Blog of a Long Distance Worker Tech

When Microsoft began working on Windows 7, it also embarked on a new internal philosophy that was starkly different from the way things were done before: Instead of talking about the next version of Windows early and often, as had been done with Windows Vista to disastrous effect, Microsoft would instead remain silent until it knew it could deliver whatever features it promised. For this and other reasons, Windows 7 came with few surprises: There weren't any last second feature additions and, on the flipside, there weren't any promised features that had to be later dropped.

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been upgrading, rearranging, cleaning, and labeling all the PCs in our home and office. As part of the process, I’ve been cleaning up the network layout too. I thought you might be interested in seeing how things are laid out.

HP only just rolled out its Mini 5103 business netbook earlier this month, but it looks like it might already be set to get an upgrade — a newly-discovered support document on HP's own site clearly lists the new dual-core Atom N550 processor alongside the current Atom N455 and N475 options.

Sure, there are any number of phones with dual SIM card slots, most of them built for Asian markets, but the iPhone 4 is about the furthest thing from dual SIM: in fact, it doesn't even have one Big Person SIM to call its own.

Just in case the current scheme wasn't complicated enough, Microsoft is once again rejiggering its plans for Live Mesh and Windows Live Sync. Now, what is currently the new Windows Live Sync will be renamed to Windows Live Mesh. And there are some important changes afoot, though we won't see them until the final version of Windows Live Essentials 2011 ships in a few months.

When Microsoft launched Windows Live Sync in beta at the end of June, it merged it with its long-awaited Windows Live Mesh, but both still kept separate branding. The product will take on the Windows Live Mesh branding in the next couple of months. There are a few other changes coming too.