Windows is 25 Years Old

On November 20th, 2010, Windows will officially turn 25 years old. However, like us I bet you cannot remember it even being launched. This is mainly down to the fact that at that time in 1985, Apple and DOS were Kings.

Windows version 1.0 was Microsoft's graphical rival to Apple's IBM graphical front end and was used as the front end to its own DOS system.

How far we have come and advanced since - considering now that Windows is basically the be all and end all system for PCs, with over 90% of the desktop market. With Windows XP being the most used version at the moment and Windows 7 selling over 240 million licences in little more than 1 year.

For more information on Windows turning 25, please check out this article on PC Advisor.

Remembrance Day

Google UK pays tribute to the heroes past and present with an icon of the Poppy on its home page.
Here at XP Web Services we too remember those who have fallen and those who survived, along with the ones still keeping us safe and our democracy alive. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.
Thank you.

For anyone wishing to make a donation to the British Legion.

Ask's Search Engine Has Been Retired

Ask.com has now officially shut down its search engine. Instead opting to focus on its own question and answer service - which they went back to in July of 2010. See our previous blog post about that here.

Instead they are going to be using either Google's or Bing's search results and dedicating their staff and engineers to the Question & Answer service.
According to New York Times the website will be re-branded as "Ask.com - What's Your Question?".

A move which sees Ask join the multitude of websites and search engines offering the question and answer service, of which Google has seen fantastic results for - and who will no doubt keep the crown of the best search provider. But where will Ask.com fit in? Only time will tell we guess.

Since its creation in 1996, Ask has employed hundreds of engineers and staff members across America & China, however with the recent downturn over there, they have had to lay off many members of staff and this new move sees them having to consolidate staff into its Bay Area HQ. This will mean staff and engineers across America and China having to relocate to the Californian HQ office.

Thanks to the New York Times for the original information in this blog post.

Google Doodle - 115th Birthday of The X Ray

Today's Google Doodle celebrates the 115th birthday of the X Ray, originally discovered by scientists around 1875 but actually credited to Wilhelm Röntgen in 1895. This discovery & accreditation actually earned Wilhelm the Physics Nobel Prize in 1901 & of course changed science, medicine & physics for the rest of mankind.


Read more on this on the Guardian's website.