During comments to a news conference at Louvain-La-Neuve University, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer held out some hope for folks who prefer Windows XP to Microsoft’s current desktop operating system, Windows Vista. Ballmer said the company currently plans to phase out Windows XP as of June 30th, but may re-evaluate that position if customers demand it.
“If customer feedback varies we can always wake up smarter but right now we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments,” Ballmer said.
Microsoft currently plans to stop selling Windows XP on June 30th; that date will also mark the end of Microsoft’s licensing Windows XP to system manufacturers. However, there’s already one exception: Microsoft plans to continue to license Windows XP Home Edition for low-powered, inexpensive notebooks through mid-2010. Dell has also begun offering a Windows XP “downgrade” option on business systems, enabling users to have Windows XP pre-installed and receive a DVD with Windows Vista Business Edition so users can upgrade to Vista on their own schedule; industry watchers have other manufacturers mulling similar options.
Although Windows Vista can’t realistically be described as a failure in the marketplace, it has received lukewarm reception in many quarters due to high systems requirements, device and software incompatibilities, and a lack of compelling features and capabilities that make it clearly superior to its predecessor.
Microsoft has indicated it plans to ship Vista’s successor, currently dubbed “Windows 7,” during 2010.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.