Those of you who participated in OLPC's "Give One, Get One" program will probably be disappointed to learn that, despite earlier reports to the contrary, Microsoft has no intention of developing dual-boot Windows / Linux support for the XO laptop. According to a statement sent to BetaNews, Redmond flat out denied any work on such a project, instead claiming that it "plans to publish formal design guidelines early this year that will assist [any] flash-based device manufacturers in designing machines that enable a high-quality Windows experience." The blurb goes on to say that the company will be conducting limited XP-on-XO field tests later this month, although BetaNews notes that notebook's hardware limitations have proven problematic for the software giant, which may be forced to offer the OS on an SD card -- a move that would require a new BIOS for the XO to enable booting from removable storage.

[Via Slashdot]

Tired of fretting about which flavor of Windows will work best for you? Toshiba's apparently feeling your pain, and is looking to remedy said quandary by tossing in both operating systems with its new 15.4-inch Dynabook Satellite T31. Apparently, the unit includes Vista Business and XP Professional recovery discs, giving the buyer the option when they finally get it home. Specs wise, you'll be looking at a 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7250 on the high side (with a 1.86GHz Celeron 540 on the low-end), as well as optional WiFi, a WXGA (1,280 x 800) resolution panel, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, DVD burner and a rechargeable Li-ion good for around 1.3 hours. Additionally, the unit touts four USB 2.0 sockets, Ethernet, PCMCIA, a multicard reader, VGA / S-Video outputs and a FireWire port to boot. Check it out right now for between ¥175,350 ($1,573) and ¥206,850 ($1,856).

[Via AkihabaraNews]

The folks over at Parallels aren't messing around with these updates, as just about four months after unveiling release candidate 2, the harmony-inducing software is just about ready to hit the big three-o. At long last, the new iteration will purportedly support 3D graphics acceleration, giving Mac users the ability to play OpenGL / DirectX-based games in Windows without having to reboot, and it sounds like you'll be seeing improved shared folder performance as well. Moreover, the SmartSelect integration tool allows you to "open up any file from Windows or Mac OS X using an application from either operating system," which should work nicely alongside Coherence, and the Snapshots feature helps you to store Parallels' virtual machine state so you can roll back when needed and "control levels of integration and isolation using the VM Sentry." Apparently, the software isn't quite ready to hit the masses just yet, but early birds can latch onto the $39.99 upgrade price if you act quickly, while customers who bought in after May 1st will be blessed with the upgrade gratis.

[Via Macworld]