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Microsoft and Red Hat recently signed an interoperability deal designed to please both Windows and Linux users. Red Hat, the largest corporate contributor to open source development, is a powerful ally for Microsoft due to their position as "the ... most trusted" Linux distribution vendor. (Source: redhat.com ) The two-part deal will maximize the potential for virtualization via each company's "hypervisors" (software that gives users the ability to run multiple operating systems on the same computer at once). It will also ensure that both Windows and Red Hat (Linux) software will be compatible ... (view more)

...continued from Part 1 and Part 2 . Every year Microsoft introduces the "latest technology", bent on revolutionizing computers or their software. Anyone who's familiar with Microsoft is naturally suspicious when "new" technology is introduced -- ... and for good reason. Web TV, Microsoft TV and WinCE smartphones, Xbox, various versions of Media Center PCs, Watches, Media2go, Xbox 360, and the Zune (to name a few) are all products that either went away rapidly or lost billions of dollars. This year it's Windows Vista, Longhorn Server and a new Computer Table called "Surface" with a hefty price ... (view more)

Since last November and even before that, Microsoft has been aggressively hyping the features and virtues of Vista. We've all seen it talked about in the printed media, on television, and on web sites, including Infopackets. Is Vista the latest and ... greatest Windows operating system ever produced? The jury is still out on that. Even I, the local Linux 'geek', look upon Vista and can see where there are seeds of potential greatness, but only the potential. It's just too soon to say for sure if will attain greatness. Why So Much Memory? On the technical side, the reasons for the expanded ... (view more)

Just when you thought the cost of upgrading to Microsoft's new operating system, Vista, was expensive enough, the company announces it has raised the support fees for both XP and the new version of Office. The charge allotted for requesting help ... with either XP or Vista has been raised to $59, up a good chunk of change from the pre-Vista age of just $39. For now, there are fewer complainers. That's because those who have recently invested in Windows Vista are charged nothing for support calls during the first 90 days of ownership. However, after that period ends, all bets are off. (Source: ... (view more)

Although yours truly reported a few days ago that the recently released specfications for the upcoming Nintendo Wii were a little modest -- and in some insiders' opinions, barely an improvement on the Gamecube -- the gaming industry's biggest ... developer is coming out in support of the system. Electronic Arts (EA), makers of everything from strategy to sports (including the massively popular Madden series) have gone public with not only their support for the Wii, but also candid statements about where it might finish in the next-gen showdown. Despite its reported sluggish specs, Nintendo's Wii ... (view more)

Last year, infopackets.com went on a quest to find the most ideal backup software available based on very stringent criteria . That expedition ended with the discovery of Genie Backup Manager. Well, as any good treasure hunter can attest to, there's ... always more gold to be found ... and in this case, it's the launch of Genie Backup Manager version 7! Reminder: What Is Genie Backup Manager? Genie Backup Manager (GBM) is an easy-to-use and extremely versatile all-in-one backup solution. Among some of its basic backup features, Genie Backup Manager can archive any file or folder, emails, media ... (view more)

If you are confused about articles foretelling The End of Support for Windows 98 and Millenium Edition, join the experts. It is especially confusing, and I delight in envisioning the meetings between the lawyers, accountants and programmers who've ... tried to sort it out and clarify it. To make matters worse, the official page explaining The End has been rewritten a number of times. In short, you can find several dates for different things which can be interpreted in many different ways: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=LifeAn16 ... (view more)

Recall -- A few weeks back I wrote about 8 versions of the new Windows Vista (the successor to Windows XP). It appears that this was misinformation. The newsworthy story was leaked by an internal Microsoft site that was accessed by an outside ... reporter, who then dutifully told the rest of the world that there were 8 versions of Windows Vista. After three weeks, that internal site became unavailable, and Microsoft officially declared there were in fact 6 versions of Vista. The below information was taken from a recent Microsoft document . To clarify: " Microsoft ... will offer Windows Vista ... (view more)

Protected mode (sometimes abbreviated pmode) is an operational mode of x86-compatible CPUs of the 80286 series or later. Protected mode has a number of new features designed to enhance multitasking and system stability, such as memory protection, a ... paging system, and hardware support for virtual memory. Most modern x86 operating systems run in protected mode, including Linux, FreeBSD, and versions of Microsoft Windows 2.0 and later. The other operational mode of 386 and later CPUs is real mode, a backwards compatibility mode that disables these features, designed to allow old software to run ... (view more)

Synopsis: 3D MP3 Sound Recorder is an Audio Playback Recorder that is capable of recording sounds that eminate from your sound card, microphone, line-in ports, and any other sound sources. You can use 3D MP3 Sound Recorder to grab any sound bite ... including: Internet streaming broadcasts, music, CD, DVD, tape, dialogues from movies, game sounds, and much more! Captured sounds can be saved directly into WAV or MP3 format using real-time conversion (without creating temporary files). The program offers direct support for RealPlayer, Winamp, Windows Media Player, Power DVD, Flash, Quick time and ... (view more)