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Microsoft is pulling Windows XP off the market, as the company continues to push Windows Vista as its core operating system.

On 30 June 2008, computer manufacturers are supposed to stop offering Windows XP as an operating system for new computers. There are loopholes, of course, Until January 2009, some manufacturers can sell users a copy of WIndows XP, as long the user purchases a copy of Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate or Business edition.

Brent Evans article, Days of Windows XP Running Out, has more information.

If you have a television in the state of Hawaii, and you want to see if your set is ready for digital television, tune into KGMB during its Monday 19 May 2008 newscasts at 5, 6 and 10 pm.

The station will do a 10-second switchover to its DTV signal, simulating what will happen on 17 February 2009 when the analog television channels go dark.

If you have more than one television set, test them all.

It doesn’t matter how you get your TV signal. The test will work with local cable, satellite and antenna systems.

If your TVs show the picture and audio, not static, during the KGMB test, you’re ready.

If not, you’ll need a new set top box from Time Warner Cable or a local electronics store.

See KGMB’s article, FAQ and the Honolulu Advertiser for more information.

Related posts and pages on billso.com

• Digital television
• 25 March 2008: Digital TV is coming
• 5 July 2004: San Diego Padres promote HDTV

I rarely see a floppy disk these days. But if you need a 3.5 inch FDD in your desktop computer, consider adding an internal drive with flash memory slots, as seen on Gizmodo last week. It’s available in the UK – see RedFerret for a link.

I’m spending some time this week importing some of the better articles from my old blogs. Before I installed WordPress here on billso.com in January 2007, I used Bloglines.com.

The blogging tools that Bloglines provided left a lot to be desired, however. In fact, that user interface hasn’t changed very much in the last 2 years. It is very difficult to export these old articles to other systems.

My old articles were posted to Bloglines during 2005 and 2006, and I’m tired of supporting links to a legacy system. But I didn’t want to lose my articles from the October 2006 earthquake.

I am keeping the time-date stamps for these old articles, and I am adding an imported category to my content management system (CMS) here at billso.com. Each of these old articles includes a link to the original Bloglines URL, so that Google and other search engines can find the new locations.

Yesterday’s Star-Bulletin included an article about the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) help desk facility at Ford Island. The official name is Pacific Theatre Battle Watch.

The facility was built inside a battle-damaged hangar, and is staffed by 12 EDS contract employees.

For those who haven’t heard of NMCI, it’s a good overview of the system’s stated goals. It’s a huge project, covering 500,000 computers and 400,000 users around the world. I’ve met several MSIS students who are associated with this project over the years. More details are available in these 2002 and 2007 GCN articles.

(Photo courtesy of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

I was surprised to learn that the command center cost only US$1M, but the reconstruction project for the hangar cost US$65M.