According to those who have got their hands on betas of SP3 for XP and SP1 for Vista, there is no noticeable improvement to speed with Vista SP1, while XP SP3 gives roughly a 10% speed boost. Allegedly.

If this turns out to be the case when the patches are released, then it is rather ironic that Vista, with its reputation for being a tortoise of an OS, is not getting a much needed performance boost. XP on the other hand, hardly needs it.

We at PC Plus will reserve judgement until the final thing is in our hands.

For anyone with a modest interest in Science and Technology, this was a corker of a program last night. Michio Kaku, an actual Physicist (unlike many presenters who know sweet FA) took viewers through the big emerging technologies. Fusion Power, Nanotech, Superconductors, Bioengineering, etc.

The problems with developing each technology, the potential they hold and the problems they may cause were looked at thoroughly, in easy to understand language but not dumbed down.

According to some of the professors, the rate of technical change is doubling each decade, a bit like Moore's law but for technology as a whole. And apparently, the next generation of tiny robots will be able to travel into the human body, controlled by computer. They also pointed out that nanotech is working towards a "molecular assembler", just like in Star Trek, that can assemble objects from atoms captured in the environment.

It's worth wearing a sceptical hat for some of the program, but if it gets a repeat (hey, this is BBC4), watch it.

Wishlist 2007 is a brand new annual awards event from the team behind Windows Vista: The Official Magazine, and by taking part, you could win a fantastic prize. Prizes include digital photo frames, MP3 players and more.

As we look back on the first year of Windows Vista, we want you to pick the best products of 2007 – and if you tell us what you think the products in the shortlist, you’ll have a chance of winning some great new gear to enjoy in 2008.

Through a scientific process of arguing and shouting, the Windows Vista Magazine team has narrowed down its favourite products of 2007 to six per category. Now you can pick the absolute best: take a look at the categories at Wishlist 2007 and choose which one gets your vote.

It's not strictly legal, or legal at all actually. But it works, according to my mate Dodgy Dave. Approximately 24hrs after pirates and hackers got their grubby mits on Apple's latest OS, they had it cracked, patched and working on standard Intel hardware. Until now, the only way to get Mac software working on any old generic PC was via a virtual machine. But running inside your existing OS install is not going to yield decent performance, so until the recent breakthrough, MacOS on a PC was more experimental than of any practical value.

The benefit is obvious. You can run Mac software without having to pay over the odds for Mac hardware. Ever since Apple switched from IBM Power PC chips to a standard Intel architecture, it has bugged me how a Mac's hardware is identical to a PC's, but you pay a huge premium to have the Apple logo on it. I dont care what any Mac zealot says, or how great the software is, Apple's hardware division is no different from Dell's or HP's.

Apple can't just release updates to 'brick' people's OS installs and have the problem go away. There will be workarounds, and a lot of people out there running Mac software that haven't bought a Mac. But while some may suggest that the best way to deal with this problem is sending anyone who has just put the Leopard install CD into their PC off to Guantanamo Bay, this is a taster of how Apple could really overtake Microsoft as the most popular operating system vendor in the world.

Just unlock the MacOS software, so we can legally install it on any PC. Now Microsoft would have something to worry about. If a truly user friendly (ie not Linux or BeOS) alternative to Windows was bundled with PCs, Windows market dominance could wither away. Most people point to Apple losing money over their hardware sales as a reason not to do this, but in the long term, a level playing field is the best way to compete. How many people would buy the software and install it, to either dual boot or replace Windows? Legions, I'll bet. The short term loss of profit would be offset by the spike in software demand, and a greater installed user base would mean more developers and applications written specifically for the Mac.
And people would still continue to buy Apple hardware.

It makes sense to me. Microsoft would need to raise their game a lot. And Apple would have truly reached the point of maturity from niche to mass market.

The BBC has just put up a story with musings on why Microsoft paid $240m for a mere 1.6% stake in Facebook.

