwriter program , set the priority higher, and guess what, no crashed CD’s

Shutdown Trick !

Imidiate rapid shut down window
while shutting down window. open task manager(Ctr+Alt+Del),
Select shut down tab. and press ' Ctrl ' key while select Turn Off from dis tab.
Count 5 4 3 2 1 Voila!!! U r window will rapidly shut down.


Speed Up Ur Shut down !!


Start Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control.
Click on the "Control" Folder.
Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"
Right click on it and select Modify.
Set it a value lower than 2000 (Mine is set to 200).

and !

Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown windows xp when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. to solve this problem you
must disable this useless sound. click start button then go to settings -> control panel -> Sound,Speech and Audio devices -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Sounds, then under program events and windows menu click on "Exit Windows" sub-menu and highlight it.now from sounds you can select,choose "none" and then click apply and ok. now you can see some improvements when shutting down your system.


**new **

Crazy !!

Hide ur folders.. never known trick !!!!!!!!!! Disguise them to "Recycle Bin"

Rename any folder with extension {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
eg,
if u've a folder games
press F2,
then type, "games.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"
c the magic....
then 2 get to original form,
remove the extension using
"ren games.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} games" in dos or as a bat file


n u are done..

~cheers~

How to Turn XP into a Mac

1. Remove all unused shortcuts and icons. Right click the desktop and go to “Arrange desktop icons by” and uncheck “Show desktop icons”. You should now have a completely clean desktop. Don’t be afraid. You can still access the My Computer, My Documents, and Recycle Bin standbys from Windows Explorer.
2. Install RKLauncher. RKLauncher (also called RKDock) is a free Windows version of the animated Mac taskbar, or “dock.” You can download it here. RKLauncher comes with a pretty cool theme. If you want to make your dock look exactly like a Mac though, try RealDock for RKLaucher, a great clone of the Mac Dock appearance. RKLauncher’s official build hasn’t been updated lately, so if you would like something more up-to-date, grab a nightly build from Aqua-Soft. The farther down you go, the newer the build. Another good dock program is ObjectDock by Stardock, you can skin it to be anything you want and it does the animations and everything.
3. Hide the taskbar. It doesn’t make sense to have both ObjectDock/RKDock and the Windows taskbar. Right click a blank space in ObjectDock, go to the settings tab, select behavior then on the box with check marks select “Hide the Windows Taskbar”, and hit OK. RKLauncher should work similarly. This makes the taskbar disappear. You can also just move the taskbar to the front of the screen.
4. Add Widgets. Widgets are desktop toys to entertain and to inform. Think of them like things you’d put on a real desk: a picture frame, a newspaper to a dancing hula girl! But they’re on your PC desktop, not your real desk. You’ll get it once you see it. They could be a fun addition to your boring computer. Download free widgets from the Yahoo Widgets page. You’ll download a widget machine called Yahoo! Widget Engine, which comes with widgets like a picture frame, analog clock, calendar, and weather display. You can get more widgets like RSS news feeds and a dancing hula girl from the widgets gallery. Yahoo! has also released an engine that can help you make your own widgets and is available here
5. Get Safari for Windows Just Get the new Safari 3 Beta, for Windows here, or get Firefox here. You can skin Firefox to look like Safari.
6. Change your wallpaper to look like Mac OS X Tiger. Or you can get a high resolution wallpaper here which won’t make your computer mimic a mac desktop but will add a sense of style and a unique touch.
7. Install your Expose from docs.kr. With this program (screen shot shows the ‘Windows Vista Flip’ move) you can set your Windows to spread out at the stroke of a key! A free download!
8. Move your buttons. ShellWM is a “titlebar-only” shell replacer. It lets you have the maximize, minimize and close buttons on the left for free. You’ll want to download this theme.
9. Change your mouse pointers. For the full effect, download a new set of mouse pointers. Save these to your computer (preferably in C:\WINDOWS\Cursors). It may be a good idea to make a folder within this for easier setup.) To setup these cursors, choose Mouse from the Control Panel, click the Pointers tab, and set your new pointers appropriately. For a the best OS pointer, use FLyakiteOS. If you don’t feel like changing cursors manually, you can install them all with a simple Mac OS X Mouse Cursors Installer
10. Keep tweaking and playing. Try customizing all of the applications you downloaded. Whatever suits you!

