At this time of year, thoughts often turn to buying a new computer (by which we mean buying a new new computer, not one that is used but “new to you” or one that is already in your grasp but you are making “new” by buying new computer components for it). The first question to ask yourself should be “Should I buy a new computer system?”, or even “Do I really need to buy a new computer?” But assuming the answer to a new computer buy is “yes” (or even if you don’t really need a new computer, but just want in on all the new computer technology), this leads to several more questions people should ask themselves before they buy new computers: “A Microsoft new computer or a new Mac computer?” And if you are going to go Microsoft, then “A new computer with Windows 7, or Vista or, heck, maybe even a new computer with XP?” (Yes, they can still be had.) “Do I really need all the new computer technologies or should I consider some of the cheap new computers?” Ultimately, when purchasing a new computer, the best new computer for you is the one that will gives you the most use, with the least hassle, and the most satisfaction.

In an interesting turn of events – especially considering all of the antitrust hot water in which Microsoft has found itself in the past with the Federal government – Google is suing the Federal government for requiring that any vendor proposals in response to a Request for Quotation (RFQ – similar to an RFP, or Request for Proposal) by the Feds to create a new, unified online messaging system, must include the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite.

More and more audio files are showing up on the Internet in WMD format, which means that you need to convert those WMD files to listen to them on your Mac or MP3 player. This is particularly true for audio books, which frequently are downloaded as a WMD file. WMD is a format used by Microsoft’s media software, and unless you want to install the Microsoft software on your Mac in order to play your WMD file on a Mac, you are going to have to convert that WMD file in order to listen to it on your Mac. Fortunately, it’s actually really easy to convert a WMD file to listen it on a Mac, and to create MP3s of the file so that you can listen on your iPod, iPad, or other MP3 player.

Hotmail has once again been down for days, with countless Hotmail, MSN, and Live users shut out of their accounts. The outage, referred to as a “cloud outage” by some souces, saw users unable to access their Hotmail accounts, as well as the Windows Live Solutions Center; indeed some users are still unable to access their Hotmail accounts.

Microsoft has issued a security advisory (#981374) for a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6 (IE 6) and Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) that could allow someone to remotely execute code on your PC – that is, to remotely operate your computer.

The planned funeral for Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) is not a hoax – it really is happening, tonight, in Denver, Colorado. Oh sure, it’s a spoof, but an elegant and well-planned one, to be sure, complete with prizes “for the best IE6 memory & the best dressed!” In fact, the IE 6 Funeral has gotten not just national, but even international attention, being featured in such overseas news sources as Britain’s The Register.

Judging by the searches we get for iPod Phone and Zune Phone (and even “I Phone”), it’s clear that what people really want more than anything is a truly convergent device – one device that does it all. It’s an iPod, it’s a phone, it’s a video player, it’s a radio, it’s an email device – it’s Wonder Phone! While the iPhone (I Phone) is essentially an iPod Phone, people are still wanting something more – will the much-awaited Zune Phone (and rumoured Zune store) really statisfy their cravings? Read on…

Microsoft has just announced an emergency patch for both Internet Explorer (IE) and Office Products, and it is recommended that everyone install this patch ASAP (link to patch included below). This affects Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) as well as any Microsoft Office Product with ActiveX, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Microsoft Access.

In a move sure to have Microsoft’s legal eagles tearing their hair out, Microsoft Partner Group Manager Simon Aldous, during an interview with Britain’s Intent Media’s PCR publication, acknowledged that Microsoft has been aiming to “create a Mac look and feel.”

Call us crazy, but here’s our theory about the week-long Sidekick data outage experienced by Sidekick users as their Sidekick network (really the Danger network) went down.

Microsoft announced some time ago that it was going to set up Microsoft stores, similar to Apple’s highly successful Apple store. But it seems that Microsoft doesn’t think that imitation is the only form of flattery. Apparently actually poaching Apple’s employees to run the new Microsoft stores is right up there too.

It was a seemingly watershed moment in iTunes history. Earlier this year, Apple finally broke down and did away with their previously iron-clad pricing structure of .99 for any song in the iTunes catalog. Instead, they introduced their “iTunes Variable Pricing”, meaning that you might pay any of .66, .99, or $1.29 for a tune. But what makes this really interesting is that, in addition, now the entirety of Apple’s iTunes music catalog has lost the Apple-proprietary digital rights management (DRM) and is DRM-free, which is the + in “iTunes Plus”.

Microsoft has announced the new HD Zune (“Zune HD”), which features HD video (along the lines of high definition TV (HDTV)), as well as HD radio. In the portable MP3 player wars, this leapfrogs the Zune ahead of the iPod Touch, with the Microsoft Zune being the first to market with HD video and the first to market with one of the first portable HD radio receivers anywhere.

As the Apple iPhone app store and T-Mobile G1 phone application market show signs of becoming more open, Microsoft has gone in the opposite direction, issuing a flat-out Mobile Market ban from their Mobile 2 Market applications market on several genre of applications, including alternate browsers or search clients. In otherwords, you and your Windows Mobile phone will remain captive and chained to only Microsoft applications.

Perhaps you’ve heard about Microsoft’s WIndows Live new “Family Safety” software, which you can install on your Windows computer, so that your children can safely surf the web without fear of exposure to material that is not family friendly – or ‘family safe’. Apparently in Microsoft’s view this includes competitor Google, although oddly it does not include their own similar search engine, Live.com.