Assassin's Creed 2 set during French Revolution?

What we heard: One of the highlights of Assassin's Creed was its medieval setting. After starting with a futuristic flourish, the well-reviewed and wildly popular platformer transported players to the Holy Land in the 12th century.

As the hooded killer Altair, players leaped from rooftops in Jerusalem, strolled through souks in Damascus, and slit throats in Acre.

All of Assassin's Creed's locations were re-created via detailed graphics based on an all-new engine crafted at Ubisoft Montreal. Thanks to the aforementioned sci-fi twist, the game's recently revealed sequel could be set in virtually any time period, opening near-limitless possibilities for an all-new locale.

But while such places as ancient China and feudal Japan would seem likely suspects for Assassin's Creed 2's setting, a dark horse candidate appears to have merged. While taping an upcoming episode of Gametrailers' show Bonus Round, Giant Bomb co-founder (and ex-GameSpot editor) Ryan Davis chatted with fellow guest and analyst par excellence Michael Pachter.

During the course of the show, the Wedbush Morgan game-industry soothsayer said that Assassin's Creed would be set "several hundred years" after the original game "sometime in the 1700s." Not content with a timeframe, Pachter went on to "speculate that the French Revolution could be a potential setting." Said revolt, which began in 1789 with the storming of the Parisian fort-cum-prison the Bastille, was amongst the bloodiest changes of government in history. During the subsequent Great Terror, led by proto-Stalinist strongman Maximilien Robespierre, thousands of nobles and political opponents were sent to the guillotine en masse. Eventually, the ranks of the beheaded included Robespierre himself, who got the chop in 1794.

The official story: When asked to elaborate, Pachter politely declined to comment. Ubisoft had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: Too little to go on. With so much bloodletting and urban chaos, the French Revolution would be an interesting setting for Assassin's Creed 2. The subject is also close to Ubisoft's collective heart, given that the cash-flush francophonic publisher is itself based in Paris.

That said, keep in mind that even by Davis' account, Pachter was "speculating" about a "potential setting." Also, the breeches-and-powdered-wig era would likely be much less appealing to 21set century gamers than the original's medieval environs.

Source : gamespot.com

Technorati Tags: Assasin's Creed,Game

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Get a one-year license for USB Safely Remove 4.0 for free!

USB Safely Remove is a convenient and safe replacement for the standard "Safely Remove Hardware" tool. The program has many features designed for effortless working with hotplug devices (USB, SATA and FireWire).

In order to promote upcoming version 4.0 we kindly give you a chance to get a one-year license for the program for free. You may use all the features of the program and get upgrades for one year for free.

Safely remove in one click

The program is an original and convenient tool for safe removing a device. It also detects all connected devices and can be used to view their drive contents. Just move the mouse pointer over the tray icon of the program and you will see a multi-featured 'quick stop' menu with a list of devices

One mouse click on the device and it is safely removed!

Get rid of unnecessary devices!

Are you afraid of accidentally stopping the card reader built into your laptop or dongle? Annoyed by a SATA hard drive or ADSL modem in the device list? Now you can hide any device from the stop menu in one simple step.

Global keyboard shortcuts

Do you like to do everything using the keyboard? Now you can stop and view devices by using just ONE hotkey! No need to remember keyboard shortcuts for each device. If you are in any application, press the key combination (Win+S by default) and you will see the stop menu. Use the Up\Down arrow keys to select the device you need and either press 'Enter' to stop it or 'Ctrl+B' to view the contents of any storage device.

Correct and clear device names

With USB Safely Remove, you will easily find the device you need to stop because the program detects the actual names of devices - the names the manufacturer gave them. If you wish, you can assign your own custom name and image for a device or choose from one of the pre-installed images.
Compare the following and you will see what solution will allow you to safely remove a flash disk without wasting your time.

... standard Windows menu...

... convenient USB Safely Remove stop menu.

The device cannot be stopped right now. Why?

Ever encountered the situation when Windows does not allow you to remove a device? Now this problem is solved once and for all. USB Safely Remove will show you what programs are not allowing you to stop the device and you can stop or disable them in one step.

