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The article discusses several issues related to information technology as of December 2006. The business version of Vista when installed with the Microsoft operating system results in the Nvidia GeForce GPU displaying plain VGA. Google's Checkout payment service frustrates customers with delays, phantom discounts and shoddy customer service. Taiwanese electronics manufacturer BenQ uses the ruins of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 as a backdrop for advertisements to sell music players to Chinese youth.

The article offers news related to the technology industry as of September 11, 2006. Microsoft has released the actual Release Candidate 1 of its Vista operating system. Several employees of Radio Shack have been laid off via an e-mail. Intel has plans to make some job cuts.

The article presents updates in the computer industry in the U.S. The Leopard operating system is appearing on BitTorrent networks after Apple Computers distributed betas at its Worldwide Developers Conference. The bogus certification site Hotexam.com was shut down by testing service Pearson VUE in August 2006. Dell Computer Corp. is recalling 4.1 million laptop batteries, the largest recall in consumer electronics history.

The article discusses issues surrounding the computer industry in the U.S. Cisco Systems Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Mike Lynn after he revealed flaws in the company's Internetwork Operating System. Microsoft Corp. plans to release its Windows Vista operating system. Time Warner is phasing out its dialup service, disposing free AOL CD to its employees.

This article comments on issues related to information technology. There is a possibility that Brocade Communications CEO Greg Reyes and human resource executive Stephanie Jensen could face jail terms for allegedly backdating stock options and failing to report them to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Microsoft Corp. is trying to determine the number of pirated copies of Windows XP operating systems through its Windows Genuine Advantage tool. Microsoft Corp. has confirmed the speculation that it will release a device to compete against the hugely successful iPod digital music of Apple Computer.

The article focuses on various issues concerning the information technology industry. Some users complain that Windows will not download updates until the Windows Genuine Advantage validation tool is installed and that if the computer's motherboard is replaced, the formerly legal copy of the XP operating system (OS) could now be considered counterfeit. When a user opened the box for his new Dell Dimension 5150 computer, he was surprised to find no Windows reinstallation discs inside. Calling on a support tech, he was reassured the OS files he needed were on his hard drive.

The article presents news briefs related to information technology as of April 17, 2006. Boot Camp beta, an operating system released by Apple, allows computer users to install Windows XP on their Intel-based Macintosh computers. However, the dual-boot beta will only work for a limited time, until the next version of OS X arrives. Sony BMG has hired Rust Consulting to administer class action settlements relating to Sony's copy protection scheme. A group of computer users who is promoting a book in Amazon, has blamed the spam attack on the book's Web page on Anti-Semitic hackers trying to drum up negative publicity.

The article offers news related to the computer industry as of April 3, 2006. Microsoft has postponed the launch of its new Vista operating system. The web site Amazon experienced a technical glitch at its Macy's storefront. Quark has changed the design of its logo.

The article provides an update of issues and events related to the information technology sector in the U.S. as of February 2006. U.S. special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald charged that an unspecified number of e-mail messages disappeared from White House archives during spring 2003. Meanwhile, Internet service provider EarthLink experienced some problems in its e-mail delivery service when they were infected with the Beagle worm. Rumors abound that Google is developing its own desktop operating system based on the Ubuntu Linux distribution.

Presents an update on the information technology industry as of September 26, 2005. Information on the lawsuit filed by Microsoft against Google; Design of the new logo unveiled by Quark; Problem with the replacement media for the operating system NetWare 3.12.

Presents updates in the computer software industry as of August 29, 2005. Results of a survey on the customer satisfaction rating of Dell Computer Corp., released by the University of Michigan; Information on the Internet Explorer Security security hole identified by the French Security Incident Response Team; Alternate titles for Windows Vista operating system.

This article presents issues related to the U.S. information technology industry, as of August 2005. The next generation operating system of Microsoft has been renamed Windows Vista, with the slogan Clear, Confident, Connected: Bringing clarity to your world. There are so many things wrong with that last phrase that a single column would not suffice to cover them all. A customer's Dell experience has a happy ending. He got Dell to replace the computer that was inadvertently killed, a month after his initial call about a faulty compact disc drive. And a reader wants everyone to know he has gotten excellent service from technology experts. Microsoft sued Google for stealing one of its top research brains, and Google fired back. Kai-Fu Lee is the third major geek to leave Microsoft for a brighter future at Google.

