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Visual Studio Express is free.

Team Foundation Server is not a requirement for .Net programming. You can use any revision control system you want.

Biz Talk Server isn't directly for .Net development, but rather communication.

SQL Server Express is free.

Next time, troll harder please.

Natural Ergonomic keyboard (from Microsoft) http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=043

The best a man can get...

I agree. I use the Microsoft Natural® Ergonomic Desktop 7000. The mouse has caused my wrist pain to disappear. I have this keyboard and mouse combo at work and at home. Totally worth the price.

I am from Denmark and thus need three keys to type our three extra vowels.
The national danish keyboard layouts has gone around that by moving the [ ] ; keys to wierd Alt Gr positions.
That works well for most people, but if you are a java programmer you need your curly braces and your semicolons.

I fixed that by getting the US version of the keyboard. I then downloaded this program:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964665.aspx

And modified my layout so I was able to make the danish vowels Æ, Ø, Å in way that uses caps lock as an modifier.

you can type Alt+F2 (the SAME SHORTCUT AS WINDOWS) on Ubuntu and get a command line, too.

1) I think you're missing the point. Assuming alt-f2 even works for Joe's distro (which is quite a big assumption!), say "Joe Sixpack" is on the other end and says "his nephew installed leenooks for him" what do you tell them to type?

gnome-terminal? terminal? konsole? rxvt?

So same problem. Extra time and cost to support some moving target "fringe desktop OS".

2) Same as windows? Doesn't seem to work on my windows machine "alt f2" doesn't show any hits on site:microsoft.com while "alt f4" does. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449

As for pressing "r" being redefined in Windows, they can click on "run" instead. It's still there. Or if the caller knows what "windows key" means, "winkey+r" (but in real life I think more time would be spent trying to get them to find the winkey :) ).

Except there is no such thing as a left hand coordinate system. It's just plain WRONG.

Also, according to here, it says "Direct3D uses a left-handed coordinate system. If you are porting an application that is based on a right-handed coordinate system, you must make two changes to the data passed to Direct3D."

"*Sigh* The problem you haven't quite grasped the details so let me be as clear as possible here. Infolect/TradElect was LSE's TRADING system in that it processes transactions of purchases and sales. NASDAQ's MDDS system is used for REPORTING in that it messages to externals systems about the purchases and sales that have been made." - by UnknowingFool (672806) on Monday October 25, @03:55PM (#34016684)

Oh, really? Then, how do you explain the fact that MDDS is also used for BOOKING TRADES too (that means writing back to a DB mind you)?

See here, especially its title:

"NASDAQ Deploys SQL Server 2005 to Support Real-Time Trade Booking and Queries"

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/cs-financial-roi.aspx?pf=true

Also??

You had better refer to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwSM55bsCrM

Where Mr. David Lester, CIO of LSE, plus Mr. Robin Paine their CTO backed him. Both even said INFOLECT is LSE's Trade Data Dissemination system then... he said it himself there, take a listen/look in fact!

You are messing up, hugely...

APK

P.S.=>

"The overhead screens that you seen on the NASDAQ floor and scrolling bars are examples of reporting systems. When it comes times to actually book an order, NASDAQ uses Linux (The terminals that traders use)." - by UnknowingFool (672806) on Monday October 25, @03:55PM (#34016684)

You must LOVE "eating your words" because I put up contrary information from a reputable reliable source that shows MDDS DOING BOOKING OF TRADES (means it writes data to a db, not just reporting)... in my earlier posts, and here again, BELOW (read on):

---

"However you cannot use the overhead TV screen to purchase or sell orders; you have to use a terminal to do so. If you don't understand the difference between reporting and trading then there is no hope you'll ever understand any other points." - by UnknowingFool (672806) on Monday October 25, @03:55PM (#34016684)

What?? LMAO - Man, how long do you wish to continue looking badly like a liar or someone trying to cover their own mistakes here???

See the URL above, it shows QUITE otherwise, & from a reputable source(s) on both MDDS doing more than you say, in writes back to backing DB's & placing orders

"NASDAQ Deploys SQL Server 2005 to Support Real-Time Trade Booking and Queries"

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/cs-financial-roi.aspx?pf=true

AND ONCE MORE AGAIN:

About what the main man @ LSE even said about InfoLect http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwSM55bsCrM (their failed version of a transaction data dissemination vs. NASDAQ's successful trade data dissemination AND BOOKING system in MDDS)...

