Two days before the start of Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2005, I've received exclusive insider information about the product editions, or SKUs, which Microsoft intends to create for Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn). While the exact breakdown of the Windows Vista editions has been the subject of much speculation, this list closely matches the editions list I first published on the SuperSite for Windows last year. Here's how the Windows Vista product editions break down.

There will be two general categories of Windows Vista editions, which map closely to the two that exist today for XP ("Home," which comprises Starter, Home, and Media Center Editions, Pro, which includes Professional, Professional x64, and Tablet PC Editions). In Windows Vista, the two categories are Home and Business. In the Home category, Microsoft will create four product editions: Windows Vista Starter Edition, Windows Vista Home Basic Edition, Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, and Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (previously known as "Uber" Edition). In the Business category, there will are three editions: Windows Vista Small Business Edition, Windows Vista Professional Edition, and Windows Vista Enterprise Edition. In all, there are 7 product editions planned for Windows Vista.

Here's a sampling of reasons why Microsoft is history:

- Microsoft wants everyone to have a rich desktop experience, Google wants everyone to have a rich Internet experience.

- Microsoft's business model depends on everyone upgrading their computing environment every two to three years. Google's depends on everyone exploring what's new in their computing environment every day.

- Microsoft looks at the world from a perspective of desktop+Internet. Google looks at the world from a perspective of Internet+any device.

- Microsoft wants computers to help individuals do more unaided. Google wants computers to help individuals do more in collaboration. In the Internet age, who wants to work alone any more, when all the unexplored opportunity is in collaborative endeavor?

- In a few year's time, who's going to still be working at a desk anyway?

Advocates of free and open-source software have designated Saturday as Software Freedom Day and are planning events around the world to educate the public about the benefits and availability of open-source software.

The nonprofit company Software Freedom International is driving the effort, but the event depends largely on the grassroots activities of free software advocates organizing small events at the local level.

A team of four people in Nashua, New Hampshire, for example, said they will most likely be in the Nashua Public Library talking up free software to people attending a book fair organized for the same day.

"The type of person to spend Saturday at the library is exactly the type of person who would care about and be interested in Free Software!" the team wrote on the Free Software Day Web site.

I really dig the new cleaner iTunes 5 look - probably mostly because I can't stand the brushed metal interface. But why does Apple keep seemingly arbitrarily changing the interface for specific apps? Check out the following screen grab: There are six different interfaces! SIX! From upper left to lower right, there's: 1) Safari with the brushed metal look, 2) iTunes with the smooth metal look, 3) Mail with the updated Aqua and 3D buttons, 4) VoodooPad with the updated Aqua and traditional buttons, 5) SubEthaEdit with the traditional Aqua look, and 6) GarageBand with it's own damn thing going on.

Why Apple? Why? Why do you torture us so? Just give us the ability to pick our interface. Oh, and drawers still suck.

Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 is now available for download. This is the first Beta release of our next generation Firefox browser, to be released later this year, and it is being made available to our developer and testing community for compatibility testing and to solicit feedback.

Note: This is not the final release of our Web browser, it has been made available for testing purposes only, with no end-user support. If that sounds scary, you'd probably be better off with the latest version of Firefox 1.0.

The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the Preview Release of Ubuntu 5.10 - codenamed "Breezy Badger". The Preview Release includes both Install CDs and bootable Live CDs for three architectures.

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default, every other package you can imagine available from the network, a commitment to security updates for 18 months after each release and professional technical support from many companies around the world.

The final version of Ubuntu 5.10 is expected to be released in October. At that time, we will mail pressed CDs free of charge. To receive a complimentary copy of the Official Breezy Badger CD -- or a handful of them to give to your friends, your school or LUG -- place your request here. Remember that these CDs won't ship until after the final release in October.

Sony Corp. said on Thursday it would sell advanced Walkman portable music players later this year, aiming to move out of Apple Computer Inc.'s shadow in a market the Japanese company created a quarter of a century ago.

Sony will offer two hard disk-based music players -- one with a storage capacity of 20 gigabytes (GB) and the other with 6 GB -- and three flash memory-based players that will keep the existing models' perfume bottle appearance.

The 6 GB model is Sony's first hard-disk player with a small capacity.

Sony's new models will add the ability to automatically select and play the songs a user listens to most, and also to pick songs released in a certain year -- a function Sony calls the "time machine shuffle".

The new models will go on sale in Japan on November 19 and Sony, which introduced the first Walkman in July 1979, aims to launch them overseas by the end of the year.

The 20 GB hard-disk model, capable of storing up to 13,000 songs, is expected to retail at around 35,000 yen in Japan, Sony said.

