Aren't you tired of waiting for Vista's first service pack already? I am asking you this because I am sick and tired of all this. Shouldn't updates be simply there when you open up your computer, asking you to check which ones to install, and nothing more? Even more, big service pack shouldn't be needed, in an operating system we're all dreaming to be the perfect one. Well, we don't have such a thing yet, so let's get back to the early-released Windows Vista SP1...


The story is this - yesterday, Microsoft released Vista Service Pack 1 to subscribers of its (paid) TechNet and MSDN services, about two weeks after official news regarding this emerged. Microsoft's Kathy Dixon said "We have posted the SP1 Update release for download through the Top Downloads section", so it's all done.

The subscribers of the two services mentioned above can download the 32-bit version of the SP1, as well as the 64-bit one, and for both of them, they have two choices - full-install DVD image, or stand-alone executable installation package.

These being said, if you're a subscriber to TechNet or MSDN, go for it, and please, get back here and share with the rest of us your impressions, because regular Windows users still have to wait until mid-March...

Some time ago, we started talking about what has become Google Android, in the meantime. Since then, things moved on a lot in the right direction, and now Google just released a new SDK for its open-source mobile platform...


The original SDK became available back in November, and was criticized for its stability and documentation, although a lot of people were pretty happy with it, considering the fact they had a fresh software package on their hands, barely released for the first time into the wild.

Now, Googled took advantage of the World Mobile Congress, held in Barcelona, Spain, to release an updated SDK for Android, labeled M5-rc14. This new release comes with an updated interface, a lot of media codecs, as well as an updated Eclipse plugin.

To make this platform more popular amongst developers, the Open Handset Alliance, lead by Google, launched a $10 million contest for best mobile applications built using Android.

These being said, there isn't much to say, for now. Android-based devices will soon arrive on the market in large numbers, and all I can hope is that software based on this new SDK to be as good as possible (well, for $10 million, they would better bring in some awesome things, or else...), but that's what we'll get to see by the end of the year, I am sure of that.

To be honest, I am as tired as intrigued by this whole Yahoo story. First Microsoft places an unsolicited bid with a value higher than the company's value at that time, then Yahoo's shares start rising high in a very short time, then a lot of rumors started appearing about possible unofficial reasons (and pretty wicked) Microsoft had to start the whole thing, about other companies being interested in Yahoo, such as Apple, and so on. One chapter has been closed for now, because Yahoo rejected Microsoft's bid officially, but what's in store next?


Although nothing is official yet, it seems Yahoo has unofficial talks with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. regarding a possible alliance. This is not something new, because rumors about News Corp. being interested in Yahoo have been heard before, but it's an interesting subject.

According to Yahoo's CEO Jerry Yang, "We have redeployed our resources to drive Yahoo's key strategic priorities -- taking important steps to streamline our organization and close down or scale back businesses that don't support these critical growth initiatives.".

Despite Yahoo's declared growth potential, it would be a wise move to see MySpace combined with Yahoo, as rumors go in various media reports centers. Obviously, by combining News Corp's properties with Yahoo, that would lead to a part of Yahoo, maybe even 25 to 30 percent, being the price for this operation.

Well, hopefully everything works well, and maybe they'll also call back at least some of those 1,000 people being fired these days (not that I would be worried about their chances of finding new jobs, with Yahoo on their CVs...). Be sure we'll keep you in touch with this matter, all there is to do is check back here from time to time!