AfterTek

For weeks consumers have been waiting patiently to hear what Microsoft would be doing with Windows XP. Would they be keeping or discarding it? The CEO for Microsoft - Steve Ballmer - has finally reached a decision this week.

While stopping far short of announcing a major rethink over the venerable old OS’ June 30th death warrant, he certainly appears to have his hand hovering over the lever in preparation for a bit of handbrake turn action. “XP will hit an end-of-life. We have announced one,” he told Reuters yesterday. “If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter, but right now, we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments.”

College students lhave very busy lives. They juggle full-time school with part-time or full-time work making it very hard for them to do much of anything else. So what do students do when it comes to eating?

Most don’t like to live on ramen and water. Megan Carle sums up the dilemma of college cooking as follows: “Very little equipment, very little cooking experience and very little money.”

With consideration for each difficulty, she and her sister, Jill, both students at Arizona State University, tried out recipes adapted to their lifestyle. The result, College Cooking: Feed Yourself and Your Friends (Ten Speed Press, $19.95), is a must-pack, along with the fry pan and the blender, for those going back to college or starting this year.\

Several major participants in the home mortgage market have agreed to adopt a set of principles for how they will be dealing with homeowners with high-priced loans who face possible foreclosure. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., had urged such voluntary action by mortgage lenders and other players two weeks ago when he set up a meeting of their officials and federal regulators to discuss possible solutions to the crisis gripping the market for high-risk secured loans. Such industry initiatives are preferable, in Dodd’s view, to any government bailout to cover mortgage loans in default.