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Holy crap! That has to be the worst browser interface I've ever seen. Awful color scheme, buttons everywhere, three different input bars (one for searching, one for addresses, and one for "shopping"?; worse, the most important bar, the address bar, is too small to show even the domain portion of a normal URL, and is not in a properly prominent position), funky menu positioning (by putting the menu in the title bar, I suppose you can no longer grab that part of the bar to drag the window), etc. Netscape really needs to invest in some competent UI designers ASAP.

Jesus, that screenshot is like the browser version of my grandfather's "retirement shirts". Except, only if he lived inside Spencer's Gifts, and was a science fiction drama from 1963, and had ADD. And rabies.

As of February 28, Windows users who purchased their PC will no longer be able to reinstall without calling Microsoft and answering a series of questions.

So this won't apply to stolen PCs?

http://www.betanews.com/article/Judges_Scold_FCC_O ver_Broadcast_Flag/1109095315/

Judge scolds FCC, score one for the good guys.

Dear Martin Taylor,
Microsoft makes a number of software applications including Microsoft Office -- applications that store user data in many different file formats. Recently Microsoft announced that it had made several of its MS-Office XML file formats open. But it is unclear how "open" these file formats are.

Could you please answer the following?

1) Which file formats are open?

2) When there was a clarification about the licensing of the microsoft formats, Jean Paoli said "We are acknowledging that end users who merely open and read government documents that are saved as Office XML files within software programs will not violate the license." What does that mean? Can OpenOffice.org create files in these formats?

The licensing terms for these formats are really confusing. Could you please release them under something simple like the Distribution Terms on the Xiph codecs like Ogg Vorbis[1] ?

3) Does Microsoft agree that storing data in non-proprietary, open file formats is beneficial?

I've heard that open file formats would make interoperability between different programs on different operating systems much easier. I've also heard that open file formats would mean that it would be easier to recover archived data in the future -- because all you'd need was the file and the file format. Would you agree that this sounds like a good idea?

4) On the website for the Office 2003 XML Schemas, you state "The Schemas provide developers and representatives of business and government a standard way to store and exchange data stored in documents."[2]

But unfortunately only certain versions of Microsoft Office support the XML formats. In fact, many people out there are using Office 97, Office 98, or Office 2000 -- none of which support your XML format. In order to make your formats viable for information interchange, would you:

• add XML support to older versions of Office (the versions you still support) ?
• Make "saving to XML" the default for all versions of Office you ship?

To be honest, I don't believe that Microsoft will answer these questions. But this is what I think needs to happen so that the Microsoft XML formats can be open standards for office formats.

Because if Microsoft doesn't want to step up to the plate and make the their formats the defacto standard, the OpenDocument/OASIS formats are ready to take that place.


[1] http://xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/
[2] http://www.microsoft.com/office/xml/default.mspx

Spokespeople for your company have been mentioning 'open formats' and 'interoperability' recently, and Microsoft's superiority therein.

Why do you believe that it is easier to standardise and interoperate across a range of hardware and software platforms with closed, patented document formats such as those used by MS Office rather than open, free (as in speech), soon to be ISO standardised, XML formats such as those used by OpenOffice?

http://www.betanews.com/article/Circuit_City_to_Ca rry_iPod_Shuffle/1107889065Link to a BetaNews story about it...
No, I've never linked before. :\

ummmmm the next version of netscape will be based on firefox (that is if it's ever released) with some sort of active x worked into it Here's Beta News on the story again

According to the BetaNews Article Officials said the actual risk of a system compromise was fairly low. So the question is, what did the sysadmin see that prompted him to shut the system down?

Why? Only he can say for sure, but possible reasons could be:

• distract the public from trying Linux or other Free or Open Source Software, or at least delay them.
• distract the public from real open document standards
• distract policy makers from the fact that WordML is still closed
• distract home users and businesses from OpenOffice.org
• distract everybody from FireFox, Mozilla and Opera.
• distract the public from ongoing Windows security failures
• distract investors from the fact that MS has halved research and development
• distract pundits from Longhorn's list of features getting shorter and release getting later
• distract home users from the Mac mini
• distract investors from the EU anti-trust case
• distract businesses and lawmakers from the VC-1 codec
• distract European businesses from the software patent threat
• ... etc.

