Modern PC News for December, 2003

• Microsoft Sets Time for Cyberwatches
• Want to Make Point to Point Long Distance Phone Calls Free?
• Lindows 4.5 Released with Substantial Enhancements
• Microsoft X-Box 2 News
• Unable to Delete Files In Windows?
• Confused by all the New Office 2003 Versions?
• LA Officials Call For End to Master/Slave Labels
• Sun Frees Solaris for x86 Platforms
• Think Your New Motherboards Chipset Makes a Difference?

Wrist watches embedded with Microsoft's smart technology are expected to appear in retail stores next month, a move that comes after a delay of several months, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

Watch makers Fossil and Suunto will be among the first to offer the devices, which will allow users to check stock quotes, sports scores, movie listings and other information.

...Fossil's watches are expected to retail for $180 to $200...

ed: As you can see from the graphic on the right, Microsoft can expect competition from Palm.

Commodore.ca | Want to Make Point to Point Long Distance Phone Calls Free?

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) Phones are point to point devices.  Every device has a unique ID that looks alot like a phone number.  Simply connect your SIP phone (or SIP Phone adaptor) to your broad band connection and "dial" any other SIP phone on the planet.  This means that that you do not use a local or long distance telephone service provider which means you pay nothing per minute or user fees. 

It is important to note that this technology, unlike its predecessors like Microsoft's NetMeeting, does not require a computer to function.  Of course you can tie an existing computer system (with a microphone) into these SIP networks but that process has proven too difficult for most consumers.

Some big names like Mitel, Sun and Nortel are behind this Voice over IP (VoIP) 'movement'.

You can turn ANY standard or cordless phone into a SIPphone with the SIPadapter.  Visit the SIPadapter Quick Start Quide for an overview.

Product   Information   Pricing     - Open Standards   - Superb Audio Quality   - Standard Phone      Functionalities   - World's Most Cost      Affordable Approx US $100 SIPadapter (*new*)                - Use with ANY standard     or cordless phone!   - Preconfigured to SIPphone     Plug N Dial   - Advanced Digital Signal     Processing to Ensure   - Superb Hi-Fidelity Audio     Quality   - Ultra-Compact and     Lightweight   - Universal Switching     Power Adapter   - Ethernet Cable Two SIP adapters US $129.99 One SIP adapter US $79.99     - Nortel Networks' SIP Hard Client      is the i2004 Internet Telephone.   - IP-enabled set that supports     business features over a standard     Ethernet connection.   - A large multi-field LCD display     features six user     programmable keys.   ?

Lindows.com | Lindows 4.5 Released with Substantial Enhancements

LindowsOS 4.5. It's our best software ever and comes with industry-leading features like integrated search, SIPphone support and much more. If you have yet to purchase LindowsOS, then please take advantage of our special gift of LindowsCD (digital; a $29.95 value) for free! Just follow the directions at the bottom of this email.

Here's a chart of some of the features in LindowsOS which make it a great choice for many computing tasks, and it still takes less than 10 minutes to install.
 

XBoxReporter | Microsoft X-Box 2 News

Intel, NVidia, ATI... out of the picture?
Recent news stories report that Microsoft may design their own chips for the Xbox 2 design. This means that the manufacturers of the current Xbox console may be out of the picture. For the Xbox 1, NVidia had won the bid to supply the graphics chips for the Xbox, and Intel won the bidding war against the CPU manufacturer AMD.


NVidia and MS... the end of a beautiful relationship
Nvidia's share price rose after they reported doing quite well even though worldwide Microsoft Xbox sales were below expectation. Insiders report that Microsoft didn't like Nvidia's refusal to lower the cost of their chip set, and apparently Microsoft is getting ready for legal action against Nvidia, based on a breach of agreement between the two companies.


XBox 2 is a DIY for Microsoft
The main reason for this move is of course the cost for Microsoft for the use of these components in the Xbox, which are largely responsible for the high price of the console, making it extra-hard for MS to offer the console at a reduced price. The surprising news is that Microsoft aims not only to develop and produce their own graphics chips, but also the main CPU, by which Microsoft plans to shake off its dependency on X86 suppliers.

Sources say that Microsoft has posted a request for quotation for a DirectX9/10 microcode engine, the part of the chip that decodes and processes DirectX instructions.


Rather receive than pay license fees
Microsoft's move into chip development and production was foreshadowed by their recent acquisition of Silicon Graphics patents. This means that they can implement many features into their chips that otherwise would require licensing, AND it means that other chip manufacturers like ATI and NVidia will have to start paying Microsoft license fees.


MSIL all the way
The CPU for the Xbox 2 is rumoured to be designed to be a processor that can decode and execute instructions in Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) while at the same time being able to run x86 code, to remain compatible with Xbox 1

Commodore.ca | Unable to Delete Files In Windows?

I recently had this situation when attempting to remove files that were FTP'd from a Sun Solaris 8 Unix machine to a Windows 2003 server.  Windows Explorer simply provided "Cannot delete FileName. The specified network name is no longer available.' After CHKDSK'ing, ensuring the files were not in use, and finding only one article in the MS Knowledge Base, I posted my problem with Microsoft, and this is what they said:

This issue could be caused by the files or directories whose names contain extended characters.
 
Each character available to the operating system has a unique number.  MS-DOS reserves characters 0 through 31 for control characters.  The keyboard contains characters 32 through 127. The characters 128 through 255 are referred to as "extended characters."

Although MS-DOS may allow the use of these extended characters in filenames and directory names, the Windows for Workgroups File Manager or Windows Explorer may have difficulty manipulating files and directories named in this manner.

To work around this problem, Use DOS/CMD command to delete these files using RD or DEL commands.

Microsoft.com | Confused by all the New Office 2003 Versions?