Adobe Responds to Apple’s New Rules

Yesterday, seemingly out of the blue, Apple issued a statement saying it will ease up restrictions for development tools used to create iOS party apps. Now, Adobe has reacted with a statement of its own, calling Apple’s decision “great news for developers”.

Here’s a short history: back in April Apple had banned developers from using Flash to build iOS applications, after which Adobe said it would no longer invest in the Flash CS5 feature that lets developers create Flash apps for the iOS platform.

Now, after Apple has taken a step back and lifted most of the restrictions, Adobe will continue to develop this feature. From Adobe’s statement: “Apple’s announcement today that it has lifted restrictions on its third-party developer guidelines has direct implications for Adobe’s Packager for iPhone, a feature in the Flash Professional CS5 authoring tool. This feature was created to enable Flash developers to quickly and easily deliver applications for iOS devices. The feature is available for developers to use today in Flash Professional CS5, and we will now resume development work on this feature for future releases.”

Of course, if all this hubbub made you hopeful about seeing Flash inside a browser on an iOS device, it’s not happening, at least not in the foreseeable future. Adobe points out that “Apple’s restriction on Flash content running in the browser on iOS devices remains in place.” So, it’s good news for developers, who can once again safely use Flash to create iPhone apps, knowing they have support from Adobe and that their apps won’t get banned by Apple. But the “Flash on iOS” saga may not be over just yet.

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Windows 7 half the price in UK

For once, the U.K., which frequently gets the shaft in technology cost comparisons vs. the U.S., is going to do better than the U.S. Quite a bit better, at least for now, with C|Net discovering that they're getting a 50% price advantage on Windows 7.

Checking Amazon.com in the U.K., full versions of Windows 7 Home Premium will cost the equivalent of £65 ($107), while Americans will have to pay $200. That's a full version; even an upgrade version will cost more in the U.S., at $120 (£72).

Looking at Windows 7 Professional, the same discount percentage isn't offered, but there is a lower price in the U.K. A full version will cost $299 (£181) in the U.S., while it runs £129 in the U.K.

Why's this happening? It's unclear, C|Net's theory is that Microsoft is honoring its pricing for Windows 7E, which was cheaper because an upgrade wasn't possible. Of course, 7E has since been scrapped.

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Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program Capped By Microsoft

The Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program allows customers that have purchased qualifying versions of Windows Vista to upgrade to Windows 7 for free. If you get Windows Vista Home Premium for example, all you have to do is go to the Windows 7 Upgrade Option web site here and order your free upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium. That and other details about the program we already knew; what we did not know is that Microsoft has capped the number of free Vista to Windows 7 upgrades.

It seems that the Redmond-based software giant has instructed OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to limit the number of free Vista to Windows 7 upgrades to 25. So if you have a small business and purchase 25 PCs with Vista preinstalled on them for example, you can upgrade to Windows 7 for free. But if you are a slightly larger organization that wants to get 50 OS versions, you will get 25 upgrades for free and you will have to pay for the rest.

And upgrading does not come cheap. Microsoft has recently announced the estimated retail prices for upgrading (as well as purchasing a full packaged product) and Windows 7 will set you back this much:
Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99
Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99
Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99
Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99

So what you are supposed to do if you have more than 25 PCs that you want to upgrade to Windows 7? Microsoft, and OEMs, informs you that you should look into volume licensing.

“You may order one upgrade kit for each eligible computer. However, if you are a computer administrator ordering on behalf of your company or organization, you may order a maximum of 25 Windows 7 Upgrade Kits for 25 eligible computers purchased during the eligibility period. If you need more than 25 upgrade kits, contact Microsoft about a volume license,” explained HP when asked the question “How many computers can I order Windows 7 upgrade kits for?”

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Increasing Internet Bandwidth

Start> Run
Type gpedit.msc

Then,

Computer configuration > Administrative Template > Network > QoS Packet Scheduler

In there right click colm doubleclick

Limit Reservable Bandwidth

Change the Bandwidth limit to 0 & click yes

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