Tips

• If RKLauncher doesn’t work well, an alternative to try are RocketDock. Rocketdock is updated more often, and has more themes to choose from.
• You can also use the Mac OS X Install DVD
  • If you have a recent Mac OS X Install DVD (2005 and newer) that uses an x86 architecture, you can install OS X directly on your computer using InsanelyMac, which will circumvent the hardware detection used by the OS X install disc.
  • If you have an older Mac OS X Install DVD (2004 and older) that uses a PowerPC architecture, you can emulate PowerPC’s architecture using PearPC. PearPC is a tool which will allow you to run Mac OS X in an x86 environment, without putting in any effort. The emulation method is much slower than the method using InsanelyMac above.
  • Do not resort to using OS X unless you are aware of the legal action Apple can take if they know you are using that software.
• Since installing Mac OS X on a PC is illegal you could also try installing Linux (Ubuntu Linux is the most popular linux out there) on your PC. Since Linux is fully constumizable you can use this guide to make it look like OS X.
• For the simplest way, install this patch. It lets you access Windows XPs built in skinner. Then go to customize.org and download all the window’s themes you want. This is a great Mac OS X style theme.
• If you have enough money, an easier way would always be just to buy your own Mac, of course.

Warnings

• Widgets could make your computer run slowly.
• Be warned this method may cause you to never have your windows desktop taskbar again.
• Beware of legal issues with installing Mac OS X onto a computer that it is not licensed for.
• The Shock 4Way 3D program makes your mouse disappear in the other 3 screens.
• Used with permission from Wikihow.

http://hacknmod.com/hack/hack-windows-xp-to-look-like-a-mac-desktop/

This month’s Microsoft patches could lead to a hectic week for IT managers

This week could be ‘hectic’ with Microsoft offering a critical patch for Internet Explorer.
Alan Bentley, regional VP EMEA of Lumension, said even though there are only two critical patches being issued tomorrow, it could still be a hectic week as the most critical patch this month is the IE bulletin requiring a reboot of all XP and Vista machines in the organisation running IE 7.
Bentley said: “Large-scale reboots of all desktops can lead to disruption and productivity hits if not planned and coordinated appropriately. As organisations are looking at the IE 7 update, they should also look at the recently released critical update for the Firefox browser, more stealthy malware is being introduced to endpoints via browser exploits; therefore, critical browser updates need to be made a higher priority than ever before.”
Regarding the critical patch that will cover the vulnerability in the Exchange mail server software, he claimed that this has proven to be the easiest target for hackers to infiltrate, as if they are able to compromise an organisation’s Exchange Server, then they will be able to intercept every email coming and going, essentially making it open to every corporation across the globe.
Bentley said: “Given the proximity of the Exchange Server to external data entering the network, organisations will want to deploy this update immediately. However, critical email services are often subject to change control processes that could make an urgent deployment a complex matter.
“If this ends up being a web-facing vulnerability, then it will be highly critical to patch as IT professionals constantly have to make sure these types of systems are patched and secure while running efficiently at the same time. Although the Exchange vulnerability is critical, organisations will want to read the details carefully when the full patch comes out to see if there are any mitigating controls.”
He also claimed that organisations should consider the update for the SQL Server as critical, despite it only being named as ‘important’.

EMail Hacking

All email communications on the internet are possible by two protocols:
1) Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP port-25)
2) Post Office Protocol (POP port-110)

E-Mail hacking consists of various techniques as discussed below.

1) EMail Tracing :- Generally, the path taken by an email while travelling from sender to receiver can be explained by following diagram.

