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At last the moment you’ve been waiting for. Microsoft wants to hit your version of Windows with an update, and this time you don’t have to go rummaging around the internet to find it: just fire up Windows Update and let Microsoft do all the work. After a few false starts XP users get the much-anticipated SP3 update, which promises speed boosts and some of the fancy security features found in Vista. If you’re a Vista user you’re also in luck, since Microsoft has restarted its Vista SP1 distribution after some compatibility problems with Microsoft Dynamics RMS. Sounds like a party.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Windows XP has a date with destiny scheduled for June 30, but it looks like the plucky OS just isn’t ready to go: Ultraportable OEMs will be able to preload XP until “one year after the general availability of Windows 7,” whenever that is, and now we’re hearing reports that Dell’s telling customers it’ll sell XP on professional systems until 2012. The Dell thing is just a rumor for now, but what’s Steve Ballmer doing telling reporters that although XP is EOL, “if customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter” and extend XP sales? Um, Steve? Customers have been feeding back like crazy and Microsoft has kind of ignored them, remember? Maybe it’s time for a quick nap.

Update: That was pretty funny for a totally unintentional typo, wasn’t it?
Read - CNET article quoting Ballmer
Read - Dell rumors

Last year Microsoft really carried on about fulfilling its commitment to all the power users that anted up to get untold future Vista Ultimate Extras — yet none really materialized besides the disappointing early stuff like DreamScene and Texas Hold ‘Em. Well, get ready to feel a whole new wave of Ultimate justification wash over you, because today Microsoft is releasing a trifecta of new Extras: sound schemes, DreamScape animations, and OS language packs. Oh yeah, there’s definitely some Vista “Wow” in here — but it’s mostly from being kind of appalled at these sorry post-apologetic excuses for “ultimate”-grade software additions. Someone wake us when Microsoft decides it cares about making good on its many unfulfilled promises to Vista users.

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Great news for those of you enrolled in Microsoft’s Windows Feedback Program. In exchange for giving Microsoft access to your computing habits for the last 3 months, your free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate, Office Ultimate ‘07, Money Plus Premium, Encarta Premium or Streets and Trips (depending upon your enrollment selection) should be delivered in the next 4 to 6 weeks. Oh sure, the price for the most popular choice — Vista Ultimate — has dropped $80 since you flittered away your privacy. It’s not like the MyFaceSpaceBook types have anything left to hide anyway. And free is free no matter the cost, right?
source:engadget

Asus has never been one to shy away from making from making bold predications about it’s fast-selling Eee PC, and it’s now come out with yet another feat of prognostication,

saying that it expects it’s forthcoming Windows-based Eee PC to outsell its Linux-based counterpart by a ratio of 6 to 4. As PC World points out, that’s despite the fact that the Windows version will cost nearly twice as much as the cheapest Linux-based Eee PC. Asus chairman Jonney Shih seems undaunted by that fact, however, and assures us that “a lot of people have been waiting for the Windows version.”

The Games for Windows logo is the initiative of Microsoft to standardize the gaming platform with the aim of making video gaming on Windows operating systems easier and more accessible to users than before, similar to what popular game consoles have done. There are now several game titles released under the Games for Windows logo which have become popular among many PC users. Here are five of the most popular titles to date:

Bioshock

This game is a first person shooter game that allows the gamer to turn everything into a weapon. In the game, players may be able to modify their body with plasmids, upgrade weapons and make new variants of different ammunition.

Players can also hack into systems and control or even reprogram enemy robots to become allies or render enemy weapons useless. The game play makes use of a fresh idea that is unlike any other found in current genres. The story outline itself is interesting and captivating enough to lure players to explore and discover the game levels all the more.

Crysis

Crysis is a game set on Earth in the year 2019. It is a “humans vs. aliens” game that has players fight through different earth landscapes as well as enemies along the way in order to get to the heart of the alien ship for the ultimate battle. This game contains an interesting storyline that has the player working to repel an alien invasion and save humankind.

Shadowrun

Shadowrun is a multi-player FPS (First Person Shooter) game where a team is propelled into a new dimension and goes into combat using a revolutionary blend of modern weaponry coupled with some ancient magic. What makes this title unique is that it allows for a cross-platform multiplayer game allowing Xbox 360 and Window gamers to play together as teammates or as foes.

With a variety of interesting weapons and magic to use against foes, Shadowrun allows a different twist to a FPS game that would lead to many exciting bouts against fellow gamers all over the world, thanks to its Xbox 360 to Windows Vista Live online compatibility.

Company of Heroes

This game title has been a winner of several Game of the Year awards. It is a 3D real time strategy game that is set in World War II. It also comes with a single player game that starts with the invasion of Normandy to the eventual conquest of Germany. The multi-player mode allows the player to play against other gamers.  

Hellgate: London

This first person shooter (FPS), role playing game (RPG) is set in a post apocalyptic London that is under siege from hordes of demons. Players are made to go through different action packed battles in massive and detailed environments and gain experience and level up through each one.