I finally got around to reading this juicy, albeit lengthy, Tweakguide.com article, Vista Annoyances Resolved, last night in which Koroush Ghazi takes an objective view of Windows Vista from inception to its current state. You see, like a lot of us, Koroush is tired of reading, in his (assuming he's a he) words, "what can only be described as a plethora of articles on Windows Vista, almost all of them repetitive, one-sided and of little practical use." The main driver of this type of FUD is the hunger for traffic. If sex sells on TV and in advertising, bashing Windows Vista sells on the internet. As the article points out this has resulted in what the  New York times coined as "blog stress" to refer to the never ending need to break company news and expose corporate blunders, mostly unsubstantiated.

So what I find refreshing about this article is, it attempts to provide a blow by blow of reviews and articles that reveal the good, the bad ... and the ugly. All of his claims and opinions are backed up by articles, reports, and data readily available to anyone with some time on their hands and is familiar

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I'm posting this on behalf of my colleague David Webster:

I'm David Webster --the guy "deep in the ranks" who dreamed up the Mojave Experiment. Today we updated the website with a few new videos, including sharing with you the fiercely debated demos that the participants were shown.  We encourage everyone to take a look at the videos, ask questions or air concerns (or even compliments). First I wanted to provide some context and clarify a few things.

It's been a couple weeks since we launched the Mojave Experiment, and the reaction in the blogosphere has been fascinating to watch. You should see my inbox - some of you really liked how the experiment helped you say "I told you so" to haters who'd just jumped on the bandwagon without trying for themselves. Others thought it was interesting but were skeptical about the validity of the project's methodology, and others still questioned our sanity (not the first time) for doing the experiment in the first place. There were lots of questions - some wondered if we rigged the results, cherry picked videos or even brought in actors to pose as consumers.  Fair enough. You should be skeptical. After all,

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There's been a steady amount of buzz around the ‘net recently about Windows Vista adoption, sparked by a blog post last week questioning Windows Vista adoption rates and most recently by some great number crunching by Computerworld. In light of the various claims, I thought I would offer up some perspective on Windows Vista deployment numbers ... and what experienced industry watchers, like Forrester and CDW, are saying about Windows Vista.

First, you've heard us say before that we've sold more than 180 million Windows Vista licenses (40 million of those in the last quarter alone) and that major enterprises like Continental Airlines, the United States Air Force, Virgin Megastores, Charter, Avanade, Eastman Chemical and PPG are deploying seats by the thousands (and in some cases by the tens of thousands).  That's still true. You can read about these and other Windows Vista deployments at Microsoft.com/casestudies.

Consistent with findings from other reputable sources, Forrester Research just published a new report on enterprise OS adoption. According to the abstract: "Forrester's month-on-month study of more than 50,000 of our clients' OS preferences confirmed that users are on track with enterprises' initial Windows Vista deployment plans. IT operations folks

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A few weeks ago I discovered Nikon had released a new version of their Nikon RAW Codec for download - Version 1.4.0. This new version adds support for Windows Vista SP1. The Nikon RAW Codec is for users shooting in the RAW photo format with Nikon cameras to view Nikon's RAW .NEF files in using Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Download: Nikon RAW Codec Version 1.4.0

I discovered a hidden "gem" with this new release however. It runs on PCs running 64-bit versions of Windows Vista.  Apparently, this version of Nikon's RAW Codec takes advantage of Windows Vista's built in 32-bit emulation feature called WOW64. I've got it installed on my Windows Vista 64-bit PC and am able to import and view RAW images (.NEF files) off my Nikon D40 into Windows Live Photo Gallery and view them just fine. I've confirmed this works with a few friends of mine who also use Nikon cameras and running a 64-bit version of Windows Vista.

If you shoot photos with a Nikon digital camera, use the RAW file format and run a 64-bit version of Windows Vista - definitely give this version of the Nikon RAW Codec a try. It worked for me, I'm

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Last week was an exciting week for Windows and blogging.  Senior Vice Presidents Steven Sinofsky and Jon DeVaan launched a brand new blog called Engineering Windows 7 (or E7 for short). In case you don't know who these guys are, Jon DeVaan manages the engineering team responsible for creating the central (or "core") components and architecture of Windows and Steven Sinofsky manages the group responsible for the user experiences in both Windows and Windows Live. The Engineering Windows 7 blog is designed to create an open discussion about how we're making the next version of Windows - currently codenamed Windows 7 - and to create a background of understanding for the engineering decisions made in order to ship Windows 7.

Engineering the next version of the most used operating system to-date is a very complex software project. Why? Because Windows has a very large user base and that user base is very diverse.  Planning the next version of Windows (and ultimately developing it) is a huge under-taking as it requires Microsoft to learn and understand the needs for all types of customers that use Windows today. On the Engineering Windows 7 Blog, you can

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Interesting article in USA Today from Matt Krantz, the publication's financial markets reporter and an expert on online investing. Matt offers up an unbiased answer to a reader's question: What's a better computer for online investing, a PC or a Mac?

Not surprisingly, Krantz advises that Windows Vista PCs  win "hands-down" over Macs for things like better software compatibility, better community support, IE and greater user productivity. And his fundamental point on cost should hit home for anyone (not just online investors) in the market for a new computer:

...For less than $500, you can buy a Compaq Presario CQ50Z laptop. It comes with a 1.9 GHz dual-core processor, 1 gigabyte of memory, an Nvidia GeForce graphics card, 120 gigabyte harddrive and wireless networking. A capable machine by today's standards and more than adequate for an online investor, for less than $500.

Now, let's see what's available from Apple. You'll need to spend at least $1,099 for a MacBook, which comes with the same memory and hard drive. The MacBook has a slightly faster microprocessor, 2.1 GHz, but you won't notice the difference if you're just Web surfing.

In this case, you save $600 that could

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