My April desktop. The wallpaper reminds me of my unexpected visit to Darwin, a ghost town in the desert near Death Valley. The feeling of walking into a town that was once full of life but now is only inhabited by the elements and history is quite powerful.

VS: Royale Vista black
Rainlendar: Lucid Smoked

My March desktop. I decided to call it “Requiem” because of the wallpaper and color scheme and thought that this name would be cool. =D

Anyway:
OS: Windows XP Media Center Edition - my fresh install
VS: VistaXP
Rainlendar: Lucid

Today I made a clean install of the HP Photosmart PC that I have been using as it was getting bloated with years of accumulated buildup of software/patches, some that I use, some that are there for reasons I know not of. This followed an epic backup session where I had to constantly monitor the process and check the files that have been copied since for some reason the “accessed” denied error popped up extremely frequently. Afterwards, I decided to remove the 250 GB internal HDD lest some files were not copied somehow and replace it with a new Western Digital 400 GB SATA.

Anyway, the installation went without a hitch and after logging into Windows XP MCE2005 for the “first” time, I did the usual round of removing some bundled crapware (yes, that is a term techies use now) that was taking up disk space that could be used for other stuff. And then came Windows Update.

As usual when one does a clean Windows install, assuming it is a genuine installation, one goes on Windows Update to install the latest patches and security updates. Well, I did and the list of updates was quite an eye-opener. When WU finished checking, it plopped out a list of 94 Critical Updates!! While I do commend Microsoft for being hot on the tails of security exploits, the sheer number of Critical Updates, needless to say the other optional ones, was quite enough to culminate in a Service Pack. In any case, here I am, writing this post, about 30 minutes into the installation of the 94 updates, which I hope will end soon.

Finally, Microsoft is fighting back against the iPhone demigod.

The next Windows Mobile operating system will feature touch and motion gestures–multi-touch-based interaction that was first implemented on a mobile device on the iPhone. WM7 will feature flick-scrolling, zooming, and other actions that the iPhone does not have. It will also have animations and visual effects. Windows Mobile 7’s interface will focus on interaction using one’s finger rather than with a stylus.

Personally, I am very excited at what Windows Mobile 7 offers and what it will offer as its development furthers. I am very glad that Microsoft is finally creating something that will compete with the iPhone without sacrificing any of the features that Windows Mobile has. As someone that is obsessed with multi-touch and will be getting a smartphone within the next year, I greatly look forward to its release. I have also heard that a Microsoft developer said that Windows 7, the next desktop Windows operating system, will also have multi-touch features. However, I have yet to see any screenshots/updates. Nonetheless, this and Windows 7 will be something I will be tracking. :]

Read more + screenshots here

~DC