Technology: What's the Hold Up with Windows Vista?

Windows next operating system has been in the wings for a long time. Some folks have been test driving the beta version and have reported considerable success with it (see WXPNews.com). So why is Microsoft dragging its feet in bringing out the new version, currently slated for release in 2007, some six years after it released XP?

For an insight into some of the problems Microsoft is facing, read Joris Evers article, "Gloves Come Off in Symantic, Microsoft Dispute" on the ZDNet site. Symantic and Microsoft are headed into the courtroom over various technologies and the rights to their use which Microsoft wants to be an important part of Vista, and it isn't just the virus software. This situation could dramatically alter Microsoft's timetable for the release of the new operating system, or the form it takes when it is finally released.


The U. S. Economy:

Today's New York Times: "Wages and salaries now make up the lowest proportion of the economy since the government began keeping records in 1947, while corporate profits have climbed to their highest share since the 1960’s."

If you are trying to support a family, you cannot repeat this enough. Under the Bush administration, the U. S. worker has NEVER experienced prosperity. In the meantime, the rich just keep getting richer.


Bush Talks from Both Sides of His Mouth:

This is the lead-in to the story in today's Washington Post:

President Bush launched an initiative this month to combat international kleptocracy, the sort of high-level corruption by foreign officials that he called "a grave and corrosive abuse of power" that "threatens our national interest and violates our values." The plan, he said, would be "a critical component of our freedom agenda."

Three weeks later, the White House is making arrangements to host the leader of Kazakhstan, an autocrat who runs a nation that is anything but free and who has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of pocketing the bulk of $78 million in bribes from an American businessman. Not only will President Nursultan Nazarbayev visit the White House, people involved say, but he also will travel to the Bush family compound in Maine.

Just another example of the administration's duplicity.