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Despite there being tons of incompatibility issues with Windows Vista, it seems Microsoft has is doing better than even the Wall Street Journal suggested. The company reported revenue of US$13.76 billion for the first quarter ended Sept. 30, up 27 percent from the same quarter in 2006.

This number, 88 Million Copies Sold, beats Windows XP by almost double in the same amount of time at its launch.

Microsoft and CFO Chris Liddell credit these strong sales in emerging markets, due in part to anti-piracy and legalization programs there.

Three Quarters of the copies sold of Microsoft Windows Vista were higher priced “premium” versions, compared to a little over half of Windows –primarily XP– available a year ago.

This is truely great news for Microsoft and I’m sure they are glad to hear it!

If your running Vista and need a multifunction printer for your computer, the Brother’s MFC-5860CN may seem like a great choice.  It is Certified for Windows Vista after all, at least according to the sticker!

However, while the printer installs fine on a Windows Vista PC, don’t expect to be able to scan using the included software that comes bundled with the printer. While it will scan a document, the character recognition software that comes with the printer, PaperPort 9 from Nuance, isn’t Windows Vista Compatible! And the printers fax option… Well that works for Windows XP, but once again isn’t compatible with Windows Vista.

After 9 months since the release of Windows Vista it’s hard to believe that companies are still having compatibility issues with Vista. Major companies and retailers are slow to update old software, purchased by consumers before windows vista, to bring it up to date with Microsoft Vista.  Lets look at a few more examples.

 Adobe Photoshop Still having issues!

Adobe still hasn’t updated or sent out patches to update Photoshop CS2 so users that have spent quite a bit of money on image software and have updated to Windows Vista are still being plagued with all kinds of Vista incompatibilities when trying to run Photoshop CS2.  If you want Adobe Photoshop to run correctly and all features to work with windows vista you’re going to have to upgrade to Photoshop CS3 which can put you back 200 dollars!

At quote from PCWorld.com says…

 Adobe is developing free patches for some Adobe products (PDF) so they run smoothly. Still, the company lists over a dozen Adobe programs that it says either do not support Windows Vista or do not “officially” support Vista. Programs in either category may install on Vista, but don’t work completely. Some products Adobe recommends not trying on Vista at all.

When Windows XP was released 6 years ago there were incompatibility issues, but nothing of this sort of measure.  Are companies getting sick of having to deal with Microsoft?  Are they tired of having to spend time and money on updating their products every time Microsoft releases a new operating system.  Seems so…

According to NeoSmart Technologies, Windows XP SP3 Build 3205 includes more than just the 1000+ patches that have been released since Windows XP SP2’s debut 3 years ago. The new service pack also includes borrowed technologies from Windows Vista.

According to the website, the XP service pack includes four features that are currently in Microsoft Windows Vista, including a feature called Network Access Protection (NAP) which basically checks to make sure client’s computers are able to access their network, it will then update the computer if necessary or it will block their machine if they don’t meet the required security measures which are put in place by the corporation.

Another feature being backported is a feature which no longer requires you to enter in a product key during activation of a Window’s product.

Most websites are speculating that this is simply a method Microsoft is using to extend the life of their XP product line as they have already pushed the date once last month by a 5 month longer lifespan which allows retail sales and XP-powered pc’s to continue to be sold until June 30th, 2008.

I personally love Windows XP and the longer they keep it available the happier I’d be.

You heard it from us here at Correct PC Errors. There is a major competitor to Windows Vista and we Bet you can’t guess who it is! Why its none other than Windows XP! You heard me right and get this. Did you know that many people that are going out and buying a new computer are still opting for Windows XP over Windows Vista?

Windows Vista has officially been launched for about 6 months now, yet Windows XP is still showing surprising strength in their sales. In fact, in August Microsoft announced a new xp service pack, service pack 2c, which only goal is so that Microsoft can produce more product keys so they can continue to sell the operating system to businesses through January 31st, 2009.

Did you know? Dell, HP, or Levono Customers whom purchase a Vista System may use an XP Pro Recovery Disc to replace Vista OS and run XP on their new system.

Dell, which offers a choice of Vista or XP on its new computers, is staying close-lipped about how many XP computers it sells compared with Vista. But Michelle Pearcy, manager of the global marketing software team at Dell, confirms that the company is seeing the same trend as Microsoft: XP sales will be higher than expected during its next fiscal year.

Source: Vista Resistance: Why XP Is Still So Strong

Well, it seems that Microsoft Office now going to also receive competition from newcomers to the world of Office Suite products.  Google Inc., IBM, and also Yahoo have all launched free office programs, or are getting ready to, to compete against Microsoft Office.

Google Docs has released its long awaited presentation capabilities, which is basically a lite version of Microsoft’s PowerPoint application.  Google claims that it is simply a new feature added to Google Docs, but it clearly resembles a lite version of PowerPoint.  Also, Google is definitely playing up to one of Google Docs strengths which is the fact that it has a real-time collaboration ability.  Basically users can easily share files and work on files together via the internet from anywhere in the world quickly, efficiently, and easily.

Next up we have IBM who has also recently decided to release a free downloadable office suite productivity pack. If you remember Lotus which was the software IBM bought to try and compete with Microsoft Office way back when, then you would know that it didn’t work out to well, however, with IBM throwing in support for OpenOffice and now Lotus Symphony will be based on that platform of OpenOffice.

Finally, we can’t forget that Yahoo has recently purchased Zimbra which give them an ability to jump in to online collaboration software as well, as it seems all Yahoo does if follow Google’s steps.

So, you don’t like Microsoft updating Windows XP or Windows Vista without your permission, so you simply turn off the Automatic Updates and your set…Right??? Well, supposedly not anymore.

Microsoft updated 9 files on your system even if you have automatic updates turned off according to a report at pcworld.com. Scott Dunn, whom is an editor for the newsletter “windows secrets”, said that nine files in both the vista and xp operating system, however, not the same files in each windows operating system, have been changed by Windows Update without displaying the normal notification or permission box.

The changed files on Microsoft Windows Vista were wuapi.dll, wuapp.exe, wuauclt.exe, wuaueng.dll, wucltux.dll, wudriver.dll, wups.dll, wups2.dll and wuwebv.dll.

The changed files on Microsoft Windows XP SP2 were cdm.dll, wuapi.dll, wuauclt.exe, wuaucpl.cpl, wuaueng.dll, wucltui.dll, wups.dll, wups2.dll, and wuweb.dll.

Was this simply a mistake Microsoft Corporation made, or are they now going to continue updating files on users systems without notifying them or even allowing them to set whether they want to receive updates or not automatically?

Most machines logged the invisible updates as being done on August 24th, however, some machines did show a different time frame.

My only question to you is, “What’s waking up at 2 a.m. and downloading files if it’s not your Window’s Update Software?”