Finally Google has arrived at the ‘Micro-blogging’ platform with a real ‘buzz’. On 9th February 2010, Google introduced ‘Buzz’, the new social networking application to embark on its battle to limit the popularity of Twitter. So, now there are lot of competitions going on in the Internet space. Google Vs Microsoft (Operating System & Enterprise Application Suits), Orkut (Owned by Google) Vs Facebook (Social Networking) Google vs Apple (Smart phone market). Before acquiring YouTube, they fought against them with Google Videos. So what we understand from all these competitions is that Google is not just targeting a niche or industry, rather it want to rule the entire IT Business.

At the first look, we may feel that Google Buzz is an integration of Facebook and Twitter, but it is beyond that. First and foremost advantage is that you don’t have to go to another web page to see the ‘buzz’, it’s there right below the inbox in  the Gmail. The conversation will go like an email thread which is the fascinating aspect of Buzz. You can post in the Buzz, which can be held as private or public. Also, you can connect your profiles in Flickr, Piccasa, Google Reader and Twitter to Buzz. That means you aren’t missing any of your friends and by start ‘Buzzing’, you are increasing your friend and professional network. See this wondeful Video of Buzz, to get more insights.

Now we can perhaps clearly say that it is now ‘Google Vs. Rest of the World’. Apple and Microsoft are companies that are worth more than  $ 100 billion each, Facebook and Twitter are the champs of their respective niche, though they are not monetizing it well. There is no doubt that the internet and enterprise software market will come under the reign of Google, which is not far away.

The wait is over. Microsoft is all set to launch its new Operating System Windows 7. Although the product was released to manufacturing on July 22^nd, 2009, it will be available for the public only today (Oct 22^nd, 2009). The Operating System comes in 6 packages. Each of these packages is meant for different types of customers. The packages are Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, OEM and Enterprise.

A look back

Windows XP has survived more than Microsoft would have imagined. Since its first appearance in October, 2001, the Operating System is still one of the best in the market. Microsoft says over 400 million copies were in use. Although Microsoft stopped the delivery of XP from Jan 31^st, 2009, downgrade option is still available. To be in market for 8 years and still find place to stick around, is an achievement to talk about.

Known by its codename ‘Longhorn’, Vista came into the picture with great expectations in 2007. But the Longhorn did not serve to be a horn for Microsoft. Vista neither compromised on low hardware configurations nor delivered the expected performance. Complaints and weird feedback filled the air. And not surprisingly, most of the customers either continued with XP or looked for alternative Operating Systems.

A positive look forward

With the bar set high for the next Operating System, the Microsoft team started working few years back and has now come up with a product which has generated non-skeptical positive response even from the world’s best analysts. Let’s take a look at a few features that has paved the way for this.

System Requirements – Normal

The Operating System is designed to support 32 bit and 64 bit processors. The minimum system requirements  for the best performance of the product are not highly demanding. Glance at the following table for the exact details.

Lightweight

It takes not more than 30 minutes for a normal install. However, this certainly depends on the hardware of the system and the type of install used (Upgrade or Fresh). The development team has worked in optimizing the underlying code and also removed software like Movie Maker, Mail etc. These are now available in the Microsoft site as free download. The adoption to this new trend has reduced the size of the Operating System and has made it lightweight. Windows 7 can be installed in netbooks and nettops also.

Better Battery Life

One of the concerns for a laptop user is the backup time his laptop offers. If the Operating System enables him to increase this backup time, it is definitely something to cheer about. Windows 7 saves 30% of the backup time if the previous Operating System used was Windows XP. This was announced publicly by Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Strategist.

Third Party Software Evaded

Windows 7 emdeds into it, functionalities that require third party software support. Notable ones are:

• ISO image burner
• Fingerprint sensor management

An ISO image file has so far been an unrecognized format in Windows without a third party software support. In Windows 7, you can double click an ISO file and burn it right away. Windows Biometric Framework is a new addition that avoids the necessity for third party software to manage all biometric management activities. Fingerprint sensor is one example. Windows 7 manages this on its own.

