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Maybe they accidentally embedded the MyLifeBits http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/mylifebits/ software in WP7 and it's sending the results home.

This isn't true though. For example, CVE-2010-0840 is a Java hashmap vulnerability that has been used, in the wild. "A user only needs to browse to an infected webpage, and the exploit pulls down a series of .exe files" http://ics.sans.edu/diary.html?storyid=9916 http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Threat/Encyclopedia/Entry.aspx?name=Exploit:Java/CVE-2010-0840.A&threatid=2147640548

All government documents will now be saved in the "docx" format... on "the cloud"...

Haven't we already seen what happens when we let "private industry" meddle in technical standards?

It doesn't work like that.

Sooner or later, if DRM hardware is 'everywhere', then a big corporation can simply make it mandatory for some file format or protocol... for... ahem... 'security'.

This will instantly lock out any possibility of an open source implementation of such a protocol, as most DRM schemes require code signed by a trusted central authority, which is a concept in diametric opposition to the 'open' part of the whole concept of open source.

Without open source, competition will be reduced, prices will go up, and your options as a customer will be restricted.

There are other abuses possible also, most of which you may never see coming until it is too late.

For example, if Microsoft can convince the idiots running most big bureaucracies that their network isn't safe from hackers unless there's an end-to-end DRM on everything, then this will effectively lock out their smaller competitiors from having any hope of even physically talking to any other machine on such a network. It probably won't do anything to increase safety from hackers, but it will certainly make Microsoft safe from their competition! This of course will increase costs for bureaucracies, which come out of your taxes.

You think I'm joking? Microsoft already tried this, it's called Active Directory Rights Management Services Role. Sounds innocent, right? It's horrifying! It's pure evil, the ultimate lock-in: using military grade cryptography to ensure that their customers stay locked in forever, and cannot possibly get their own data out of the walled garden of Microsoft software. They even tried to change low-level network protocols to prevent their competitors from competing on the 'corporate network' with their offerings by implementing open protocols: Network Access Protection. If you don't know what NAP is, it's a system that does nothing a firewall couldn't, except that to gain access, you must have a DRM-enabled computer running an OS kernel that's digitally signed by... a trusted authority.

Microsoft is pushing hard to have this technology become mandatory in some scenarios, like health data. Can you imagine if you couldn't obtain your own health records if you had one of those filthy 'untrusted' Linux computers? It's a very real possibility, and Microsoft wants it, bad.

I'm not making this up, check it out: Using Digital Rights Management for Securing Data in a Medical Research Environment.

To put it another way: This is not a feature Intel is including for free, out of the goodness of their hearts, just in case you want it. It's about increasing profits of the biggest corporations not just at your expense, but at the cost of your rights and freedoms. How does this not upset you?

It doesn't work like that.

Sooner or later, if DRM hardware is 'everywhere', then a big corporation can simply make it mandatory for some file format or protocol... for... ahem... 'security'.

This will instantly lock out any possibility of an open source implementation of such a protocol, as most DRM schemes require code signed by a trusted central authority, which is a concept in diametric opposition to the 'open' part of the whole concept of open source.

Without open source, competition will be reduced, prices will go up, and your options as a customer will be restricted.

There are other abuses possible also, most of which you may never see coming until it is too late.

For example, if Microsoft can convince the idiots running most big bureaucracies that their network isn't safe from hackers unless there's an end-to-end DRM on everything, then this will effectively lock out their smaller competitiors from having any hope of even physically talking to any other machine on such a network. It probably won't do anything to increase safety from hackers, but it will certainly make Microsoft safe from their competition! This of course will increase costs for bureaucracies, which come out of your taxes.

You think I'm joking? Microsoft already tried this, it's called Active Directory Rights Management Services Role. Sounds innocent, right? It's horrifying! It's pure evil, the ultimate lock-in: using military grade cryptography to ensure that their customers stay locked in forever, and cannot possibly get their own data out of the walled garden of Microsoft software. They even tried to change low-level network protocols to prevent their competitors from competing on the 'corporate network' with their offerings by implementing open protocols: Network Access Protection. If you don't know what NAP is, it's a system that does nothing a firewall couldn't, except that to gain access, you must have a DRM-enabled computer running an OS kernel that's digitally signed by... a trusted authority.

Microsoft is pushing hard to have this technology become mandatory in some scenarios, like health data. Can you imagine if you couldn't obtain your own health records if you had one of those filthy 'untrusted' Linux computers? It's a very real possibility, and Microsoft wants it, bad.

I'm not making this up, check it out: Using Digital Rights Management for Securing Data in a Medical Research Environment.

