Windows eXPired Just Won't Die! Microsoft Losing Faith in Vista, Breathes Life in XP - Windows Vista is no match for Windows XP

Windows eXPired just won't die, not even for Windows Vista. Additionally, Microsoft seems to be losing faith in its latest Windows title. This would explain why the Redmond company is still breathing life into XP, although the strategy is clearly detrimental to Vista. Following Vista's release, Microsoft was in a rush to declare XP expired. Still, the company failed to put its back into it. Microsoft relied on Vista's Wow to make XP obsolete instead of marketing it accordingly. But leaving XP to wear out naturally, in the growing shadow of Vista's evolution backfired. While there is a consistent amount of efforts poured into converting users from XP to Vista, there are little results to indicate success. Not only are both home and corporate users failing to upgrade/migrate to Vista from XP, but the rate of downgrades increases in consistency with each passing day. And on top of that, XP is still preferred over Vista, prompting

Microsoft to extend the availability of its 2001 Windows operating system."While we’ve been pleased with the positive response we’ve seen and heard from customers using Windows Vista, there are some customers who need a little more time to make the switch to Windows Vista. As it turns out, our official policy as of 2002 is that versions of Windows are available through our retail and direct OEM partners for four years after they ship. Obviously this policy didn’t work with Windows XP given Windows Vista’s delivery date. As a practical matter, most of our previous operating system releases were available for about two years after the new version shipped, so maybe we were a little ambitious to think that we would need to make Windows XP available for only a year after the release of Windows Vista," revealed Mike Nash, corporate vice president, Windows Product Management.The end of Windows XP availability via direct OEM and retail licenses was planned for January 31, 2008. Microsoft revealed that after taking in feedback from customer and original equipment manufacturers, it has extended XP's life with an additional five months. The company made sure to emphasize that Vista is doing great, although end users and PC builders are still interested in a five year old operating system (XP was launched at the end of 2001), vs. Windows Vista, released in January 2007. XP will be available from large PC manufacturers worldwide until mid 2008, while XP Starter edition will come preloaded on machines put together by System builders until June 30, 2010. The prolonging of XP's direct OEM and retail license availability is of course connected with the launch of the first Service Pack for Windows Vista, scheduled in Q1 2008. "So we’re responding to feedback we have gotten from our OEM partners that some customers will benefit by extending availability of Windows XP to June 30, 2008 instead of the planned date of Jan. 30, 2008. Also, since some of the systems that ship in emerging markets don’t meet the requirements for Windows Vista, we will be extending availability of Windows XP Starter Edition to June 30, 2010. This will allow our OEM partners who sell PCs in emerging markets more opportunity to offer genuine Windows licenses. Windows XP Starter Edition is tailored to local markets, in local languages, and is compatible with a wide range of Windows-based applications and devices", Nash added.

Ubuntu 7.10 Tribe 5 Released

Tribe 5 (Beta 5) of Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon has been released.
Nice, looks like I was wrong and the new xorg.conf edit will be in 7.10 after all:

In addition to that Ubuntu has this rockin’ automatic printing-configuration system that makes configuring/installing printers plug-and-play:

And brings with it a hot new Firefox plugin finder/installer/thingie

25 intresting thing that you learn about computers only in movies

1. Word processors never display a cursor.2. You never have to use the spacebar when typing long sentences.3. All monitors display 2 inch high letters.4. High-tech computers, such as those used by NASA, the CIA, or some such governmental institution, have easy-to-understand graphical interfaces.5. Those that don't will have incredibly powerful text-based command shells that can correctly understand and execute commands typed in plain English.6. Corollary: You can gain access to any information you want by simply typing "ACCESS ALL OF THE SECRET FILES" on any keyboard.7. Likewise, you can infect a computer with a destructive virus by simply typing "UPLOAD VIRUS." Viruses cause temperatures in computers, just like they do in humans. After a while, smoke billows out of disk drives and monitors.8. All computers are connected. You can access the information on the villain's desktop computer, even if it's turned off.9. Powerful computers beep whenever you press a key or whenever the screen changes. Some computers also slow down the output on the screen so that it doesn't go faster than you can read. The *really* advanced ones also emulate the sound of a dot-matrix printer as the characters come across the screen.10. All computer panels have thousands of volts and flash pots just underneath the surface. Malfunctions are indicated by a bright flash, a puff of smoke, a shower of sparks, and an explosion that forces you backward. See #7, above)11. People typing away on a computer will turn it off without saving the data.12. A hacker can get into the most sensitive computer in the world before intermission and guess the secret password in two tries.13. Any PERMISSION DENIED has an OVERRIDE function.14. Complex calculations and loading of huge amounts of data will be accomplished in under three seconds. In the movies, modems transmit data at two gigabytes per second.15. When the power plant/missile site/whatever overheats, all the control panels will explode, as will the entire building.16. If you display a file on the screen and someone deletes the file, it also disappears from the screen. There are no ways to copy a backup file -- and there are no undelete utilities.17. If a disk has got encrypted files, you are automatically asked for a password when you try to access it.18. No matter what kind of computer disk it is, it'll be readable by any system you put it into. All application software is usable by all computer platforms.19. The more high-tech the equipment, the more buttons it has. However, everyone must have been highly trained, because the buttons aren't labelled.20. Most computers, no matter how small, have reality-defying three-dimensional, real-time, photo-realistic animated graphics capability.21. Laptops, for some strange reason, always seem to have amazing real-time video phone capabilities and the performance of a CRAY-MP.22. Whenever a character looks at a VDU, the image is so bright that it projects itself onto his/her face.23. Computers never crash during key, high-intensity activities. Humans operating computers never make mistakes under stress.24. Programs are fiendishly perfect and never have bugs that slow down users.25. Any photograph can have minute details pulled out of it. You can zoom into any picture as far as you want to. Example: "What's that fuzzy thing in the corner? I don't know, let's check. It's the murder weapon! Let's look under the bed for the killers shoes. no, just some comics books (Marvel 1954, very rare). Let's check the closet shelves...!"

The ABC'S Of Business Management

. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and say: "I am very rich. "Marry me!" - That's Direct Marketing" 2. You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says: "He's very rich. "Marry him." -That's Advertising"
3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and get her telephone number. The next day, youcall and say: "Hi, I'm very rich."Marry me - That's Telemarketing"
4. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get upand straighten your tie, youwalk up to her and pourher a drink, you open the door (of the car)for her,pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her ride andthen say:"By the way, I'm rich. Will you"Marry Me?" - That's Public Relations"
5. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says:"You are very rich! "Can you marry ! me?" - That's Brand Recognition"
6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" She gives youa nice hard slap on your face. -"That's Customer Feedback"
7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" And sheintroduces you to her husband. -"That's demand and supply gap"
8. You see a gorgeous girl at aparty. You go up toher and before you say anything, another person comeand tell her: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?" and shegoes with him -"That's competition eating into your market share" 9. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up toher and before you say: "I'm rich, Marry me!" yourwife arrives. -"That's restriction for entering new markets

The 30 hottest things you can say to the naked women

30 Shortcuts to Ultimate Happiness
1. "Good morning."
2. "Is it okay with you if I take this slow?"
3. "I can't stop touching you."
4. "Want to join me in the shower?"
5. "I want to kiss/lick/touch every inch of you."
6. "I love how you taste."
7. "Do you feel this, too?" ("This" being an incredible emotional euphoria.)
8. "Hungry? Stay right here. I'll go make you a burrito."
9. Her name--her full name--followed by a "Wow."
10. "I'll get the light."
11. "I'll cancel my plans if you'll stay here with me for the rest of the weekend."
12. "No one's ever done that before."
13. "Can we do that again?"
14. "I love your [fill in body part here]."
15. Nothing. Total, deliberate silence. You can stare at her, grab her, touch her, but don't make a sound. If she tries to talk, place a finger on her lips.
16. While looking out the window at people not currently in bed with her: "Suckers."
17. While looking at moonlight reflecting on the ceiling: "What do you see?"
18. "I'll go make coffee."
19. "Waking up with you is even better than sleeping with you."
20. "Let's play hooky today."
21. Any use of the word "hot." Especially: "You're so hot."
22. "Squeeze my hand when it feels really amazing."
23. Words that end in "uck." Yes, even "duck," when appropriate.
24. "There's nothing else I'd rather be doing right now."
25. "I'm ready to go again."
26. "Damn, I've missed you."
27. "How about a massage?"
28. Playful laughter.
29. "Don't ever leave me."
30. "You sleep; I'll go check on the baby."

The samurai are coming

Samurai (侍,Samurai?) was a term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. The word "samurai" is derived from the archaic Japanese verb "samorau," changed to "saburau," meaning "to serve"; thus, a "samurai" is a servant, i.e. the servant of a lord.