Both sources contradict AND DISPROVE your very words... with reliable sources!

I've been writing these types of systems professionally since 1994, believe you me, I KNOW what I am talking about, even without the backing URL's above as proofs to MY credit... so, please:

Do NOT try to "condescend" to me, when you are failing hugely at every turn here... apk

"*Sigh* The problem you haven't quite grasped the details so let me be as clear as possible here. Infolect/TradElect was LSE's TRADING system in that it processes transactions of purchases and sales. NASDAQ's MDDS system is used for REPORTING in that it messages to externals systems about the purchases and sales that have been made." - by UnknowingFool (672806) on Monday October 25, @03:55PM (#34016684)

Oh, really? Then, how do you explain the fact that MDDS is also used for BOOKING TRADES too (that means writing back to a DB mind you)?

See here, especially its title:

"NASDAQ Deploys SQL Server 2005 to Support Real-Time Trade Booking and Queries"

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/cs-financial-roi.aspx?pf=true

Also??

You had better refer to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwSM55bsCrM

Where Mr. David Lester, CIO of LSE, plus Mr. Robin Paine their CTO backed him. Both even said INFOLECT is LSE's Trade Data Dissemination system then... he said it himself there, take a listen/look in fact!

You are messing up, hugely...

APK

P.S.=>

"The overhead screens that you seen on the NASDAQ floor and scrolling bars are examples of reporting systems. When it comes times to actually book an order, NASDAQ uses Linux (The terminals that traders use)." - by UnknowingFool (672806) on Monday October 25, @03:55PM (#34016684)

You must LOVE "eating your words" because I put up contrary information from a reputable reliable source that shows MDDS DOING BOOKING OF TRADES (means it writes data to a db, not just reporting)... in my earlier posts, and here again, BELOW (read on):

---

"However you cannot use the overhead TV screen to purchase or sell orders; you have to use a terminal to do so. If you don't understand the difference between reporting and trading then there is no hope you'll ever understand any other points." - by UnknowingFool (672806) on Monday October 25, @03:55PM (#34016684)

What?? LMAO - Man, how long do you wish to continue looking badly like a liar or someone trying to cover their own mistakes here???

See the URL above, it shows QUITE otherwise, & from a reputable source(s) on both MDDS doing more than you say, in writes back to backing DB's & placing orders

"NASDAQ Deploys SQL Server 2005 to Support Real-Time Trade Booking and Queries"

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/cs-financial-roi.aspx?pf=true

AND ONCE MORE AGAIN:

About what the main man @ LSE even said about InfoLect http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwSM55bsCrM (their failed version of a transaction data dissemination vs. NASDAQ's successful trade data dissemination AND BOOKING system in MDDS)...

Both sources contradict AND DISPROVE your very words... with reliable sources!

I've been writing these types of systems professionally since 1994, believe you me, I KNOW what I am talking about, even without the backing URL's above as proofs to MY credit... so, please:

Do NOT try to "condescend" to me, when you are failing hugely at every turn here... apk

"*Sigh* The problem you haven't quite grasped the details so let me be as clear as possible here. Infolect/TradElect was LSE's TRADING system in that it processes transactions of purchases and sales. NASDAQ's MDDS system is used for REPORTING in that it messages to externals systems about the purchases and sales that have been made."

- by UnknowingFool (672806) on Monday October 25, @03:55PM (#34016684)

Oh, really? Then, how do you explain the fact that MDDS is also used for BOOKING TRADES (that means writing back to a DB mind you)?

Also??

You had better refer to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwSM55bsCrM where Mr. even said INFOLECT is LSE's Trade Data Dissemination system then... he said it himself there, take a listen/look in fact!

(He also appears to be "the main man" @ LSE on this no less!)

APK

P.S.=>

"The overhead screens that you seen on the NASDAQ floor and scrolling bars are examples of reporting systems. When it comes times to actually book an order, NASDAQ uses Linux (The terminals that traders use)."

- by UnknowingFool (672806) on Monday October 25, @03:55PM (#34016684)

You must LOVE "eating your words" because I put up contrary information from a reputable reliable source that shows MDDS DOING BOOKING OF TRADES (means it writes data to a db, not just reporting)... in my earlier posts, and here again, BELOW (read on):

---

"However you cannot use the overhead TV screen to purchase or sell orders; you have to use a terminal to do so. If you don't understand the difference between reporting and trading then there is no hope you'll ever understand any other points."