To put it another way: This is not a feature Intel is including for free, out of the goodness of their hearts, just in case you want it. It's about increasing profits of the biggest corporations not just at your expense, but at the cost of your rights and freedoms. How does this not upset you?

Looks like this experimental keyboard from Microsoft.
https://www.microsoft.com/appliedsciences/content/projects/uist.aspx

Is that the same Office as I get on my desktop installation CD? No?

If you're asking this question, then you have, apparently, not even seen the video with the announcement. The thing demoed on stage (at 54:00) on an ARM netbook looked exactly like Office 2010. So unlike Office:Mac or Pocket Office (or whatever it's called these days), it's not a rewrite. It really is the same app, running on a different platform, but with the same feature set. There's no comparison between the two.

Do I even really need to argue why? How would it feel even remotely close? How well will you feel what you touch or even more important that you're hitting the right key?

Since black look like trash:
* Microsoft Ergonomic 4000
* Unicomp SpaceSaver 104/105

Shitty quality of the first one but nicest typing experience so far. Don't really know if I want a straight keyboard any more. Not nice for the wrists.

Delete all Crapware.

Yours In Vancouver,
Kilgore Trout, C.I.O.

That's a different exploit. The new one at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2490606.mspx affects the graphics rendering engine, the one you linked to http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2488013.mspx refers to CSS.

That's a different exploit. The new one at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2490606.mspx affects the graphics rendering engine, the one you linked to http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2488013.mspx refers to CSS.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2490606.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-media-center/netflix.aspx

Why are so many Linux/Mac people so incredibly ignorant when it comes to Windows?

It doesn't work all that well on low-end hardware or virtual machines

Really? I deployed Windows 7 to over 300 Dell Optiplex 520's with 2 gigs of ram - thats a 5-6 year old machine and it runs just fine. Even supports Aero with the integrated video display. On virtualization - you may have me there, but I doubt it. Typically I wouldn't recommend booting Windows 7 on a VM with less than 1 gig of ram at a bare minimum.

Every time you deploy an image you have to manually re-register the thing with Microsoft so it doesn't disable itself

Wow - ever hear of waik (the windows imaging toolkit?) or volume licensing?

Still no decent backup system

Like the built in Windows Backup? Last time I used it - it did actually allow me to restore an entire machine from an image it made and it worked. For enterprises there are tons of of options to backup Windows - like SCCM.

XP Mode is buggy and compatibility in general is bad (especially in the 64-bit versions)

Really? I've only had to use it once, but I got it to run an old Windows 3.1 app just fine and the customer (staff at a community college) was happy with the results.

Still no EXT3/EXT4 (or any Unix-type), Large FAT or GPT support

Uh... yeah there is > http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/gpt_faq.mspx

Limit of 2 physical processors? Really? It's easy to get 4 processors in a box these days with 8 cores each especially in the academic world

Really? http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee52/skuldchan42/hwmonitor.png - screenshot from my old skulltrail machine - thats 8 PHYSICAL cpu's running Windows 7.

Full Disk Encryption requires TPM chips which are missing in just about any system these days so you still have to go into a 3rd party solution.

Again - not quite. You can use full disk encryption with regular user authentication. But seriously - the only machines that don't support TPM are pretty ancient - like Pre-Celeron 1 GHz cpu...

You still have to download a virus scanner, there is none built-in nor is the OS self-contained enough to be used without one.

The only accurate statement in your entire post, but then - does OSX or Linux come with a virus scanner? And please don't say they don't need one because there aren't any OSX or Linux viruses/rootkits.

For the last decade Microsoft stock has been dead money. No growth.

Hardly dead money, Microsoft have paid out a dividend on their shares every quarter since the end of 2004 (which is as far as the linked dividend history goes back)

Apple on the other hand haven't paid a dividend to their stock holders since 1995.

So if you own Microsoft stock you are paid actual cash money every quarter. If you own Apple stock you then it has gained in value so it has made you money in theory, but you don't actually have any more money in practice unless you sell the stock.

Both situations are beneficial to the stock holders but there is a big difference between cash in your pocket and an increase in share price.

"Dropping $300 on every processor generation Intel makes is a waste of money. If you got that much to spend, buy a more expensive CPU and keep it a generation or two longer. It not like it goes broke just because it's not the newest toy anymore, you know."

True, but why do I need to buy a new motherboard too? LGA 775 lasted from 2.6ghz Pentium 4s until 3ghz Core 2 Quads. Socket 939 came out in 2004 and was used from 1ghz Athlon 64s to 3.2ghz dual-core Athlon 64 X2. These sockets lasted through several CPU generations without change.

