I have no idea what type of variety show invites geeks to talk about an operating system, but the Dutch are leading the way! A TV show called “De wereld draait door” on the Vara network (or “The world keeps turning” as Babel Fish suggests) recently featured Tjeerd Hoek, the director of user experience design for Windows, as a guest to talk about Windows Vista with an unusual focus on the start button.

I don’t understand a word of it except the occasional “Vista”, but Tjeerd had a 12 slide Powerpoint presentation showing quite a number of interesting concept art during the development of the Start button and taskbar from his own laptop. Some of which were cool, some of which are outrageous.

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As Mary Jo Foley and Robert McLaws found out today, Microsoft has reversed its many years tradition of not commenting on wild rumors or speculation within the media about future products or strategies.

Robert points out in the “Microsoft Statement in Response to Speculation on Next Version of Windows“, this could be one of the shortest press release statements ever issued by Microsoft, and seems like an over-reaction on their behalf for what would normally expect from enthusiast as a change of focus after a product has shipped.

There’s no denying Windows 7 exists, there’s even a job description (via Robert McLaws) mentioning the “Windows 7 release effort”. Perhaps Microsoft is expecting a little more fanfare over Windows Vista, but considering some have even been talking about Vista for 5 years, it’s not exactly a whole new operating system to figure out. It would be foolish not to start fantasizing over what features might be dropped from the next version of Windows.

And since we’re so speculative at the moment, I thought I might just throw this out into the pool of speculation.

If this is a sign of the post-Allchin era with the new executives, then it’s going to be a miserable two years.

Things like this you assume you’d only see in movies.

A man with a shotgun fired randomly in a historic shopping mall in Salt Lake City, Utah, late Monday night, killing five people and injuring several others before he was killed, police said. Hours after the rampage, police still were searching stores for shocked shoppers and employees who were hunkered down awaiting a safe escort from the Trolley Square mall. Read more at CNN.

A Salt Lake City Police officer squats with his gun drawn to a body inside the Trolley Square Mall. Photo: Mike Terry

Someone’s parent. Someone’s child. Someone’s cousin. Someone’s relative. Someone’s teacher. Someone’s colleague. Someone’s employee. Someone’s employer. Someone’s friend. Someone’s best friend.

Someone lying on the ground.

Monash University, the college where I currently attend for my tertiary education, is in a race to beat other Australian universities to see who can collect the most funds from parking permits.

The race officially started when the campus I attend, Monash Berwick, decided to implementing a parking permit system after 9 years of free and unrestricted parking. During those 9 years, parking spaces has only increased marginally and most spaces are still under full sun. The distance between your car space and the closest campus entrance can be calculated by a logarithmic graph in relations to time you’ve arrived after 9am.

To cover the cost of building 2 extra speed humps at the most inappropriate places (like a set 5 meters from the traffic lights), the school decided in 2006 to implement a color-coded parking system based on how weak you are. You see, the parking spots closest to the entrance costs more money, so the majority of staff purchase these permits. The lazier but richer students can purchase ‘premium’ permits which is a little further, but not as far as the eye can see. The generic student can otherwise purchase standard permits which also doubles as a fitness training program. And the beauty of this system is, you’re not even guaranteed a reserved space. Parking suddenly becomes competitive!

Last year, the ‘blue’ generic permit set you back $55. This year, Monash wants to heat things up a notch. Blue permits in 2007 will cost $140. Alternatively if you’re not very smart, you can use your Monash concession card which costs $99 to sign up, and get a discounted permit for $98, which combines to $197.

Over a year’s time, there was an increase of 150%. By the time I graduate, parking could cost more than books, which was the holy grail of school expenses.

It shouldn’t be long before $8,000 per year college fees are abolished in favor of a park-as-you-learn system. To integrate my learnings with real-life situations, I would say this is what marketers define as a “cash-cow”.

The BBC, best known for documentaries of cute and cuddly animals or highly infectious diseases, published a feature article last week from its Money programme about the launch of Windows Vista. In it, contains not only a very awkward photo of Tjeerd Hoek holding a Windows Vista orb cutout with an even more awkward caption that neither relates to Tjeerd or the interesting pose he provides, but a video segment with Jenny Lam about the default Windows Vista wallpaper, the aurora ‘bliss’.

However without any relevance to the article, it’s quite an interesting video that talks about why it was chosen as the ‘default’ wallpaper and where it was inspired from. Since nobody likes Windows Media or Real Player, I’ve re-uploaded it to YouTube for convenience.

And if you thought your eyes were playing tricks on you, yes, the BBC just referred to the Windows XP Bliss wallpaper as the “Teletubbies Hill” wallpaper. Their words. Not mine. Perhaps the BBC needs to go back to focusing on nature documentaries. 😐

Window cleaners in Melbourne rejoice today as AppleInsider posted an exclusive report on Apple’s plans to open a flagship retail store in Melbourne Australia. The first in Melbourne and second in Australia. The inner-city suburb of South Yarra is actually 5 kilometers away from the CBD (central business district) and is famous for high-class shopping, restaurants and entertainment.

Why might have Apple chose to build there you might ask? As it turns out, across the road is the former Melbourne office of Microsoft Australia on Level 9 in the Como Office Tower.

Since last November, Microsoft has moved to its new offices at Freshwater Place in the CBD. Coincidence?