Mail-Path


The most effective and easiest way to trace an email is to analyze it's email headers. This can be done by just viewing the full header of received email. A typical email header looks something like this:


"From Barr Thu Jan 3 05:33:26 2008 X-Apparently-To: prasannasherekar@yahoo.co.in via 203.104.16.34; Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:25:38 +0530 X-YahooFilteredBulk: 189.160.34.89 X-Originating-IP: [189.160.34.89] Return-Path: Authentication-Results: mta113.mail.in.yahoo.com from=destatis.de; domainkeys=neutral (no sig) Received: from 189.160.34.89 (HELO dsl-189-160-34-89.prod-infinitum.com.mx) (189.160.34.89) by mta113.mail.in.yahoo.com with SMTP; Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:25:38 +0530 Received: from dvapa ([141.203.33.92]) by dsl-189-160-34-89.prod-infinitum.com.mx with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.0); Wed, 2 Jan 2008 18:03:26 -0600 Message-ID: <477C264E.3000604@destatis.de> Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 18:03:26 -0600 From: "Barr" Add to Address Book User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.6 (Windows/20070728) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: prasannasherekar@yahoo.co.in Subject: angel rubberneck Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="------------030604060204000701040304" Content-Length: 16433
"

The above email header gives us the following information about it's origin and path:

a) Sender's email address :- atiles@destatis.de

b) Source IP address :- 141.203.33.92

c) Source mail server :- dsl-189-160-34-89.prod-infinitum.com.mx

d) Email client :- Thunderbird 2.0.0.6


Recommended Tools:
NeoTrace
http://www.neotrace.com
VisualRoute
http://visualroute.visualware.com
E-MailTracker
http://www.visualware.com

Increase the speed of your internet connection without a new modem

As more and more people get quick connections to the internet, such as cable or ADSL, it becomes apparent to the user of a simple dial-up modem that the World Wide Web can quickly turn into the World Wide Wait. Here a trick that can help speed up your current modem without shelling out the big bucks.
There is a setting located in your windows registry called the Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU). This determines the size of the packets of data sent between your and your server. In Windows 95, this setting is has a value of 1,500 bytes when the actual size of internet packets is 1,000 bytes. This can sometimes slow things down. To remedy the situation, simply follow these steps:


In the registry editor (Start > Run > regedit.exe), navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\NetTrans. In the NetTrans folder you should find another folder named "000x" in which x represents a fourth digit. Right-click on the "000x" folder and select New and StringValue. Rename the item that appears in the panel on the right side to MaxMTU, then double-click it to bring up the Edit String box and give it a velue of 1002.
Remember to keep playing with the MaxMTU value until you feel that your internet connection has greatly sped up. Some people report huge speed gains using this tricks, while others hardly notice a difference. In any case, it's definetly worth a try.

Tool to Hack windows xp without admin accounts access

There are countless posts on the web to hack windows xp where you have to have the admin access in order to hack windows xp from dos mode. Many people did complain about this problem in the comments which were rejected as they would be surprised after seeing this post and would take back all that they said, some comments were also accepted in order to create a small hype or an argument on the blog which would increase the discussions here. Lets see what those guys have to say after they learn to hack windows xp admin password in this method. The few good points about this method is that the admin will never come to know that you have hacked his windows xp and got access into the computer. This tool will create a god mode password or something like that which can be used to get in any account.This tool was not checked on the latest version of all updated Windows Xp but it will work. Many antivirus softwares will block this tool but let me reassure you that it will not cause any type of harm to your computer. Antivirus softwares block this tool because they consider it as hack tool. Kaspersky and Nod32 blocks it, not tested with other antivirus softwares.

This tool is called as DreamPackPl and I uploaded it to Rapidshare so that you guys could download it. I could have uploaded it here but I didn’t know if my hosting guys would appreciate it. I will have to explain to my hosting guys that this software has been put so that people can recover lost passwords from their pc. They will understand, anyway this blog has no advertisement and stuff from which I make profit, so they have to understand my intentions.
DreamPackPl runs from a CD or a DVD drive so it is essential that the computer you are trying to recover password from has one. In the download file provided here there is a PowerISO file, so you will have to download PowerISO and burn the files on to a CD (its only 4 mb), after that take it to the computer which you want to hack windows xp in and make the computer boot from CD drive by putting the DreamPackPl CD in when it is booting. Now follow the given steps.

