Category Archives: Software

Google vs. MSN: What to Expect..

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Everyone has heard about the raging war between MSN and Google, and everyone is fighting to get their opinion about which is better in.. What most do not realize is that MSN and Google both (yes, Google too!) have their shortcomings..

At the moment neither is the “ultimate search engine” that their makers would like for them to be, though that does not stop them from advertising them as being so… What follows is a brief and accurate guide/overview of how to use them both to your benefit, where each excels, and where they fall short.. There is no rambling introduction, no circumventing points, and no conclusion. Just plain hard facts.

MSN Search’s No. 1 listing is usually the one you want; so if you are looking for a website or a company or a product, use MSN. But if you are shopping for info, browsing the web, etc. you need Google…. Because Google’s results are sorted by “Backlinks” its relevance level for each site comes up based on the number of links that other people linked to this site with this keyword..

For example, there are 98 sites linking to your site in an < a > tag with text “Joe’s Blog,” but your site is called “Smith’s Blog” and has nothing to do with Joe… Google does not care, you will be number 1 on their search rankings (obviously provided that no one has more backlinks than yourself). Google does NOT read meta data (except for frequency, language, content, and robots definitions), it ignores keywords and description tags.

By contrast, MSN Search reads Keywords and Description tags and sorts sites by relevancy based on cached content only. MSN Search is excellent (read: unbeatable) for new sites, ergo good for the fast paced online world of day-and-night technologies; while Google boasts its (excellent and very large) database of more-or-less popular and dependable links…

In the end Google has less spam, MSN has more. Google has more content, MSN has less. MSN updates its cache faster, MSN gives newbies and their sites a bigger, more fair chance, while Google is a researchers best friend. ;)

Windows Live Messenger

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
4

Well, once upon a time ago I promised you regular update on WLM 8.0 Beta…

At the moment, my biggest issue with it is latency.. I send a message, and sometimes a person gets it immediately, sometimes half an hour later, and sometimes it comes back as undeliverable, although I had sent a line of text two seconds earlier that I had received on my other PC immediately..

I have yet to figure out sharing folders work, though as I am on 5270 part of the workaround is to disable sharing folders; but I could never get MSN WLM to inform the other party that I am attempting to share something, and when I tell them myself, they cannot open the shared folder on my computer… So much for that..

Nudges don’t make sound on Vista either.. But I realize that WLM is not made to be run on Vista… Not yet, at any rate… So I’ll try to focus on XP.

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It’s a Microsoft Consipiracy!!

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
2

I may be very, very wrong here, but it sure does look like what follows is true. At any rate, its not illogical, so in all likelihood I’m not (no matter how much it looks like it :P) going off the deep end here..

Microsoft is going to dump the My Documents Folder!!

That said, I had better explain myself, real quick too….

For the last so-many builds, CTPs, and Betas, the My Documents folder (or simply ‘Documents’ as Microsoft claimed it will rename it) has not appeared on the desktop.. Checking and double checking settings, the registry, etc. all point to it being there… except its not… The bug reports filed come back as “Known Issue..” OK, fine it was a known issue in 5112 (Beta 1)… And 5219 you say?? Weird :S

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December CTP’s Most Regrettable Drawback :(

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Unfortunately there is something too big and too bad to ignore about Microsoft’s latest test release of Vista (Build 5270.9)..

Almost no “big” or “complex” programs that require any sort of low-level interaction install/run… This includes many programs that worked without a hitch on 5231, and according to some, on 5259 as well. It seems that Microsoft has finalized the underlying structure of the Vista OS (according to most, though we can never be too sure); and it seems that as a resuly many programs that integrate themselves into Windows or Internet Explorer are now broken :(

I will be posting shortly a list of such programs and more, but at the moment, it will suffice to say that many of the useful programs of today for which development has stopped may not run on Windows Vista… Even in XP SP2 Compatibility mode.
NB: This is assuming that the compatibility mode feature in Vista is now complete as-is. At the moment it does not support emulation of most DLLs, nor does it support ‘compatibilizing’ non-exes, like?MSIs for example.

