http://www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org XPloring the alternatives Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:58:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This is the ASUS Eee 701 PC. Acting on the suggestion of a colleague, just before Christmas I slipped into a Toys 'R Us store, handed over £219 (£186.38 ex VAT) and came home with a smartest little machine I've seen in ages. It's a Linux box configured ... http://www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org/2008/01/21/77/ Peter Sayer, of IDG News Service reports on BECTA's considered opinion of Microsoft Vista: British schools should not upgrade to Microsoft's Vista operating system and Office 2007 productivity suite, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) said in a report on the software. It also supported use of the international ... http://www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org/2008/01/12/becta-advises-uk-schools-dont-upgrade-to-vista/ There have been lots of interesting complaints recently from users of Microsoft and Apple operating systems about the latest releases of these systems. The nicest take on the Vista problem is this satirical review which treats Windows XP as an 'upgrade' to Vista. "I have finally decided to ... http://www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org/2007/12/26/problems-with-vista-and-leopard/ Techcrunch covers the latest beta release of Office Live, called Workspace, which is Microsoft's attempt at an online collaborative environment. Think Google Docs and Spreadsheets. Anyway, they weren't impressed: The big surprise is that Office Live Workspace includes a decent online word processor called Web Notes that is comparable in most ... http://www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org/2007/12/10/office-live-workspace-fails-to-deliver/ BBC NEWS report... The first official order for the so-called "$100 laptop" has been placed by the government of Uruguay. The South American country has bought 100,000 of the machines for schoolchildren aged six to 12. A further 300,000 may be purchased to provide a machine for every child in the country by ... http://www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org/2007/10/31/uruguay-becomes-first-country-to-order-100-laptops/ This is interesting: The UK computer agency Becta is advising schools not to sign licensing agreements with Microsoft because of alleged anti-competitive practices. The government agency has complained to the Office of Fair Trading. It says talks with Microsoft have not resolved "fundamental concerns" about academic licensing and about Office 2007 and the ... http://www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org/2007/10/28/uk-schools-warned-off-microsoft-licensing-deals/ Nicholas Carr, a well known commentator on IT and business, has written an  interesting blog post.  The future, he argues, can be expressed in a simple equation: Google plus Apple. The future of personal computing was divulged by Mr. Eric Schmidt, the chief executive officer of Google, on March 23 of ... http://www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org/2007/10/22/the-future-of-personal-computing-maybe/ Telegraph report: Since the ruling [by the European Court of First Instance], Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer has been in almost daily contact with Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner for competition policy. Following these intensive discussions, Microsoft has agreed to change the way it provides rivals with information that allows them to ... http://www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org/2007/10/22/microsoft-caves-in-to-eu-regulators/ We're sorry that LWM disappeared from the Net for a few days. It would be nice to be able to blame technical difficulties, but the real explanation is administrative incompetence on the part of the management! Sincere apologies for downtime. http://www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org/2007/10/22/were-back/ Dell sells PCs pre-loaded with Ubuntu, but you have to dig deep into its website to find them. The Register adds this observation: Dell, it seems, is reluctant to big up its Linux offerings. At every opportunity it reminds potential customers that open source is NOT Microsoft. About Ubuntu it says: "The ... http://www.livingwithoutmicrosoft.org/2007/09/27/dells-ambivalence-about-linux/