- by UnknowingFool (672806) on Monday October 25, @03:55PM (#34016684)

What?? LMAO - Man, how long do you wish to continue looking badly like a liar or someone trying to cover their own mistakes here???

See the URL above, it shows QUITE otherwise, & from a reputable source(s) on both MDDS doing more than you say, in writes back to backing DB's & placing orders

"NASDAQ Deploys SQL Server 2005 to Support Real-Time Trade Booking and Queries"

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/cs-financial-roi.aspx?pf=true

AND

About what the main man @ LSE even said about InfoLect http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwSM55bsCrM (their failed version of a transaction data dissemination vs. NASDAQ's successful trade data dissemination AND BOOKING system in MDDS)...

Both sources contradict AND DISPROVE your very words... with reliable sources!

I've been writing these types of systems professionally since 1994, believe you me, I KNOW what I am talking about, even without the backing URL's above as proofs to MY credit... so, please:

Do NOT try to "condescend" to me, when you are failing hugely at every turn here... apk

    Vista could be a great example of that. It was originally expected to ship in 2003, which became 2005. It was finally released to OEM's and large volume customers in late 2006 and to end users in 2007.

    But, if you go hunting for the blurb, eventually you'll find the oldest reference is this site which has this citation...

But as always with rumour and speculation Microsoft stays quiet about it all, that is until a official, less frequented site goes and says something about it. Today I saw a tweet which linked to a Microsoft Netherlands site which briefly mentions Windows 8 when talking about the future.

      "Maar het zal nog zo'n twee jaar duren voordat 'Windows 8' op de markt komt."

    But, the linked article does not actually have that quote. This isn't just speculation, it isn't even a news story because the only quote is fabricated. Not a mention of "Windows 8".

I'd like to see MS work on virtualization on the app level. This way, a Web browser (or more specifically a Web browser instance) has its own instance of everything in the OS.

That is exactly what Internet Explorer's Protected Mode does when running on either Vista or Windows 7 with UAC enabled. When Internet Explorer is running in Protected Mode it can only access a small handful of directories and certain registry locations even if the user running it is an administrator.

Microsoft calls applications that use this feature Low Integrity processes. For more information look here and here.

I'd like to see MS work on virtualization on the app level. This way, a Web browser (or more specifically a Web browser instance) has its own instance of everything in the OS.

That is exactly what Internet Explorer's Protected Mode does when running on either Vista or Windows 7 with UAC enabled. When Internet Explorer is running in Protected Mode it can only access a small handful of directories and certain registry locations even if the user running it is an administrator.

Microsoft calls applications that use this feature Low Integrity processes. For more information look here and here.

Microsoft has locked down systems in the field, ever heard of an XBOX? Where are all your posts about how they're going to kill Windows next?

And why should Apple release locked down functionality?

It's their store, of course it's "locked down".

Microsoft also has a store: http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/office/category/213
It's locked down too, and doesn't have a single one of my homebrew apps for sale.

How is this any different?

Group Policy is your friend. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee732406(WS.10).aspx

Aaron Z

"MS also has a case study showing that SQL Server is used by NASDAQ not in the real-time transactions but in reporting after the trade" - by UnknowingFool (672806) on Monday October 25, @10:28AM (#34011858)

Correction: You failed to see that I wrote that MS' OS is used as "the official trade data dissemination system", @ NASDAQ, because that is what I said it acted as there, and in a stable 24x7 uptime fashion, and that is all... and yes, I have proofs below.

---

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/cs-financial-roi.aspx?pf=true

"NASDAQ Deploys SQL Server 2005 to Support Real-Time Trade Booking and Queries"

NASDAQ, which became the worlds first electronic stock market in 1971, and remains the largest U.S. electronic stock market, is constantly looking for more-efficient ways to serve its members. As the organization prepared to retire its aging large mainframe computers, it deployed Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 on two 4-node clusters to support its Market Data Dissemination System (MDDS). Every trade that is processed in the NASDAQ marketplace goes through the MDDS system, with SQL Server 2005 handling some 5,000 transactions per second at market open. SQL Server 2005 simultaneously handles about 100,000 queries a day, using SQL Server 2005 Snapshot Isolation to support real-time queries against the data without slowing the database. NASDAQ is enjoying a lower total cost of ownership compared to the large mainframe computer system that the SQL Server 2005 deployment has replaced."

