2004
Latest
WoW Archivist: Two weeks as a noob in 2004
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? When I took on the WoW Archivist mantle last year, I wanted to tell some personal stories as well as provide in-depth looks into the game's past. My first column talked about an early but extraordinary world PvP experience. Today I'd like to tell you about my first weeks of WoW in 2004, in a very different Azeroth than our modern version, with a very different incarnation of the hunter class. A hunter will rise In December 2004, a hunter stepped forward in Red Cloud Mesa. He was new to the ways of Azeroth, but eager to learn. What followed would be painful. But when the narrator shut up and the hunter proudly accepted his first quest from the Navajo minotaur guy with giant punctuation over his head, this new hunter set forth. He had nothing but a bow and a hope that his trials would forge him into a hero. He would become a hero, many months and scars later. His first two weeks, however, were marked with terror, failure, and shame in roughly equal parts.
Microsoft updates Office 2008, Office 2004
Today, Microsoft released updates for both Office 2008 for Mac, and Office 2004. These two updates fix several vulnerabilities within Office and add improvements. Microsoft Office 2008 Update 12.1.5 This update contains several improvements to enhance stability, compatibility, and performance. In addition, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. For more information about this update, please visit the Microsoft Web site. This update weighs in at 104 MB and can be downloaded from the Microsoft Office 2008 update website, or through Automatic Update (by choosing Help > Check for Updates from any Office application). Microsoft Office 2004 Update 11.5.3 This update contains several improvements to enhance stability and performance. In addition, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. For more information about this update, please visit the Microsoft Web site. This update is 15MBs, and can be downloaded from the Microsoft Office 2004 update website, or through Microsoft Automatic Update. Update: Release notes for the Office 2008 12.1.5 update have now been posted. You can find them here. [via @Schwieb on Twitter]
Microsoft Office 2004 update 11.4.1
If you're still using Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, then it is time to fire up the updater because there is a critical update awaiting you and your copy of Office. Here's what the AutoUpdate software says: This update fixes a vulnerability that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. For more information about this update, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article (KB949357).If you use update Automatically, then you may already have the update; otherwise, you can open an Office application and choose "Downloads and updates" from the Help menu. For full information about this update, you can look at the Microsoft KB article.
Virtual PC goes free - but not for Mac OS X
Good news everyone: Microsoft has released Virtual PC into the wild for free - but not for 'the rest of us'. That's right: an announcement on a MSDN blog (Microsoft Developer Network) has released Virtual PC 2004 as a free download for Windows users, and it offers details of VPC 2007 along the lines of support for Vista and improved performance over version 2004 (who on Earth thought it was a good idea to use years as a versioning system?). Of course, there isn't even an ETA that Microsoft can start delaying for version 2007, so we're guessing around 2010/2011 for the new version. This move makes sense in light of Parallels making headlines virtually overnight (pun intended), sparking what seems like a renewed interest in the virtualization market.[via Daring Fireball]
Who needs an Intel Mac? Sign me up for a PowerPC G6 Macintosh
Intel Macs are so yesterday. I'm all about the "PowerPC G6 Macintosh," and it's only $499 to boot!Engadget found a company (who might have already been threatened/litigated out of existence by the time you read this) by the name of Red PC who is selling a computer they call the "PowerPC G6 Macintosh." But wait - in addition to getting a supposedly next-gen PPC cloned Mac - there's more! Included in their Apple-defying price of $499 (along with this gorgeous case) is a hacked version of Mac OS X (it's reportedly a Pentium-based machine), Microsoft Office 2004 and - drumroll please - Photoshop CS2!Nothing says "I'm feeling suicidal" like stepping on the toes of three of the largest players in the computer and software industries.
MacTech benchmarks Office 2004 on Rosetta
MacTech has published what I am fairly certain are the comprehensive Office 2004 on Rosetta test results for Intel Macs. Honestly, there is so much literature and testing in this article that I simply skimmed most of it and skipped ahead to the conclusion: "in general, Office 2004 under Rosetta works "well enough" to "very well," and in some cases, it's even faster than on the PowerPC baseline machine." Having recently acquired a MacBook Pro, I have to agree. However, I think Word has a slightly longer startup time than on my previous PowerBook, but I would attribute that to Rosetta having to work some magic in the background.Don't take my word though: check out MacTech's article for more than you'd ever want to know about how well Office 2004 will perform on Intel Macs.[via MacMinute]
