The Death of Windows XP :-(

Well, we all knew that this was going to happen. Microsoft announced that as of January 31, 2008 No more copies of Windows Xp Pro or Home edition will be sold in any store.

According to an article that I read:

"Microsoft has confirmed that from 31 January 2008 large PC makers, such as Dell, HP and Toshiba, will no longer be able to buy licenses for the software so they can install it on new machines.

However, a poll released in early April suggests that Vista has yet to win over significant numbers of potential customers. The study of 2,223 web-using Americans found that although 87% had heard of the operating system only 12% of those who knew of it were planning to install it.

Microsoft is keen for consumers to start using Vista While the survey did find that some people waited for Vista before buying a PC, 60% said its appearance had no effect on their spending plans. It also found that 79% of those questioned were using Windows XP on their home PC."

According the article, Microsoft will support XP for several years longer. This comes as no surprise to me. Microsoft is trying to force the consumer and Industry to migrate to the new Vista Operating system. The main problem is that many will not want to have to upgrade their hardware to meet Vista’s minimum requirements that are much higher that those of Xp’s.


To compare the system requirements:

XP Professional:
PC with 300 megahertz or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233 MHz minimum required (single or dual processor system);* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)
1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space*
Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor
CD-ROM or DVD drive
Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device




Vista Requirements:
Home Premium / Business / Ultimate
1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 GB of system memory
40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
WDDM Driver
128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
32 bits per pixel
DVD-ROM drive
Audio Output
Internet access (fees may apply)
Additional Requirements
Actual requirements and product functionality may vary based on your system configuration. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor can help you determine which features and edition of Windows Vista will run on your computer.
While all editions of Windows Vista can support multiple core CPUs, only Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise can support dual processors.
Home Premium / Ultimate
TV tuner card required for TV functionality (compatible remote control optional).
Home Premium / Business / Ultimate
Windows Tablet and Touch Technology requires a Tablet PC or a touch screen.
Ultimate
Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption requires a USB Flash Drive and a system with a TPM 1.2 chip.

As you can see, it takes much more of a base computer to run the Vista package as compared to the XP Pro computer.



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Very busy day...

It has been another very busy day in the Fab. I hope to be able to post soem times this weekend about Step 3 in my 12-Step series that i am doing. I have had a good 2 days off, but that all ended today at work. All i can say is that it is very crazy here. This is the first time today that i have been able to relax, other than lunch.

Well, i gotta go for now.

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Type-O-Negative in Concert!!!!

My brother and I are going to see Type-O in CONCERT!!!

The Venu is Sonar, 7:00pm

407 E. Saratoga Street

Baltimore 21202

United States

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DC and Music...

I will have some new pics to post tomorrow our DC trip tomorrow. I will post all the pics on my FlikR page as well.

I am going to do a series on Hooverphonic and their music this week.

Our website is still down at the moment. i have ran into a problem with the hosting company and their customer service line is never answered! So i do not know if i will have the site up any time soon.

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Our Cat...Sugar Ghost

Here is pic of our cat. She has been with us since we lived in Colorado. She is de-clawed and safe for home use!!! She would try to sneak out and sit in the snow in Colorado and Massachusetts... Very strange and i bath her about every month. She does not seem to mind. She has a big attitude for a little house cat!!

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Days?...

WE are going to DC tomorrow to go and tour The White House and then The Capital. IT should be a very good tour for us to see. The weather is very nice today. I hate to be in the Fab today. I stepped outside and was like WOW, it felt very good. It is amazing how nice it is after we had snow on Saturday morning. It has been a very busy morning here at work…

Last night my right knee was hurting very bad. I hurt it about 20 years ago in a snow skiing accident I had in Winter Park Colorado. I tore my knee up, but I never had it fixed. So from time to time it acts up and hurts me. It started hurting when I got home from work and got worse thru the evening. Around 10pm, I have to put a rap on it and I slept with it on all night. It is a little tinder today. I only got about 4 hours of sleep due to this and the change over to days. It sucks. I am tired today.


DAYS ARE CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Day Shift...

I am back on day shift. I am not really happy about, but there is nothing that i can do about it at the moment. Perhaps that will change in the future. Also, our website is down at the moment. I am having to deal with getting it xfered to another hosting service and it is a pain in the but to get it done. I hope to have it back up and running by the weekend...

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Type-O-Negative – Dead Again: Another Look at the Album.

