Today marks the end of an era. Microsoft will officially stop selling its hit OS, Windows XP, today. Sure, you can still get it via a shady OEM PC through Dell or HP but for the rest of us who just want a boxed copy, we’re out of luck. The move comes as Microsoft looks to shift its customers over to Vista, which I’m pretty sure no one enjoys using except gamers with mind-blowing systems using it only for DX10.

You can still get full technical support for XP through ‘09 and limited support until - wait for it - 2014. Yup. Six years from now and probably two flavors of Windows later, businesses will still be using XP and getting kernel panics.

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Wow, who would have known that designing your own sound card would have been this cheap and easy? A low amount of parts, easy-to-read schematic and no need for drivers make this USB-based sound card a steal. The card is powered via a 16-bit Stereo Digital-to-Analog Converter. I have a subtle understanding of what that actually does, but if you can solder, who cares.

After a few hours at Radio Shack and a few more spent at the workbench, you’ll emerge a new man with a new sound card. Go ahead and try it out in XP or Vista as it’s driverless just like many M-Audio and Griffin products. It might not hurt to throw your finished product in a case though.

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Rumor has it that everyone’s favorite OS is making its way to the OLPC XO this year. According to reports, testing is to begin in June to determine if Windows XP is a viable solution for XO laptops. If all goes well, you could be picking up an XO laptop by September.

The existing OS, Sugar Linux, will not be wiped out of the picture anytime soon, much to Microsoft’s dismay. A dual-boot solution will be created and buyers will be able to choose which operating system they’d prefer. I feel that putting XP on these laptops is a great idea. Plus, if you don’t want to use Vista yet, this is about the only computer you’ll get with XP still installed on it.

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The only people I know that enjoy black licorice had seven root canals last year. That aside, for the few who do enjoy the taste that black licorice has to offer and are really into the computer thing, there’s the Control+Alt+Delete licorice from the fine folks at CtrlAltDel.org.

The bold taste of black licorice coupled with the three-fingered salute!? Genius! With Fathers Day coming up, this is a tasteful way to remind your dad to get you that new FragBox you’ve been eying.

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Those of you who run Linux might still experience falling asleep at the monitor with your command terminal running. The steady blinking of the cursor can be hypnotic, but sleeping at the desk is about as ergonomic as sleeping on a pile of stones. Art Lebedev Studio has whipped up an ode to the days of DOS commands with the DOS pillow.

Relive the days where you would wake up to the DOS screen, still giving you command syntax errors, despite the fact that you pressed the same command 400 time, hoping for a different result. Get your own for $36. — Andrew Dobrow

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Microsoft’s software sales must be lagging pretty bad if they feel it’s needed to enter into the junk food business. We already were witness to the Microsoft Soda rage, but when exactly did they start releasing ketchup-flavored potato chips in Egypt?

Ketchup Windows Chips can only be washed down with a large swig of Natural “Talking Rain” flavored Windows Soda. Mmm, snackware. — Andrew Dobrow

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Microsoft has announced they will be testing out the One Laptop Per Child device with Windows XP, sexing up the current Linux based system. Microsoft hasn’t announced how likely an official Windows version of the OLPC XO device will appear, though if tests are successful we can expect a better idea by the second half of 2008.

Adding XP to the XO device would no doubt pump the price of the OLPC project over the sub-$200 price range already selected for the campaign. How much over is the question. If Microsoft can add XP at a moderate price it might be worth the compatibility, though if the price is even raised by $100, the whole process would be meaningless, as the price would be higher than many families could afford. Especially with even cheaper devices in the works. — Andrew Dobrow

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Type the word “virus” into the search field on the Apple site and you get an interesting result. The word “Windows” pops up with a sly looking smiley face, telling you that you’ll love Apple.

Steve Jobs has always got a few sly tricks up his sleeve. All in all we think its just harmless fun rather than dirty tactics. If he wanted to he could just come out and say they are crap and throw it in our face. Oh, wait…hmm…those I’m A Mac ads were kinda nasty. — Andrew Dobrow

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Listen up, Vista owners. If you’ve been having any difficulty or pet peeves navigating through Vista’s media center, than the RC-MV01 from Elecom might be an attractive gadget to buy. The simple remote contains all the buttons you need to control media center “remotely”. — Andrew Dobrow

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Chinese phone companies are amazing, after ripping off Porsche they’re going after Microsoft today… but this time it really deserves some attention. First off it houses a 3″ QVGA touch screen in a 17mm thin body, booo Nokia. Secondly it has stereo speakers, booo SonyEricsson; but seriously we’re starting to feel sorry for Microsoft, their Vista sold only 244 copies and their UI was ripped off by Meizu, now we have this “Window” phone…

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