---

NASDAQ Migrates to SQL Server 2005:

http://windowsfs.com/enews/nasdaq-migrates-to-sql-server-2005

---

NASDAQ Uses SQL Server 2005 - Reducing Costs through Better Data Management:

http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2007/09/17/sqlauthority-news-nasdaq-uses-sql-server-2005-reducing-costs-through-better-data-management/

"NASDAQ, the worlds first electronic stock market replaced its aging mainframe computers with Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 on two 4-node clusters to support its Market Data Dissemination System (MDDS). Every trade processed in the NASDAQ marketplace goes through the system with Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 handling some 5,000 transactions per second at market open. The system also responds to about 10,000 queries a day and is able to handle real-time queries against data without slowing the database down."

---

So, there you are: Evidence(s) of MS doing well for NASDAQ acting as the "official trade data dissemination system" there, and doing so stably also... &, if you saw that video @ youtube I put up in my 1st post you replied to? You'd see that is how it was used at LSE also (the main man intereviewed stated it thus no less).

I had posted this data years ago here http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1290967&cid=28571315 and even begore that, but the Linux "FUD" still goes on (and surprise, surprise: I am also a Linux fan as well (kernel 2.6.35/KUbuntu 10.10 64-bit user here daily, in a dual boot configuration alongside Windows 7 64-bit). I just don't like when the "Penguins" around here attempt to spread disinformation/misinformation.

P.S.=> So, again, & in agreement with the man I replied to: Personally, & especially based on the evidences here (the thread topic itself, & the NASDAQ data I just provided here)?

Well - I think a great deal of stability & uptime has to do a LOT with the skills of those architecting a system, first, AND later those that have the task of maintaining it also (this means the network engineering staff AND coding t

From Microsoft's press release.

In the development, roll-out, and implementation processes, Microsoft worked closely with the London Stock Exchange to ensure not only that they understood their immediate requirements, but that the solution fitted their long-term business plans as specified in the TRM project.

You're right, it was written by inexperienced idiots.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/c/0/1c0aa1b6-bb2b-4371-a2a0-80c8c8497b6d/LSE_WinServ03.doc

Héhéhé! As of now it is still there; in the anonymous stomach of Microsoft.
Now I'm waiting for the fanboi to give Stevie B. a call. And then he'll start swirling chairs, yelling "I'll fxxxing kill that fxxxing pussy that didn't remove that fxxxing doc!!"

Imagine a bookcase, each shelf housing a row of 3-ring binders, the binders of varying width (1", 2", 3", etc.), each devoted to a different collection of related items, the spines labeled to indicate the subject of the collection (Notes on Books I've Read; Daily Diary/Journal; Favorite Recipes; Vitamin D; etc.). Call the binders 'Notebooks'. Divide each notebook into sections, with labeled tab separators, as many separators as you need to organize the collection logically and usefully. Each section contains contains pages, the pages each with a title to indicate its contents. Oversimplified, that physical organization, transmogrified into a computer program, gets you Microsoft OneNote. Many features to ease the process of building and adding material to the notebooks, and finding the information you've stored in them. When the program is closed, if a thought occurs or an item of information in any electronic form comes up, clicking an icon in the notification tray pops up a small blank note page for writing your thought or cut/pasting whatever information into the note page. It's automatically stored in an "Unfiled Notes" notebook for later transfer to or as a page in the appropriate section of the appropriate notebook. Simple to start getting organized, its depth of features you can pick up as you need more functionality. See http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/. (I'm not associated with Microsoft, just a professor who uses the program).