My real complaint is Windows Product Activation freaks out when you install a new motherboard. more more. I've lost more data changing motherboards than I have changing CPUs, hard drives, video cards or all other hardware combined. Upgrading a motherboard is an all day process, since I have to dig the old motherboard out and put the new board in and deal with Windows issues and drivers.

Swapping out a CPU is as simple as popping off the heatsink and changing cpus.

"Hurray, you belong to 1% of the market. "

great statistic, where exactly did you get that 1% from? Do you seriously think only 1% of PC users dislike upgrading motherboards?

I'm a devout Linux/Mac user that has to support Windows 7 for a living. I can say that it's a dog.
- It doesn't work all that well on low-end hardware or virtual machines

That hasn't been my experience at all. The only times I've experienced any vitrual OS being a dog the issue was hardware-related -- CPUs not supporting VM extensions or insufficient physical memory. I've run Win 7 on my Atom-based netbook with no problems, although it does have 1GB of RAM. Vista on the same system would barely let you log in. I've run Win 7 with great success on older hardware, although you did need to disable Aero. Just like I've had to disable compiz or use xfce instead of Gnome, too.

- Every time you deploy an image you have to manually re-register the thing with Microsoft so it doesn't disable itself

You're doing something wrong. Win 7 Ent can be deployed with WDS with no problems, IMX. Are you trying to use disk-based imaging (cloning) instead of file-based images that MS supports (WIM)? Are you not using the Enterprise SKU?

I've not done anything with VHDs, though, so I can't speak to any problems there.

- Still no decent backup system

Agreed. Although the presense of Previous Versions (aka, shadow copy aka copy-on-write-like behavior) has been quite welcome.

- XP Mode is buggy and compatibility in general is bad (especially in the 64-bit versions)

Been lucky enough to not have to mess with the ACT. Nevertheless, XP Mode is only necessessary to support software which was poorly coded in the first place. This problem is as much Microsoft's as poor hardware support due to proprietary drivers is Linux's.

- Still no EXT3/EXT4 (or any Unix-type), Large FAT or GPT support

What do you mean no large FAT support? It will mount large FAT32 volumes just fine. You just can't format them larger than 32GB using the built-in tools. If your problem is inter-OS compatability, though, this is rarely a problem. Just format the partition in a different OS. Otherwise just use NTFS.

There are a number of wonky work-arounds for ext3/4 filesystems (ext2read, booting a Linux-based VM, using an ext2 driver in read-only mode, etc.), but there aren't any good solutions. I don't see how this is a common problem, or even Microsoft's problem.

- Limit of 2 physical processors? Really? It's easy to get 4 processors in a box these days with 8 cores each especially in the academic world

That's a limit of 2 processor sockets, and either 32 cores (32-bit) or 256 cores (64-bit). That means that yes, you can get your workstation with Dual six core Xeons if you want to. If you seriously need more hardware than that, buy a Server SKU. You're already dropping at least $10,000 USD on hardware for such a system. The cost of the Server SKU is going to be negligible.

AFAIK Redhat sells RHEL on a per-socket basis. Additionally, you can't even get a Mac with more than 2 processor sockets. Not even a server. They do not exist.

- Full Disk Encryption requires TPM chips which are missing in just about any system these days so you still have to go into a 3rd party solution.

Maybe you should spec your hardware to meet your needs instead of blaming the OS for not being magical? If you need true full disk encryption then you should be aware of that when you buy your systems.

Additionally, BitLocker does *not* require a TPM; it's just not as secure: "By default, BitLocker is configured to look for and use a TPM. You can use Group Policy to allow BitLocker to work without a TPM, and store keys on an external USB flash drive; however, BitLocker cannot then verify the early startup components." -- See "What works differently?" http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725719(WS.10).aspx

GPU accelerated desktop

Which one? GDI was hardware accelerated in Windows XP, but they threw out all that in Windows Vista and introduced window composition. We got nice transparency and no tearing while moving windows around, but much slower file browsing and awful tearing when resizing windows.