Samurai in armour, 1860s. Photograph by Felice Beato

deeply hurt

It is believed warriors and foot-soldiers in the sixth century may have formed a proto-samurai. Following a disastrous military engagement with TangChina and Silla, Japan underwent widespread reforms. One of the most important was that of the Taika Reform, issued by Prince Naka no Ōe (Emperor Tenji) in 646 AD. This edict introduced Chinese cultural practices and administrative techniques throughout the Japanese aristocracy and bureaucracy. As part of the Yōrō Code, and the later Taihō Code, of 702 AD, the population was required to report regularly for census, which was used as a precursor for national conscription. With an understanding of how the population was distributed, Emperor Mommu introduced the law whereby 1 in 3–4 adult males were drafted into the national military. These soldiers were required to supply their own weapons, and in return were exempted from duties and taxes. This was one of the first attempts by the Imperial government to form an organized army modelled after the Chinese system. It was called gundan-sei(軍団制) by later historians and is believed to have been short lived Iron helmet and armour with gilt bronze decoration, Kofun era, 5th century. Tokyo National Museum. The Taihō Code classified Imperial bureaucrats into 12 ranks, each divided into two sub-ranks, 1st rank being the highest adviser to the emperor. Those of 6th rank and below were referred to as "samurai" and dealt with day-to-day affairs. Although these "samurai" were civilian public servants, the name is believed to have derived from this term. Military men, however, would not be referred to as "samurai" for many more centuriesIron helmet and armour with gilt bronze decoration, Kofun era, 5th century. Tokyo National Museum

American Beer

This guy goes to a doctor and says he has a problem with sex."Doc, I think my dick is just too damn small," he says.The doctor asks him which drink he prefers.Well, American beer," he replies quite bemused."Aaaahhh. There's your problem, it shrinks things, those silly American beers.. you should try drinking Guinness. That makes things grow."Two months later the chap returns to the doctor with a big smile on his face.He shakes the doctor by the hand and thanks him."I take it you now drink Guinness?" asked the doctor."Oh no, Doc," replies the man, "but I've got the wife on American beer!"

20 Things YouDidn't Know About Death

Newsflash: we're all going to die. But here are 20 things you didn't know about kicking the bucket.1 The practice of burying the dead may date back 350,000 years, as evidenced by a 45-foot-deep pit in Atapuerca, Spain, filled with the fossils of 27 hominids of the species Homo heidelbergensis, a possible ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.
2 Never say die: There are at least 200 euphemisms for death, including "to be in Abraham's bosom," "just add maggots," and "sleep with the Tribbles" (a Star Trek favorite).
3 No American has died of old age since 1951.
4 That was the year the government eliminated that classification on death certificates.
5 The trigger of death, in all cases, is lack of oxygen. Its decline may prompt muscle spasms, or the "agonal phase," from the Greek word agon, or contest.
6 Within three days of death, the enzymes that once digested your dinner begin to eat you. Ruptured cells become food for living bacteria in the gut, which release enough noxious gas to bloat the body and force the eyes to bulge outward.
7 So much for recycling: Burials in America deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid—formaldehyde, methanol, and ethanol—into the soil each year. Cremation pumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide into the air.
8 Alternatively . . . A Swedish company, Promessa, will freeze-dry your body in liquid nitrogen, pulverize it with high-frequency vibrations, and seal the resulting powder in a cornstarch coffin. They claim this "ecological burial" will decompose in 6 to 12 months.
9 Zoroastrians in India leave out the bodies of the dead to be consumed by vultures.
10 The vultures are now dying off after eating cattle carcasses dosed with diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory used to relieve fever in livestock.
11 Queen Victoria insisted on being buried with the bathrobe of her long-dead husband, Prince Albert, and a plaster cast of his hand.
12 If this doesn't work, we're trying in vitro! In Madagascar, families dig up the bones of dead relatives and parade them around the village in a ceremony called famadihana. The remains are then wrapped in a new shroud and reburied. The old shroud is given to a newly married, childless couple to cover the connubial bed.
13(*) During a railway expansion in Egypt in the 19th century, construction companies unearthed so many mummies that they used them as fuel for locomotives.
14 Well, yeah, there's a slight chance this could backfire: English philosopher Francis Bacon, a founder of the scientific method, died in 1626 of pneumonia after stuffing a chicken with snow to see if cold would preserve it.
15 For organs to form during embryonic development, some cells must commit suicide. Without such programmed cell death, we would all be born with webbed feet, like ducks.
16 Waiting to exhale: In 1907 a Massachusetts doctor conducted an experiment with a specially designed deathbed and reported that the human body lost 21 grams upon dying. This has been widely held as fact ever since. It's not.
17 Buried alive: In 19th-century Europe there was so much anecdotal evidence that living people were mistakenly declared dead that cadavers were laid out in "hospitals for the dead" while attendants awaited signs of putrefaction.
18 Eighty percent of people in the United States die in a hospital.
19 If you can't make it here . . . More people commit suicide in New York City than are murdered.
20 It is estimated that 100 billion people have died since humans began.

