Family Pack for Windows 7; Cut the crapware; Best PC components [TECH UPDATE]

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Top Editors Picks Editor's Note: Tech Update Today will not be published on Friday, July 3 in observance of the Independence Day holiday weekend. The newsletter will resume on Monday, July 6. Microsoft to offer Family Pack for Windows 7 Ed Bott: Apple's defenders point to the OS X Family Pack as one of the biggest differentiators between their favorite OS and Windows. That difference is likely to go away when Windows 7 is released. The Proof: Text of a near-final license agreement for Windows 7 Home Premium. READ FULL STORY Some users fume as rose-colored discounts fade Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard: How much do upgrades really cost? Do you need more than Windows 7 Home Premium? Robin Harris: Why Windows 7 should be free Survey: 45% of IT departments will move to Windows 7, eventually ZDNet Special Report: Windows 7 nearing the finish line Sponsored How much do IT professionals earn? Find out in the 2009 activeTechPros IT salary & skills report. Be a member and get free access. * * * * * * * * * * * * How much do business professionals earn? Take our salary survey and find out once the salary benchmark wizard is completed. PC OEMs: Please cut the crap! Jason Perlow: Buying a new PC from one of the Tier 1 OEMs can often be a frustrating exercise in crapware removal. The operating system build on a brand new retail-purchased PC should not deviate tremendously from a retail DVD virgin install of Windows. But it always does. READ FULL STORY Conficker: A good excuse for an early spring cleaning Support.com: We'll kill your crapware for free Dear OEM: Ditch the crapware, you'll make up the revenue elsewhere The New Adventures of Christine's Old PC My experience with Dell's Namastechnical support Build it! Best PC components now available Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: My Hardware 2.0 "Very Best Kit List" -- updated and revamped for July/August -- includes the best high-end, mid-range and budget components currently available. If you're thinking of buying, building or even upgrading a PC, this list is a must-read. READ FULL STORY Put together a solid barebones system for $350 Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: When (and why) do you buy a new PC? Building a "High Performance" Windows 7 PC Extreme PCs and homebrew systems: Dead or alive? Monster PC upgrades - Without the monster price tag Apple forecast: 12% Mac sales growth quarter to quarter Andrew Nusca: Apple will sell 2.5 million Macs in the second calendar quarter, a 12 percent increase and a marked uptick from the 4 percent decline last quarter, according to a new forecast issued by Morgan Stanley's Kathryn Huberty. READ FULL STORY Nielsen: Average Apple.com visit lasts 74 minutes Should you really buy new gear or look for almost new? Building high-performance, luxury computers in a recession ZDNet Reviews: Apple's new Macbooks Oracle's Fusion middleware master plan starts coming together Larry Dignan: Oracle on Wednesday launched its Fusion 11g middleware family and the effort is aimed at linking the technological underpinnings of all of the company's acquired applications, owning the market, creating one fundamental software stack for the enterprise and laying the foundation for a cloud strategy. READ FULL STORY Dana Gardner: Oracle closes in on 'any'-ware with debut of middleware behemoth 11g suites family Dennis Howlett: Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g: turkeys voting for Christmas? Get ready for Oracle's 100 days of press releases aka innovation Sponsored How much do IT professionals earn? Find out in the 2009 activeTechPros IT salary & skills report. Be a member and get free access. * * * * * * * * * * * * How much do business professionals earn? Take our salary survey and find out once the salary benchmark wizard is completed. Why one CIO is migrating all Treos to iPhones Jason Hiner: A longtime friend recently admitted to me that his IT department is converting the entire organization over to iPhones. If CIOs like him are doing this, then it's a pretty good indicator that the iPhone is becoming a very viable and tempting option for a lot of companies out there. READ FULL STORY Business intelligence comes to Kindle. Will companies care? RIM: Is the BlackBerry OS the weak link? Five tips for conserving iPhone battery life Turn your iPhone into a mobile office productivity tool Featured TalkBack Blog Are economic conditions changing how you manage server turnover? Scott Lowe: Between cloud computing, virtualization and economic conditions, the data center has certainly changed form over the past ten years. What, if anything, are you doing differently now than you were before with regard to your server and data center infrastructure? READ FULL BLOG What do you think? Post Your Thoughts in TalkBack Reader TalkBacks Steve Jobs nearly died and lied about it "If you are a consumer then Steve Jobs death should mean little to you for