Windows 7 WDDM 1.1 brought back some GDI hardware acceleration but it still much more CPU intensive than XP. I look forward to a new PC that is as fast at regular file browsing as in Windows 7, as my previous PC was in Windows XP. A high end sandy bridge arcitecture CPU in late 2011. And maybe one of these new 120hz LCD monitors.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff729480(v=vs.85).aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToFgYylqP_U

- The ASUS VG236H was my first exposure to 120Hz refresh displays that aren’t CRTs, and the difference is about as subtle as a dump truck driving through your living room. I spent the first half hour seriously just dragging windows back and forth across the desktop - from a 120Hz display to a 60Hz, stunned at how smooth and different 120Hz was. Yeah, it’s that different.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3842/asus-vg236h-review-our-first-look-at-120hz

I am serious and you are wrong. I don't have a clear idea what you mean about space and power due to programmability. FPGAs are soft coded hardware. If by the nature of being able to code it and change it you mean "overhead" then fine. But even with that overhead, they are still more efficient. You might be thinking of raw speed instead of FLOPS/Watt.

From "A Comparative Study on ASIC, FPGAs, GPUs and General Purpose Processors in the O(N^2) Gravitational N-body Simulation
"

"In this paper, we describe the implementation of gravitational force calculation for N-body simulations in the context of astrophysics. It will describe high performance implementations on general purpose processors, GPUs, and FPGAs, and compare them using a number of criteria including speed performance, power efficiency and cost of development. These results show that, for gravitational force calculation and many-body simulations in general, GPUs are very competitive in terms of performance and performance per dollar figures, whereas FPGAs are competitive in terms of performance per Watt figures."

And look at http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/130834/ISVLSI_FINAL.pdf Check Fig 8. This is from Microsoft et al, and they say the FPGA is the iteration per joule winner. CUDA came in last from the processors measured.

Sure thing GPUs doing backprojection--FBP, Cone beam, or some iterative methods) are similar to CT is usually used for. MRI--not so much. MRI is a memory intensive application, not a computation application, and performance tracks with memory latency, not OPS. GPU's have very fast memory architecture. That doesn't mean it's all good. They are all the rage at medical conferences but alas, the long term viability is not there. They are great for research and for researching algorithms but for long term support? No thanks, I'll pass until the junction temperature is lower than the surface of the sun.

Maybe you're confusing speed with FLOPS/Watt? It's the "per Watt" that changes the playing field.

In addition, your three points:
1.) What will go wrong? If by go wrong you mean harder to program, you're right. If you mean they are more prone to fail, mmmmmm, I'm not sure why FPGAs are used in embedded military avionics applications over CPUs and certainly--most certainly--GPUs.
2.) Run hotter than an ASIC? Depends on the fab. It should be cooler..
3.) I don't know if you're serious on this point. I have a Virtex 5 with DSP slices on my research desk and with it running full tilt I can easily touch it and it does not have a heat sink. Try even running a GPU without a heat sink.

I know the mailbag post (TFA) is dated yesterday but the author links to his windows phone secrets blog - one dated December 6th. Since he's known about it for almost a month now, I wonder if anyone has tried suggested possible fixes given in the comments of the secrets blog.

1. In Settings->Feedback there is an option to “Use my cellular data connection to send feedback” I turned this off! But still have send feedback enabled.

Another issue, also linked to earlier in the comments, says:

WiFi is turned off when the phone sleeps. This is by design, in order to preserve battery life.

The exception is when the phone is plugged in to a power source. In this case, WiFi will remain ON (if it was on when the phone goes into standby).

Given the large burst of data mentioned in TFA:

On December 23rd I turned on airplane mode so my phone could no longer send data. I turned airplane mode off briefly on December 23rd and the phone sent 400 MB of data.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is "feedback" data being built up and sent "home" - however it's a bit confusing that turning airplane mode on/off on the same day, if not a typo, would increase the amount of data by 10x.

Incidentally, if anyone out there has suggestions on how to reliably test for race conditions, please speak up.

It's not easy but I have had good luck with pretty simple load generators and having the system put in random (from very long to zero) delays in the processes. Find lots of race conditions (short delays) and poor or missing interlocking (long delays).

I've had good results using a similar scheme, but with slightly more intelligent delays. The idea is described here, but the basic approach is to first set breakpoints on some subset of your memory accessing instructions, and then when those breakpoints fire you calculate the address which they're accessing and set a watchpoint on that address, and then stall the thread which hit the breakpoint for a few milliseconds. If the watchpoint fires then you have a race, and otherwise you clear all the watchpoints and run a bit further. Every so often, select a different set of instructions to install breakpoints on. That seems to be much more effective than just blindly inserting delays wherever, and it also gives you a pretty strong hint as to which precise instructions are timing-dependent.

Unfortunately, MSR, who originally came up with the technique, didn't release any code, but it's something which any half-way competent C hacker should be able to knock together in a few days, and I've put my implementation up at https://github.com/sos22/ndc.git; it's hardly robust, but it should get you started.