I know I will get a lot of flack for not offering a Linux, FOSS, or "cloud" based solution but I really feel OneNote is the best personal information organization tool out there. I keep all my class notes, personal records, everything in there. You can attach or link to external documents just by dragging and dropping. It automatically synchronizes between my laptop and desktop. My laptop is actually a Tablet PC so I can hand-write my class notes right on the page. Then I can search for words within that handwriting instantly. If you drag a picture onto the page then you can even search for words within that picture. So you can just take a picture of someone's card with your cell phone, drag that into OneNote anywhere you like and be able to find that instantly later. OneNote is basically an outlining program but it has a lot of features of a word processor. However, do not attempt to use it as a word processor because it is not designed for that. You can organize all your stuff into "Notebooks" which constitutes anything under a particular folder you simply designate as a notebook. Each Notebook can be anywhere you want to store it. Then you create "sections" within that notebook which are each an individual file. Then you create pages in that section. The pages can even be organized into a hierarchical structure with up to three levels. Then you put your data on the pages in an outline or table format. You can put just about anything you want onto those pages. You can copy web pages or embed pictures or other files. When you double click on those files they open up in their native application.

Believe me I am no Microsoft apologist. I use to have a poster on my wall that said "Bill Gates is the Devil." But I love OneNote. I have tried many other outlining, note-taking, document organizing programs in my life. None were anywhere near as good or as flexible as OneNote. You can check it out here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/

Vista's I/O priority is linked to the process priority. Requests for high-priority tasks are high priority i/o requests. Unfortunately this borks things like virus scan, which give themselves boosted priority thinking that the user wants a file on-access-scanned and ready to use. Background tasks run, open a file, get scanned on access, and suddenly you have a high-priority process reading the file. And then once it's scanned it's probably in the disk cache so the low priority process/thread reads it instantly. Now that everything is high priority, nothing is, and we're back where we started.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/f/7/af7777e5-7dcd-4800-8a0a-b18336565f5b/Priorityio.doc

SetPriorityClass() and SetThreadPriority() adds a new option that says "I'm in the background now" and "I'm no longer in the background", but few apps use this. Certainly no XP apps did, because it didn't exist, so it would have to be Vista-onwards apps. SetFileInformationByHandle() I think is new, allowing you to specifically set i/o priority for each file handle. Who is going to voluntarily set themselves low priority? Not many apps. There are some other calls to reserve bandwidth, and driver-level calls, but it not very much. Windows 7 does not make any significant changes to this model. And although you can set priority in the task manager, there is no way without a third party tool (I still consider sysinternals to be third party) to change priority. I think it uses SetFileInformationByHandle.

I first noticed this on Windows NT 4, probably on a machine without enough ram. I watched each control paint itself. Today, on a core 2 duo 2.5 ghz with 2GB of ram, Vista occasionally still paints individual controls at watchable speed. This is a work computer, so no torrents or large file copying, but enforced virus scan. I have two VBScripts to control this - one sets certain apps to low priority (setting their i/o priority accordingly). The other disables several services including virus scan. When I need to debug a .NET website, virus scan gets turned off. It's still not snappy enough, but it's a vast improvement. Still unacceptable.

You can make a local WSUS server do this with System Centre Updates Publisher.

But you are correct, as a developer you can't have Microsoft do it from the mothership for your app. Only in an environment where you can configure all your Windows boxes to fetch updates from your local WSUS server.

Here's a recent one. It states if you don't have a reboot schedule for Windows servers you don't have a patch management plan. http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/C/2/8C21BAFE-3432-48D1-962A-F7A9DD54A2AC/Best%20Practices%20in%20Architecting%20and%20Implementing%20Windows%20Server%20Update%20Services%20(WSUS).pptx

If all you want is to keep a clean windows install, read about Microsoft's own free download tool called SteadyState. Primarily used by internet cafe's, schools and libraries, SteadyState "helps make it easy for you to keep your computers running the way you want them to, no matter who uses them."

The two primary features I recommend are 1) the disk protection feature and 2) user account feature. With disk protection, you can set up SteadyState to remove all changes upon reboot. That means you got a virus? Reboot and it's gone. All changes done to the protected drive are rest upon reboot. Need to save your pictures/graphics/images? Use the user account manager to change the user's folders to an unprotected drive, keeping all information under that user account between the reboots.

This will allow you to have the full power of your computer and it's console and not put it under a virtual machine headache. Anyway, which ever you choose, good luck.

or just copying features that have been around since Windows 2000?

Best watchit doesn't vioate some patent :)

I can only assume that you've not actually used Windows 7, or at least not for long enough to actually be in a position to form an informed opinion.

I have XP Pro on my PC at work, XP Home on my laptop and Windows 7 Home Premium on my desktop at home, and use a variety of flavours of Windows Server at work (and of course a variety of Linux distributions), and of the Windows versions I far prefer 7.

