InsideMicrosoft

Windows Media Player Has Cool Party Mode

I had no idea about this, but turns out Windows Media Player (or at least the latest version) has a party mode/lock button that is only available in full-screen mode. Click it, and you are asked to choose a four-digit pin number, which locks the screen. Once you’ve done that, no one can exit full screen, use the rest of your computer or choose new music without entering the code. This is perfect for when you want to leave your computer out at a party for music, without worrying about what people will do with it.

December 14th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | Media Player, Applications | one comment

Opera Files Antitrust Complaint Against Microsoft

Opera Software, makers of the greatest browser in the world, the Opera browser, have filed a complaint to the European Commission against Microsoft for antitrust violations. Opera claims that Microsoft’s bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows is stifling competition, and that IE’s noncompliance with established internet standards makes it impossible for other, standards-based browsers, to work with the same websites IE does.

On the one hand, I love Opera. There’s no browser like it on the market, no browser that is as stable or as powerful as theirs. On the other hand…

1. This issue was settled years ago.
2. Firefox is competing just fine, so competition isn’t a problem.
3. Opera filed this in Europe, which has a hostile, biased court system against Microsoft and other successful companies. I mean, look at France, which actually made it illegal for Amazon to offer free shipping. The European Commission seemingly renders decisions by looking at which company has more money and ruling against them.

That said, it is ridiculous that Opera is the most standards-compliant browser out there, yet new websites have trouble running on it, because they are developed for IE and Firefox, and not for the internet itself. However, removing Internet Explorer from Windows doesn’t increase choice, it decreases it, especially since it’s real hard to download an alternative web browser when you don’t have a browser in the first place.

I propose two usable solutions:

First, have Windows offer you all the browsers on the market, with each browser getting a listing in Windows Setup. IE can be on the computer by default, but you’ll get the option to download any other browser when setting up your computer. Each browser gets a few sentences to say how great they are, but they have to also list their market share numbers, to be fair.

Second, force major internet companies to develop for all browsers, not just IE and Firefox. Start with Google, which is probably breaking the law with half of its Web 2.0 apps. See, Google has an incestuous financial and manpower arrangement with Firefox, and is thus biased towards a browser duopoly. As a result, a lot of its more advanced apps ship with support for only IE and Firefox, and don’t work in Opera.

Worse, Google actually has its apps sometimes block Opera when they launch, even when they work in Opera! Considering Google’s relationship with Firefox, that might be illegal, and at the very least, a large company like Google should be developing for the entire internet. Force Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to make all their web properties work in all browsers, and you’ll be promoting competition. That’s my advice.

Read some more arguments at Todd Bishop’s blog.

December 14th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | Internet Explorer, Applications | 2 comments

Halo 3 Legendary: Just $60 At Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart continues to be the place where you get prices that are just ker-azy. Case in point: The normally $130 Halo 3 Legendary Edition, complete with the Master Chief helmet fit only for a cat, is on sale for a mere $60. The Limited Edition, normally $70, is $47.82, which puts it below the regular cost of the regular edition (which, oddly enough, is still $60). If anyone wants to buy my regular copy of Halo 3 for $40, I’ll go for this deal, and if you haven’t bought Halo yet, the time is now.
(via SlickDeals)

December 14th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | Halo 3, Halo, Xbox 360, Xbox | no comments

Mass Effect: Another Xbox 360 Million Seller

Yet another first-party Xbox 360 title has become a major hit, with Mass Effect selling its 1 millionth copy. In less than three weeks, the hotly anticipated title found its way into a million homes, just another in a long line of successful 360 games. Halo 3 also sold its five millionth copy, as the Xbox 360 continues to be the only console large numbers of people are actually buying games for.
(via Joystiq)

December 14th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | Xbox 360, Xbox | no comments

Office Live Workspaces Invites Gone Out

Microsoft has sent out invites to the first people who requested access to Office Live Workspaces, including myself, and initial impressions are good. Workspaces presents a place you can upload Microsoft Office documents (specifically Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents, plus calendars, task and todo lists), share them with others or your other computers, track versions and changes, leave notes, read documents on computers that don’t have Office, and create new projects.

The gist is you need Office 2007 to make this work, and for the best experience, install the Office Live add-in. Then, whenever you write a document, you can click the Office button and save it to Live Workspaces. Anytime you want, you can read the document online or download it from another computer to continue working on it there. You can share the document with others, and they can save it back to the Workspace, letting you track versions. If they don’t have Office installed, they can still read the document online and write notes in the margins.

You can create new workspaces, which can come pre-populated with useful documents. For example, the Class workspace has room for writing your notes in class (which you write directly in the browser, using a fairly nice text editor), create or add to the syllabus, get a starting essay outline, populate a pre-created class contact list, and add dates to a class calendar. The School Workspace has an Excel sheet for tracking your GPA, notetaking, a task list for graduation requirements plus a standard todo list, a calendar for your class schedule, plus a school sports calendar, and a contact list.

There’s also screen sharing, document collaboration, support for older Office files and the new Office Open XML files, 500 megabytes of free online storage, support for PDF documents, support for Office XP/2003/2007 and Outlook 2003/2007, virus protection, and it even works on a Mac (Firefox only). Now, if they only supported OneNote for the note-taking app, I’d be in heaven, but my first impressions say they did a great job putting this together.

December 14th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | Office, Applications | no comments