I guess Google just needs to join the "freedom to innovate" group at Microsoft, after all as Steve Ballmer said in his article in the wall street journal:

But we never dreamed that competing vigorously and innovating rapidly would make us a target for lawsuits inspired by our competitors. While we'd rather just build great software, Microsoft is standing up for a fundamental principle on which the entire high-technology industry is built--the freedom to innovate and create competitive new products that better meet our customers' needs.

there's so much cool stuff from MSR it's not funny.

however, one the best things IMHO is the Z3 theorem proover and related projects such as Pex and http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/specsharp/.

Check out their online game Pex4Fun.

there's so much cool stuff from MSR it's not funny.

however, one the best things IMHO is the Z3 theorem proover and related projects such as Pex and http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/specsharp/.

Check out their online game Pex4Fun.

[Control in New Super Mario Bros. Wii would map to] five or six buttons. WASD, two mouse buttons, and the mouse itself take care of all of it.

But once you get someone on Luigi, Yvan, and Wolley, you end up with twenty-four buttons. Boop, boop, boop. It's uncommon to see a PC platformer designed for two to four USB gamepads; platformers are "for consoles." And it's even more rare to see a game designed for multiple keyboards or multiple mice connected to one home theater PC; the Raw Input API is too obscure.

No, I mean anonymous types. Things as simple as:

var v = new { Amount = 108, Message = "Hello" };

The Java and OOP Nazis have been trying to kill GOTO for years

It depends on what kind of Nazis. C# still has it, for one, even though it came long after Java (and is otherwise similar).

MS had a wonderful bug that would stuff random dumps of your hard drives data into their files.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q139432/
"documents created in these programs may contain extraneous data from previously deleted files. This extraneous data is not visible within the document and does not affect your ability to use these programs normally. However, it is possible that legible portions of previously deleted files may be viewable if you examine these document files using Notepad or file-utility software. "
ie "[Word] ignores the logical end of file and includes the entire contents of the final disk sector in the file."

According to the RIAA:

Digital revenues have grown from nearly $200 million in '04 to $2.3 billion in '07 (estimates for '08 - $3 billion), accounting for 25 percent of all retail value revenue (upwards of 30 percent at end of '08).

That gives us a 2008 estimate of 12 billion dollars in revenue for retail sale of music. Presumably for the RIAA, who "create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States". So a total of about $14.2 billion in revenue.

Now, obviously we also need to take the MPAA into consideration. Again, using 2008 numbers:
Ticket sales grossed about $10 billion. And since quite a lot of people seem to claim (and no, I have no source handy) that home video sales is about the same as ticket sales, then we're looking at around $20 billion in 2008.

Apple's revenue for 2008 in the Americas was $14.5 billion. Granted, that's a larger geographical area than RIAA's numbers, but then again Apple is a relatively small company in the IT landscape.

How about some of the bigger fish?

IBM reported revenue of $103.6 billion, and pre-tax profit of $16.7 billion.

So, the movie and music industry combined gets up to around $35 billion in 2008 in the US.

IBM (world wide) - $103 billion
Apple (Americas) - $14.5 billion
Google (world wide) - $21.8 billion
Microsoft (world wide?) - $60.4 billion
Oracle (world wide?) - 22.4 billion
Dell (world wide?) - 61 billion

Seriously - why the fuck are the IT giants just turning their back on the complete and utter gang rape on things like the Internet, when most of their products would die off the moment it stops working the way it should.

Just buy out the fuckers, boot the executives, lawyers, assistants etc. from their penthouse offices (literally boot them out over the balcony) and just kill off these massively debilitating parasites.

What a load rubbish. What is your justification for that?

They are Microsoft

Ah yes, the ostrich approach. Stick your head in the sand and ignore all the evidence that doesn't match your prejudices.

Manufacturers cancelled non-Windows development believing that users will like "Windows" on those devices or, more likely, as a result of pressure from Microsoft.

And you know this because... Ah wait, don't tell me. They are Microsoft. Just blind speculation again.

The original iPAQ ran Pocket PC 2000, which was the 3rd generation of the mobile platform. Compaq had plenty of time to see what the OS was like before committing to the product. I am sure that they thought that it suited their needs. And none of your rampant speculation sheds any light on their capacity to write portable software.

Nobody outside Microsoft knows how much of this was portable code and how much of it was each hardware architecture splitting into its own branch of code.

You could always go have a look at the Windows 2000 code that was leaked to the Internet, or ask someone who has access to it through the Microsoft Shared Source Initiative.