A9.com Finds Promotion in 'The O.C.

On this week's episode of Fox's wildly popular "The O.C.," which has become a primetime showcase for up-and-coming bands and current trends, A9 makes its debut among teens with three words: "I A9.com'd him." (View the clip on Google Video)

Amazon says it did not pay for the television placement, and was pleasantly surprised by the exposure.

"This placement was not paid for by A9.com or Amazon.com. We didn't even know it was going to air," A9.com CEO Udi Manber told BetaNews. "We do think it's great to see this happening though, because it shows people like the experience A9.com offers and that they are telling their friends and family about it."

If you are really interested in downloading it, you can download it from FileForum as the main site is down.

But please beware. It does constain spyware!

As stated in their privacy policy:
The ads appearing on the Exeem.com Web site and within eXeem(TM) application are delivered by our web advertising partner, Cydoor. Information about users of eXeem(TM) and Exeem.com, such as the number of times they have viewed an ad (but not user name, address, or other personal information), is used to serve ads to users. If you would like more information about Cydoor, please visit. Ads that might appear outside Exeem.com and eXeem(TM) application are Opt-out ads, that you have a chance to uninstall. Outside Exeem.com and eXeem(TM) application is eXeem's Toolbar LookSmart.

How much did Creative pay you to write that ad?

Nothing, why, do you think I could get a few quid if I asked them nicely? I like the iPod, I like the Zen Xtra a little better. Hardly a big deal, it isn't a holy war you know.

Have you seen the giant piece of FUD the Creative CEO is trying to spread?

Apple have made a decision to go for larger flash storage than is currently normal (but will be normal within the year based on previous year's trends), but have chosen to have no screen.

Screenless flash based players are indeed tech that was abandoned by everyone else several years ago. How is that FUD?

If they don't know the CD they've ripped particularly well, most people I think would like to see what the name of the track they are currently enjoying is, something you can't do on a shuffle, but can on any alternative cheap flash player out there. With a gig of space, that is a lot of songs to memorise the name of.

I don't know, maybe it is a feature that people aren't bothered about and so it won't harm shuffle sales. Time will tell.

if Creative still *exists* in 18 months, I'll be surprised.

You are probably the only one who thinks that. Creative have been in the audio electronics business for 2 decades. They aren't going bust any time soon. They appear to be getting good press. The Zen Photo just took best audio to go at CES. Based on the last quarter's sales, they are estimating 45% growth this year. Hardly the estimates of a company about to go bust...

Looks like that ain't the only thing he stole. Read third post from the bottom: Dmitry Boldyrev

After reading TFA and following a few links, I came to this page: http://www.betanews.com/article/Death_Knell_Sounds _for_Nullsoft_Winamp/1100111204 and encountered the stinging accusation that Frankel may have not been the original inventor of Winamp in a comment. I wonder if this has any truth to it? Here is the comment verbatim:

"When you read this, please understand, that this is by any means no complain, but expression of my emotions trying to bring some truth to the internet community about events that took place which have been hidden from public. Although, this may read as some sort of conspiracy, this is a true story, how history really happened.

Let me begin stating that my life for the past 5 years was hell.

Truth is, Justin didn't invent WinAmp. Actually Justin Frankel is a liar, but he paid me (Dmitry Boldyrev) off to not say anything. The reason why I had to take the gag and not bring the case, which I intended to do at the time, was because I was poisoned (but who did it? hmmmmmm good question, I am still trying to figure that one out) and couldn't deal with court proceedings. For the past five years I was in hawaii trying to deal with the poison, breathing it out of my body. Try day long meditations, Mr Frankel, maybe it will bring you a better understanding of the world surrounding you. Or I guess you're not interested in the truth, the money has blinded you completely. Sure, having few millions in the trust account you probably have a different view on the world.

I would like to share what I have done with the money that I received from the miniscule settlement that I received.

1) Started a vegan restaurant in Hawaii, which was rated #1 by PeTA this year

2) Helped many musicians

What do you have to show for your millions, Mr Frankel? Yes, we've heard about your love for cars. Is this best you can do? Lets not mention your guitar playing skills, because I dont know how many people are laughing behind your back.

