Category: XP

XO Laptops Ship to Peru With Windows XP Preloaded

The government of Peru, Microsoft, and the OLPC project announced an agreement that would provide Windows XP, Office, and other educational resources on XO laptops. This will make Peru the first country in the world to receive XO laptops with Windows preloaded.

This is the beginning of a nine month pilot project to bring educational software and low-cost computing to classrooms throughout Peru.

“We are extremely excited to take part in this historic educational pilot that will benefit school children throughout Peru,” said José Antonio Chang Escobedo, Minister of Education in Peru. “Integrating technology into our school curriculum will help to advance our knowledge economy, improve access to information and will generate opportunities for our students, which, through governmental policies, aims to improve the learning process we are offering our children, as well as closing the digital divide which currently exists between schools in rural and urban areas.”

I’m not sure what I think about this, the XO laptop was built with Linux in mind and I think that Linux would be good for the world in general if it was more widely used. But, it doesn’t surprise me that many people wanted Windows XP on those laptops, since Windows is the most used OS and all. Diversity would be nice in the market but since the whole point of the OLPC program is to teach children in developing nations how to use computers it would probably be beneficial for them to learn how to use an OS that they would most likely be using when the eventually got a job using one.

Some AMD Based Computers Having Problems With XP SP3

The much anticipated Windows XP Service Pack 3 was recently pushed into Windows Update and is now causing a lot of headaches of AMD CPU users.

One user reported “I just installed Windows XP SP3 and after completing the processes and when the system reboots, the system cannot proceed to lad the Windows. It just displays the flash screen of Windows then after it reboots again.”

According to Jesper Johansson, a former program manager for security policy at Microsoft, the problem is affecting only AMD equipped PCs sold by HP (and a few other manufacturers), because HP deploys the same image to Intel based computers that they do to AMD based computers.

These AMD computers have the intelppm.sys driver installed and running. That driver provides power management on Intel based computers.

So hopefully if you are having this problem you are pointing your finger in the right direction, not towards Microsoft but towards your PCs manufacturer. I have installed Service Pack 3 on two computers and both of them are running as smooth as they ever have.

Jesper’s Blog

Asus Eee PC Now Available With XP Preinstalled From Best Buy

Best Buy has added a product page for the Asus Eee PC with Windows XP preinstalled.

  • This version of the Eee PC has a 900MHz Intel Celeron M Processor
  • 512MB DDR2 memory
  • 7″ 800×480 LCD
  • 4GB solid state drive
  • Intel UMA graphics
  • Built in web cam
  • 3 USB ports
  • 802.11b/g
  • Priced at $399.99

The specs are identicle to the similarly priced Eee PC 4G, but this one has XP. Currently Best Buys website says that the Eee PC is in stock and ships within one business day.

This, in my opinion, is a much better option for most users, I know that this will make a lot of you linux guys upset but for the average user Windows XP is better, they are more familiar with it.

Eee PC on BestBuy.com

Windows XP To Stick Around Until 2010

Microsoft has announced that they are going to be extending support for Windows XP because many of the computers in the market today are incapable of running Windows Vista.

Microsoft had previously set the date for the end of XP on June 30, 2008 but since there are so many computer that still can’t run Vista they have decided to push that back to June 30, 2010. Oddly enough this is also around the same time that Microsoft is expected to ship Vista’s successor, Windows Seven.

I’m glad that Microsoft decided to extend support for XP, but it seems odd to me that Microsoft has spent such a long time on Vista and yet it still hasn’t made the impact that Microsoft has really wanted it to, not to mention the backlash from consumers, some of which are boycotting Vista and sticking with XP.

Windows XP to get prolonged shelf life [TG Daily]

I’m Moving Back to Windows XP

No, it isn’t what you are thinking, my primary computer is still going to be my MacBook, but what is going to change is my secondary computer. My PC that usually just sits in the corner and is either off or is encoding away at the latest Netflix DVD so that I can watch it wherever I want, is now going to be running Windows XP.

The reason I’m switching back to XP isn’t because there is a certain program that doesn’t work under Vista, I’m not having driver issues, and I actually like the look of Windows Vista, I’m moving back to XP because I need something a bit faster. Windows Vista runs pretty fast for the amount of extra stuff it is capable of doing, but since the primary purpose of this computer is to just sit and encode DVDs into H.264 for my AppleTV, I don’t need it to do all that extra stuff.

So what I’ve decided to do is move back to Windows XP and use a combination of DVD Decrypter, DVD43, and Handbrake to backup all of the DVDs so that I can watch them where I want (this is fine under fair use, since the DVDs that I backup I either have payed for or are from Netflix and are deleted once watched).

I want to make it very clear however that I’m not doing this because I don’t like Windows Vista, I’m simply moving back because XP better suits my needs, if my PC was my primary computer I’m sure I would really enjoy many of the features that Windows Vista has and XP doesn’t, but since I am using a MacBook as my primary computer, XP works just fine.

XP SP3, Facebook Code, Vista SP1, all Leaked

I’m not going to talk much about all of these leaks because I think that too many people are talking too much about it. All you need to know is that Windows XP service pack 3, Facebook homepage code, and Windows Vista service pack 1 have all been leaked.

This is very surprising to me that all of this has been leaked all within just a few days of each other. Obviously they are not related but it is strange that they show up so close to one another.

If you want to read a little bit more about them you can check the links below:

Windows XP SP3 leaked – Download Squad
Facebook Home Page Code – Facebook Secrets
LEAKED: Vista SP1 analysed in-depth – apc mag

Get Some of the Great Vista Features in XP with Vista Transformation Pack

I use Windows Vista on my home computer but when I go over to my friends and families houses they only have Windows XP. I really miss some of those great features from Vista. Now I can let them all know that for free they can add a lot of that functionality with the Vista Transformation Pack. Version 7 just came out and here are the some of the added features:

  • default system font option for recovery
  • Docking support for preview and taskbar replacement
  • DPI auto-detection in Machine Configuration
  • Hiding menubar option for Vista (Styler) toolbar
  • Information about KB925902 hotfix issues and solution on startup
  • Memory requirements checking for 3rd-party applications
  • Resetting DPI options and some extra information in Machine Configuration
  • Screen resolution auto-detection
  • Setting cleartype font automatically after the transformation
  • Vista transformation “Express mode” (Make an appropriate setup configuration in single page!)
  • ViStart (Vista Start Menu port for Windows XP/2003 with glass UI and search function) (Available as a standalone app here)


Click to enlarge

Check it out and let me know what you think of it.

[via KylesCove]