Third generation Toyota Prius in 2008 as a 2009 model?

The king of hybrid cars, the Toyota Prius, will offer a third generation hybrid drive, possibly in 2008 as a 2009 Prius model according to reports from Japan. Additionally, the new drive will also be included in the rest of Toyota's hybrids as well, such as the Highlander hybrid, Lexus RX400h, and the Camry hybrid.According to early reports, the new hybrid drive will offer new batteries that will be lighter than the current generation and will offer greater performance, such as the lithium-ion batteries debuted in the FT-HS hybrid concept.
In recent months Toyota has indicated that its lithium-ion batteries were ready to power the next generation of Toyota hybrids. In the past few weeks, however, rumors have surfaced that Toyota might delay the use of lithium. In fact, the latest rumors claim that lithium-powered hybrids from Toyota are now at least 1 to 2 years away from reality due to safety precautions.
Originally, the 2008 or 2009 Toyota Prius, utilizing the Third Generation Hybrid Synergy Drive - a hybrid powertrain that was predicted to be half the weight of the current Prius powertrain - was predicted to reduce hybrid technology costs.
The second generation Prius provided a significant increase in performance as well compared to the first generation Prius, increasing battery power by 1.5 times. Expectations for the third generation Prius have been much greater.
Thus far it has been stated that the new drive, "will cut prices for eco-friendly vehicles, reduce fuel costs and slash production expenses, company sources said."
Of course, it is hard to know if all of Toyota's predictions were based on the belief that lithium would be the battery powering the third generation Hybrid Synergy Drive.
"We will change the battery from nickel hydride to the lithium battery," CEO Katsuaki Watanabe told Business Week, just a couple of months ago. Then, shortly thereafter, the rumors against such a lithium move hit the blogosphere.
So, what happens to the Third Generation Prius if it is not lithium powered?Many analysts have noted that once hybrid batteries moved from NiMH batteries to lithium-ion, everything about hybrids begins to change. Thus, if this doesn't happen, does little about hybrids change?
More important, will a lack of a lithium-powered Prius be a major setback for Toyota?
Prius derivatives?
Still, what does all this mean? Will rumors of a non-plug-in, 100 mpg Prius prove to be unfounded?
Will Toyota offer a NiMH-powered Prius plug-in hybrid?
It seems hard to imagine that the next generation Prius could achieve 100 mpg, without some sort of plug-in functionality - which is a possibility, but Toyota has steadily maintained that plug-ins are not yet feasible, especially without lithium batteries.
Then again, perhaps the 100 mpg Prius will be a derivative Prius, such as a smaller, city Prius. Toyota has claimed that the future could hold multiple derivatives of the Prius, and a larger Prius also seems possible.
At this point there are simply more questions than answers regarding the 2009 Toyota Prius.Still, at Toyota's current pace, the fourth generation of hybrids could possibly achieve prices in the same range as conventional vehicles, but offering significant gains in fuel efficiency. Imagine being able to buy either a 30 mpg conventional vehicle or a 100 mpg hybrid version for the same price.
Still, that won't happen before 2010.
Of course, you might not even have to wait until the fourth generation. The third generation Toyota Prius - by most conservative estimates - should still be 20 to 30 percent more efficient than the current Prius, and if a smaller, city Prius is offered, 70 or 80 mpg might still be possible, even without lithium.Let's just hope a new Prius does hit the streets in late 2008 or early 2009.

10 Tested Ways To Get Rid Of Your Irritating Girlfriend

For an irritating girlfriend-free life follow these time-tested formula and you’ll be surprised to see how easy and relatively straightforward dumping an irritating ‘attachment’ can actually be!1) Make her wait for ages… when the dates are planned by her and, even worse when they are planned by you.2) Do not ever use a deodorant when you’re around her. Make it a point to munch on onions before you meet her.3) Attend as many calls as you can when she’s spending time with you… it helps if the one calling is you’re ex-girlfriend and it’s even better if it’s your ’supposedly’ intimate boyfriend.4) Be as GAY as you can!5) Make sure you invite her best friend every time you go out with her, and hit on her friend (doesn’t matter if it’s a guy or a girl) as shamelessly as you can. The drool-pot is a sure winner!6) Dress as horrendously as you possible can. Colour combinations are a strict NO-NO, unless you’re planning on doing a fluorescent orange and bright pink combo. Classic!7) Gorge yourself on food, hers, yours, her friend’s and make sure food spills out of your mouth every minute or so, during your lunch or dinner dates.8) BURP! As often and as loudly as you can. Gaseous emanations of other kinds are also sure ways to your ultimate triumph!9) Make sure she realises you’re not busy, but pretend to be as busy as you can possibly be when she’s around… she’ll get the hint… or even better, pair it up with being a schedule freak.10) Pretend you have a serious crotch infection, or a fetish or an obsession for everything down under!