Where are you getting your "40 to 60GB" figure from? MS quote 20GB for 64bit Windows 7. In any case hard drive space is cheap as chips - I upgraded my home PC 2 years ago and spent around £60 on a 500GB drive. Even assuming 50GB is required, that cost me £6; I often spend more than that on lunch.

Okay, maybe my flippant comment should have been modded flamebait. I'm sorry. But did I say OpenOffice was a comprehensive or perfect replacement for everybody in all circumstances? No.

I was simply commenting that $6 a month can buy a lot of free stuff that might be perfectly adequate for the job for some people and some businesses. Always? No. The same might be true for Office365 -- maybe it will be perfectly adequate for some uses for some people. But any way you consider the question, $0 is some tough competition for Microsoft to go up against. Microsoft will have to show that what they are offering in Office365 is actually better than OpenOffice, or it might not get very far.

I know that OpenOffice has deficiencies compared to regular Microsoft Office, and I'm not trying to gloss over that, but for all we know, Office365 also has limitations compared to regular MS Office that will make it intolerable for some people to use. For example, does Office365 support VBA? I went looking for information (e.g., typing in "VBA" in the search box at http://office365.microsoft.com), but I couldn't find anything about it, so I don't know. I know it's a little early to look for that kind of detail to be spelled out, but it also emphasizes that any feature comparison is a little premature. By contrast, the expected price is disclosed and can be compared now.

Personally, I'm doubtful that web/network-based office suites can truly compete with local installations (or at least local network installations) in terms of performance and reliability. No matter how reliable Microsoft's servers might be, I'd be uncomfortable with the prospect that my entire operation could grind to a halt if the network goes down anywhere in between. The same applies to Google Apps. In both cases I think it would probably work okay for simpler and less-critical tasks, but if that's the case why not give the $0/month OpenOffice a try to see if it also does the job? If you really *need* "cloud" services accessible from anywhere, then a local office suite copy might not be in the competition at all.

I hope that properly clarifies the point I was trying to make, and I apologize again for being so flippant.

http://office365.microsoft.com/

It's a known issue not only on Windows 7 / Vista http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977178 but also on XP http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317272 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330100 - however the lastest incarnation of the flaw does not seem to get fixed for the older systems such as XP (or has anyone found a solution for this?), and Intel Matrix drivers as a workaround http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/50479-1-tb-wdc-black-fails-wake-sleep.html#6 require (and have their installer check for) one of a few specific boards.

It's a known issue not only on Windows 7 / Vista http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977178 but also on XP http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317272 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330100 - however the lastest incarnation of the flaw does not seem to get fixed for the older systems such as XP (or has anyone found a solution for this?), and Intel Matrix drivers as a workaround http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/50479-1-tb-wdc-black-fails-wake-sleep.html#6 require (and have their installer check for) one of a few specific boards.

It's a known issue not only on Windows 7 / Vista http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977178 but also on XP http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317272 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330100 - however the lastest incarnation of the flaw does not seem to get fixed for the older systems such as XP (or has anyone found a solution for this?), and Intel Matrix drivers as a workaround http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/50479-1-tb-wdc-black-fails-wake-sleep.html#6 require (and have their installer check for) one of a few specific boards.

You need to use ksetup utility (it can be found on Microsoft site, somewhere).

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742433.aspx#EDAA
http://www2.cit.cornell.edu/computer/system/win2000/kerberos/

To be fair, they're using MS's protected mode which IE uses and from what I've gathered there haven't been any exploits that break through it. Please note add-ons do not run in protected mode, so if something is targeting your Java or Adobe Reader then those run normally.

Protected mode allows very limited access to the OS and forces a broker process to handle anything that interacts with the user's system. Yes, its hackable like most things in life, but its a pretty smart design that I think will limit exploits on the Adobe product. The downside is that its only Vista/7 (?) and it doesn't address the fatal mistakes Adobe is making - allowing javascript by default and using a piss poor updater. Adobe should really just shift to using MS's Windows Update and be done with it.

Right now Java and Adobe Reader/Pro/Standard are the two most exploited apps according to Brian Krebs. Shifting to X should help end users keep their systems safe.

Have you checked the comments on the right side here: http://www.microsoft.com/showcase/en/US/details/faaf9eb8-77c6-4bed-bc08-c069a7bfbb04 Let's tell MS what we think.

