space_biker - Slashdot User

MS Reportedly Adds 6 Months of Vista Downgrade 244

Posted by kdawson on Friday October 03, 2008 @09:07AM from the charting-a-course-to-windows-7 dept.

LiteralKa sends in a poorly sourced Reg story claiming that Microsoft has granted OEMs six more months to sell PCs using Windows Vista with the support to downgrade to Windows XP. OEMs can now offer such arrangements until July 31, 2009 — the previous deadline was January 31, 2009. The article claims as source "a Reg reader" without further details. Neither Microsoft nor any OEM has confirmed the rumor, and only a few scattered bloggers have picked it up.

Submission + - Petition to open OS/2 source, round/2 (os2world.com) 1

Submitted by The_Wilschon on Friday December 07, 2007 @01:06PM

The_Wilschon writes: On September 25, 2005, OS2World.com sent a petition with 11,613 signatures to IBM, asking them to release some or all of the source code to OS/2. Oddly, given IBM's embrace of the Open Source movement, the letter was ignored. So, on November 19 of this year, OS2World.com sent a second letter. They have also opened up a second petition round in order to show even more support to IBM for their requests. In particular, the System Object Model (SOM), Workplace Shell (WPS), and OS/2 kernel could both spur new OS/2 development and provide some fresh ideas to the Free Software world.

Submission + - Oracle 11g: First on Linux (pcworld.com)

Submitted by space_biker on Thursday July 12, 2007 @04:36PM

space_biker writes: From a PC World article: Wednesday marked the official unveiling of Oracle Corp.'s 11g database. The vendor confirmed that the Linux version of 11g will ship this quarter, probably in August.

"It's our intention to do a pricing announcement closer to the release date," said Chuck Rozwat, executive vice president, server technologies at Oracle. "It's just a matter of weeks before we make that announcement."

Oracle wouldn't comment on when 11g would be available for the other operating systems the database will support including Microsoft Corp.'s Windows.

Submission + - Eco-friendly ice creams

Submitted by

Roland Piquepaille

on Saturday July 07, 2007 @12:47PM

Roland Piquepaille writes: "According to the Scotsman, Mackie's of Scotland has bought 3 wind turbines for £2.5 million to produce ice creams made with 100% renewable energy. The two new turbines ('Ice' and 'Cream') will join the existing one ('Mackies') and make enough 'green' electricity to produce every tub of ice cream sold by the company — with enough surplus to power 1,000 homes. Mackie's, which wants to become the greenest company in Britain by 2009, also plans to invest in a biofuel plant and use solar power in the near future. A question remains: will this change the taste of their ice creams? But read more for additional details and a diagram showing the components of the wind turbines used by Mackie's."

Submission + - Moonbeam Homebuilt Micro-Car

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 05, 2007 @08:43PM

An anonymous reader writes: This home-grown microcar easily cruises at 40-45 Mph. Built from a Honda Scooter and who knows what. Take a read and check out the images. http://scootdawg.proboards59.com/index.cgi?board=r eview&action=display&thread=1183318658

Submission + - Microsoft taking $1B charge related to Xbox mess

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 05, 2007 @06:18PM

An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft expects to take an earnings charge of over $1 billion for the quarter that ended in June related to expenses it will incur fixing faulty Xbox 360 machines. Microsoft said it will expand its warranty coverage to Xbox 360 customers who have a certain type of hardware failure. The new program is a result of an "unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles," Microsoft said. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/070507-micro soft-to-fix-xbox-360s.html

Submission + - McDonald's Grease Powering McDonald's Trucks (ecogeek.org)

Submitted by

hankmt

on Thursday July 05, 2007 @05:49PM

hankmt writes: "McDonald's, known mostly for smiling like an evil clown while the world gets fatter and fatter, is now actually doing something productive with all of those kilojoules of grease. The company is planning on powering its entire UK truck fleet with bio-diesel created from its own waste vegetable oil.

The fuel will be composed of 85% fryer oil and 15% virgin rapeseed oil. However, Matthew Howe, Senior VP of McDonald's UK was quoted saying "As we get better at the refinement we will be able to remove virgin rape from the process," a line which we sincerely hope never gets taken out of context."