Sony aims to sell a total of 4.5 million hard disk and flash memory portable music players in the year to next March, up from 850,000 units a year earlier.

Apple has sold about 22 million iPods worldwide since their introduction in October 2001, making it by far the most widely used player in a market that research firm In-Stat expects to nearly quadruple to 104 million units a year by 2009.

I've always had a healthy fascination with Microsoft alternatives. For example, I've been testing different Linux distributions for over a decade now, and I've purchased three Apple Macintosh machines since 2001 just to use Apple's excellent OS X. Eventually, however, I always return to the safety and comfort of Windows and Microsoft Office. In the mid-1990s, Netscape's sudden rise and fall provided a brief glimpse at what an alternative computing environment could be like, and today, products such as OpenOffice.org, GAIM, Gimp, and Mozilla Firefox speak to me on a level I'm not even sure I completely understand.

But you don't have to be a technology freak or even a Microsoft hater (which I'm not) to examine non-Microsoft solutions. As I've discussed previously here in Connected Home Express, one of the easiest ways to ease into alternatives is to examine non-Microsoft solutions that are designed to run under Windows. That way, you retain your options while exploring other options. You don't have to switch to the Mac or Linux to be happy. But you might be surprised to discover that there's a wide world of wonderful non-Microsoft software out there, waiting for your attention. Much of it, too, is free.

Lately, much of this software has been coming from Google, and with a massive cash hoard and more on the way, Google is poised to take on Microsoft in more and more areas. As someone naturally inclined to Microsoft alternatives, I find Google's software strangely attractive. And what's really interesting about these offerings—all of which are absolutely free—is that they seem to be pointing to a future in which most of our computing time is spent interacting with Web services and not mired in desktop-based applications. Some have opined that this future might be thought of as a Google Desktop. It doesn't seem so far-fetched.

At one of the most eagerly-anticipated digital media events since the unveiling of the original iPod in 2001, Apple Computer yesterday unleashed a slew of products, including new versions of Windows-compatible software that provide sweeping new functionality on the worlds most popular computing platform. Apple announced a new iPod nano that will replace the popular iPod mini line, a Motorola cell phone that features iPod-like functionality, and new versions of its iTunes and QuickTime software, the former of which includes interesting new Windows-specific features. Additionally, Apple revealed exclusive deals with pop star Madonna and the author of the "Harry Potter" books to bring content from those sources to iTunes and iPod users.

Apple today introduced the iPod nano, a revolutionary full-featured iPod that holds 1,000 songs yet is thinner than a standard #2 pencil and less than half the size of competitive players. The iPod nano features an ultra-portable, lightweight design with a gorgeous color screen, Apple’s patent pending Click Wheel and the ability to hold 1,000 songs or 25,000 photos. iPod nano works seamlessly with the iTunes Music Store, the world’s number one digital music service. The iPod nano is available immediately in a 4GB model priced at just $249 and a 2GB model priced at just $199, with both models available in stunning white or black designs. “iPod nano is the biggest revolution since the original iPod,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPod nano is a full-featured iPod in an impossibly small size, and it’s going to change the rules for the entire portable music market.”

The most fashionable and wearable iPod ever, the iPod nano features optional accessories including lanyard headphones, which integrate the headphone cables into the lanyard, so users can wear their iPod nano around their neck without dangling headphone cables. For customers looking to personalize their iPod nano with colors, an optional set of iPod nano Tubes in pink, purple, blue, green and clear offers fashionable protection in a sheer casing while enabling full operation of all functions including the Click Wheel. Optional armbands available in gray, pink, blue, red and green allow users to wear their iPod nano as the ultimate fashion and sports accessory.

iPod nano features the same 30-pin dock connector as the iPod and iPod mini, allowing it to work effortlessly with a wide range of over 1,000 accessories developed for iPod, including home stereo speakers and iPod car adapters for an incredible music experience at home or in the car.

Featuring seamless integration with the iTunes Music Store and the iTunes digital music jukebox, iPod nano includes Apple’s patent pending Auto-Sync technology that automatically downloads a user’s digital music collection, photos or Podcasts onto iPod nano and keeps it up-to-date whenever iPod nano is plugged into a Mac® or Windows computer using USB 2.0. With its stunning, high-resolution color screen, iPod nano allows users to display album art while playing music, view photo slideshows or play games in full color. iPod nano features up to 14 hours battery life* and completely skip-free playback, as well as new stopwatch, world clock and screen lock applications.