More Info : safelyremove.com

Download : safelyremove.com

Technorati Tags: Download,Safely Remove,USB,Software

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Download Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 Community Technology Preview (CTP)

Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0 mark the next generation of developer tools from Microsoft. Designed to address the latest needs of developers, Visual Studio delivers key innovations in the following pillars:

Democratizing Application Lifecycle Management
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) crosses many roles within an organization and traditionally not every one of the roles has been an equal player in the process. Visual Studio Team System 2010 continues to build the platform for functional equality and shared commitment across an organization’s ALM process.

Enabling emerging trends
Every year the industry develops new technologies and new trends. With Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0, Microsoft delivers tooling and framework support for the latest innovations in application architecture, development and deployment.

Inspiring developer delight
Ever since the first release of Visual Studio, Microsoft has set the bar for developer productivity and flexibility. Visual Studio 2010 continues to deliver on the core developer experience by significantly improving upon it for roles involved with the software development process. .NET Framework 4.0 contains numerous improvements that make it easier to develop powerful and compelling applications.

Riding the next generation platform wave
Microsoft continues to invest in the market leading operating system, productivity application and server platforms to deliver increased customer value in these offerings. With Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 customers will have the tooling support and the platform support needed to create amazing solutions around these technologies.

For more information on Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0 visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vs2008/products/cc948977.aspx

This CTP release is available in English only as a Virtual PC image. To download Virtual PC 2007 please visit http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=28C97D22-6EB8-4A09-A7F7-F6C7A1F000B5&displaylang=en
The CTP is designed to enable users to experience Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0, and to provide feature design feedback on a limited set of features. These features are exposed through a set of walkthroughs that are included in the VPC itself. Many common development scenarios may not work in this CTP as it is designed to support the above walkthroughs.

Download : microsoft.com

Technorati Tags: Visual Studio,Programming,Download,.NET Framework

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Momentum for Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 Grows with Major Game Titles, Next-Generation 3D Game Engines, and Windows® 7 API

Today, Microsoft^® DirectX^® 10.1 graphics leader AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced expanded support for DirectX 10.1 from a number of developers, demonstrating growing momentum for the most advanced Microsoft graphics API Layer to date. GSC Game World released a DirectX 10.1 patch for their newest game title, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky, bringing with it frame rate improvements of up to 10 percent while at the same time enhancing the visual experience of the game¹.

On the heels of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky announcement, game engine developer Unigine Corp. announced the availability of Tropics, a downloadable demonstration of its Unigine game engine that showcases the ability to deliver photorealistic virtual environments utilizing the power of DirectX 10.1. Lastly, Microsoft announced at the Professional Developers Conference the use of the DirectX 10.1 API in the Windows^® 7 Windows Desktop Manager.

In S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky, benchmarks of DirectX 10.1 performance versus DirectX 10 have demonstrated frame rate improvements of as much as 10 percent, while delivering an improved visual experience.

"With S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, we set a very high standard for visual realism, and our efforts were rewarded with over two million copies sold,” said GSC Game World CEO Sergiy Grygorovych. "By using DirectX 10.1, we once again raise the bar with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky, delivering to fans of the first person shooter genre an exhilarating exploration of a post-apocalyptic world.”

Unigine Corp., developers of Unigine cross-platform middleware for virtual 3D worlds, rolled out a DirectX 10.1 implementation in their recently announced Tropics demonstration. Using the Unigine 3D engine, Tropics delivers a stunning virtual island paradise. By drawing upon DirectX 10.1, Unigine has been able to take a step closer to their goal of delivering photo realistic virtual worlds.

"The new Tropics Demo 1.1, based on the latest Unigine technologies, pushes visual realism to new heights,” said Denis Shergin, CEO, Unigine Corp. "Our recent collaboration with the AMD team means that we’ve been able to quickly and easily add some of the killer features of DirectX 10.1 to enhance performance and raise image quality. That’s given us our first-ever chance to get perfect anti-aliasing on foliage, something that has been on our wish list for a long time. It has been a huge pleasure to see AMD’s ATI Radeon™ HD 4000 series arrive this year, as the entire line showcases the benefits of our new DirectX 10.1 technology."

Adding further momentum to DirectX 10.1, Microsoft used their Professional Developers Conference to announce the use of the DirectX 10.1 API in the Windows Desktop Manager of their next operating system, Windows 7.

"Game developers are realizing that supporting DirectX 10.1 is an investment in their future,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "Microsoft has announced that the forthcoming DirectX 11 API in Windows 7 will be a superset of DirectX 10.1, making it a stepping stone in preparing for Windows 7.”

