Neowin.net

Thanks Brad Wardell for this :)

Stardock has put out a new beta build of LogonXP (renamed LogonStudio).

LogonStudio is a freeware program that allows users to *create* logons for Windows XP as well as apply them. Stardock has created a standardized open format (.logon) to distribute their logons (rather than having to distribute the entire logonui.exe which is much larger and provides no protection for the author). .logon files contain the author and title information of the logon which should decrease ripping.

Also, LogonStudio makes it very easy to create your own logons. No resource hacker required. Just go step by step through the logon and change the bitmaps. It also comes with userID templates to make it easier to create logons with different layouts.

LogonStudio can load up logonui.exe's and extract the resources automatically into a directory to make it easier to modify and update them. It also contains numerous safety features so that if things go awry, you can easily recover from it.

With LogonStudio, you can create your own logons, load up logonui's, apply logons, and distribute your logons in a much smaller file that contains the author information. And all of this is free.

This is still in beta, more features will be added prior to 1.0.

Screenshot: LogonStudio
Download: LogonStudio 0.90

This is BETA software! Please use caution when installing it on your system.

An IBM spokesperson told BetaNews, "ECMWF's researchers will access Blue Storm via IBM IntelliStation workstations running Linux, while researchers throughout Europe will access the system over a wide-area network."

The comapny illustrated the power of Blue Storm by offering the analogy that it would take one person with a calculator almost 17 million years to tabulate the number of calculations that Blue Storm will handle in a single second.

The ECMWF receives funding by 22 European nations – representing a broader sampling of states than the European Union. IBM sees the adoption of its technology to predict and model weather in Europe as confirmation of its achievements in the realm of supercomputing. The company claims that this success is mirrored by the top 500 list of the world's fastest computers and recent IDC market research data.

According to a study completed in 2000, IDC shows IBM as having a 40 percent share of the market.

Peter Ungaro, vice president of high performance computing at IBM, told Betanews, "This announcement demonstrates IBM's leadership in technology with Regatta servers and the implementation of that technology in the largest supercomputers used for weather forecasting."

Ungaro went on to detail a list of benefits that Blue Storm would provide that includes more accurate weather forecasts for the general public and interest groups such as farmers – allowing Europe's citizenry to plan picnics or protect crops with fewer headaches.

Additional benefits allow focused severe weather warnings in the event of storms, tornados, and other emergencies. These alerts affect the public welfare in areas ranging from the issuance of evacuations to resource management, when energy producers swap power reserves in preparation for foul weather.