Apple, Motorola and Cingular Wireless today announced the availability of the world’s first mobile phone with iTunes, enabling music lovers to transfer up to 100 of their favorite songs from the iTunes jukebox on their Mac or PC to their mobile phone. Apple’s iTunes software on the Motorola ROKR features easy to use menus, simple navigation and playback, and the ability to simply switch from phone to music and back again with the push of a dedicated music key. The new Motorola ROKR is available today at www.cingular.com and will be sold exclusively in all Cingular retail locations beginning tomorrow.

The new Motorola ROKR has a color display for viewing album art and features built-in dual-stereo speakers, as well as stereo headphones that also serve as a mobile headset with microphone. Music fans can randomly autofill or manually fill the mobile phone with playlists from their favorite music, audiobooks and Podcasts from their iTunes library via a USB connection. The Motorola ROKR pauses music automatically when users take a call and offers the ability to listen to music while messaging with friends or snapping a photo.

The new Motorola ROKR with iTunes pre-installed is available for $249.99 (US) with a two-year commitment at all Cingular stores nationwide and includes stereo headphones and a USB cable.

Apple today announced iTunes 5, bringing new features and a refined look to the world’s most popular digital music jukebox and online music store. iTunes 5 includes a new Search Bar to make it even easier for users to find what they’re searching for; the ability to organize playlists into folders; Smart Shuffle, which lets the user change the “randomness” of shuffled songs; and the ability for Windows users to automatically sync contacts and calendars from Outlook onto their iPods.

iTunes 5’s new Search Bar helps users find exactly what they are looking for within the catalog of two million songs, 15,000 Podcasts and 10,000 audiobooks on the iTunes Music Store, plus everything in their own iTunes music library. iTunes and the iTunes Music Store have a new refined look, as well as parental controls allowing parents to determine which music and Podcasts their children can access on the iTunes Music Store. Users can now do even more with playlists, including the ability to organize them into folders and have greater control over random playback with the new Smart Shuffle feature. Windows iPod users can now use iTunes to automatically sync calendars with Outlook or contacts with Outlook or Outlook Express.

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MINERVA is not a conventional modification, but instead is an ongoing, episodic series of single-player Half-Life 2 maps. The first three maps, Metastasis, are currently under development by Adam Foster, with the first map released on 2nd September 2005.

The maps are linked by a common plotline, based in the Half-Life 2 universe but with ... extensions. Significantly influenced by games such as the Marathon and System Shock series, each map will feature enigmatic directions and instructions from an unknown third party, continuous with the well-received Half-Life 1 map Someplace Else.

Steve Jobs took the stage at the Apple press event in San Francisco on Wednesday morning and promptly dialed up Madonna in London.

He thanked her for putting all of her songs on iTunes--something the Material Girl has resisted until now, Jobs said. The addition of all of Madonna's albums and individual songs was one of the first announcements of the morning. The other: Author J.K. Rowling has signed an exclusive deal to make all six Harry Potter books available for download in the music store.

Also, Jobs previewed the next version of iTunes, iTunes 5, which he said is available today as a free download on Apple.com.

Jobs [also] made the big annoucement of an iTunes-enabled Rokr cell phone made by Motorola. The phone, which will be in stores this weekend, can hold 100 songs and has two speakers and the ability to shuffle through tunes. "The way we think of this phone is it's really an iPod Shuffle right on your phone," Jobs said as he demonstrated the new gadget. Jobs announced that Cingular will be the U.S. carrier for the iTunes phone. "Today the talk ends and the music begins," said Ralph de la Vega, Cingular's chief operating officer.

You've heard this before: Digital cameras do all the work. You just push the button and great pictures magically appear. The better the camera, the better the photos. Isn't that right? Heck no!

The truth is that you can make great photos with a simple consumer point-and-shoot camera, or take lousy shots with the most expensive Nikon. It's not the camera that makes beautiful images; it's the photographer. With a little knowledge and a willingness to make an adjustment here and there, you can squeeze big time photos out of the smallest digicam.

To help you down the road to great image making, here are ten tips that will enable you shoot like a pro (without maxing out your credit card on all that expensive equipment).

Back on August 3rd, I installed the Beta 1 version of Windows Vista on my work desktop. That meant reinstalling all my applications...but I didn't have a copy of Microsoft Office handy. So I installed a beta copy of OpenOffice.org 2.0--the leading open-source office suite--figuring that it could serve as a stopgap.

More than a month later, I'm still using that OpenOffice.org beta to do my everyday work...and it's been a remarkably smooth experience, especially considering that this is a pre-release product running on a pre-release operating system. I've wrangled lots of Word and Excel documents in OpenOffice.org's counterparts (Writer and Calc, respectively), and as far as I can tell, the only tip-off that my colleagues have noticed is that my documents have funny icons rather than the universally-known Office ones.

All in all, this is a considerably more polished product than the version of OpenOffice.org I wrote about back in May of last year.