For more information about ATI Radeon graphics, please visit http://ati.amd.com/products/home-office.html.

Source : newsticker.welt.de

Technorati Tags: DirectX,Graphic,Windows 7,3D

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Download Safari 3.2.1 web browser

Experience the web, Apple style, with Safari: the fastest, easiest-to-use web browser in the world. With its simple, elegant interface, Safari gets out of your way and lets you enjoy the web faster than any browser. Safari is free for Mac + PC.

The speed of Safari combined with its intuitive user interface lets users spend more time surfing the web and less time waiting for pages to load. Other Safari features now available to Windows users include SnapBack, one-click access to an initial search query, resizable text fields, and private browsing to ensure that information about an individual’s browsing history isn’t stored.

What’s New in this Version - This update includes stability improvements and is recommended for all Safari users.

A fix for a problem that sometimes allowed form field information to be stored in the page cache, even if the autocomplete function was disabled, was especially noteworthy. Apple learned that this would disclose sensitive information to a local console user, and delivered the fix.

Download Safari 3.2.1 for Windows XP / Vista (Free)

Download Safari 3.2.1 for Leopard (Free)
Download Safari 3.2.1 for Tiger (Free)

Technorati Tags: apple,safari,browser,download

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Youtube Goes Widescreen!

Over the years we've heard a lot of feedback from you about what you'd like to change about YouTube, and the size of our video player is always top of mind. That's why today we're excited to announce a bigger YouTube player.

We're expanding the width of the page to 960 pixels to better reflect the quality of the videos you create and the screens that you use to watch them. This new, wider player is in a widescreen aspect ratio which we hope will provide you with a cleaner, more powerful viewing experience. And don't worry, your 4:3 aspect ratio videos will play just fine in this new player.

As always, we welcome your feedback and encourage you to share your thoughts with us on this exciting, new change happening for all videos on YouTube.

source : youtube.com

Technorati Tags: youtube,widescreen,wide,video

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Kingston 64GB DataTraveler 150 USB Flash Drive

DataTraveler 150 USB Flash drive is big news in mobile storage. With a capacity of 32GB & 64GB, it lets you store more digital files than ever before on one drive. DataTraveler® 150 from Kingston® helps budget-conscious users break storage barriers, allowing them to easily store and move files in a 32GB & 64GB device no bigger than a pocketknife. As easy as click and drag, DataTraveler 150 can hold just about any file you can think of — term papers, theses, digital images, spreadsheets or other important documents.

Backed by legendary Kingston reliability plus a five-year warranty and 24/7 tech support, DataTraveler 150 is a reliable, inexpensive solution for carrying digital files with you anywhere you go.

Features/Specifications:

• Capacities* – 32GB, 64GB
• Dimensions – 3.06" x 0.9" x 0.47" (77.9 mm x 22 mm x 12.05 mm)
• Operating Temperatures – 32º F to 140º F (0º C to 60º C)
• Storage Temperatures – -4º F to 185º F (-20º C to 85º C)
• Convenient – Pocket-sized for easy transportability
• Simple – Just plug into a USB port
• Practical – Stores cap securely on end of device to prevent loss of cap
• Guaranteed – Five-year warranty

Source : kingston.com

Technorati Tags: kingston,datatraveler,usb,flash,drive

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Silverlight 3 in 2009

Having made available for download version 2 of its Adobe Flash killer, Microsoft is already moving onward to the next iteration.

Silverlight 2 was released to web in mid-October 2008, and, for next year, Microsoft is cooking the third release of what it is defining as a cross-browser, cross-platform and cross-device browser plug-in, designed to support interactive and Rich Internet Application experiences. In this regard, Silverlight 3 is planned for availability in 2009.

“Silverlight 3 will include major media enhancements (including H.264 video support), major graphics improvements (including 3D support and GPU hardware acceleration), as well as major application development improvements (including richer data-binding support and additional controls). Note these are just a small sampling of the improvements - we have plenty of additional cool features we are going to keep up our sleeves a little longer,” revealed Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Platform.

Essentially, behind the plug-in, the technology of Silverlight is in fact a subset of the .NET Framework. Microsoft itself is committed to developing using Silverlight. Guthrie offered a variety of examples in this regard, from MSN Toolbar to Windows Live Photos and Windows Live Video messages. At the same time, the forthcoming Office 14 Web Companion RIA applications, which will accompany the successor of the Office 2007 System, will also use the technology.

