Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

It's heresy, I  know. I've used Windows for a while, usually grudgingly, and I'll admit: I've been a hater. I won't bore you with a laundry list of  objections I've had over the years.  "The triumph of marketing over technology," sums up my feelings. After sticking with Windows XP's bubble gum look and feel (it puts a whole new spin on "gooey interface") I finally made the jump to Windows 7, after skipping the over-hyped and under-performing Vista, and thought it was....not bad. Being an IT geek I of course had to try out the new Windows 8 prereleases, featuring the new Metro Interface. I thought: this sucks. But a funny thing happened. I picked up a copy of Windows 8 on the cheap (for a while you could snag a legit copy from Microsoft for $15 if you knew how to game the system) and installed it on a new Zotac ZBOX microcomputer that doubles as a video server. There are several add-ons one can install that bring back the St...

I downloaded the Windows 8 Consumer Preview today and just spent the last several hours playing around with it. It's ....interesting. Now, granted, Microsoft has taken pains to emphasize this is a Beta release (they have a cute lil' "Beta" fish on the start up screen to remind us), and also is careful to point out much could change between now and whenever they end up releasing this thing.  And having messed about with it, I'd bet money they will, since its current iteration will not win it many fans. It's ....interesting. And "interesting" is not the same as good. If you don't believe me, next time your significant other makes dinner and asks how you like it, say, "It's ....interesting." You'll find it scores you no points. For whatever reason, Microsoft has decided to drag out it's clunky, horsey-looking Windows Mobile interface (now apparently re-name "Metro") and attempt yet again to sell it to the ...

According to OSNews ( your source for all the latest operating system news ) Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions will come with what Microsoft is calling XP Mode, which promises to give you absolute compatibility with Windows XP for any applications that don't play nice with Windows 7. This will be accomplished by making available a fully integrated and licensed copy of Windows XP SP3 in a VirtualPC-based environment. Currently, VirtualPC is a free download from Microsoft -- what's new here is the inclusion of a legal copy of XP. This sounds like an interesting approach to the thorny issue Microsoft faces every time they introduce some major changes to underlying operating system architecture -- how to support the old stuff out there without grunging up the new OS? One concern I'd have about this approach is this: how much overhead will running XP in a virtualized environment generate? I've played with running XP this way and face it, your poor c...

I've been playing with the Windows 7 Beta on and off for a couple of months. It's not bad. Now word (including release dates) about Windows 7 RC1 has begun to leak onto the 'nets. According to Ars Technica and ZDNet , RC1 (release candidate 1) will be available some time in May, and will expire on June 1, 2010. Unlike the usual unsubstantiated rumors, Ars Technica grabbed a screenshot off the Microsoft website from a page subsequently pulled. The screenshot is visible at the Ars Technica link above. Although there have been some tweaks to the User Interface , hardware requirements have not changed much from the Beta: 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor or higher 1 GB of system memory or more 16 GB of available disk space Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme) DVD-R/W Drive Once released, the beta will be generally downloadable through June 2009, with no limits to the number of product keys.