Redmond Pie

Among lots of other stuff, one of the main focus of Microsoft with Windows 7 has been to give a facelift to the native Windows applications like Paint, Calculator and WordPad which haven’t been updated since Windows 3.x days.

I was searching for DreamScenes over at DeviantART Gallery and found this Aurora wallpaper from OS X Leopard converted into a pretty neat DreamScene for Windows Vista.

Microsoft Update Product Team Blog has a new post announcing the roll out of an infrastructure update to Windows Update agent ( client code ), which will make it possible to install more than 80 updates at the same time.
Over the next couple of months we’ll be rolling out another infrastructure update to the Windows [...]

Google Chrome looks as good on XP as it does on Vista. I like the blue title bar that shows up for Chrome in XP. I had been wondering how to get that theme in Windows Vista as well. If you use the Vista Basic theme, you can use Chrome with the blue theme in [...]

Admit it or not, the UAC does tend to get on our nerves after some time. The rude blacking out to the prompt isn’t a pleasant view.

Before you read further, see the ‘People’ Tile in the Sidebar in the above picture. It shows an AIM contact as well. Although this sort of practical Sidebar Tile or Gadget didn’t make it into Vista, Microsoft still has patented it.This Patent awarded to Microsoft on 7th October is all about the functionality of this [...]

Not many people remember the problems Windows XP had before Service Pack 2. The Blaster and Sasser worms had almost ruined the security record of the OS. On top of that Internet Explorer 6 had security patches almost every week. What’s amazing is that, this is the same OS that people love now. They prefer XP over Vista! XP is hailed to have been the perfect OS. I can only imagine, how people would think like this about Vista too after some time.

Do you have a HP Printer in your home or work environment? The smart guys over at HP has released a photo printing gadget to make it easier for you to take print outs on the fly.

Windows has a built-in DOS-based utility called systeminfo.exe that shows complete information of the system including the exact date and time when was Windows installed.

I came across these images of Microsoft Home, on Paul Thurrott’s Supersite for Windows. While, I’m very much fascinated by the cool gadgetry and hi-tech integration of Internet and devices in that place, what caught my eye were these images.

This is an image of the Media Center Prototype, which is in working condition, as it’s [...]

Jeff Weir of Microsoft Live Labs has released a Sidebar Gadget for Windows Vista that enables users to pick color codes from different range of color palettes.

That’s right! Microsoft has released 3 new Windows Ultimate Extras quietly. Strangely, there hasn’t been any excitement over these new ones. Shouldn’t it be another celebration day for us Vista Ultimate owners? Well, maybe not.
Anyhow, Microsoft Tinker ( yes, that’s the name of the game! ), is a puzzle game, where as sounds [...]

Most of us have read by now that Microsoft is going to replace some of the most essential applications in Windows by their Windows Live alternatives. I, for one, do not welcome this change at all. Can you imagine an operating system, which after install you can’t view your images with? Or one, in which there is no email application? Do we really want to rely on an operating system that is so barebones that it requires us to first download a 100 + Mb setup to achieve all these functionalities?

Drive Icon Changer helps you customize your hard drive icon shown in My Computer and Windows Explorer to an icon of your personal choice. Like Turn Off LCD, I developed this little tool in C# using Visual Studio 2008 to change drive icons on the fly. It just takes a couple of clicks to customize the icon to your personal choice.

The third ad installment from Microsoft’s enormous $300 million advertisement campaign have started to air and surprisingly they have stopped experimenting with Bill Gates and Seinfeld pair for good. This is the first time that Microsoft has responded to Apple’s popular “I’m a PC, I’m a Mac” campaign which was believed to have played a big part in tarnishing Vista’s image.

All of you must know by now that Windows 7 will not be featuring a sidebar, as the gadgets will be integrated in the desktop. But, this feature shouldn’t come as a surprise, since this functionality is achievable in Vista as well. Yes, not many know this, or might not have noticed this, but it’s [...]

The second Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld Microsoft Ad is here. This video is an uncut version of the 2 part ad of which part 1 was aired on 11th September and part 2 will be aired on September 12.

If you think that only iTunes can provide you with three-dimensional interface to visually browse through your digital movies library then you are wrong. Comes in Movie Browser that does a Cover Flow right into your Windows Media Center environment. Its an open source project and is still in its infancy stage but provides by far the most visually stunning interface for any app in Windows Media Center.

Microsoft Update Catalog. Made for corporate environments, this service lets you download updates that can distributed over corporate networks and so on. These updates include software updates, drivers and hotfixes ( no Ultimate Extras though! ). The setup files of any individual selected update is downloaded which can then be installed manually.

I came across a higher quality version of this very same at the Microsoft Windows website. Based on Silverlight, with the elegant curves, it makes me want to watch Bill Gates buy those shoes (and hear Seinfeld’s not-so-funny dialogues again) just one more time.