"Microsoft Plans To Discontinue Support For Windows XP"

It's fairly common knowledge that Microsoft is currently planning to discontinue supporting Windows XP in June of 2008 even though displeasure with Vista is currently at an all-time high. I don't have a lot of specifics at this point; but stay tuned here and to the site's blog. I will try to keep you informed via those two sources. [Published 1/17/2008]

 "An End Of Year "Funny""

"If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part, esp. 7th point and 10'th point):

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed an Illegal Operation" warning light.
7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off. " :-) [Published 12/24/2007]

 "Anti-Virus License Issue"

We have recently had several clients call indicating that their anti-virus software was either expiring or had already expired. In some instances, they had received email notices from the software vendor indicating the software was about to expire. In others, there was no obvious notification.

Remember a couple of facts. It's absolutely essential that you NOT run a PC even one day without anti-virus software. Viruses can and do attack and they can and do real harm. It's also absolutely essential that you take responsibility for knowing then your A/V software will expire.

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you in this news item how to tell your software expiration date because it varies by vendor. [Published 11/16/2007]