1- A windows installation console will come up. Press R to install DreamPackPl or C to install it from recovery console.

2- Type exit, reboot and after that in the password field type dreamon.
3- There will be an option called God-Password, enable it and type the God Password there, usually people keep it as god.

Here is the rapidshare download link for DreamPackPl :

http://rapidshare.com/files/131755320/dpl.zip (Size:3530 KB).

Many of you here will be happy after reading this post but please before you make any comments make sure that you use the tool properly and responsibly. There is a thin red line between being naughty, playful and hurting others. God help you if you hurt someone, not that I care but you just shouldn’t misuse information. This blog post was not meant to be made by me but many requests came in on how to hack windows xp and most of them were desperate pleas, so I put it.
I am least interested in data theft and stuff like that. I use the word hack windows xp, here hack means boosting performance! please don’t consider me to be a hacker. Whatever useful knowledge I have about Windows XP and computers in general will be put here and on Em Posts.
Comment on what you want to know next so that I can get some ideas on what to post. If you guys don’t participate in this blog where will I get the motivation to blog from? I wrote this post as I got the motivation to write it from all your comments and reactions. If you thing just reading is enough then you are wrong, read and discuss, put on topic, off topic stuff. Feel free to say anything.

Hackers breach defences of joint strike fighter jet programme

Hackers breach defenses of joint strike fighter jet program

Daniel Nasaw in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 April 2009 16.21 BST

Computer hackers have breached the cyber defenses of an advanced US fighter jet programme, stealing data on the plane's design and electronics systems.

The attacks on the Joint Strike Fighter project, reported in the Wall Street Journal this morning, also pose a potential security threat to Britain, which has contributed £2bn to develop the craft and plans to purchase three planes for testing.

Former US officials told the Wall Street Journal the attacks appeared to stem from China but their origin could have been disguised. While the spies made off with several terabytes of data (a typical CD-ROM holds between 650-900 megabytes, and a megabyte is one one-millionth of a terabyte) on a system that diagnoses the plane's in-flight maintenance problems, information about the plane's flight control systems and sensors are stored on a computer that is physically separate from the internet, the Journal reported. The attacks appeared to have occurred in 2007 and 2008.

The joint strike fighter is being developed for the US air force by contractor Lockheed Martin. The project, which began in 2001, has cost the Pentagon $300bn to produce, making it the US government's costliest weapons system ever. In addition to Britain, Canada, Australia and five other countries have signed onto the programme, contributing a total of $4.8bn. The project has suffered significant cost increases and scheduling delays.

The plane, known as the F-35, is touted for its ability to operate with naval vessels, ground forces, aviation units and space-based communications systems. The ministry of defence said the supersonic plane will be launched from aircraft carriers or land bases and can land vertically, and said that more than 100 British companies have contributed to the programme. BAE Systems produced the plane's tail section, and Rolls-Royce contributed to the engine manufacture.

In addition to military computer systems such as those handling the joint strike fighter project, America's network of private-sector computer systems, which handle critical infrastructure like financial services, utilities and communications, are likely targets, analysts say. Analysts say such attacks happen frequently.

With that threat in mind, the US plans significantly to bolster its cyber security defence infrastructure. The White House is undertaking a broad review of the nation's capabilities, and is likely soon to recommend creation of a cyber security "tsar" reporting to the president who would coordinate security efforts across the federal government and the private sector.

"Some of the best spy agencies in the world have made advanced US technology their prime target," said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a national security think tank. "This shows how far behind we are in defence."

Lewis said the US must react to cyber espionage as harshly as it does the conventional variety, including expelling defence and intelligence attaches of the countries from which the attacks are found to originate.

