Yeap, the last day for Mr. Gates - and a short history, with video, on the man has been compiled by the BBC. Well worth a look.

In an experiment to find out the popularity of different operating systems with illegal file sharers, I thought I would query isohunt.com to give me the answer..

There are two numbers associated with every download. Firstly you have the number of seeds. These people have a complete copy of the files, and are purely uploading them to share with others. Secondly you have the leechers. These second type of people are both downloading and uploading - although they don’t have complete copies of the files. So seeds are the people allowing others to get access to the files, and are an indication of interpreted demand (how much they themselves think people might want the OS), and also past demand, while the leechers are an indication of the current demand. Or at least, that’s how I see it. So how did the different OS’s fair?

Windows Vista

Vista is, surprisingly after all the bad press, one of the most sought after OS’s in my test! With 1142 people actively trying to get hold of this particular version, the demand is higher than any other. Interestingly there are only 303 seeds. This (rightly or wrongly) says to me that not many people are hanging onto it once they get it!

Windows XP

In a not-so-surprising twist - Windows XP has the largest number of seeds for any OS. At 656, a lot of people are hanging on to this. Is it because they’ve read the news and think people will want it more? Or are they just lazy? Equally as interesting in the number of leechers, at 152, it appears not many people actually want it. Now you could argue it’s because most of us have a copy now, of one description or another..

OSX Leopard

Apple’s latest OS is looking strong amongst the Windows contenders. A lot stronger than recent years, which probably shows a move away from Microsoft for the home user towards something a little more intuitive. I’m sure all you Mac users out there will have smug faces on now..

Windows 98

Wow - now this is pretty cool. 10 years after it’s official launch, Windows 98 is still going strong with a lot of interest. 202 people have the OS available, although demand is a little low with a meagre 58 leechers.

Windows 2000

Demand is pretty low for this OS - a lot lower than I thought it would be. I was expecting half to a third that of Windows XP. I thought Windows 2000 was a solid OS and I’ve still got it running on a few PCs at work - and it never gives me any problems.

OSX Tiger

Incompatibility problems with PC architecture probably are the reasons this OS is so far down the list. Not a bad OS, and not particularly old, I think it’s just the superior Leopard that’s always more likely to be a hit with intel-based PC pirates looking for a change.

Windows 95

20 Seeds? Who are these people? Sure Windows 95 was groundbreaking, but only for a couple of years until Windows 98 came along! And that lonely leecher, downloading it in the hope it will work on the old 486 he found in his dad’s garage. I have one piece of advice for you my friend - Linux. It’s a question, and answer and a solution all in one word.

Windows 3.1

I was half expecting a “no show” for 3.1. How surprised I was to find, although demand is 0, there are still people that have a copy of the OS on their systems for anyone that might be passing - and only 5 less than Windows 95! I can’t think of a use for this OS nowadays of course, the hardware it was destined to run on has probably rotted away by now at the bottom of some garbage heap somewhere.

Windows ME

No graphics for this one. Why? I couldn’t find it! Please don’t think I want a link to it, I made sure I did the most basic search, hopefully copying what a normal pirate would type into the search box. I guess you could try different search terms, but why would you repeatedly try to find this OS? Is this the biggest OS mistake Microsoft ever made? Or is that happening now?

So what does this all mean?

Well, to be honest, I’m not entirely sure.. On the face of it, the demand for Vista is strong. Windows XP has a strong perceived demand, by the seeds that are keeping it available for other potential downloaders. Windows 98 is still “downloadble” now, 10 years later, and Windows 95 is just a poor cousin of Windows 98, as we’ve always thought. Windows 3.1 is available for the hardcore elite, and Windows ME will always be the mutated-dog-from-the-fly-2 we love to look in disgust at.

Finally, I thought this wouldn’t be a balanced test, without the most talked-about OS amongst geeks - although it is also worth noting that this is a free OS - read into that what you will with the figures, but I presume it’s because people have 0 hangups about downloading a free OS, where they may have moral issues with pirating software.. Anyway, ladies and gentleman, I give you:

Ubuntu 7.10

How many seeds????

Firstly, sorry for the delay - I’ve been suffering from something horrible for the past couple of days - hopefully you can’t transmit viruses through the keyboard - human ones at least..

