Long awaited Windows XP SP3 RTM launching on April 21

Microsoft Corp. will release Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to computer makers and some IT professionals next week, and it will offer it to all users via Windows Update April 29, two weeks from today, according to an internal schedule obtained by the Neowin.net Web site.
Although others had previously pegged SP3's release to the last half of April, Neowin's dates are the most specific seen so far.
According to the site, the service pack will debut April 21, when it's shipped to computer manufacturers, offered to volume licensing customers and posted for download on TechNet and the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), which are subscription services for IT staff and developers, respectively.
Most users, however, will first be able to obtain SP3 on April 29, when Microsoft lists it on Windows Update (WU) for download.
However, Microsoft won't turn on the automatic download and installation of SP3 until June 10, according to Neowin. "This delay should give system administrators an ample amount of time to prepare for the upgrade or simply come up with an excuse for when things go awry," said Neowin.
Company administrators and users have been able to block the automatic distribution of Windows XP SP3, as well as Vista SP1, since December 2007, when Microsoft published the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit.
In a broad way, Neowin's timeline meshes with the one Microsoft followed when it launched Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in February and March.
Although the company held SP1 for six weeks after RTM, or release to manufacturing, because of balky drivers, it posted the service pack to WU on a Tuesday. It also said it would not push SP1 to users who have WU set to automatically download and install fixes until several more weeks have passed. Vista SP1 also reached OEMs, volume license customers and TechNet and MSDN subscribers before the general public.
Late last month, a Malaysian site that had correctly predicted the RTM date for Vista SP1 as well as that update's release to WU, said that XP SP3 would arrive in the second half of this month, with a first-wave rollout of the Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish versions.
The last time Microsoft made an XP SP3 move was on March 25, when it posted Windows XP SP3 RC2 Refresh to WU.
As it has previously, Microsoft today again declined to get specific about Windows XP SP3's delivery date, saying only that it's slated for the first half of 2008.
Source: http://www.computerworld.com

IBM develops New kind of High Capacity Memory

IBM has allegedly developed a new type of digital storage that could greatly increase the capacity of portable devices, while reducing their price. ‘Racetrack’ memory, as this technology is called, uses spinning electrons to store more data, and enables these systems to operate faster than regular hard drives.
This technology is similar to flash memory, in that it has no moving parts, which reduces the likelihood of mechanical malfunction. However, unlike flash memory, it can write data very quickly, and does not wear easily out over time.For years, scientists have been looking into storing data inside the was between magnetic domains. However, it has been too difficult and expensive to get significant results. Stuart Parkin, head of the team researching this technology, has said that his team was able to store data in columns of magnetic material on a silicon wafer. The data moves on the columns at high speed, hence the name ‘racetrack’.
This technology is currently considered “experimental”, but IBM anticipates that we will see devices utilizing it within the next ten years.
Source: http://www.crunchgear.com

Windows 7 going to be launched in 2009!

Still upset about Windows Vista? Don't worry. According to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, it should all be over soon.
News wires were abuzz Friday with gossip that Microsoft may be planning to release its follow-up to Vista, currently known as Windows 7, as early as next year. Previous reports had the next-generation OS shipping no sooner than 2010, but now -- for some strange reason -- it seemsMicrosoft may be upping its timetable.
For now, the rumors are based on little more than offhand comments by Microsoft executives. At a meeting in Miami, Gates remarked that a new version of Windows should arrive "sometime in the next year or so." Meanwhile, the Windows XP support timetable suggests that 2010 might coincide with the one-year anniversary of Windows 7.
Pretty thin stuff. Still, for those of us who have been soundly disappointed with Vista, it's hard not to get caught up in the hype.
But the truth is that speculation that Windows 7 might arrive in 2009 has been floating aroundfor at least a year.No matter how tight-lipped Microsoft tries to be, no matter how much it seems like a long shot, it seems as though we simply want to believe that a major new Windows milestone is imminent.  
It's funny -- because nobody really knows what Windows 7 might look like when it finally arrives. There has beenplenty of speculation,and a few more portentous-sounding statements from Gates and company, but that's about it.
My feeling? It's best to take all talk of Windows 7 with a great, big grain of salt. Remember what happened with Vista itself. Despiterepeated delaysthat pushed Vista's ship date back by months, the version we finally gotlacked much-touted featuresand -- well, you know the rest.
If you ask me, we shouldn't be focusing on what features the next version of Windows may or may not bring, but on whether Microsoft's development divisions are still able to deliver quality products at all. There's talk that Windows 7 will ship with aleaner, more efficient kernel.I suspect, however, that a leaner, more efficient Microsoft would ultimately benefit customers even more.