1. Dead Again

2. Tripping A Blind Man

3. The Profits Of Doom

4. September Sun

5. Halloween in Heaven

6. These Three Things

7. She Burned Me Down

8. Some Stupid Tomorrow

9. An Ode To Locksmiths

10. Hail And Farewell To Britain

• Peter Steele – Lead vocals, bass guitar, guitar, and keyboards
  
• Josh Silver – Keyboards, synth, effects, programming, backing vocals
  
• Kenny Hickey – Lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals
  
• Johnny Kelly – Drums, percussion, backing vocals
  

Upon listening to the album for a while now, I have to say that the best tracks are not the one that is going to be a single. Where as it is good, clocking in at 10:47, it is in my opinion, not the highlight. The 2 tracks that strike me as the top tracks are September Sun (9:47) and Halloween in Heaven (4:50). The production on this album is very clean and crisp as always with plenty of Steel's 4 string bass and Silvers keys. Strangely, the drums are not very heavy. Their off beat splash cymbal that is ever so present in almost all of the last 2 albums is very thin and wispy. The drums are crisp, clean and very crisp as well as being very thin, almost to the point of understated compared to the other albums "rock drums". The most comparable album to this style is October Rust in production. October Rust is comparable by me to Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of The Moon; The pinnacle of production that a band could do.

Dead again is a good album and worthy of purchasing if you are a Type-O fan. Halloween In Heaven is a rocking track where the guitars have a strong attack with a punk influence over 130BPM. This production is more fitted to some of the earlier works, but the addition of a female vocal byTara VanFlower of Lycia adds some interesting twists to the song. Her soulful style is a stark contrast to Steel's powerful vocal style. This song gives details an afterlife in which many late Rock and Roll musicians, such as John Bonham and Bon Scott, play music in Heaven. Here are the lyrics:

The dead they got that morbid beat It goes deo deo

They dance upon decaying feet

With their black toes oh no

Heaven Limbo and Hell Purgatory oh well oh well



Halloween in Heaven It's Christmas in Hell

Halloween in Heaven Oh well oh well



The devil stole a Yule tree Decorated with souls

Jesus trick or treating As Him below

Heaven Limbo and Hell Purgatory oh well oh well



Halloween in Heaven It's Christmas in Hell

Halloween in Heaven Oh well oh well



Bonham on drums Entwistle on bass As guest morticians

Bon Scott on vox Rhoads just for kicks

On guitar Hendrix Lennon sits in

With his friend George But where is Morrison?



Of course I cried When I heard they'd died

And took a part of me Same time gave

From beyond the grave Became what was to be



Elvis ain't dead So he isn't here Party never ends

Demon roadies angel groupies Suicide losers

If only I'd known how cool death is

I'd have killed myself sooner



Of harps and choirs Pumpkin pine pyres

Flames of red and green Orange and black

Years to take me back Christmas or Halloween



Halloween in Heaven It's Christmas in Hell

Halloween in Heaven Oh well oh well

Many of the themes of this album deal with Christianity, Steel is said to have found his Christian Faith in recent interviews. September Sun's intro reminds me of G&R November Rain! The piano is the same chord progression as that song. During the song, if you listen closely, you can hear near the end, Hitler speaking. It seems that he is talking about a lost love in his past. IT has the big gothic intermissions like many of their other songs. They have a good album and these tracks could be good radio tracks if edited properly. Here are the lyrics:

September sun blowing golden hair Now keep in mind son

She was never there October's rust

Bisecting black storm clouds

Only the deaf Hear my silent shouts



Yet in the dark Still he screams your name

Nights living death With witch rhymes insane

Ten years amassed Para toda mi Vida?

Lost man in time Was his name Peter?



September sun rotted Flatbush porch

I would have run then Had I known the cost

Autumnal rays turned your eyes to stone

Did it give you pleasure To steal my soul



Leave her alone Me? – I know why

This was all written and edited using MS Word 2007 to publish this post.

Happy Easter Sunday. Christ Has Risen!!

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Snow in April?? Really??

It snowed last night here. The weather man got it correct for a change at http://www.nbc12.com/. That is our local station. The forested a 60% chance and it was correct!! I woke up around 3am and i saw snow flakes. I got up around 6.30am and there was snow all over the ground here. I have some pics of the weather event...

It is all melted this evening. It kind of reminded us of the snows we would get in Colorado. They would come during the night and be gone before early afternoon.

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Pocahontas State Park

We went on a big ride today at Pocahontas State Park!! We ended up riding 8.2 miles with about 820feet of elevation changes also. We rode the Red and Blue trails which had lots of trees to go over and also a Half-Pipe to ride in and out of like at Powhite Park. They were great trails to go on and i hope tomorrow to have the GPS data to place over a Google Earth pic of the trip.

Here is a link to a TOPO map of Pocahontas State Park.

Here is a link to other Moutain Biking Trails in Central Virginia.

Here is a link to the TOPO map of Powhite Park.

The trails are not so steep as to where they tire you out after the first run. There are some long open runs where you can get up some speed and also go down hill. Over all, i have a very good ride today and the weather was not bad at all!!

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