AFAIK, if you get with MS and get with their licensing program, you have to buy an MS OS for every computer you install, and the OS agreement with MS says you can upgrade (or downgrade) it whenever you want. You still have to buy the OS from your PC manufacturer. That way when MS come out with Win7, you don't have to buy new licenses for everyone, all you have to do is buy a MS OS. I've recently researched this for my company, and if you're buying individual MS Office licenses (or windows cals + exchange cals + sharepoint cals), you're crazy. Get with MS, they have a yearly agreement you make with them. Once a year, you count how many employees you have, you write MS a big check, and you're done with it. You could hire 1000 new employees, and you can install whatever you want, no charge. They could work for 3 months, you could fire them, and you don't pay for them. Only after the 1 year agreement is over, you have to sign a new contract, and pay the fees again. It's cheaper and easier to maintain then keeping track of them one at a time. You also get free upgrades whenever a new version comes out, so it's simple on that front. It also has some accounting advantages (Is a one-year license a capital expense? Will you save money by it not being a capital expense? Consult your local accounting department/tax advisor, you might save 20% or so. It's also fewer things for accounting to keep track of.) http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/contact-us.aspx United States Call (800) 426-9400 M-F, 6 AM - 5:30 PM Pacific, or find an authorized reseller. Canada Call the Microsoft Resource Centre at (877) 568-2495 YEESH. I sound like a MS guy. I promise I'm not.

It does. Being able to alt+tab without crashing is a fairly basic requirement. See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee417691(VS.85).aspx

"Games must not attempt to disable standard task switching. Games must not disable the ALT+TAB keyboard shortcut. Games are allowed to disable accessibility keyboard shortcuts, as described in Disabling Shortcut Keys in Games. "

Research Home
Research Areas

I have no idea if they are working on cars that will drive themselves and they don't advertise their 'Labs' as well as Google, but there is plenty of research going on at Microsoft. I know there are plenty of people who HATE all things Microsoft, but there are some really talented people working on really interesting things over there.

Research Home
Research Areas

I have no idea if they are working on cars that will drive themselves and they don't advertise their 'Labs' as well as Google, but there is plenty of research going on at Microsoft. I know there are plenty of people who HATE all things Microsoft, but there are some really talented people working on really interesting things over there.

It was probably using UPnP or NAT-PMP and your FreeBSD box wasn't setup to handle it (I'm not sure what the status of UPnP or NAT-PMP).

Using high ports on non-fixed ports from a known range which client and server negotiate in real time is a legitimate design for a TCP/IP app.

I'd get a decent dedicated router or, if it using UPnP, take a look at something like Microsoft's UPnP testing tool for Windows and see what it reports: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/using/tools/igd/default.mspx

Office 2010 won't work with our Exchange 2000 Enterprise server

Brand new software doesn't work with decade old software which has been out of support for 5 years? I am shocked and awed good sir! You know as a system admin it's your job to keep on top of these things. http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2007/support/lifecycle/2000.mspx

Windows is more internally standardized?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

They already do have different packaging versions of Office for different prices. See here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/office-2010-which-suite-is-right-for-you-FX101825640.aspx

Additionally, you can buy Word or Excel individually if you really want just the one product. Many schools buy site licenses and provide full versions of software to their students. I still had my network login after I graduated in 2006, and went back a year or so later to visit some friends. While I was there, I helped myself to a full version of Office 2007 Enterprise Edition ;)

But honestly, price or no price, I feel like a lot of the complaints against OOo in the video are actually valid. I find it incredibly unpleasant to use. Document formatting always gets wonky, and the interface largely tends to be "confusingly similar" to Office to the point where I would look for things where I thought they might be, then find out they were not there but somewhere else. I don't know if this has gotten better recently or not, but it was just not "worth" being free when I already didn't have to pay for Office and didn't really pirate it, either.

I use iWork on my MBP and on my iMac at work (mostly just multiplexing SSH anyway) for when I have to write documentation for our product. I don't like the word processor as much as MS Word, but Keynote and Numbers are pretty sweet.

I actually think iWork is worth a lot more than the $75 or whatever I paid or my home copy, and I like that it's not trying to clone Office. OOo seems to want to be an Office clone and that's the problem. Honestly, that's the problem with a lot of FLOSS software today -- trying to being the cheap/free version of a proprietary product, and thus always living in the shadows.

