The page from which you will be able to download the Windows 7 Beta (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx) has presumably fallen victim to traffic rape - it's been getting slower and slower throughout the day and at the time of me typing this message it's completely down.

I want to give it a go to see if it's actually an improvement over Vista so far, plus it doesn't cost me any money and gives me something to do!

Can we accept that it was most likely a tongue-in-cheek comment and move on? We all know that the occasional joke is put in to an article here every now and then. Besides, it doesn't really matter anyway. If you can't laugh at yourself then you might as well catch the fail express.

The BBC iPlayer Downloader thingy-whatever-it's-called doesn't work on my computer, not the last time I tried it anyway. I just had to keep installing it over and over again, but it wouldn't work. Eventually I just gave up. I may give it another go some time.

Evil Gates because the machine that it doesn't work on runs Vista/ D'oh!

Bloody brilliant article!

Please stop suggesting that there are pornographic pictures of the royal family on that laptop.

I'm gonna be need some of that mind bleach, AC...

Don't get me wrong or anything, I am indeed in favour of free open source software such as Linux, but I have to admit that it's a bit of a pain to get going.

Mostly with getting drivers installed, it's a particular pain if your wireless card doesn't work "out of the box" and you have to go searching the Internet trying to find a driver, but then you find out that the only driver for it only supports WEP encryption (as was the case with me).

I'm certainly no Linux guru; I imagine there is a way around it somehow.

Thinking about it, it's more of a fault with the hardware manufacturer for not supporting Linux, when they should be.

Again, I’m in favour of open source software, and I like how most Linux distros will work well older computers whereas some versions of Windows won't, but I do generally find Linux to be a bit of a pain to use at times.

Yeah, I’m kind of rambling, so I’ll shut up.

(Also, I apologize to El Reg if I submitted this post twice - the network died as soon as I clicked on "Post Comment" and I wasn't sure if it sent or not)

Microsoft really haven't done themselves any favors in terms of hardware with the Xbox 360 have they?

Those cases look pretty ugly. Who in their right mind would put THAT on their iPhone?

As for an iPhone Nano, i'm not really too bothered. If it's cheaper than the regular sized model then I can see more people buying them.

Mines the one with the iPod Touch in the pocket.

Linux is (slowly) gaining market share, it would make sense to teach kids the basics at least, like how to install it and get things going, and the pros/cons of it against something like Windows.

I intend to try and learn how to use Ubuntu when I have the time and patience.

Alien because I, for one, welcome our free, open source overlords.

Low-end Netbooks have already been done to death now, seriously, how many do we need? I don't think there's much of a point in releasing all of these clones, not until someone feels like putting a dual core Atom inside one or something.

It would be nice to see someone cram some medium or even high-end stuff in to a Netbook, okay, I know that Sony have pretty much already done that (Sony Vaio TT) but a little bit more variety never hurt anyone.

I don't see much of a point. Nothing from my initial observations looks like it's cheaper than what's on the Apple Store, so yeah, if you want a Mac then you're still going to be ripped off.

Looks like they'll have to use maps.live.com now instead!

Evil Gates because MS are helping terrorists now.

Is that even possible?

The web browser is a means of accessing applications in the cloud, how would you get hold of the web browser if you have no web browser to access it?

It would be like trying to download, say, Firefox on a clean installation of Windows without Internet Explorer.

Confused Face icon, please? Paris will do for now.

Agreed.

Permission should be obtained from the person who was filmed before the show is broadcast.

That's what I think, at least.

Paris because she always gives permission. ;D

Currently using a Mac now, and have been doing so for the past few weeks. I find that it's generally a mixed bag.

I have found, however, that it locks up a lot more than my computer at home which runs Vista, and all I really do on this thing is surf the Internet.

Also, I was trying to access a shared folder on the network that i'm connected to right now, and didn't have any luck. It worked before, but now it doesn't.

So what i'm saying is that Macs are nice, but they certainly don't "just work", and certainly not good enough to justify the premium that Apple charge for one.

Also, these MacBooks get pretty bloody hot after a while.