New Taskbar

The new taskbar is arguably one of the best features of Windows 7. It works even better than the Mac OS X dock. It looks like a modified Vista. But behind the screens, there is a complete change of code. Mouse over has been dealt with in an innovative way that is sure to attract the public. Pinning to start menu has also become much easier now. Jump list, a new feature, manages recently opened documents. The show desktop icon is brought into the taskbar. And it works with just a mouse over.

PowerShell

PowerShell is a command-line tool that administers various tasks using cmdlets. Cmd and command were available earlier. With the new command-line tool, it is possible to bring out all GUI functionalities. This tool could become very handy for administrators. Although PowerShell could be downloaded for XP and Vista, it was not a very big hit. Microsoft has decided to bring it as a built-in feature for Windows 7.

There are a number of other features that are sure to influence the public. The control panel has been modified and made more users-friendly. The Operating System integrates backup utility with the control panel. Problem Steps Recorder is a new tool that captures user actions and helps debuggers. System repair disc can now be created during administrator works. The features and innovative developments in Windows 7 makes it more than just a Vista debacle fixer or an ideal XP successor. I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Since its launch about a year ago, Google Chrome has been in the limelight every now and then; and for good reasons too. The latest news has Chrome further zeroing in on its arch rival in a more creative fashion. On September 22, 2009, Google launched Google Chrome Frame “an open source plug-in that brings HTML5 and other open web technologies to Internet Explorer.”
According to Google, with GCF, you can: (more…)

In response to Google Chrome OS, Microsoft has announced that the new version of MS Office, which is expected to hit markets by 2010, will feature online collaboration. This dramatic announcement was made at the partner conference in New Orleans.

The new generation office suite will enable users to access their documents online with co-authoring capabilities. PowerPoint will be streamlined with video and picture capabilities which will revolutionize presentations.

Though Microsoft is coming up with online capabilities for Office, they don’t have the intention to provide comprehensive online access, which they think can scale down their business. This won’t be a great concern for Google Docs, as they are providing comprehensive access to users. Google considers it as a weaker reply for the Google Chrome OS, which is the core of Microsoft’s business.

The new avatar of Microsoft’s latest search engine, Bing, is here.  An updated version of  Microsoft’s former search engines, namely Live Search, Windows Live Search  and MSN Search, Bing.com went fully online on June 3, 2009.

Bing Features

Here’s a quick look at some features of Bing that could give other search engines such as Google and Yahoo a run for their money (although it would be a while before Google can be, if ever they are, outsmarted!).

Do note that some of these features are available in the United States version only. You can change your country settings using the toolbar at the top right hand side of the Bing site.

• The background image changes daily.  They are mostly striking images of noteworthy places in the world. You can hover over the images to see interesting facts about them. (more…)

Many newcomers to the programming field would be confused with the two terms – ASP and ASP.NET.  If you are one among them, here are some points that would help you to understand the differences between the two:

1. ASP.NET supports different languages like C#, VB etc., whereas ASP is a scripting language that supports VBScript, JavaScript.
2. ASP.NET is easy to debug (i.e. solve errors).
3. ASP.NET is a compiled language, which means it’s faster compared to ASP.
4. ASP.NET has two separate files for presentation logic and business logic, whereas in ASP both presentation and business logic are in the same page. This reduces the complexity in ASP.NET.
5. The size increases in ASP.NET because to execute the ASP.NET page, you need .NET framework installed. ASP on the other hand, doesn’t require it. (You just need to write your code in Notepad and execute it).
6. ASP is totally free.
7. ASP.NET is an object-oriented language. So with the use of classes, interface etc. you can reduce lines of code and the performance increases.
8. In ASP.NET, you can make your own user controls to access it through pages.
9. In ASP.NET, for security we have CAS (Code Access Security), which helps you to view only particular portions of the code.

That summarizes the differences between the two. I hope this article has helped you understand the two technologies better.