You can read that here

The only one I agree with is the last point. Facebook is worth that much because Microsoft says so. And they made this move purely to counter Google, who already have the lion's share of the web advertising market.

But here are some reasons Facebook isn't (or shouldn't be) worth $15bn

1. Pirates, Vampires and other really stupid applications

Actually the Beeb cited this as a good thing about Facebook. I hate these applications. They are stupid. And because of the way Facebook is set up to invite every friend you have to use the application when you install it, I get about twenty of these every day.

2. The massive growth in users may be short lived

I admit I am no economist, but those 50 zillion users who joined Facebook in the last year are not necessarily going be be 'loyal customers' in the future. Steve Balmer may be right, Facebook could be a fad, and people will move onto the next big thing in 2008.

3. Nobody clicks on adverts anyway

Any company is worth as much as its revenue, either current or projected. Facebook currently have zero forms of revenue other than advertising, either traditional banners or sponsored surveys, without the benefit of being able to easily tailor advertising for the content of the page. Oh and those stupid virtual gifts. It's hard to think how they could come up with additioal revenue streams.

4. The FriendsReunited problem

FriendsReunited was like Facebook v0.8 Alpha. When it first appeared, there was a rush of people joining, all desperate to find out what their old flame from school looked like now, etc. But once you have joined Facebook, added everyone you remember from the old days to your friends list, what is left to do? After not seeing someone for ten years or more, you most likely don't have a lot to talk about, you do the typical exchange of wall posts, comparing size of family and career success, but usually they may as well not be on your friends list, share little in common with you now and they definitely won't be interested in your daily status updates.

5. Privacy

It hit mainstream news headlines over the summer, but Facebook's default privacy options leave your photos and personal details open for the world to see. You have to turn on privacy rather than turn it off. It's made more complicated that you may have set your details as private, but those in your network can still view them. Why not just have security at maximum by default, so it's your decision to share your personal details rather than having to hide them?

So really, this $15B valuation says more about Microsoft's desire to prevent Google from capturing more of the advertising market than it does about the real value of Facebook.

Now we are nearing the end of 2007, my dual core, DDR2 PC is almost a year old. It's time to throw that ancient dinosaur (2006 - so long ago) into the nearest landfill and replace with an eighty core DDR3 beast, powered by plutonium alone.

But before I click the 'confirm order' button, is it really worth it? DDR3 is undoubtedly faster, but have a good look at current memory pricing. On Scan, the cheapest 1GB sticks of unbranded 800MHz DDR2 memory are 18.79 (including VAT). Absurdly cheap. Cheaper than any DDR1 sticks. You can now buy 4GB of ram for less than £80. This time last year, that would have set you back around £400. It seems manufacturers kept hold of last years price tags and just clipped them onto their new DDR3 sticks, for 4GB of the cheapest DDR3 is priced at £420.

One of the first rules in the computing world is that memory prices are volatile, but I have never seen such a rapid drop in price. Urban legend (which means probably a complete lie) is that whenever China wants to raise global memory prices, they simply aim a missile at Taiwan, and in the resulting chaos you pay more for a new PC. Well, they must have had a different agenda for their arsenal this year, because prices are 80% less than they were.

There are plenty of reasons for this flooded market. Vista requires approximately 10TB of RAM just to get past the login screen, but it hasn't sold as well as some had hoped. Then there is the problem of needing an entirely new platform for DDR2, which means most adopters will be those who buy a new PC.

But what if I had this choice one year ago, and I wanted to upgrade my single core computer that I replaced last year? Would I choose a superbly performing and future proofed DDR3 system or well performing and stupidly cheap DDR2 system? I'd probably go for the latter, and the remainder of my disposable income could instead be spent on something more healthy than computer equipment.

Of course I secretly want a new DDR3 system. So I am hoping that this by time in 2008, the story will repeat itself, with a stick of DDR3 costing next to nothing. Memory manufacturers probably aren't.

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This competition is now closed