Before I begin, I'd like to introduce the reader to the fact that I am very sad for this country, and result of its so called elections. It just shows to me that democracy isn't happening here. The result of my history of events that took place in my life, I am starting to question, the very reason why AOL bought WinAmp. My realization led me to believe that AOL needed WinAmp to establish control over media on the internet, music media and radio media in particular. I've met a guy (right hand man of Steve Case @ AOL) Dave Cole?, nice guy actually. Interesting, at his lecture he kept referring to people as software, maybe he needs a break from his work and learn to understand people on more personal level.

As I was so closely involved, nobody even asked me about Nullsoft sale to AOL. I guess they never considered me anything more than a stupid russian who we can f*** over as much as possible. But personally, I always considered myself a 50% cofounder of Nullsoft (any thoughts on this, Mr Frankel?). So is this the American tactic that we keep hearing about, invite people from other countries, rip off their ideas, enslave them, use their ideas and talant to make money, and then take it off shores to further enslave everyone around? Long live WTO?

So, now to the story: what TRUELY happened with the whole WinAmp thing.

I met Justin Frankel at CADE lab at University of Utah in mid 1997 where we both attended engineering school. He was at the time interested in computer graphics, working on Plush 3d gfx engine. Goruraud shading, nothing too fancy. I guess it was quite fast. I was an old-skool music demo coder person. In 1989 I discovered Scream Tracker for PC, which inspired me to write music software, and ever since I've been amazed by computer music, which led me to creation of first gui mp3 player-MacAmp. Beforehand, I wrote many other music-players (for PC and Mac), like MacMik

As I was so closely involved, nobody even asked me about Nullsoft sale to AOL. I guess they never considered me anything more than a stupid russian who we can f*** over as much as possible. But personally, I always considered myself a 50% cofounder of Nullsoft (any thoughts on this, Mr Frankel?). So is this the American tactic that we keep hearing about, invite people from other countries, rip off their ideas, enslave them, use their ideas and talant to make money, and then take it off shores to further enslave everyone around? Long live WTO?

So, now to the story: what TRUELY happened with the whole WinAmp thing.

The "expert" estimates on spam percentages do vary. But one thing seems pretty clear. CAN-SPAM hasn't perceptibly reduced the flow of junk email since it went into effect 1/1/2004. That's why I have suggested that Congress seize a simple way to put some teeth into the law. Give U.S. citizens a right to private action. Why save the privilege of suing spammers just for ISPs, attorneys general, and the FTC?

Hey guys, Wow. My first post at /. I have been reading /. for approx 5 years now.

Here are some links for the download since the download link at university seems to be down.

I got these from the Paint.Net official forums.

http://www.wsu.edu/~rolo/PaintDotNet_2_0.msi
or
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/PaintNET/1096 481993/1

Nanda Somarajan
OMS I (That's right, 1st year Osteopathic Medical Student)

Home Page:
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu.nyud.net:8090/paint.net/

Download Link:
http://www.wsu.edu.nyud.net:8090/~rolo/PaintDotN et_2_0.msi

and betanews link:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/PaintNET/10 96481993/1

"In addition, a new "anonymous mode" clears all history and cookies upon Netscape's exit." from BetaNews

"Using Safari's new privacy feature, no information about where you visit on the Web, personal information you enter or pages you visit are saved or cached. It's as if you were never there." from Tiger Preview.

My ny new rad c00l Firefox plugin will change that for sure. I stole the idea from AOL. :)

...they are beta testing a new IE based browser.

It wasn't long ago that AOL decided to kill Winamp. Now they have decided to breathe life into Netscape. Interesting turn of events ...

One can only hope the bulb lights up and they switch to the excellent Gecko engine in the next version of the AOL browser. Many a web developer would raise a toast to that.

Of course, when TechTV asked users what features they'd like to see in IE, the most asked for features were tabs and popup blocking. The real reason IE doesn't have tabs is because it's just too darn hard for Microsoft to add, according to an MS Windows Exec!

Agreed! In the mean-time, I've been using Thundertray to launch and minimize Thunderbird from the Windows system tray. http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/1063659252/1

Thundertray does this quite nicely.

