Windows Vista: An Overview

Long awaited,much delayed and greatly anticipated,Microsoft's hefty upgrade to the Windows order of operating system is finally here.Windows Vista is a milestone that has taken Microsoft over five years to reach.And it has arrived with a confident gait of being far more advanced and robust an operating syatem than its venerable sibling Win XP.While a spanking new graphical user interface is its shiniest promise,security and stability are its stoutest pledges.


WHAT NEW DOES WINDOWS VISTA OFFER?
There are many new genies in the Vista bottle.Her are some of the most vital features:

1. Windows Aero:A redesigned GUI that works and looks better with juicy eye candy like translucent windows,live thumbnails and animations.
2. Instant Search:it is not as instant as greased lightening but it is faster and more diligent than before.
3. Windows Sidebar: a new side panel that features user selected gadgets to display,run and control various little applets for the weather,news etc. on the desktop.
4. Internet Explorer 7: it is an improved web browser,which is securer,RSS capable and with tabbed interface.
5. Windows Media Player 11:Big rework here with a new interface for the media library,photo display and organisation,search as you type capabilities, and music sharing.
6. Windows Defender and Firewall:Advanced anti-spyware and a two-way firewall have now incorporated within th OS.
7. Windows Mail:A replacement for Outlook Express,this offers better stability,real time search,junk mail filtering and anti-phishing.
8. Windows Calendar:A new system-wide calendar and task management tool.
9. Speech Recognition:Completely integrated with the OS it offers a wide and flexible set of commands and extensive control capabilities for voice activation and control.
10. Ready Boost:A temporary performance booster that uses any available flash memory for disk caching.
11. Windows Slideshow:Allows for additional display on laptops and windows mobile devices.
12. Windows Photo Gallery:A photo and movie library managemant application.Also imports,edits and creates slideshows.
13. Windows DVD Maker:A natural companion programme to Windows Movie Maker.Helps in creation of video DVDs.
14. Network Centre:Eases netwoking,network mapping and troubleshooting for PCs and devices in home and business setups with single interface.
15. Super Fetch:Enables frequently used programmes and files to load faster by storingthem in memory.

WHAT ARE VISTA's HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS?
To install Vista Home Basic edition,you need at least an 800-Mhz or faster processor,512MB of RAM,800 by 600 SVGA graphics,20GB HDD with atleast 15GB free,DVD-ROM drive,and audio output.
If you want all the bells and whistles that Vista's Aero GUI can ofer on the other Vista's editions,1GB of RAM,40GB of HDD with at least 15GB available, A graphics APIs with pixel shader 2.0 3D texturing,supports a Windows Vista Display Driver Model(WDDM) driver and atleast 128 MB of graphics memory,with 32 bits per pixel support is what is needed.


HOW DO I KNOW IF MY PC IS VISTA READY?
Point your browser to Microsoft's Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor(www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx)for a through check or stop by at PC Pitshop(www.pcpitstop.com/vistaready) for fast comparision between what you have and you ought to have.

Source :Hindustan Times Horizons
Compiled By:Saurav Chakraborty

International Mother Language Day

Ordinarily the 21st of February is the 52nd day of the Gregorian calendar.But,the day is significantly imprinted in the historical rubric of our time.More so,since United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) proclaimed it the International Mother Language Day on November 17,1999.

Locally known as the Bhasha Andolan Dibosh,Language Movement Day is fondly remembered as the Natinal Day of Bangladesh to comemorate the protests and sacrifices by the people to protect Bengali as a national language.

In 1952,students from all across East Pakistan started a procession on 21st of February to prevent Urdu from becoming the sole language for all of Pakistan.The movement spread to the whole of East Pakistan and forced the then government of Pakistan to relent and give Bengali equal status as National Language.This movement is significant because it intiated the sparksfor the independence movement that led to the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.

In 1999,the UNESCO General Conference adopted a draft resolution submitted by Bangladesh and supported by 28 other countries.This effectively implied an international recognition of the Language Movement Day,which metamorphosed into International Mother Language Day.
UNESCO now celebrates 21st February every year.It sets a theme for each individual year and holds related events at its headquartes in Paris.

Quite Interesting!