“We shipped Silverlight 2 last month. Over the last 4 weeks, the final release of Silverlight 2 has been downloaded and installed on more than 100 million consumer machines. It has also recently been published to corporate administrators via the Microsoft SMS and Microsoft Update programs to enable them to automatically deploy across enterprises. Over 1 in 4 computers on the Internet now have some version of Silverlight installed,” Guthrie added.

Silverlight 2 RTW (2.0.31005.0) is available for download:
Microsoft Silverlight 2 2.0.31005.0 RTW / 1.0.30109.0 (link 1)
Microsoft Silverlight 2 2.0.31005.0 RTW / 1.0.30109.0 (link 2)

source: www.softpedia.com

Technorati Tags: Silverlight,download,microsoft

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Finalized speedy USB 3.0 spec debuts

25GB in 70 seconds. That's the torrid transfer rate consumers can expect with devices based on the USB 3.0 specification, which debuted Monday.

As reported previously, the USB Promoter Group finalized the "SuperSpeed" USB 3.0 specification today and is doing a "comprehensive review" of the technology at a conference in San Jose, Calif.

Intel, Microsoft, Texas Instruments, and NEC are the leading players in the group.

Among the initial devices, external solid-state (flash) drives and hard drives are expected to be popular. "The first SuperSpeed USB devices will likely include data storage devices such as flash (solid-state drives), external hard drives, digital music players, and digitial cameras," the group said.

Products aren't coming until 2010, however. "It is anticipated that initial SuperSpeed USB discrete controllers will appear in the second half of 2009 and consumer products will appear in 2010," according to the group.

"The USB 3.0 Promoter Group is now accepting adopters of the USB 3.0 specification, which has been finalized at the 1.0 level," the group added.

As its name (SuperSpeed) implies, USB 3.0 is all about speed. About 10 times more speed, to be exact, than the 2.0 specification.

Here's data from a slide that Microsoft showed at WinHEC 2008 on November 6:

Transfer of a 25GB HD movie:

• USB 1.0: 9.3 hours
• USB 2.0: 13.9 minutes
• USB 3.0: 70 seconds

But the new specification is a long time in coming. USB 2.0 was launched almost eight years ago. At WinHEC, Microsoft expressed caution about USB 3.0 because finalization has taken so long. Because of delays, "we're challenged and we won't have support for USB 3.0 in Windows 7 at RTM (release to manufacturing)," Lars Giusti of Microsoft said earlier this month.

"If you look at the USB 3.0 industry timelines and checkpoints, it really has been a very long, difficult and challenging three-year effort," he added.

Currently, Microsoft is trying to figure out whether it should support USB 3.0 in Vista or just later operating systems.

Source : news.cnet.com

Technorati Tags: USB 3.0,USB,Speed,Spec

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25GB of Free Online Storage with Windows Live SkyDrive

The Windows Live SkyDrive Team has posted a in-depth post offering a overview of what’s coming with their next update. First and foremost: Windows Live SkyDrive will be boosting everyone’s storage from 5GB to 25GB. Secondly, they want to give you more control over your files by offering you new features to do so:

Download photos directed to your to Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Download as a .zip file. Download an entire folder in one compressed file (initially available only in the United States, Denmark, and Ireland).

Move files between folders.

Copy files to multiple folders.

Sharing photos is huge these days. They’ve added almost 20 new features to make the photo experience on Windows Live SkyDrive even better such as supporting People Tags, bigger thumbnails, and a new online slideshow using Microsoft Silverlight.

You will be able to also keep your Internet Explorer favorites synced up with multiple PCs using Windows Live SkyDrive and Windows Live SkyDrive.

There is a lot coming to Windows Live SkyDrive! Check out their blog post for more details on what’s coming up.

Source : windowsteamblog.com

Technorati Tags: Windows Live,Online Storage,Windows Live SkyDrive,Web Services

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Vista Transformation Pack 9.0

Vista Transformation Pack will give to your Windows XP system the new and cool look of Microsoft's future operating system: Windows Vista. The pack changes most of the system icons, skins and toolbars and also adds new enhancements to your desktop such as a dock bar or a different system tray clock. It is free and does a great job of giving machine a look similar to Vista. It does have uninstallation options in case you decide you want to get rid of it, so there really isn’t anything to lose.