In what seems like now, a problem synonymous with Microsoft releasing a service pack, it appears that the lastest offering for Windows XP has a few problems of it’s own. Within a short time of the service pack hitting the web, users were complaining of lock-ups and random reboots. Now I don’t want to appear to be a person with clear thinking, but surely with a PC you should expect it? I mean by the very nature of the beasts, they are fitted with an infinite combination of different hardware and software no? So surely there will be a few bases left uncovered..? Read Information Week’s interpretation. Of course if you’re one of the “brave” you can get your copy here.

Those eagerly awaiting the next (and last) service pack for Windows XP will have noticed that it’s conspicuous by it’s absence! So what happened?

The latest fixes and features introduced by SP3 are causing a problem with the corporate Microsoft Dynamics’ RMS. The bug, which was noticed with the release of SP1 for Windows Vista, will be fixed, but only once they’ve tweaked the Windows Update system. Your system will be inspected first to see if you have RMS installed and if it’s found, you won’t be offered SP3. This surely can’t be a huge change to Windows Update, so I would expect the service pack to be available within the next few days. Watch this space!

Steve Balmer stated publicly that he wants people to comment on XP, voicing to Microsoft that they shouldn’t give up just yet on the OS. Now it appears the OEM’s are starting to revolt too for the corporate customer’s sake.

And I’m with them, and other corporate customers! Vista is good - it has lots of bells and whistles, and has lots of nice graphical add-ons, but what really counts in an OS in the corporate environment is something stable, easy to use, “in keeping with windows” and above all easy to support. I don’t think Vista is any of those. Things have never been so different and difficult - Windows XP has been a progression of 2000, which in turn, although based on the NT codebase, was basically in-line with Windows 98’s features, which was built on the back of Windows 95. These were all logical progressions. Vista falls short - Maybe it should have been called Windows 7 Beta?

And it appears that my worries supporting Vista in the workplace are not misplaced. Lenovo are going to continue to supply it’s customers with XP well into 2009 - joining the ranks of Dell & HP in their post-June support. Hopefully support will continue until the release of Windows 7. Please Microsoft don’t mess up the next one!!

In a statement that shouldn’t come as a surprise, Microsoft have officially announced that SP3 for Windows XP will be released for general consumption on the 29th April. Of course, if you have inside contacts, or are a member of technet, you should be able to get it today, as it’s currently in the RTM or “Release to Manufacturing” phase.

According to Tech ARP, Windows XP SP3 is due for release on April 21st, which will be a manual download - probably released to the Microsoft Technet subscribers first. A week later it will be available for manual download by anyone. As regular readers will know I’ve been testing the service pack when in it’s earlier stages and have found it to be very stable - although the speed increases that people were quoting have not been seen. I think it’s just an evolution of the OS that brings everything up to date in a nice easy package - with a few security changes thrown in as well. Read the two reports here and here.

In an article on CNet, Bill Gates has hinted that the next version of windows will be available within the “next year or so.” So does this mean Bill has finally admitted to the public that Vista is something best to move on from, and something to base the next “real” version of Windows on? Anyone remember Windows ME? Read the CNet article here.

In a very recent announcement today, Microsoft have stated the imminent release of System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008.

The application will provide control and integration much more in common with desktop IT equipment. The software, also, with the use of the new version of Windows Mobile will allow the remote worker to access more of their information over the mobile networks. For instance, data normally only available via VPN on a laptop will be able to be accessed. This of course will be dependant on the apps on the mobile phone in the first place, but it means greater access to things like spreadsheets and documents from the company intranet whilst on the go. Also I do remember the mention of a “kill pill” for windows mobile devices in a fairly recent seminar - that would allow the administrator to send a kill command to the mobile device if it’s stolen, encrypting and/or destroying the data on the phone. Pretty neat I think you’ll agree!

Obviously to back this, certain services will need to be available through the mobile operators. It is believed that in the second quarter of 2008, this will become a reality with many of the biggest names supporting the new Mobile Device Manager. Read the full press release here.

As reported just yesterday, the Macbook Air was the first laptop to fall to the hands of the security experts. Well today, the Vista laptop has also been compromised, by hacking Adobe Flash. This time the competition focused on 3rd-party software that was available for the laptops with Security Objectives being the first to exploit a flaw today, grabbing the £5,000 prize money. Ubuntu has been crowned the most secure by the competition., but what was interesting for me, though, was that none of the OS’s were actually hacked - just the applications that were installed on them. [SHOW ME]