The author reflects on news and developments related to the information technology field in 2005. Microsoft has just begun beating its own breasts in an effort to lift and support sagging Windows XP sales. According to the press release, "The Start Something campaign celebrates how people can pursue what they are passionate about." As part of the campaign, Microsoft has built a special Flash-based site where lobsters, fireworks and bullet trains come bursting out of people's chests like the creature in the film Alien. I am betting that would not happen if they were wearing an Evolution by Margarita. A consumer was shopping at CircuitCity.com when he clicked a link promising zero percent financing, instead of a credit-card pitch, Firefox displayed the genetic sequence of Escherichia coli. It seems that the genetic sequence of Escherichia coli and the store's server software share an acronym, which flummoxed Firefox when it tried to open the page in a new window. A survey commissioned by Hewlett-Packard concludes that e-mail is worse for the brain than dope. The Great Britain-based study found that e-mail interruptions cause worker intelligence quotient to drop by 10 points, or more than twice the loss from visiting Mr. Doobie.

This article presents the personal views of the author regarding several IT issues. After I resolved to live a Microsoft-free life, several Cringesters responded with "Buy a Mac, stupid." But the problem isn't just the operating system--have you ever tried to use AppleWorks? Then again, Steve Jobs just announced the new iWork suite. If that turns out to be decent, I may grow a ponytail, start wearing hipper clothes, and become a Mac-head. An old reader found out that his Microsoft Network (MSN) inbox had been wiped clean. An MSN spokesfolk insist the glitch was an isolated incident caused by customer action. In other words, Wayne somehow deleted his entire inbox without realizing it. It seems AIP Communication is sleeping with the fishes. When someone tried to return a trouble-plagued IP PBX product, he says AIP insisted on charging a 6 percent restocking fee--and then failed to send any refund at all. Now all AIP's phone numbers are disconnected and the company is inactive, per co-founder Chuck Lau. He says customers can still reach AIP via aipcom.com or by sending e-mail to info@aipcom.com.

The article presents an update on the computer industry as of September 6, 2004. Microsoft Corp. had admitted that Longhorn, the successor to Windows XP will ship without its much-hyped Windows File System data storage system. Cringester crewman Bradley L. claimed that his Dell Inspiron 8100 notebook came with noisy fans. So he sent it to Dell for warranty repairs. Ten days later, his machine came back with a new keyboard, liquid crystal display and motherboard--but the same noisy fans. He solved the problem by installing the 18k fan graphical user interface utility which cranks down the fans until the notebook starts to boil over and then turns them on full blast. Tales of exploding compact discs (CD) inspired Cringester Tommy T. to recall his days as an independent service provider. While installing a network card one day, he popped in a 3Com driver disk, only to discover the CD was filled with polka music. In an eerie coincidence, a polka site that tried to distribute free CD found they were loaded with Ethernet drivers.

This section presents news briefs related to the U.S. computer industry as of May 2004. Allegedly, problems concerning Apple getting iPods to work with the Mac operating system 10.3 upgrade allegedly drew a predictably vigorous response from the Jobs Corps. Most Apple users reported their upgrades went allegedly without a hitch. On the other hand, rumors that Microsoft may get into the anti-unsolicited electronic mail messages business have proved slightly off. It allegedly seems that the company is getting into the unsolicited electronic mail messages business. Such a rumor allegedly came from individuals who received an unsolicited executive electronic mail from company chief executive officer Steve Ballmer. The newsletter even found its way into the inboxes of Apple and Linux users, some of whom oppose signing up for anything from the company. Among others, Ballmer quotes the statistic that information technology professionals allegedly spend 70 percent of their time managing existing systems, which could not affect the fact that 99 percent of such systems allegedly run Windows. Concerning the public Web site of EarthLink, on the other hand, many of the site's pages were allegedly dark.