The fact that non-Intel platforms all disappeared strongly indicates that it was mostly the latter in the end

It seems more likely to me that it would be simplifying 3rd party drivers and applications that would make standardizing on one architecture desirable. Plus the fact that there was never any great demand for the non-Intel versions anyway.

http://office365.microsoft.com/en-US/online-services.aspx would probably work.

well, since it might be hard, clearly they shouldn't try to get into a platform that is very likely to see much of the mobile market.

or maybe they already thinking about that:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=30092C39-22D1-4585-8E17-003C1ED00C49&displaylang=en

MS is actually getting their shit together. Maybe you should buy a clue?

A good application wouldn't allow a user to create a "weak" password. It would check that it had X character, a few upper cases, some symbols, some numbers

Because Abc123. is a great password? And users will never write down complex hard to remember passwords that they have to change frequently?

Trying to make up for a poor authentication method by externalizing a burden upon users of the software is bad design. Kind of like the plumber who designed your house's piping saying... "Oh, by the way, make sure to always keep a pan under this sink and periodically dump it outside. Otherwise it will fill up with water seeping from the sink's drain pipe."

And then somehow claiming when the pan overflows that it's the user's fault, not bad plumbing.

I would suggest you go read So Long, And No Thanks for the Externalities: The Rational Rejection of Security Advice by Users. and listen to Security Now, Episode #229

it would also disable the account after the user failed to enter the password a few times, completely eliminating the ability to brute force the passwords.

Because legitimate users always remember their strong passwords perfectly never typo their strong password a few times?

Because bad guys never take advantage of account lockout mechanisms to annoy the legitimate user?

I wasn't talking about students -- I was talking about Microsoft's lowest cost Office package available to everyone, which name is Home and Student edition, and why I said "Home and Student edition", not "Office Professional Academic Edition".

That edition is a completely different beast, and not available to non-students, or all students for that matter.
If you don't qualify, or if you need more than one license, Office Professional is $500 -- more than many paid for their computer and operating system.
In which case, it would make more sense to just buy Outlook at $140 if all you want is Outlook.

Or look elsewhere for a more reasonably priced program.

I remembering Microsoft distributing Outlook 98 for free. Now you don't even get Outlook with the Home and Student edition, but have to fork over some major cash. The problem is that people do so, instead of using an e-mail client instead.

http://www.microsoft.com/student/office/en-us/default.aspx Erm... you do get Outlook with the student version...

As individual users move towards OO, small businesses move towards OO. As OO gets more common, more people feel like OO is an acceptable option. You see where I'm going with this.

Nowhere fast.

If your employer is part of Microsoft's Home Use Program then your personal copy of MS Office Professional is a $9.95 download for Windows or the Mac.

[U.S. - The price will be about the same, localized for just anywhere eles in the world. DVD media is available]

Microsoft Office Professional Academic is $80 direct from Microsoft with student ID.

There are better deals to be had through your school.

MS Office Home & Student - for Windows & the Mac - remain comfortably in the top five or top ten software bestsellers at Amazon.com. It's unlikely you'll find a PC game other than Scrabble or Oregon Trail in the top one hundred.

Retail sales of MS Office are the tail the wags the dog.

Getting Started with Open Office .org 3: OpenOffice.org 3.0 by the OO.org team is #67,694 in books at Amazon.com.

Amazon.com stocks 742 books on Microsoft Office 2010 products alone.

49 books on OpenOffice.org, all versions, all topics.

As a student, I got my Office 2010 Professional for only €69 through the Ultimate Steal: http://www.microsoft.com/student/office/en-us/default.aspx
We also get Visio, Project, OneNote and much more for free through MSDNAA. Can't compete with that!

You won't have to worry about MS License police deciding that you're not (any longer) qualified for the student discount and should pay $x0,000 in license fees and penalties.

Then just claim you're a home user.

You are aware that it's Home and Student Edition , not just Student edition?

Of course, this is ignoring MS's policy that you only need to be a student when you receive their software and can continue using it afterward. This applies to things like Windows, Visual Studio, etc... that are available through MSDNAA and DreamSpark.

I think it is more about resource optimization than encouraging piracy and fighting OpenOffice. In several years it seems Office suite would move to the cloud where is no need for such anti-piracy measures at all.

It's always been my experience that the only people that use MS Office are employees required to use it. I rarely see home users go out and actively purchase MS Office unless it's for business use. In short, corporations don't pirate software nearly to the same degree as any other group. Besides, why bother with GA scheme when you can rely on the eyes and ears of a disgruntled employee to rat out their previous employer? Hell, it's easy. Just visit http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/reporting/default.aspx

How many counterpoints does it take to repudiate this way of thinking?

