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Obituary: The File System 1973—2011 • Saturday, 26 February 2011

2011 saw the passing of the file system as an end user-visible feature within mass market computing devices. Ask someone with an iPhone or an iPad how they work with files on their device, creating, opening and saving them and chances are that they will look at you quizzically. You may get a response that mentions saving photos sent in an email or perhaps syncing documents via iTunes, but files? We don’t need no files.

Happy Birthday Windows • Saturday, 20 November 2010

Microsoft Windows is a quarter of a century old today. It seems hard to believe that Windows 1.0 was finally released in November 1985 after being formally announced as a product named “Windows” (when the project started it had the less inspired name “Interface Manager”) two years previously.

A Switcher’s Thoughts On Windows 7 • Thursday, 22 October 2009

As today sees the launch of Windows 7, I thought it would be interesting to write some thoughts on Microsoft’s latest blockbuster from the perspective of a so-called switcher. Although I use Windows XP in my day job, I've used Macs exclusively at home for the past three years. Nevertheless, I've been a Windows user for four times as long as that, having first used it in the distant days when you started Windows by typing “win” at the C: prompt.

Paul Thurrott’s Hallucinating Again • Saturday, 14 June 2008

I just don’t understand Paul Thurrott. Although I now prefer Apple’s products, I occasionally visit his site because I’m still vaguely interested in the latest news from Microsoft. Much of what Paul writes is balanced and fair, but sometimes he comes out with some complete tosh!

Purchasing Music Online, Microsoft Style • Sunday, 02 December 2007

My partner recently wanted to download a track from HMV Digital. The following is a true account of the process we had to go through before we could play the purchased music.

Wacky Windows • Thursday, 31 May 2007

A comic strip that shows that if you use the keyboard to rename the “My Recent Documents” menu item in Windows XP, it reverts to its default name but the new name is stored in the registry and survives reboots.

Welcome To The Social • Tuesday, 14 November 2006

I’ve just been reading a hilarious review over at Engadget of the installation process for the software that comes with Microsoft’s new Zune device. Apart from the fact that the software clearly isn’t finished and has a high stinkage factor, what caught my eye was some of the language used in the screens.

Still Learning • Wednesday, 21 June 2006

I learned something new about Windows today. “So what?” you may ask, but I thought it was slightly interesting because if I had to categorise what sort of Windows user I was then I’d probably plump for the expert category. And that means that learning something I didn’t know about using Windows is noteworthy for me.

109 Steps To Windows' Nirvana • Saturday, 22 January 2005

I treated my computer to two upgrades for Christmas, neither of which has exactly worked out how I’d hoped. What follows is an abridged account of nearly three weeks of personal computing misery. It all begins with those upgrades…

Hello Goodbye • Saturday, 01 January 2005

Hello 2005, goodbye Microsoft. Don’t worry, I haven’t taken leave of my senses and ditched Windows for Linux at home—it’s a fine server OS but I don’t want it on my desktop. What I have done is finally ditch Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in favour of Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird.

Unfinished eXPerience Reloaded • Saturday, 06 November 2004

This is the third in a series of two articles in which I deconstruct the Windows XP user interface and show some areas in which it’s lacking or is just plain unfinished.

The Enemy Within • Wednesday, 21 April 2004

My partner asked me recently why people hate Microsoft so much and it's a question I've been pondering for a while, as well as thinking about my own attitude towards the world's largest software company. I consider myself to be in an unusual position in that I'm a Java developer who does actually like Microsoft.

Microsoft Installer And RunAs • Saturday, 07 February 2004

I recently installed the ActivePython IDE from ActiveState. Yes, I'm playing with Python but more on that in a future blog entry. Being a good Windows citizen, the installer for ActivePython is a Microsoft Installer (*.msi) file.

Event Log Paranoia • Sunday, 18 January 2004

As a user of the Windows NT flavour of Windows since 1996, one of the things that I've got into the regular habit of doing is checking the event logs for anything untoward.

Unfinished eXPerience Redux • Monday, 24 November 2003

Windows superstar Raymond Chen has provided explanations for a couple of the Windows XP user interface oddities that I wrote about previously.

Unfinished eXPerience • Thursday, 30 October 2003

When Microsoft launched Windows XP in late 2001, they made a big deal about the changes to the user interface, which were the biggest revamp since Windows 95. I found it surprising, coming barely a year after the mature and evolved Windows 2000 interface.

Windows Into The Past • Friday, 19 September 2003

I have a slightly seedy secret. That's not easy to say or admit to. The secret is this: I'm fascinated by the development and history of Microsoft Windows. There. It's out in the open, a secret no more.

Not Having A Blast • Friday, 15 August 2003

The MSBlast virus has been in the news this week as Windows users across the world have been heard cursing Microsoft. So who's to blame?

Broken Windows • Thursday, 12 June 2003

I don't know about you but I'm getting fed up with patching Windows XP. I usually visit Windows Update once a week to see what's new, and barely a week seems to go by without there being a new fix or update to download.

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