Cool, if someone incorporates a Speex decoder, I'll buy one.

I'm sure you know this already, but in case you don't, there are two players that will play Real files fine, Jet Audio and Real Alternative. I don't know if they're legal or not, but they've both been around for a long time. Jet Audio is a pretty good media player.
Jet Audio
Real Alternative

Your point is still valid of course. I'm not sure how these two play Real files but I'm sure Real doesn't like it.

Just don't get caught like Young Mikey did

Just p2p all the Longhorn code a few days after its out.

That should do nicely. Hmmm juicy.

I'm concerned that it is just another centralized database of information. At least with Passport you don't have to worry about their database being bought by Microsoft.

At Identity Commons we intend to give people full control over their personal profile information, including not only who has access to which parts under what circumstances, but also where which parts of it are stored. If you don't trust any of the "banks" you can store it under your virtual mattress (if that's where you keep your server, though it might get kinda hot under there).

The free and open source code base is built upon two new OASIS XML standards, Extensible Resource Identifiers (XRI) which add (among other things) persistence and cross references to URIs, and the XRI Data Interchange (XDI) spec which enables a "dataweb", much like URIs enable a "document web". The coolest part of XDI is the concept of Link Contracts, that enable fine-grained access control over profile data while simultaneously recording the details that both parties agree to (and electronically sign) before any data exchange takes place.

While we're still a month (or more) from announcing, we have enjoyed some good initial exposure.

BTW: we're looking for people to play with the (pre-alpha) software (it's on SourceForge and there are even some CPAN modules) and help us bring it to the next level.

Get Quicktime Alternative. You'll never have to use Apple's piece of shit player ever again.

There is also a Real Alternative..

Get Quicktime Alternative. You'll never have to use Apple's piece of shit player ever again.

There is also a Real Alternative..

Virtual PC 7 (for G5's) was supposed to be out already, but has has been pushed back to the 2nd half of 2004, which also caused the delay of one edition of Office 2004 for Mac. You can also subscribe to microsoft's mactopia newsletter (at the bottom of the page) to be informed of the release of VPC 7 for Mac.

Hopefully xvid.org will be back up soon... if you want to download 1.0, you can get it from FileForum: http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=1043 648426

You mean like this?

To this point in Microsoft's history, they have done NOTHING that I can think of out of the kindness of their hearts. Everything can be written up as enough to get by with as much money as they can take from customers and carry to the bank.

I can think of two things:

1.) Supporting a $100 O.S. for 6 years with official updates and patches. Quite a deal, one that you certainly won't see from redhat.

2.) Allowing pirated copies of windows XP to install service pack 2. A clip from the article: "Microsoft group product manager Barry Goffe told ComputerTimes that [...] it was more important to keep user safe than to be 'concerned about the revenue issue.'"

~Will

There is even a program that does this for you, and gives you information about each plugin:

Adobe Reader Speed Up
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=1069 854583

Real player is absolute crap IMHO. It's annoying to get, it blasts the user with ads and likes to annoy the user by sitting in the task bar, it's slow, bulky and has a horrible and intimidating interface. I liked Real Player's first interface (I'm assuming it was their first as I ran it on my 486.)
Despite this, I don't think Real is going anywhere for a while... channels like 'em too much.

I use Real Alternative with media player classic now. So much better.

Here. Free, works in full screen, no spyware or adaware, no crap, lovely.

Also of note HP has licensed Apple's iPod, so add one more player to the market. (albeit a iPod clone as far as I can tell). HP will use iTunes so there will still only be one software player, but from what I can tell iTunes wipes the floor with WMP when it comes to managing and playing my music on both my Macs and my PCs.

You might want to do your own research before accusing others of not doing it.

XNA is seen as Microsoft's coming successor to DirectX. It's basically a media framework that will be common for the PC and the coming Xbox 2, and thought to replace DirectX. Tools that already exist and are used in Xbox game development will become available for Windows developers and vice versa. With over 20 game and middleware developers already showing interest in this coming technology that was very recently announced, things do look a bit brighter for us PC users as companies will likely have an easier time poerting the games for the different platforms.

