Heh.

Even Intel won’t run it.

Shocking.

Despite an outcry from users who still prefer Windows XP over Vista, Microsoft announced that, as of today, it will no longer sell XP. Rather than allow customers the choice to simply buy and install XP, Microsoft’s strategy is to force them to buy and install Vista before being allowed to “legally downgrade” to XP.

I’ve written before about the sub-market that formed after Vista’s release where some computer stores were doing a brisk business uninstalling Vista and installing XP in its place. In addition, many Windows users decided to upgrade from older versions of Windows to XP instead of Vista.

It would appear that Microsoft’s marketing strategy to improve Vista sales is to “innovate” its foolish customers away from XP and to Vista “for their own good” until Windows 7 can be brought to market sometime in 2009. Of course, if we’ve learned anything from history, it’s that Microsoft never delivers on schedule.

So if you’re one of the folks unhappy with Vista, you might want to grab a copy of XP while they’re still readily available. Or better yet… (Nope, I won’t even say it.)

Aviary is a suite of web-based applications for people who create. From image editing to typography to music to 3D to video, there’s a tool for artists of all genres. It’s an image editor, similar to Photoshop, but different.

The latest addition to the already popular suite is Dodo, a web-based time machine. Still in Beta, it does some amazing things sure to impress creative professionals.

According to the Web site, the application will allow you to age and de-age people, places and things from any browser with Flash 9 enabled, and is incredibly simple to use: Just upload an input picture, choose between different settings that might affect the aging process (i.e. amounts of alcohol and tobacco consumed), set a year and hit “generate”.

Aviary sees a market opportunity across several mediums beyond graphic design, from tracking down long missing children, to determining if a girlfriend will end up looking like her mother.

To access Dodo, sign up for an Aviary account at http://a.viary.com. If you already have an account, log out and back in to see it appear in your tool list.

To see Dodo in action, watch the video demo below.

Aviary won’t disclose the technology that makes all this possible, but we believe it’s akin to magic considering the timing of the launch.

Here are a few of the things that slipped through the proverbial cracks this week but are still worth mentioning:

TechCrunch has two separate reader reports of a phishing scam targeting Facebook users. The scam involves a notice appearing on the wall of user profiles as a message from a friend saying, “Hey, I got a new facebook account. I’m going to delete this one, so add my new profile…” with a link that appears to direct to the new profile but actually directs to a URL on view-facebookprofiles.com, a domain registered (and whois protected) on Namecheap and hosted at Softlayer that looks identical to the Facebook login page. Users fooled into resubmitting their Facebook details on this page then have their Facebook accounts hijacked and all of their contacts receive a similar message, propagating the phishing scam. It’s not yet clear what the phishing scammers are planning on using the compromised accounts for or how far it has spread, but beware…

Adobe has launched a basic version of Adobe Photoshop available for free online. Photoshop Express will be completely Web-based so consumers can use it with any type of computer, operating system and browser. According to Yahoo! News, Adobe says providing Photoshop Express for free is part marketing and part a strategy to create up-sell opportunities. It hopes some customers will move from it to boxed software like its $99 Photoshop Elements or to a subscription-based version of Express that’s in the works. More…

Remember Apple’s Newton? It brought handwriting recognition to hand held computing years ago but never quite found its niche market. Well, Apple’s kept its patents viable and now seems poised to reintroduce it for Mac OSX, other applications and the iPhone according to a report by Arnold Kim for Mac Rumors. “Apple has started hiring for a new Handwriting Recognition Engineer. The job description specifically seeks someone who would be responsible for ‘advancing Apple’s handwriting recognition technology for Mac OS X’ and ‘to other applications and the iPhone.’”…

There you have it. I’ve cleared my desk and I’m taking the rest of the week off.

Steve, a systems engineer, sent me this humorous illustration dealing with the elements of project design and installation from the different perspectives of everyone involved…

 From Shannon…

Peter Russell has created what he calls a World Clock. Using statistical averages, it keeps track, to the second, of world population, barrels of oil pumped, the earth’s temperature (it leans toward the theory of global warming), cars - and bicycles - produced, internet users and access points, and more. Select either year, month, week, day or “now” and the clock shows running totals for that period.

Russell acknowledges that the actual numbers cannot be precise, but says the rates of change are what’s most interesting. Take a look; it’s fascinating!

According to my good friend and local cigar aficionado, Michael D, this little freeware program, called Wirenote, sits in the notification area (bottom right) of your desktop and allows you to create to-do lists, notes, reminders and messages and more. Reminders can make sounds, shake the screen, even turn off your computer. If you still can’t remember your anniversary, you need counseling!

There’s a learning curve, Michael says, but it isn’t too bad. This is apparently a Russian program, so the English instructions are a little awkward. (Well, how good is your Russian?) Check it out. You need never forget anything again!

He also recommends WinDirStat, a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Microsoft Windows (all current variants) that shows your hard drive’s files graphically, making it easier to find the space hogs crowding your hard drive. Each file is shown as a box with its relative size corresponding to the size of the file. The boxes are even color-coded.

So, if you find yourself wondering which files are consuming the most hard drive space, this freeware gem might be just the ticket for some summer house cleaning.

This warning comes via Michael. Apparently, unscrupulous hackers are trying to trick businesses into downloading a harmful MS Word document. The e-mails purportedly come from the Better Business Bureau claiming that a customer has filed a complaint against the business and that you should open an attached document supposedly outlining details of the complaint.

The Word document is mislabeled with a PDF extension. Embedded in the document is a keylogging program. It records data from the victim’s computer and uploads it to a Malaysian server. In February, the Better Business Bureau warned of a similar attack. However, the earlier attack directed recipients to malicious Web sites. If you receive one of these e-mail messages, don’t open the attachment!

D (D5 - All things Digital, The WSJ Executive Conference) is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. And a highlight this year was Steve Jobs and Bill Gates interacting on the same stage for the first time in 20 years.

You can read about the entire event on the D5 website which includes video footage, photos and more.

YouTube also has most of the Gates-Jobs footage posted in several clips, one of which follows below:

Read the various speakers’ presentations and transcripts to get an idea of what’s coming in the world of technology inovation. Watch all the Gates-Jobs clips if you’re a fan with time on your hands.