Mozilla Collecting All Web Based Tools Together In One Directory

If you’re a web developer, you’ll hopefully be aware that there are many helpful (and free) tools designed to progress your quest for an epic website; the only problem with this, though, is that you have to find them. There is currently no centralized directory for all such tools, but Mozilla’s fed up of this, and has set out to build one of their own, according to MoMB (via the folks at TechCrunch).

Mozilla

Mozilla

Mozilla has posted an entry on their official blog regarding the new site, with Ben Galbraith saying, “There are an immense number of tools that have been created to help web developers. Unfortunately, you might never know this; there’s no central index of these tools. It turns out that keeping up with all the development in this space is really difficult–even for folks like us who have been tracking it every day for years.” He continues to say that Mozilla wishes people to submit tools to the directory, via this URL., and to place feedback regarding features and usability of it, too. One idea on how they wish to display more info about a tool can be spotted here.

If you’re running a modern browser, such as Firefox 3.5, Opera 10, Chrome 2 or Safari 4 (to name a few) you can already check out the project as it is, though note it’s still in Mozilla Labs, so it’s still a work in progress. This is great if you have a nifty tool that you wish to get out to the world, as that’s exactly what Mozilla wants; submit your tools now, and place feedback here in the comments (or preferably, to Mozilla) on how things work out for you.

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Microsoft announces ‘Windows 7 Upgrade Option’ for OEM PCs

Windows 7

Windows 7

Microsoft today has officially announced the start of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program allowing consumers and small businesses to receive Windows 7 when they purchase a qualifying Windows Vista PCs starting June 26. Under the program, PCs pre-installed with “premium versions” of Windows Vista will qualify for a license equivalent of Windows 7.

“There is a lot of excitement for Windows 7 in the marketplace today. However, many consumers need a new Windows PC for school, work or home before October 22. So starting June 26th, any customer who buys a PC from a participating computer maker or retailer with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate will also receive an upgrade to the corresponding version of Window 7 at little or no cost,” said Brad Brooks, corporate vice president, Windows consumer marketing at Microsoft.

Under the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program, the following Windows Vista versions will correspond to the following Windows 7 upgrade equivalents:

Windows Vista Home Premium -> Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows Vista Business -> Windows 7 Professional
Windows Vista Ultimate -> Windows 7 Ultimate

The Windows 7 licenses will be provided to computer manufacturers at no charge from Microsoft. Although some manufacturers may require a payment for costs such as shipping and handling. The program will be available through January 31, 2010 from computer manufacturers and participating retail partners selling qualifying editions of Windows Vista.

There is no “Upgrade Option” path for systems purchased running Windows Vista Home Basic.

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Windows 7 System Requirements

windows7When Microsoft released the official beta for Windows 7 a while back, it also published a set of system requirements. These were a general overview, and it seems that they have been updated to match the Windows 7 RC recently made available.

Here’s the list of initial system requirements Microsoft made available:

  1. 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
  2. 1GB of RAM
  3. 16 GB of available disk space
  4. Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128MB of memory (for the Aero interface)

And here, you will find the updated and final list of requirements:

  1. 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
  2. 1 GB of RAM (32-bit); 2 GB of RAM (64-bit)
  3. 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit); 20 GB of available disk space (64-bit)
  4. DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

According to ZDNet, however, “If you are planning to run Windows XP Mode along with Windows 7, Microsoft is recommending a PC with a minimum of 2GB of memory and 15 GB of additional disk space.” Microsoft stated, “In addition, Windows Virtual PC requires a PC with Intel-VT or AMD-V enabled in the CPU, as it takes advantage of the latest advancements in hardware virtualization.”

If you’re interested in comparing, here is the list of final specifications for Windows Vista:

  1. 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
  2. 512 MB of RAM (for Home Basic); 1 GB of RAM for all other versions
  3. 15 GB of available disk space
  4. Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory (for Home Basic); 128 MB of graphics memory plus WDDM support for all other versions

These specifications are not specific to any particular SKU, and again, are final.

Submitted Through Neowin.

Popularity: 11% [?]