However, when you install the software it has to overwrite some system files (it modifies things like the boot screen) so Windows will prompt you stating that your system files have been changed. It will ask whether you want to change them back or leave them, so just leave them if you want the system to function properly.

Features of "Vista Transformation Pack":
• Boot screen
• Welcome Screen / Logon Screen
• New msstyles files (visual styles)
• New desktop and file icons
• New toolbar icons
• Progress Dialogs
• Sounds scheme
• System Tray icons
• New Wallpapers
• Windows Media Player Skins

Vista Transformation Pack 9.0 Keynotes:

New 3rd-party applications
ViSplore - Vista Glass explorer simulator
Vista Drive Icon - adding free space percentage in your drive icon like Vista explorer
Vista Rainbar - Lightweight Vista sidebar based on Rainmeter that even consume less resources than real Vista Sidebar

Improved 3rd-party applications
ViStart - Files indexing for documents search, improved reliability and compatibilities
ViOrb - Improved graphic and reliability (C++ re-written)
TrueTransparency - Improved reliability with improved AeroStyle's glass border
WinFlip - Improved stability and reliablity

New functionalities
Setup personization - Allow customizing Vista experiences upon installation without access to Welcome Center
Windows XP Service Pack 3 compatibilities - Now you can enjoy Vista themes after installation with Windows XP Service Pack 3
x64 compatibilities - More secured x64 installation without getting hurt by incompatibilities
There're also a lot of bug fixes and refinements in the program but let's just keep it simple with these for now. You can experience the rest later by yourself.

Changes in Version 9.0
-Added Gavatx's Vista Rainbar 4.3 (Slim) in place of Thoosje's Vista Sidebar
-Added large icon resizing option for high resolution monitors
-Added Personalization setup screen for configuring current user account before installation
-Added running ViStart, ViOrb and ViSplore to WindowBlinds and TrueTransparency's exclusion list (prevent stability issues)
-Added ViSplore project (Vista Glass Explorer for Windows XP/2003)
-Added Vista Drive Icon in place of Vista Windows Drive Icon
-Added Windows XP Service Pack 3 uxtheme patching compatibilities
-Fixed automate 3rd-party applications optimization requirements
-Fixed graphic driver detection issues in transformation package for cases that doesn't use the first slot of driver
-Fixed OS detection incompatibilities with Windows Vista
-Fixed possible errors when auto-configuring user account during installation without "Express Mode"
-Fixed Thoosje Sidebar's auto-configuration bug on some resolutions.
-Fixed uninstallation script to terminate newly added applications such as WinFlip, TrueTransparency, etc.
-Fixed Vista orb positioning in "System Properties" dialog
-Fixed WindowBlinds' installation detection bug in configure user account dialog
-Updated Aero Style's glass border for more visibility and less distortion for both WindowBlinds and TrueTransparency
-Updated AeroStyle's glass border in TrueTransparency to simulate "little-blurring-like" WindowBlinds
-Updated boot screen to traditional ones without Vista flag
-Updated configure user account's installed components and applications UI
-Updated "Glass" sounds scheme from Windows Vista's Ultimate Extras
-Updated installation branding bar image
-Updated TrueTransparency to version 0.9.4
-Updated ViOrb to version 1 (C++ re-written)
|-Added start orb's right click menu
|-Fixed hook recovery when explorer shell is reloaded
|-Fixed always on top visibility issues with some applications including ViStart
|-Updated start orb graphic to for all sides compatibilities
-Updated ViStart to version 2.0 build 3467
|-Added font customization feature in settings.xml
|-Added indexing file search support like Vista (you can search for extension with .ext)
|-Added "Reset Shell" in menu option to reload explorer along with ViStart
|-Added multi-DPI Support
|-Fixed Chinese characters issue with Recent Documents
|-Fixed hook recovery when explorer shell is reloaded
|-Fixed start menu's hooking reliability with full screen and resolution changes
|-Fixed strange ActiveX errors
-Updated Visual style's top taskbar background to have the same image as bottom's like Vista
-Updated WinFlip to version 0.50
-Updated wording in some areas for easier understanding
-Updated x64 operating systems compatibilities
Homepage - http://www.windowsxlive.net
Size: 26.8 MB

Technorati Tags: vista,transformation,customization,download

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ZK Studio, WYSIWYG AJAX Application

ZK Studio, a visual integrated development environment, provides easy and intuitive tools that span the entire application development lifecycle, including UI design, prototyping, development, and deployment tools for developing ZK applications.