Submission + - 3D painter for Kids released as "Free on Linux

Submitted by

mrueger

on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:11PM

mrueger writes: "The award winning 3D painting program "Plopp" has been released as "Free on Linux". For more information go to http://planet-plopp.com/ or see the latest review ("Hugely inventive, both in terms of its interface and its features, Plopp is truly innovative software."). PLOPP is a creative painting tool for cartoon-like 3D scenes without the effort that comes with professional 3D modelling programs. You can build 3D objects very easily! Just paint them in a 2D environment and PLOPP will transform them into 3D! The 3D objects can then be moved or rotated in order to arrange them in a true 3D scene. You can paint different backgrounds and adjust the lighting in the scene. The scenes can be printed, set as the desktop wallpaper, or sent as an ecard. Plopp was inspired by Takeo Igarashi's Teddy sketching tool"

Submission + - Darth Vader hot air baloon launch in Belgium

Submitted by

gevmage

on Monday April 23, 2007 @02:10PM

gevmage writes: "Someone in Belgium has created a hot air balloon shaped like Darth Vader's head.

No, really. With the help of "Fan Wars", the maker of the balloon got permission from Lucasfilm to make the baloon, which was first inflated in March of 2007. It doesn't say if the balloon has actually flown yet."

Submission + - 10 Ways to Reduce Global Warming and Save Humanity

Submitted by

A Better Where To Find

on Sunday April 22, 2007 @04:15PM

A Better Where To Find writes: "Top 10 Ways to Reduce Global Warming and Save Humanity is a list I put together in honor of Earth Day. We need to act before it's too late!"

Submission + - Cattle Produce More Greenhouse Gases Than Cars

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 09, 2007 @01:10PM

An anonymous reader writes: EARTHtimes.org has an article covering a letter that PETA sent to Al Gore. The letter points out that rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases that driving cars. PETA sites a U.N. report to support their case. Will Al Gore put his mouth where his mouth is and become vegetarian?

Submission + - F-22 Raptor Gets Zapped by International Date Line

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @01:12PM

Anonymous Coward writes: "Lockheed's F-22 Raptor is the most advanced fighter in the world with its stealth capabilities, advanced radar, state of the art weapons systems and ultra-efficient turbofans.

But while the simulated war games were a somewhat easy feat for the Raptor, something more mundane was able to cripple six aircraft on a 12 to 15 hours flight from Hawaii to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. The U.S. Air Force's mighty Raptor was felled by the International Date Line (IDL).

When the group of Raptors crossed over the IDL, multiple computer systems crashed on the planes. Everything from fuel subsystems, to navigation and partial communications were completely taken offline. Numerous attempts were made to "reboot" the systems to no avail.

http://www.dailytech.com/Lockheeds+F22+Raptor+Gets +Zapped+by+International+Date+Line/article6225.htm "

Submission + - Big Biz Buys Into Eco-Responsibility?

Submitted by DebNY on Monday February 26, 2007 @02:46PM

DebNY writes: Reuters has a special report on renewable energy that includes an article on how big business is getting into the eco-responsbility game. Companies like XCel Energy are trying to figure out which customers are best suited for alternative energy sources, and other businesses are evaluating how to go green.

Submission + - Tomb of Mary,Joseph & Jesus found?

Submitted by

Aryabhata

on Monday February 26, 2007 @01:48PM

Aryabhata writes: "MSNBC reports, that this week the Discovery Channel, together with HarperSanFrancisco, will announce the release of "The Jesus Family Tomb," a television documentary and a book that aim to show that the tomb located in a nondescript suburb called East Talpiot, is, well, the family plot of Jesus Christ. Spearheaded by a well-known TV director named Simcha Jacobovici, and produced by "Titanic" director James Cameron, "The Jesus Family Tomb", is a slick and suspenseful narrative about the 1980 discovery of a first-century Jewish burial cave and the 10 bone boxes, or ossuaries, found therein. With the help of statisticians, archeologists, historians, DNA experts, robot-camera technicians, epigraphers and a CSI expert from New York's Long Island, Jacobovici puts together a case in which he argues that the bones of Jesus, Mary and Mary Magdalene, along with some of their lesser-known relatives, were once entombed in this cave."

Submission + - Plasma To Produce Clean Energy From Waste

Submitted by

kbox

on Sunday February 25, 2007 @06:23PM

kbox writes: "Mention trash incineration to most people and the image that usually springs to mind is a dirty, smelly practice that is about as far from 'green' as you can get. However, this isn't the case with a technology called Plasma Gasification, which is not only very eco-friendly, it's also powered by the very garbage that it processes. It also produces clean energy and commercially useful byproducts.

While the technology of processing materials with plasma has been around for some time now, Joseph Longo, CEO and founder of Startech Environmental Corporation has developed a device that can handle pretty much any type of waste put into it and turn it into a clean source of energy."

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