Mine's the flameproof jacket.

Is the same one that I have!

And is it just me, or is the tower a little on the ugly side?

Getting a Mac "on the cheap" is all fine and well, but what's the point if applications might not even work properly?

Evil Jobs because he won't release a cheaper MacBook/iMac.

I found the article rather humorous, although I have to say that the idea of an OS that boots up quickly will probably be useful for people like me, who have a fairly low-end laptop that came pre-loaded with Vista.

I don't think that Cloud should be used as the only OS on the entire computer though, it'd be a bit pointless, methinks.

"It contained names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, child protection information, ethnicity and whether their parents are claiming benefits."

"it was understood that no sensitive or confidential data was on this stick"

Last time I checked, names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, etc, was all confidential data.

Idiots.

"The BBC notes that in October this year company Coolbai acquired the right to many of his characters, and said it "planned to introduce Bagpuss to a new generation"."

Don't think many folks will like the sound of that.

"To restrict humour only to material which does not cause offence would be an unnecessary restriction of freedom of expression."

Now can people stop crying over nothing?

Safari preloaded on a Microsoft product? Yeah right! =P

I suppose Google Maps would be replaced by Windows Live Earth, or whatever the kids are calling it these days.

Anyway, if Microsoft wanted to release a Music Phone, then I could see it happening. I haven't used Windows Mobile but i've heard that it's more suited to business users rather than consumers. Don't quote me on that though, i've never used Windows Mobile.

Paris because Ballmer can only wish...

Our Government are like a bunch of children - take credit when they do something right (which is rare), but blame it on others when they do something wrong (which is almost always the case).

I, for one, welcome our European overlords.

Cue lawsuit in 3, 2, 1...

We could use HDMI, which already has a lot more support than DisplayPort has. HDMI also doesn't need to be screwed in, and it's around about the same size as a USB Port.

Basically: What's the point?

I'm sure that somewhere else sells tracks by The Beatles already, probably without the DRM too.

Today is the first time i've ever used OS X, and I was getting annoyed at how Safari kept crashing, I was thinking to myself "Well, it doesn't 'just work'". Hopefully this fixes it (although i've already put Firefox on to it).

For the record, no it's not my laptop, i'm on an IT Course with nothing to do, so I asked if I could try out one of the MacBooks for the day. So you can't rag on to me about wasting money on a MacBook. =p

Evil Jobs, because, well, because.

Generally speaking, I like the new interface, and I like the avatars as well.

I have several problems with the new dashboard though:

1- My friends list (In the actal dashboard, not the guide) keeps making my console crash. The only way to fix it is turning it off and turning it back on again, which is a pain in the arse.

2- The Xbox Live Marketplace is a little buggy. Sometimes it takes too long to load, and often it doesn't even load at all.

"So? I could find numerous examples of pages that work in Safari properly but not in FF, or IE, or Opera or any browser you care to name. No browser is ever going to render all web pages as intended."

I can accept the fact that there's no such thing as a perfect web browser, and that they all have their flaws, but Safari goes titsup on websites that I visit when Firefox doesn't. If Firefox meets my needs better than Safari does, then it's logical that I use Firefox over Safari, right?

Plus I have a lot of add-ons for Firefox that I like to use that are probably unavailable on Safari.

In the end it's all about personal taste, if you prefer Safari as your default web browser, then that's fine.

Take away all his fancy cars - make him drive the G-Wiz instead!

But it just works!

I use Vista and i'm starting to dislike the Aero interface. Also, i'm not a big fan of the whole Ribbon thing either. I've used Office 07 to get used to it, but I don't know if i'd be willing to put up with it in most applications.

Personally, i'd like to see the return of the Media Centre theme that came with Windows XP: Media Centre Edition. I believe it was called Energy Blue or something?

Paris because she's also easy to use.

We're going to get people using Impact in Bold or something aren't we?

Sadface because, well, sadface.

See above.

Nicer than the S101 in my opinion, but i'm not a huge fan of brown so yeah.

Still won't get one though because I have no need for it.