My grandfather grew up in a tiny town in Kansas, uttelry poor. He was deeply affected by the personal irresponsibility and subsequent failure of his own fathers farm. He went on to serve in WW2, then work at Dow chemical, developed multiple patents, and "retired" as an organic chemistry teacher at a small college in a small midwestern town. He attended the University of Nebraska.

My dad was born into this situation -- small midwestern town, modest teacher's salary. My dad showed an outrageous aptitude for mathematics at an early age. He also attended the University of Nebraska, and exited with a BS Math in 3 years, and was the youngest american in history (at that time) to pass all the actuarial exams and become an FSA. He was one of the early integrators of software into actuarial work and about 10 years ago developed a derivatives-backed hedging software that manages an atrocious amount of money.

He is atrociously wealthy and lives quite modestly. He raised me as a single parent.

And then we get to me. Lest you think I am the product of priviledge and connection, I went to exclusively public schools and ate school lunch. I rode the bus and wore sweatpants and velcro shoes -- because they weren't a hassle for my dad to help me shop for.

Certainly I had advantages that other kids didn't have -- my dad was exceptionally fair and honest, instead of some kind of shithead alcohoilc, and if it was related to educational excellence, he spared no expense. And so we always had computers in the house, and I was able to attend summer camps for academically meritous kids (although those programs all have scholarship options, which my dad also contributed to to help other kids get the same leg-up).

And so when it came time to consider university, I had already been working in the ISP business as a highschooler, and we made some calls to industry recruiting departments asking about the impact of school name on hiring undergraduates.. and found that for CS, there really wasn't much impact.

And so I went to the University of Nebraska -- like dad, like grandpa, on a full scholarship, and now have an engineering position at Mirosoft, where I work with many other people who went to better (and worse) universities, and came from richer (and poorer) backgrounds.

So here is my dissent: People who are bright and work hard get ahead in this country -- and they do so more often, and get farther ahead, than any other country anywhere else (except perhaps in such countries where the bright are recruited for government, and where government is more obviously omnipotent than it is here).

There is certainly a near-closed group of wealthy families with wealthy kids and their wealthy colleges. But those people are irrelevant to me, and in the real world. The only time they _Become_ relevant is when they get government jobs... which is why I'm somewhere between libertarianism and anarchism... to nullify the harmful coercion of the wealthy back-patters _completely_.

Yelling sour grapes in this country about how you are born into a caste is bullshit. Especially in the software industry! How many garage-millionaires has this industry created?

If you have time to complain about class and caste, work harder. People who _have_ wealth do not keep it unless they are successful at identifying the new generation of hard working talented people can help them build the next big thing. There is no such thing as the myth of the "rich person who buries money in the ground". They have to put that money to work to keep or grow it, and that's where you come in.

My team at Microsoft is hiring. check http://www.microsoft.com/careers/

No, I can't make you CEO. But you'll get to do hard work and you'll be very well paid.

It says "$8.64 US per user or per device, per year" on this page. It's not free, but it's far from horrible - although the paperwork to purchase your first licenses could be a bit insane for just $100.

"How is "dual booting" a solution?"

For the same reason that Peter Paul makes Almond Joy and Mounds, or people dual boot Windows and Linux: Sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't ;-)

It seems like silverlight on linux isn't a problem:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/sep07/09-04silverlightpr.mspx

http://ostatic.com/blog/microsoft-brings-silverlight-2-to-linux

I'm surprised that some smart person out there hasn't already hacked something together, maybe even by rooting and reverse-engineering a Roku.

Lame troll is lame. How many boxes do YOU repair in a week? I average about 6, sometimes more when I've not got so many builds in progress. And I can tell you that without a shadow of a doubt that socially engineered attacks account for a HUGE amount of infections and is in fact growing rapidly. try looking up "Security Tool 2010" or "Rogue AV 2010" and looking at the numbers these things are racking up. As home users slowly move away from XP to Windows 7, which has file and registry virtualization, ASLR and DEP, and which you can even easily add Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection , the low hanging fruit is increasingly becoming PEBKAC. I can tell you I see socially engineered bugs spreading a hell of a lot faster on newer OSes than I do anything else, whereas with XP it is still drive bys thanks to running as admin. As XP dies out this problem will only be getting worse.