"The fact that we don't do that tells people they have a green light," he said

Hack to Enable Hotmail POP3 and SMTP Support Instantly for All Countries

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Hack to Enable Hotmail POP3 and SMTP Support Instantly for All Countries:

Hotmail (actual name Windows Live Hotmai which formerly knowns as Windows Live Hotmail) has officially added free POP3 and SMTP feature support which used to available to Hotmail Plus paid subscribers. With Hotmail POP3 support and turned on, users can download the mail messages to desktop or mobile email clients such as to Outlook without using Office Outlook Connector or iPhone, or consolidate all email messages into another email service provider’s mailbox, such as Gmail.

The POP3 and SMTP support for Hotmail will be rolled out gradually to all users. Initially, only users in United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands will have the POP3 feature enabled on Hotmail account for free. Hotmail users from other countries will have to wait longer to enjoy the free POP3 and SMTP protocol access.

For user who can’t wait, and want to enable POP3 and SMTP access on Hotmail now, here’s the trick to force enable and turn on POP3 and SMTP support on all Hotmail account, regardless of location or country.

1. Login to Hotmail.
2. Mouse over Options, and then click on More Options.

3. Click on View and edit your personal information link under “Manger your account” section.

4. Click on Registered Information link.

5. For both Home Location and Work Location, change the following details to specified values:

Postal Code: WC1B 3DG
Constituent Country: England
Time zone: London, United Kingdom - GMT

6. Click on Save when done.
7. Go back to Hotmail, and ensure that the display language of Hotmail is set to English by mouse over the Options.
8. Configure your email client or other webmail service (Gmail configuration to access Hotmail via POP3) to access and download Hotmail Inbox via POP3 protocol, using the Hotmail POP3 and SMTP configuration settings.
9. The email client or another mail service provider should be able to access, login and download or send through Hotmail server without error.
10. Once Hotmail POP3 and SMTP support is enable on the account, it’s possible to change and revert back to your original web interface language, home and work location.

The Windows 7 experience

Windows 7's taskbar is a game-changer. When you roll your mouse over an icon in the taskbar, thumbnails of every open instance of the application will be displayed. If you're unsure which window you want to open, you can hover your mouse over a specific thumbnail and it will be brought to the front in full size. It's a simple addition, but it makes finding open windows much easier. More importantly, it enhances the consumer experience.
Whenever you perform a clean install of an operating system, it's fast. Windows XP was snappy when I installed it on my machine and so was Vista. But after using Windows 7 and comparing it to a clean install of Vista, I found that Windows 7 booted faster than Vista. It also opened applications quicker than its predecessor. The difference wasn't major, but it was noticeable. So noticeable, in fact, that I think consumers will be happy with what they find.
When I used Windows Vista, one of my biggest complaints was the almost constant annoyance from User Account Control. It was everywhere. "Do you really want to open this application?" "Do you really want to download this program?" "Do you really want to sit that way? It might hurt your back." It ruined my experience.
But in Windows 7, the UAC popped up just once or twice over the course of a week. The annoyance was gone. And, once again, it improved my experience.
There are countless other areas where Windows 7 provides an improved experience over Windows Vista. But those three examples illustrate something we can't lose sight of: using Windows 7 is more enjoyable than using its predecessors.
And isn't that all Dell and HP really need? If Temkin is right and most consumers cannot distinguish between the software and the hardware, won't an improved Windows help enhance their overall experience? And won't that, in turn, help PC manufacturers score higher on the survey?
How much higher is the question. Improving a consumer's experience goes beyond installing better software. The hardware needs to follow suit. Though the specs in most PCs are on-par with competing products from Apple, PC manufacturers need to be aware that part of Apple's appeal is in the design of the product. And although HP and Dell have tried to improve the design of their PCs, Macs are still the most attractive computers on the market.
But as these companies try to figure out how to turn things around, it's Windows, that very OS that's currently bringing them down, that will help them break out of their decline.
Check out Don's Digital Home podcast, Twitter stream, and FriendFeed.