your choices remain the same." -- James Quinn Average insecure program per PC rate remains high "Get updates for all programs through 1 interface. For that reason, I believe Linux is the only one that would do relatively well were it ever to get 90% marketshare." -- NonZealot Elsewhere on ZDNet Photo Gallery ZDNet's 10 most popular galleries so far, 2009 We've published hundreds of galleries so far this year -- images of the products, people and events that matter most to business. Here are images from the 10 most popular. VIEW THE GALLERY Doom Resurrection on iPhone Arches and canyons and buttes, oh my! More ZDNet Photo Galleries ZDNet Reviews Walkman turns 30, introduces OLED X Series: Can it compete with the iPod? Jennifer Bergen: This week marks the 30-year anniversary of the Sony Walkman. To celebrate, the company is releasing its Walkman X series, with an OLED screen. And it looks to be quite the iPod competitor. READ THE REVIEW Lenovo IdeaPad Y450 HTC Touch Pro2 More ZDNet Reviews Sign up for ZDNet's Product Watch Newsletter for the latest product reviews, news, and expert analysis	News and Blogs Top 10 videos of the year (so far) U.S. CIO Kundra answers questions about new federal IT dashboard 60% of Americans would give up alcohol for their mobile phones WebEx augurs ill for Cisco's cloud ambitions Tailoring Web technology to a bespoke dress shirt business Nokia launching 12-megapixel camera phone NetSuite vs. SAP: How Newton would see this contest Gateway NV series offers dual-core, 320GB HDD, 4GB RAM; $499 eMachines introduces trio of ET mini-tower desktop PCs; $299 to $449 SmartPlanet: Find business success by embracing your spiritual side SmartPlanet: Making Web meetings work Apple iPhone 3G Black Now Only: $99 Panasonic VIERA LCD HDTV Buy now, only: $599 Most Rated Posts ZDNet Readers' Choice: Top 25 free, lightweight apps Netbook or notebook? Confusion reigns at 12 inches Sony to cut PS3 price by $100 in August? Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard: How much do upgrades really cost? Microsoft unveils 'screaming deals' for Windows 7   Videos and Podcasts Dell: Selling a new backbone for SMBs ZDNet Senior Editor Sam Diaz talks about the company's effort to sell its products to the SMB market. He says Dell executives are hoping to gain ground on the competition by retooling offerings to be more customizable. PLAY VIDEO Is AT&T slowly dethroning the almighty iPhone? ZDNet Senior Editor Sam Diaz shares his views on the release of Apple's new iPhone 3G S. Diaz says there is a dark shadow being cast over the new device because of its exclusive relationship with carrier AT&T, while users complain about two-year contracts and lack of support for MMS messaging. PLAY VIDEO Capital flowing into green At Greentech Media's Green Building Summit in Menlo Park, Calif., Cascadia Capital CEO Michael Butler discusses three subsectors of the green-building industry that recently began receiving the most capital from the stimulus plan and private sectors. PLAY VIDEO Who will manage the smart grid? At Greentech Media's Green Building Summit at SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., tech executives discuss the future management of smart-grid technology and whether the balance of power will go toward utility companies, government regulatory agencies or building owners. PLAY VIDEO Speeding up construction on 'green' homes At Greentech Media???s Green Building Summit at SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., Serious Material Chairman Marc Porat discusses the challenges associated with building green residential homes. He believes it's important for the green industry to persuade governments to mandate environmentally sustainable buildings in order to speed up construction. PLAY VIDEO Play more video and audio New Technologies Sponsored White papers How much do IT professionals earn? Find out in the 2009 activeTechPros IT salary & skills report. Be a member and get free access. * * * * * * * * * * * * How much do business professionals earn? Take our salary survey and find out once the salary benchmark wizard is completed. Free eBook: Outthink the Threat of Malware Learn how you can better protect your enterprise against data-stealing malware-even before it reaches your network. Resolving the Privilege Manager Paradox Read this paper by Enterprise Management Associates which examines three solutions to the challenges of securing privileged account access and enforcing strong authentication. Quest Software Live Web Seminar: Drive Agility & Cost Optimization at Your Company Discover how your business can take out cost and uncover hidden revenue opportunities by leveraging today's leading SOA and BPM solutions Free eBook: Complete Guide to Information Management Best Practices Help your company thrive in today's economy by learning how to leverage its most valuable asset: information. Read more in this eye-opening eBook. More white papers: Most popular papers Recently added papers Most popular papers by industry
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