ZK Studio provides content assist, WYSIWYG visual development, hyperlink highlight, syntax coloring, and many other exciting features. ZK Studio is the most efficient way to begin developing Ajax applications.

Feature Highlight

• WYSIWYG visual development
• Integrated with Ajax Framework
• Intelligent Editor
• Ajax Widgets Palette

• Eclipse Integration - Plugin
• Wizard for Projects, and Pages.
• Automatic Update Manager
• Code completion

Supported Plaform

• Eclipse 3.4 - Ganymede
• Eclipse 3.3 - Europa
• MyEclipse

Source : zkoss.org

Technorati Tags: AJAX,WYSIWYG,ZK Studio,Development

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Microsoft won't make another bid for Yahoo

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer insisted Friday that he has no plans to revive a takeover bid for Yahoo Inc., saying his company has moved on since talks to buy the Sunnyvale Web portal collapsed this year.

But Ballmer left the door open to the two technology firms forging a partnership involving their search engines, an idea that he previously championed as a way to bolster his company's efforts to battle Google Inc.

"We made an offer, we made another offer, and it was clear that Yahoo didn't want to sell the business to us, and we moved on," Ballmer said at a business luncheon in Sydney, according to the Associated Press. "We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition."

Ballmer's comments came two days after Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said at an industry conference that he is open to a takeover and even went so far as to suggest that Microsoft should make an offer.

Yang wants to dispel criticism that he torpedoed the negotiations six months ago, when Microsoft proposed paying $33 per share for Yahoo, or $47.5 billion overall, but then withdrew the offer.

On Friday, Yahoo's shares fell $1.76, or 12.6 percent, to $12.20.

Yang is under intense pressure to do something to revive his company's slumping finances as it grapples with stiff competition from Google and the economic downturn. As of Wednesday, he had one less option.

Google, based in Mountain View, abandoned a proposed online advertising partnership with Yahoo after the Justice Department threatened an antitrust suit to block the No. 1 and No. 2 search engines from joining forces. Yahoo had touted the alliance and its expected proceeds as part of its rationale for remaining an independent company.

During the spring, Microsoft had offered to buy Yahoo's search business and combine it with its MSN Internet properties to increase their reach and make them more attractive to advertisers. But Yahoo rejected the proposal.

Friday, Ballmer said he still might be interested in a search partnership, but offered no specifics. Both Yahoo and Microsoft declined to comment about the possibility, or say whether the two companies are talking.

"I'm sure there are still some opportunities for some kind of partnership around search, but I think (an) acquisition is a thing of the past," Ballmer said in the Associated Press report.

Source : sfgate.com

Technorati Tags: microsoft,yahoo

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Windows 7 Path to RTM: Broad Beta and Public Release Candidate (RC)

There are just three more development milestones left out of the development process of Windows 7, following the first three.

At the end of 2007 Microsoft made available Milestone 1, while M2 and M3 were delivered in 2008, the last of which offered to all attendees at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles the past week. In the opening keynote address at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group revealed the path that Windows 7 would take to reach RTM stage, which you will be able to see via the image included with this article.

Following the three core development milestones, Windows 7 is now in pre-beta stage, Build 6801. In this context, Sinofsky indicated that the next step in the building of Windows 7 was to deliver the fully fledged beta. According to the chief of Windows Engineering, the milestone will be a broad beta, which means that Windows 7 Beta will in fact be made available to an increased pool of testers, but not to the general public.

Sinofsky stressed the fact that the Windows 7 Beta bits that would be made broadly available would deliver the feature-complete version of the operating system. However, no additional details related to the delivery deadline were offered beyond pointing to the early 2009 for availability. Sinofsky's advice was that users keep an eye on the Engineering 7 blog and the Windows page dedicated to Windows 7 on Microsoft.com for additional details about the successor of Windows Vista.

The top dog when it comes down to Windows 7 engineering made no reference whatsoever to other potential Beta releases. In this context it looks like Windows 7 Beta 1 will be followed directly by the Release Candidate build of the operating system. Between Beta and RC, Microsoft plans to integrate all the user feedback on Windows 7 into the development process. At the same time, Sinofsky pointed out that Windows 7 would be released to manufacturing straight out of RC.

source: news.softpedia.com

Technorati Tags: windows 7,rtm,beta,microsoft

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