The article discusses the several issues pertaining to information technology as of April 2004. Unlike Sun and MS, Apple and its authorized repair shops aren't quite chummy. Five of them have sued Mac's Daddy for breach of contract, negligence, and fraud, among other things, during the past two years. The shops claim they routinely send broken parts to Apple in exchange for new ones to make in-warranty repairs, only to have Apple claim it never received the old parts and charge them for the replacements. In March 2004, Microsoft Corp. officially handed Windows 2000 its walking papers. Dell says it will still sell you a Win 2K PC, provided consumers are willing to sign a license for XP Pro and do without backup media. The Round Rock rebels say they'll support the operating system until the Redmond rascals release a successor to XP. One Cringe operative, curious why Nextel keeps losing his cell phone's Web bookmarks, called the wireless giant's support line and was told Nextel was updating its servers. The techie added that the company had begun the process two weeks earlier, and there was no end in sight. The spam filter of MS Outlook 2003 is blocking e-mail missives from William H. Gates.

This article discusses issues related to information technology in the U.S. There have been allegations that Microsoft secretly provided $86 million to SCO to control the market condition of the Linux operating system. One of the effects of the Netsky, Bagle and Mydoom worms is their capability of emitting an odd noise via personal computer speakers. Among the complaints of Apple liquid crystal display users are images that expand and contract at will and lightening bolts flashing across the screen. Google's image search is being used by seventh graders in a local community to further their knowledge of female anatomy.

Focuses on several information technology-related issues in the U.S. Leakage of the source code for the Microsoft Windows 2000 and NT computer operating systems; Information on a flaw in some Gateway laptop monitors; Reactions to an IBM code name.

Presents updates on events and issues related to the information technology (IT) industry as of February 2, 2004. Reactions on the increase of IT salaries; Efforts to install Apple's iLife 2004 software on an iMac running OS X server; Acquisition of Network Associate's Sniffer by Fluke Networks Inc.;Retrieval of a 3-year-old suit by the DVD Copy Control Asso. against individuals who published the source code of DeCSS which lets users bypass DVD copy protection; Reaction on the ability of Ethel Merman to play backward sounds.

Presents updates on the computer industry in the U.S. as of September 15, 2003. Dismissal of employees at Microsoft Learning; Support provided by McAfee Security to VirusScan for Microsoft Windows NT operating system; Question raised by attorneys of the DVD6C Licensing Agency against online DVD seller.

Provides an update on the computer industry as of July 7, 2003. Reason of Hewlett-Packard for firing an employee; Information on an unethical action of AppForge toward Palm OS.

Presents news briefs on the information technology industry as of January 13, 2003. Recognition of employees by Microsoft's Latin American division based on their years of service to the company; Information on the Windows XP version of Microsoft's NetMeeting operating system; Problems faced by WorldCom aside from its financial troubles.

Presents updates on information technology-related issues in the U.S., as of December 2002. Background on the possible acquisition of Macromedia by Microsoft; Comments on the computer operating system Palm OS 5.0; Issues concerning Java licenses of Sun Microsystems.

Discusses several issues relevant to the computer industry. Updates on the operating system Microsoft Windows XP; Effect of XP on the Alcatel Speed Touch universal serial bus modem; Plans of Sun Microsystems on its iPlanet server.

Discusses several issues related to information technology. Implication of the plan of IBM to move pieces of its operations to Canada; Difficulty experienced by Microsoft in keeping track of its customer data; Problem faced by superslim laptops of Sony with Microsoft's Windows XP computer operating system.

Presents rumors related to the information technology industry. Acquisition rumors in the JavaOne Conference; Information on the support offered by the Mandrake Linux Users Club to Linux software users; Details on the America Online instant messenger.

Discusses several information technology issues in the United States. Sale of the Palm OS division to Sony; Problems of Cox regarding its services; List of warnings in the upgrade manual of the Microsoft Windows XP Professional system.