Now I don't recommend IE OR Chrome to my customers, as I don't like the data mining in Chrome and have had bad luck in the past with IE, if MSFT can get 99% of the social engineered bugs blocked, along with someone cooking up something like ABP for IE 9? Then I'll be happy to recommend my customers use IE over other browsers. I'm already starting to get pissed at Mozilla for refusing to support low rights mode in Windows 7 even though this tech has been out since 07 simply because Linux doesn't have it. Chrome mines waaay too much data for my taste, so that leaves Comodo Dragon and IE. Does anyone know of a good ABP for Chromium based browsers? Or an ABP for IE 9? Because in the end ABP will be the deciding factor for me and my customers. If IE 9 can block 99% of the social engineered attacks while I can block ad based attacks with an ABP clone then it is a no brainer to switch. I just wish the Mozilla team wouldn't act like asses and refuse to support a technology that would help protect so many simply because it isn't supported on a platform that doesn't need the damned thing anyway.

Actually no, I was referring to the fact that the NSA helped in the development of Windows XP, Vista and 7... all publicly. It's not even a secret. They were also involved privately in 95 and 98.

Is Google really that hard to use?
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9141105/NSA_helped_with_Windows_7_development

"Working in partnership with Microsoft and elements of the Department of Defense, NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide without constraining the user to perform their everyday tasks, whether those tasks are being performed in the public or private sector," Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's information assurance director, told the Senate's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security yesterday as part of a prepared statement.

That's this document. In other words, NSA helped with the Windows documentation, not Windows development

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called 'alternative sexuality', which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to paedophilia.

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:

• Linus Torvalds is an anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman, spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox is barely an anagram of anal cox which is just so filthy and unchristian it unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for secondary rim and cord in my arse. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail, which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for 'Felch Male' -- a disgusting practise. For those not in the know, 'felching' is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into 'e-male.'

As far as Richard 'Master' Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following: 'I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance,' he says. 'It's about being able to question conventional wisdom,' he asserts. 'I believe in love, but not monogamy,' he says plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo slut!

Speaking about 'flaming,' who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. To quote from the article linked:

'I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis in the cinema, Jon? And letting the other boys touch it too?

We should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as 'Slashdot's resident Gasbag.' Is there any more doubt? For those fortunate few who aren't aware of the list of homosexual terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra (or to use the common parlance, 'piss-pipe'), then his homosexual lover blows firmly down the straw to inflate his scrotum. This is, of course, when he's not busy violating the dignity and co

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called 'alternative sexuality', which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to paedophilia.

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:

• Linus Torvalds is an anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman, spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox is barely an anagram of anal cox which is just so filthy and unchristian it unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for secondary rim and cord in my arse. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail, which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for 'Felch Male' -- a disgusting practise. For those not in the know, 'felching' is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into 'e-male.'

As far as Richard 'Master' Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following: 'I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance,' he says. 'It's about being able to question conventional wisdom,' he asserts. 'I believe in love, but not monogamy,' he says plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo slut!

Speaking about 'flaming,' who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. To quote from the article linked:

'I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis in the cinema, Jon? And letting the other boys touch it too?

We should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as 'Slashdot's resident Gasbag.' Is there any more doubt? For those fortunate few who aren't aware of the list of homosexual terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra (or to use the common parlance, 'piss-pipe'), then his homosexual lover blows firmly down the straw to inflate his scrotum. This is, of course, when he's not busy violating the dignity and co

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called 'alternative sexuality', which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to paedophilia.

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:

• Linus Torvalds is an anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman, spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox is barely an anagram of anal cox which is just so filthy and unchristian it unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for secondary rim and cord in my arse. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail, which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for 'Felch Male' -- a disgusting practise. For those not in the know, 'felching' is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into 'e-male.'

As far as Richard 'Master' Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following: 'I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance,' he says. 'It's about being able to question conventional wisdom,' he asserts. 'I believe in love, but not monogamy,' he says plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo slut!

Speaking about 'flaming,' who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. To quote from the article linked:

'I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis in the cinema, Jon? And letting the other boys touch it too?

We should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as 'Slashdot's resident Gasbag.' Is there any more doubt? For those fortunate few who aren't aware of the list of homosexual terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra (or to use the common parlance, 'piss-pipe'), then his homosexual lover blows firmly down the straw to inflate his scrotum. This is, of course, when he's not busy violating the dignity and co

As I recall, LOIC is for use with Windows machines. If that's the case, the likely reasoning behind not using any identity-concealing techniques is Windows raw socket restrictions. They're flooding web servers, and TCP packets can't be sent with raw sockets, so there's not much else to do other than repeatedly open valid connections (from the Windows platform).