GNOME 2.12 will be released to the world on September 7th, 2005, culminating 6 months of very exciting work by members of the project. A number of exciting technologies come together in GNOME 2.12 that will set the standard for free software desktops to come. Here is a sample (by no means an exhaustive list) of some of the outstanding work that has gone into GNOME thanks to its many contributors.

New Default Theme. GNOME 2.12 is going to be clearer and better looking then ever before. Clearlooks, the new theme engine that has proven incredibly popular with users, developers and distributors, is going to become the default theme for GNOME 2.12.

Nautilus. Nautilus is GNOME's file manager and wasn't neglected when the features and polish were added to GNOME 2.12. Along with over 200 bugs fixed, Nautilus now sports a spatial tree file view, popularised in the original Apple Macintosh operating systems.

The browser mode in Nautilus has also gotten some attention, and now has a side bar that shows your bookmarks, identically to in a file chooser or the Places menu on the panel.

There is also an exciting list of new functionality extensions ready for use in Nautilus. Including a new "Send to..." feature for transferring documents, photos, music, etc. via Email, Instant Messaging or Bluetooth.

These extensions are not officially part of the GNOME Desktop, but some of them may end up as default functionality in the future.

Music fans are giving up buying CDs in favour of downloading music, according to download service Napster's UK arm.

Some 150,000 of Napster UK's 750,000 members say they no longer buy CDs, the company has revealed.

And Napster UK manager Leanne Sharman said it was "a matter of time" before downloading overtook high street shops as the most popular way to buy music.

CD sales have dipped slightly so far in 2005 compared with last year's record high when 163 million albums were sold.

Podcasting, at the moment, is essentially free to create and distribute, and is censorship free (depending on where it’s published), much like the early days of amateur radio, so you too can be the next big thing if you jump on it right now. Just think, if you’ve always wanted your own show, here’s your chance. And the best part? You’re basically on a level playing field with the big boys because it’s a new medium.

As with anything, you can get the best of the latest products around to create your podcast, but, believe it or not, the basic nuts and bolts you’ll need are a computer, a microphone and a website to post your own, homemade radio-style shows. Those are the essentials.

In an attempt to curb illegal music downloading over the residential network, the University is offering the Napster 2.0 music service to students for free this year in a trial program.

The pilot program offers the Napster music service to students for the academic year, with subscriptions expiring on May 31, 2006. Students can download songs onto their computers for free using Napster, and for a fee put them on a digital music player or compact disc, a service called Napster To Go. Downloaded songs cannot be played after the subscription expires, though students will have the option of purchasing the service themselves.

Napster is "the best we could offer at this point" in terms of "a legitimate alternative to illegal file sharing," said David Greene, vice president for Campus Life and Student Services.

The service is not compatible with either the Macintosh operating system or with Apple's popular iPod music player, which has cornered more than 83 percent of the digital music player market, according to industry estimates.

None of the four services examined were compatible with Macintosh or Linux, according to Saxton-Frump, so Napster did not stand out in that regard.

"We did try to get a discount from Apple so that we could offer an alternative service for iPods, but the discount offered was not a great incentive," Ellen Waite-Franzen, vice president for CIS, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.

Greene blamed the problem on the continuing battle between Apple and its competitors for the digital music market.

"Until this gets settled at the industry level, there's nothing we can do about it," he said.

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to "kill" Internet search leader Google Inc. in an obscenity-laced tirade, and Google chased a prized Microsoft executive "like wolves," according to documents filed Friday in an increasingly bitter legal battle between the rivals.

The allegations, filed in a Washington state court, represent the latest salvos in a showdown triggered by Google's July hiring of former Microsoft executive Kai Fu-Lee to oversee a research and development center that Google plans to open in China. Lee started at Google the day after he resigned from Microsoft.

Ballmer's threat last November was recounted in a sworn declaration by a former Microsoft engineer, Mark Lucovsky, who said he met with Microsoft's chief executive 10 months ago to discuss his decision to leave the company after six years.

After learning Lucovsky was leaving to take a job at Google, Ballmer picked up his chair and hurled it across his office, according to the declaration.

Ballmer then pejoratively berated Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Lucovsky recalled.

"I'm going to f------ bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again," the declaration quotes Ballmer. "I'm going to f------ kill Google."

Before joining Google, Schmidt was a top executive at Sun Microsystems Inc. and Novell Inc., a pair of tech companies that Microsoft has previously battled.

In a statement Friday, Ballmer described Lucovsky's recollection as a "gross exaggeration. Mark's decision to leave was disappointing and I urged him strongly to change his mind. But his characterization of that meeting is not accurate."