Presents news briefs on the information technology sector in the United States as of October 8, 2001. Employee layoffs at Nortel; Theory why the book of former General Electric chief executive officer Jack Welch is a top seller; Flaws of the Windows XP Release Candidate 1 operating system.

Presents an update on the computer industry as of September 24, 2001. List of the top-selling books at Amazon.com; Comments on the release of Windows XP; Projection on the role of Sun Microsystems at iPlanet.

Discusses the vulnerability of online service providers and operating systems to problems caused by time change. Results of Ebay's decision to close its auctions an hour earlier than it should have; Bug related to time change suffered by Microsoft Windows NT.

Focuses on the structured query language test of two Microsoft Windows operating systems. Reaction from Microsoft about the test; Discussion on @Home e-mail architecture.

Presents update concerning information technology in the United States as of January 22, 2001. Description of an invention that might resolve California's ongoing energy crisis; Speculation on the layoffs made by Red Sky on January 19, 2001; Status of the efforts of Microsoft to migrate its Hotmail servers to Windows 2000; Criticism on the pricing scheme announced by Apple.

Presents news briefs on computer-related issues as of August 2000. Plans of IBM Corp. in using Linux; Financial problems faced by eMarketplace.com; Auction plans of Contact Group International for the domain name USebiz.com.

Presents news briefs on computer industry in the United States as of June 5, 2000. Number of job openings at Oracle; Problems of the Novell NetWare server; Conflict between the Sun Microsystems and Microsoft Corp.

Observes various issues in the information technology sector as of March 6, 2000. Rumored resignation of Lou Gerstner as chief executive of IBM Corp.; What the Tolly Group announced on their Web site; Speculation on the reason for the problem with Windows 2000.

Comments on several issues in the computer industry as of February 2000. Release of the Palm VII handheld computer from Palm Computing; Plans of personal computer vendors not to offer Windows NT 4.0 in their products; Defects found in the Windows 2000 operating system.

Presents news briefs about information technology and electronic commerce as of February 21, 2000. Media battle between Ford Motor and General Motors over Internet auctions; Plans of Parametric to rename itself; Problem with Windows 2000.

Discusses issues on the Internet industry as of February 7, 2000. Failure of the Web site of IBM Corp.; Concerns of the United States Coast Guard about using the Windows 2000 operating system; Business model used by Pointclick.com.

Focuses on the complaints of Microsoft users. Information on integrated services digital network access option of Microsoft Network; Claims of Microsoft users regarding Windows 98 Second Edition; Action taken by brokerage firm A.G. Edwards & Sons regarding employee vacation on December or January in line with the year 2000 computer problem.

Focuses on Compaq's push for Alpha and Compaq's Tru64 Unix. Target companies of Compaq; How Compaq can identify potential new customers; How Borders bookstores compete in the high-technology age.

Observes some information technology (IT) providers. Why some vendors do not understand the technology they are selling; Confusion over the future of Qualcomm's Eudora Software division; What could make Linux an official operating system for military computers.

Comments on the developments affecting the computer industry in the United States as of October 1998. Preparations by the author for the NetWorld+Interop trade show in Atlanta, Georgia; Growth of the Linux operating systems; Plans by Microsoft Corp. to phase out the Access database.

Focuses on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95 computer operating system. Personal Address Book file; Problems with the computer operating system.

Reports on developments related to computer industry. Intel's upgrade program for its Pentium with bugs; Microsoft Corp.'s refusal to grant Novell's request to license Microsoft Visual C++ Cross Development Edition for Macintosh; Windows 95's security flaws.

Focuses on Netscape Navigator security and the Microsoft Network. Mailing documents through Netscape; How a message is bounced off the SMTP server of a supposed sender; Function of a properly configured fire wall; Microsoft Mail knowledge base's under Win95 or Windows NT 3.1; Microsoft's efforts to have its large corporate customers converted to Win95 through a free 250-use Win95 license.

Presents author's thoughts on Windows 95 for the Macintosh. Microsoft Network's plans; Arrival of PowerPC machines built to the Common Hardware Reference Platform standard; Comparison with Apple's System 8.0; Security.