This will obviously not help Linux gamers much, but I was planning to continue using my Windows PC as a gaming platform anyway.

You're confusing "as reported in a previous /. article" with fact. Apple has flat-out stated that the iPod will NOT play WMA files (though that could be because as you state it is disabled), and the HP iPod will not play them either. Helpful links refuting your claim can be found here and here.

for those afraid of their keyboards and prefer the use of a mouse, click This

The leak came from a Microsoft partner, Mainsoft. The partner's access to Microsoft source was given long before Microsoft started their "shared source" program.

BetaNews has the details.

According to BetaNews, a company called Mainsoft is to blame. They allege that Mainsoft had access to the code in order to develop their Visual MainWin tool giving developers the ability to write Linux and Unix apps from within Visual Studio.

Mainsoft specialise in cross-platform development, enabling devlopers to develop using MS tools for deployment on *nix. Interestingly, for the conspiracy theorists, their previous mentions on /. date from 2000 and center around rumours that they were porting Office and IE to Linux. More news on the leak from Internetnews.com and The Register.

The code is said to be W2k-SP1.

C&P for your convenience..

Yesterday's Windows source code leak tracks back to long-term Microsoft partner Mainsoft, according to Betanews. An analysis of the code finds numerous references to Mainsoft's MainWin product, while a post-crash core dump file provides a possible smoking pistol pointing to a Linux machine likely to have been used by Mainsoft technology director Eyal Alaluf.

Mainsoft tells the world that Mainsoft has unprecedented access to Microsoft Windows source code enabling the industry's highest level of Windows compliancy on Unix - quite.

The company was one of two Unix-Windows interoperability specialists which had access to Windows source code under the WISE (Windows Interface Source Environment) programme, the other being Bristol. This three-cornered relationship and the circumstances which led Bristol to mount an antitrust suit against Microsoft are covered in possibly excessive detail here. But the rise of Linux and its growing perception by Microsoft as the threat means that almost four years on this old argument is acquiring renewed relevance.

As regards yesterday's escape, the circumstantial evidence would point to it having been an everyday story of cockups among coding folk. Companies licensed to build products via access to Windows source code are going to be using Windows source code, and it seems inescapable that they are going to put this source code on machines in order to use it. Prior to Microsoft deciding that source code was so darned important and secret that it was going to make a big deal of letting people look at it and spin it up into a Linux countermeasure, source code was just stuff, and we very much doubt Mainsoft staff felt the need to don bunny suits and submit to strip-searches prior to working with it.

You work with other people's source code because you have a need and a licence, and if you don't have a licence you don't work with it, because what you've used will show up in the products you build and you'll get fingered and sued. And if you are offered unlicensed access you're smart not to even look at it, because simply knowing how the stuff works compromises your ability to produce products independently, and renders you difficult/dangerous to employ in the relevant field.

That is why source code tends not to leak - it is not because it's kept in a big safe, no matter what Microsoft's marketing people tell us to the contrary.

Back at the partner with the source code licence, time passes, machines with the code on board change users, change owners, people lose track of where they put all the darn copies, what happened to the darn machines until... oops. It meets someone who knows what it is and they post it.

If this supposition is even partially right then we presume that the someone in question is at least aware of the possibility that it might be possible to construct an audit trail based on where a particular PC went, and that they could therefore find themselves in some considerable trouble over the matter. But as far as the rest of us are concerned, it's important to hold onto the fact that this leak is only important because Microsoft claims its source code is hugely important secret sauce/coke formula.

Whereas it's not really, it's just stuff, and not all of the stuff either. There's an outside chance it could give you information about how you could screw up the world's Windows installations, but the world's virus writers appear to be doing that splendidly without recourse to source access, and carrying on without such access is probably quicker than trying to benefit from it. Finally, this is very important: If you propose to continue working in the IT industry, and somebody offers y

Here is the right link: Windows Source Leak Traces Back to Mainsoft

Eek. url fixed

BetaNews has more, including comment code.

One comment had "who cares" written in reference to a bug. Others even had curse words. There are references to codenames throughout. BetaNews saw references to Whistler (Windows XP), and believes that the leak may be post RTM for Windows 2000.