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Windows XP trounced Windows Vista in all tests, regardless of the versions used or the amount of memory running on the computer, says Devil Mountain Software.In the latest Mac versus PC ad, that put-upon Windows guy quietly concedes he's "downgrading" from Vista to XP. He may have good reason: new tests show that the older XP runs common productivity tasks significantly faster than Microsoft's newest operating system. Researchers at Devil Mountain Software, a Florida-based developer of performance management tools, have posted data from their most recent Windows performance tests -- and Vista, even after it's been upgraded to the new...

How often have you heard it said that "patents foster innovation?" That phrase rings true in pharmaceuticals, where investment requirements are enormous and failure common. But does it also apply in areas such as software? Does it really take the promise of a legal monopoly to motivate a typical founder or CTO to innovate? And what about the advantages patents give big companies over emerging ones, simply because the former can credibly threaten expensive patent litigation while the latter cannot? I'll talk about the negative impacts of software patents another time. But today I'd like to make the case...

My boss has asked me to find the version of Linux/Unix that Samba is developed and tested on, in that we might find the most reliable Samba platform. I'm guessing it's developed on Fedora, and tested on RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), which would mean www.centos.org would qualify, but I'd like to hear what knowledgeable FRiends ... know. Thank you.

What could make the Free Software Foundation (FSF), proprietary software companies, and at least one venture capitalist into allies? The End Software Patents (ESP) coalition, a new organization poised to swing into action next month under the leadership of Ben Klemens. The campaign currently has seed funding of a quarter million dollars from sources those associated with the group won't disclose, and hopes to augment that with donations from individuals and companies for a struggle that, to judge by the usual amount of time it takes to push major changes through the US Supreme Court, could take five years or...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2007 – As part of its continued commitment to honoring troops and their families, software giant Microsoft Corp. announced today that it has become a corporate supporter of the Defense Department’s America Supports You program. The America Supports You program connects citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad. “As the demands of service continue to challenge and strain America’s armed forces, domestic efforts to support soldiers and their families grow increasingly important,” said Curt Kolcun, vice president of Microsoft’s Federal Division. “Joining America Supports You is a key part of...

Three years ago, Ted Mondale's new company signed a $550,000 contract with Hennepin County to provide a computer software program that was supposed to revolutionize the way data from real estate records is made available over the Internet. The revolution is off to a slow start. Though the county has paid $314,000 to Nazca Solutions Inc., which Mondale cofounded as part of a career move from politics into technology, there is still no program ready for public use. Mondale had originally promised a finished product in six months and, following two years of tinkering, said it would be ready last...

IBM's Office Rival In launching a free, open-source based software suite, Big Blue hopes to compete for Microsoft's Office clients. The design incorporates user feedback with a nod to Web 2.0 by Matt Vella IBM's (IBM) recent launch of a free, full-featured suite of business software dubbed Symphony is a bold attempt to grab market share from Microsoft's (MSFT) bread-and-butter Office product. But even as early adopters buzz over Symphony's strengths and weaknesses, the release shows how IBM, much like its arch-rival, is trying to find ways to make traditional enterprise software relevant in a Web 2.0 world. For one...

BELGRADE (AFP) — An Indian company looking to cash in on eastern European "near-sourcing" signed a deal here to construct an IT park that Serbia hopes will become the biggest on the continent. The deal with Bangalore-based property developer Embassy Group was potentially worth up to 600 million dollars (425 million euros) over five years, which would make it Serbia's biggest ever greenfield investment, said Economy and Regional Development Minister Mladan Dinkic. Greenfield projects are implemented from the ground up by an investing company on sites where there had been no previous activity. "I'm very satisfied ... that today I...

Russian OS is to be installed on every school computer in Russia by 2009. Furthermore, every pupil will get the opportunity to operate the applied software produced in Russia, Leonid Reiman, acting Minister of Communication stated at a press conference. Experts and market participants consider the terms within which software is to be developed quite reasonable. According to Mr. Reiman, that might significantly reduce Russian dependence on foreign software.... The Ministry of Communication Press Service explains the Ministry plans to install Russian OS and alternative program package in every Russian school. The dates to carry out tenders for OS development...

