I had posted previously about my excitement and shock at how well Windows 7 Beta 1 seems to perform on a low spec’d laptop (although I didn’t go into much depth). Others have had similar results, but one in particular gave me a shock of disbelief.

According to ZDNet blogger Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Windows 7 Beta 1 proved to be faster than Vista and XP in 21 of 23 tests across two test machines.

Image courtesy of http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3236

Unfortunately, due to Windows 7 license agreement…

So you are interested in web development or programming. You just read a book on PHP or C++ and ask yourself, “What do I do now?”. The answer to that question is simple; develop your programming and/or web design skills even further. Following the below steps is a great way to start developing these skills.

1. Find a community/forums. Participating in discussions at forums related to web design and programming is a great way to boost your knowledge. Others post at forums…

So I was running Ubuntu 8.10 when I stumbled across it’s built-in dictionary (via Applications > Office) and decided to see what it has to say about Microsoft. Here’s what I found:

Definition of Microsoft… according to Ubuntu

Taking a look at ‘evil empire’ nets some mention of Microsoft as well

Anyway, I just thought I’d share my findings. Gave me a laugh.

1. C# (pronounced C Sharp) was first known as “Cool”, a name which stood for “C like Object Oriented Language”, but was later renamed to C# in July, 2000 to coincide with its release to the public. The C# name as it stands now was musically inspired.
   

   C# name was musically inspired. It is a C-style language that is a step above C/C++, where sharp (#) means a semi-tone above the note. (Being a musician myself, I think this is awfully fun.)…

I’ll just take a quote directly from the site as it says it best:

According to rumors from different sources: “The rumor that Microsoft was set to lay off people in January 15th 2009 is no longer a rumor but a fact. Staff at Microsoft has been informed that the company is readying major layoffs to its worldwide operations and it’s not a small cut either.”

“So far we haven’t managed to confirm what departments or regions which will be hit the…

I first started Programming Designs when I was first 17 years old. I wanted some kind of project to work on and a community to please. I also wanted to make money. What resulted was a hybrid free services / paid services website. I advertised my web design creation skills and put a price on my work for hire. I also provided free source code on personal projects and wrote articles to entice visitors to stay. But there were many…

Initially, while developing the Programming Designs blog I had WordPress 2.6 installed — if anybody has used previous versions of WordPress before they’d remember the slightly confusing user-interface and how accessing certain features were several clicks away; however, I installed the update before putting the blog online and was able to see the new 2.7 “Coltrane” for myself. Let me say — it is definitely a hugely significant release for WordPress. The ease of use is demonstrated in the below…

If you haven’t already heard, Windows 7 Beta 1 has been leaked into the wild and lots of people already have it installed on their systems for testing. I decided I’d share some of my own findings (this is in no means a comprehensive look at Windows 7). So I decided to install the OS on my old laptop (with the following specs):

Laptop specs:

• System Model: Latitude D600
• Processor: Intel Pentium M @ 1400 MHz
• Memory: 1.25GB
• Video: ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 @ 32.0MB
• Resolution: 1024×768
• OS Partition: 19GB

Installation went very smoothly.…

After a long period of silence I’ve decided to give Programming Designs a reboot. Instead of rewording what I’ve already written in the About page, I’ve decided just to quote it:

Programming Designs has been online since September 4th, 2005. It started out as a personal project by Daniel Moxon (who was then 17 years old) in hopes of making some cash building websites and making software. The goal was to create solutions for companies and to help those in need…