-CG

Digital Audio on 5270?

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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As I might have mentioned in an earlier post, the Windows Update service in Windows Vista’s latest CTP (5270.9, December CTP) works; and I used it to grab the sound drivers for my SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio device…

Well, besides coming with enhnaced (and long overdue) functionality to control volume on a per-application basis (ever try to play Quake 4 or C0D2 while listening to some hard core music in the background??!) it comes with more-or-less enhanced sound.. The drivers it grabbed are not available on the SoundMAX website for use on Windows XP. Though I do not have?a professional studio or a sound-card benchmarking device; unless thine ears decieve me, the sound is clearer…..

But there is a catch. There always is, get used to it.. I have the Boston BA735 Digital Speakers… In order to listen to anything on my computer I had to switch them with analog headphones… It seems that Digital Speakers are not yet fully funtional in 5270?

Be it as it may, it seems that Microsoft is determined to overhaul the user media experience; one step at a time. First it was video (new LDDM Card coming my way!!) and now its the sound… Let’s just hope they don’t reinvent the joystick :P

Window Update on 5270

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Now I’m really late for University, but this is definitely worth it :P

Windows Update works in this latest build; what’s more, it has an enormous driver database.. Drivers that never showed up in XP are being installed via Windows Update, and some new ones ship with the DVD as well!

Build 5270 Bloat..

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Nope, the build itself does not contain (besides the obvious, the traditional, and the beatuiful) bloatware; but apparently certain aspects of the user interface lead us to believe there is something known as ‘compile bloat’ in this build…

In one sentence, Compile Bloat is when a program (or in this case, a group of programs and DLLs) are compiled with full Debug and Memory Management information; normally used in-lab to quickly return to the source code upon reaching an error…

While it seems mighty unlikely that Microsoft mis-compiled 5270.9 (its a CTP afterall!), how else do you explain that though the OS and its components are not taking too much memory or CPU (not mamny memory leaks; except a rumor around IE7); yet though you cannot pin it on any one thing; it seems to be overall less than ideally responsive at the end of the day. No, I do not mean that after a day of use it slows down; rather that it gives the feeling of offering some sort of counter to your search for a fluid OS.. What else can it be? An overclocked video card, DWM Express activated, not many processes running….

I’ll leave you to ponder over that as I sneakily step out the backdoor to head off for another long day at University…

The 5270 Optimization Guide..

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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It’s the one you have all been waiting for… The all-new optimization guide by Kristan Kenney and Chris Holmes; for the all new, almost code-complete Decemeber CTP (Build 5270.9)

Vista 5270 Optimization Guide This is a must read; Great job Kris & Chris!

Build 5270: A first review…

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
4

In hope that this is the first review on the internet for Vista 5270, I will try to keep it as factual as possible…

Microsoft Windows Vista 5270.9 (aka the December CTP) is the final build to be given to the Technical Beta testers before Vista reaches code complete. For more information about the background of the December CTP please read the previous post on this topic..

As most of you know, the November CTP failed to make it to the scene, causing much dissent in the ranks of Beta Testers worldwide. This is very important, because it put pressure on Microsoft to release the Decemeber CTP as soon as possible.

As far as my impression about this build, it can best be summed up in a list of quick, sharp, and to the (very pointy) point. In a nutshell it is beautiful and buggy. Read on…

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NSTv2 Update..

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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It seems that our last challenge was (for one reason or another) difficult, or uninteresting.

So here is an update. It makes it *much* simpler BTW.

  • The NSTv2 copy has been moved to the root of the domain! This means that instead of being on domain.com/??? it can now be found at domain.com!! If this does not make it easier, I don’t know what is left for us to do… :S
  • A link has been added somewhere in the blog. it has been encrypted, and a redirection has been put in place, so I doubt you’ll find it by looking through the source… PHP and .htaccess work miracles you know :)

Best of luck!

-CG