The week's not off to a great start for Microsoft. On Monday, a European court upheld almost $1 billion in antitrust penalties against the software maker. A day later, it's IBM that is taking aim at Microsoft with the release of a free office software suite called Lotus Symphony. IBM said Tuesday that Symphony, based on open source software from the OpenOffice.org project, will be made available as a free download essentially to whoever wants it. The package contains a word processor called Lotus Symphony Documents, as well as Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets and Lotus Symphony Presentations. IBM is calling the...

We just found out Google Presentation is out! The Google Docs is now completed! With the introduction of Google Presentation, now you can collaborate a presentation online. This has been a missing piece of Google office suite. They even change the name from Google Docs and Spreadsheet into Google Docs. Multiple collaborator can edit the same presentation at the same time. The software is just amazing since it uses a highly compatible CSS so you can view it in all browsers. You can also upload images and changes backgrounds using the theme selector. When you can done with the presentation,...

A Seattle man is suing Autodesk for abusing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in an attempt to restrict the resale of its software. The plaintiff, Tim Vernor, alleges that Autodesk has repeatedly sent copyright infringement notices to eBay, where he has tried to sell legal copies of Autodesk software, because the company does not want the used copies to compete with new sales of the software. According to a copy of the complaint seen by Ars Technica, Autodesk began sending copyright infringement notices to eBay in May of 2005. He says that Autodesk never took the appropriate legal action to...

I think I have a nifty idea for a software project, but since I am not independently wealthy AND I don't feel like having it ripped off so that I wind up with nothing, I was wondering if my fellow Freepers could advise me on how I could wisely go about getting funding for this project, and protect myself. If I should only stick with close friends and relatives, then I will do so. Thank you.

Considering the similarities between computers and human beings, both are analogous in that they have hardware and software. The first is made of metal, silicon and code – the second is made of neurons, nerves, and experience. Computer hardware has evolved dramatically since its initial invention. According to Moore’s Law, transistors have consistently shrunk by half - approximately every two years since the 1960s. If we were to compare the size or processing power of a single neuron to a single transistor, we might say our brain “power” would have increased more than 2 million percent since Moore announced...

Simple question. I am looking for any recommendations on firewalls(free download). Thank you, TJI

I am searching for software that was discussed and linked here. It was software that tested computer addresses and blocked the tracking of physical addresses of the computer. I had never realized that my physical address was available to the right software, when I surfed. Would somone be so kind and post the links to the sites that do this. I have not been able to find them on scroogle searches or FR searches. Thank you.

By almost any definition — except his own and perhaps those of his neighbors here in Silicon Valley — Hal Steger has made it. Mr. Steger, 51, a self-described geek, has banked more than $2 million. The $1.3 million house he and his wife own on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean is paid off. The couple’s net worth of roughly $3.5 million places them in the top 2 percent of families in the United States. Yet each day Mr. Steger continues to toil in what a colleague calls “the Silicon Valley salt mines,” working as a marketing executive for...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California man has pleaded guilty to providing restricted software products to China, marking the first successful U.S. prosecution for illegal exports of military-related software code, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday. Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, 42, formerly of Beijing and now a resident of Cupertino, California, has pleaded guilty to violating U.S. laws on economic espionage and arms export controls, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. Prosecutors said Meng improperly installed a demonstration unit of a simulation product at the Peoples' Republic of China Navy Research Center and exported to China a restricted visual...

Microsoft’s next version of its small-business/home productivity suite, due imminently, will be free and ad-funded. Microsoft Works 9.0 — which will be the new product’s name, if Microsoft opts to stick with its current nomenclature — might also debut at some point as Microsoft-hosted low-end productivity service, as many have been speculating. A hosted version of Works would give Microsoft a head-to-head competitor with Google Docs & Spreadsheets and other consumer- and small-business focused services, analysts have said. For the time being, however, the new version of Works will be ad-funded, according to Satya Nadella, the newly minted Corporate Vice...

Salesforce.com repackages Apex code as developer 'platform'Software as a Service (SaaS) isn't dead, but it could soon be overtaken by Platform as a Service (PaaS), according to SaaS pioneer Salesforce.com. With this week's launch of its re-packaged Apex Code platform under the oddly-named Summer '07, Salesforce.com claims this is the next step in the expansion of service-based computing. "The first generation of SaaS was about providing applications such as customer relationship management (CRM) and email packaged as services. With Summer '07 we are taking this to the next level and delivering a platform with tools and services for the developer,"...