Things that even Microsoft Can't Explain

MAGIC #1An Indian found that nobody can create a FOLDER anywhere on the Computer which can be named as “CON”. This is something funny and inexplicable… At Microsoft the whole Team, couldn’t answer why this happened!TRY IT NOW, IT WILL NOT CREATE A “CON” FOLDER

MAGIC #2For those of you using Windows, do the following:1.) Open an empty notepad file2.) Type “Bush hid the facts” (without the quotes)3.) Save it as whatever you want.4.) Close it, and re-open it.Noticed the weird bug? No one can explain

MAGIC #3Again this is something funny and can’t be explained… At Microsoft the whole Team, including Bill Gates, couldn’t answer why this happened!It was discovered by a Brazilian. Try it out yourself…Open Microsoft Word and type=rand (200, 99)And then press ENTERAnd see the magic…..!

Virginity Myths:How Can you Tell if She’s a Virgin?

Myth #1: A non-virgin walks with her legs wider apart.Fact: How a girl walks is determined by her physical build - how wide her hip bones are or how fat her thighs are. It’s also determined by her stride. This has nothing whatsoever to do with her virginity!Myth #2: Hair between the eyebrows is gone after one loses her virginity.Fact: This is one of the more bizarre stories. Hair between the eyebrows has nothing to do with virginity. If you happen to spot some hair between a girl’s eyebrow which had never been there previously. it’s simply because she has forgotten to pluck her eyebrows during the past few days!Myth #3: A girls’ fully-rounded backside suddenly flattens after she has sex.Fact: If this were true, then there wouldn’t be many of us walking around with nice, round, fully rear ends! It is impossible to lose tje elsaticity in your backside muscles simply through intercourse.Myth #4: A virgin’s breasts point upwards.Fact: Virgins are just as likely to have sagging breasts!Myth #5: One’s breasts become larger after she loses her virginity.Fact: Just like a guy obtains his erection through a rush of blood to his penis, a gal’s breasts could also swell when aroused. But this subsides. It is rude and childish to assume that those with ample chests are all non-virgins.Myth #6: A virgin’s urine is clear and sparkling.Fact: Virginity cannot be confirmed with urine test; only pregnancy can. Besides, the quality of your urine is determined by your water intake - the more water you drink, the cleaner and clearer your urine will be.Myth #7: A girl who has done it before has “a certain kind of look” on her face.Fact: This is what many guys would say, and it is purely nonsense. Common sense tells you that there is no such thing as the virgin or non-virgin look!Myth #8: A girl will definitely bleed when she has sex for the first time. If she doesn’t, then she is lying about being a virgin.Fact: One of the more reasonable points brought up, this is perhaps the most common excuse for determining whether one is a virgin, but it is a misconception. Bleeding occurs when the hymen, a thin membrane that covers the opening of a female’s vagina, tears during intercourse. Thus, the general belief is that bleeding indicates loss of virginity. However, the hymen could also tear through physical activities like cycling and excessive exercises (like in the case of gymnasts). If tampons are not used correctly, they can also break the hymen. Also, some girls don’t bleed after their first intercourse because they have more flexible hymens. Therefore, non-bleeding doesn’t mean girls are non-virgins, either.Sound Advice: Take these claims with a pinch of salt. These so-called facts are either traditional folktales or the output of someone’s highly imaginative mind. In short, ignore all the outrageous things people say about how they can tell if a girl is a virgin. The truth is, no physical change will take place when a female (or male) loses their virginity. Only a medical check-up can confirm virginity by affirming the presence of an intact hymen. A thorough check-up can also tell whether the hymen has been torn by a penetrating penis or from falling from a bicycle. Other than that, the only way is to ask, and hope for an honest answer

SummerBoard Allows iPhone Home Screen Scrolling

iPhone hacker "lg" has developed a way to place as many icons as you desire in your iPhone's home screen by hacking customizations into SpringBoard, the iPhone menu system. This modification, known as SummerBoard, extends SpringBoard by making use of custom routines loaded through a back door, allowing scrolling of the icon list and the use of custom wallpaper behind said icons. Installation of SummerBoard can be achieved by way of Installer.app.While some users report having to perform multiple iPhone reboots to get things up and running, most have experienced no real issues, it seems. A clever bit of work from an able iPhone hacker.