Source:Hindustan Times
Compiled by:Saurav Chakraborty

Planet Earth

it was 1st febraury 2007 when a new documentry series was started on Discovery Channel named as "PLANET EARTH".I missed its first two episodes but then i watch its third and fourth episodes on topic fresh water and caves.and after watching this two episodes there was one word to decribe it,"WOW" believe me i never saw any documentry earlier with such a nice description and specially the way of video recording,it was just amazing i dont know how cameraman has arranged to get such nice videos but he had done really a great job.......so i suggest all of you dont miss this documentry on Discovery channel,its aired on every thrusdays at 8pm(IST)....SO WHAT RU WAITING FOR????

Go Pro,FIFA tells India

The fact that the Indian team languishes in the neither regions of World footballgives fans reasons to hope that any movement could be only in one direction---UP.Yet another step towards that end was hopefully taken on 16.feb.2007 when a FIFA team set the ball rolling for the eventual setting up of a proffesional football league in the country.

A FIFA project,"Win in Africa with Africa"----which was aimed to develop African Football ahead of the 2010 World Cup---might well see it branch out to Asia,and particular,India.According to Jean Michael Benezat,a technical advisor at FIFA nad incharge of the Africa project,the first step towards helping India qualify for the World Cup was to set up a "Professional National League".

"It is possible to organise professional competition in India,"Benezet said.Benezat,however, agreed that,aftr meeting officials from the clubs and taking into consideration the current situation of the infrastructure of clubs in the country,it would"take atleast five years before a complete functional professional league would be in place".

"For a professional league,in the real sense of the world,to be operational,every club must have,among other things, a ground of its own,training grounds,youth teams and academies.Therefore we are looking at a strong and stable league by 2012", Benezat ,a former player with French club toulouse,added.The first step towards that end would be to start a professional league as soon as October this year.

"Our intitial aim is to start a league with as many clubs as possible in October and see how it goes from there,"Benezat added.Benezat also seemed pretty satisfied with the level of the game in India.

Benezat said,"Give it time" on asking whether this idea would actually help INDIA to become a force to be reckoned with.

Citing example of the French Football Federation's roadmap to success,Benezat said,"Things do not change overnight.When started in 1970 finally bore fruit for France when they won the 1998 World Cup.I am sure INDIA too can move in the right direction,but only with time."

No Energy Security Without Climate Security

With oil and gas prices at record highs and fers mounting over future supplies,global energy security will take centre stage at last year's meeting of the group of Eight(G8) industialized nations.As heads of states meet in Russia-one of the world's largest energy exporters and a country benefiting from record energy profits-they will no doubt call for greater cooperationto ensure that global economy is not harmed by unstable oil prices and political instability in many energy producing nations.

Earlier,G8 leader touted climate change as a top priority,but this upcoming meeting in St Petersburg appears set to ignore the issue in order to focus on securing energy supplies.

But there will be no real energy security without a stable and secure environment,particularly in an environment that is being threatned by the ill effects of climate change.

As climate change is the single most important environmental,if not global challenge that we are facing today,we need a plan.Not just any plan,but a comprehensive climate and energy security plan akin to the Marshall Plan after World War 2 that helped rebuild Europe-a plan that attempts tp rstore the Earth's fragile ecosystem by cutting polluting gas emissions and dramatically improving energy efficiency.

Evry litre of oil or gas,every bit of coal that we humans burn,adds to the increasing level of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions,loke carbon dioxide,which is a byproduct of burning this fuels.About 23 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide are spewed into the Earth's atmosphere every year-most of it by western industrialized countries.This build-up of Carbon dioxide and other gases are contributing to global warming.

Scientific consensus shows that we face grave risks if global temperature rise 2 degree celsius above those of pre-industrial times.Many around the world have already had a taste of what this would bring with temperatures up just 0.7 degree celsius--more frequent and severe storms and heat waves,drought,melting glaciers and rising sea levels.Such events can have immense security and economic implications,including crop failures in key food producing areas,border disputes over resources,mass movement of "environmental"refugees,and the spending of billions of dollars needed to cope with natural disasters.

To help mitigate these risks,we need effective policies to reduce global warming before carbon emissions increase to such a point that they become too difficult to reverse.We need a resounding commitment by governmens at the G8 Summit to energy efficiency,conservation measures and renewable energies.

Compiled by:Saurav Chakraborty