As Lisa Simpson said on this week's episode, "Anything that's the something of the something isn't the anything of the anything."

Since the video is little more than quotes from people heralding the stark beauty of Microsoft products when compared to various open-source (and sometimes generic open-source) products, you might wonder where the quotes come from. They're old success stories, most of which are marketed as "Case Studies" on Microsoft.com.

I looked up the quotes in the video and apparently wasn't the only one to notice. Taking the first three quotes your years are 2007, 2009 and 2006. Some of them are more recent than others but I get the feeling that Microsoft needs to dig further back to find quotes deriding open source. I've used OpenOffice.org for a very long time. In college (~2002) I even used StarOffice on the school's Sun machines. And OpenOffice.org used to have some really really shitty aspects. But a few years back, major revisions have made it a lot better. Enough to cause Microsoft to come up with new ideas for their Office Suite. And I'm forced to use MS Office at work and I'm okay with that. It's becoming a contender. And as "tech debt" or "IT debt" begins to be realized for Microsoft and what it did to our history of proprietary format documents, I think OpenOffice.org is only going to look better and better. Yes, there's some cost with OO.o but there's some cost with MS Office as well.

It doesn't always happen but sometimes open source catches up to and even surpasses proprietary software. I cannot say OO.o will pass MS Office but it has made up a lot of ground in the past 2-3 years. A good example of this is the Linux 2.6 kernel and its steadily growing stability and features compared to Windows that remained largely stagnant while this occurred.

With the serious changes to the interface of MS Office suites (not saying they're bad, they're just some of the most major updates I've seen from MS), I think now is going to be the hardest time for Microsoft to find current quotes from customers criticizing open source. Because flipping from MS Word 2007 to OO.o is probably going to be as difficult for users to adapt to as flipping from MS Word 2007 to MS Word 2010.

Since the video is little more than quotes from people heralding the stark beauty of Microsoft products when compared to various open-source (and sometimes generic open-source) products, you might wonder where the quotes come from. They're old success stories, most of which are marketed as "Case Studies" on Microsoft.com.

I looked up the quotes in the video and apparently wasn't the only one to notice. Taking the first three quotes your years are 2007, 2009 and 2006. Some of them are more recent than others but I get the feeling that Microsoft needs to dig further back to find quotes deriding open source. I've used OpenOffice.org for a very long time. In college (~2002) I even used StarOffice on the school's Sun machines. And OpenOffice.org used to have some really really shitty aspects. But a few years back, major revisions have made it a lot better. Enough to cause Microsoft to come up with new ideas for their Office Suite. And I'm forced to use MS Office at work and I'm okay with that. It's becoming a contender. And as "tech debt" or "IT debt" begins to be realized for Microsoft and what it did to our history of proprietary format documents, I think OpenOffice.org is only going to look better and better. Yes, there's some cost with OO.o but there's some cost with MS Office as well.

It doesn't always happen but sometimes open source catches up to and even surpasses proprietary software. I cannot say OO.o will pass MS Office but it has made up a lot of ground in the past 2-3 years. A good example of this is the Linux 2.6 kernel and its steadily growing stability and features compared to Windows that remained largely stagnant while this occurred.

With the serious changes to the interface of MS Office suites (not saying they're bad, they're just some of the most major updates I've seen from MS), I think now is going to be the hardest time for Microsoft to find current quotes from customers criticizing open source. Because flipping from MS Word 2007 to OO.o is probably going to be as difficult for users to adapt to as flipping from MS Word 2007 to MS Word 2010.

Since the video is little more than quotes from people heralding the stark beauty of Microsoft products when compared to various open-source (and sometimes generic open-source) products, you might wonder where the quotes come from. They're old success stories, most of which are marketed as "Case Studies" on Microsoft.com.

I looked up the quotes in the video and apparently wasn't the only one to notice. Taking the first three quotes your years are 2007, 2009 and 2006. Some of them are more recent than others but I get the feeling that Microsoft needs to dig further back to find quotes deriding open source. I've used OpenOffice.org for a very long time. In college (~2002) I even used StarOffice on the school's Sun machines. And OpenOffice.org used to have some really really shitty aspects. But a few years back, major revisions have made it a lot better. Enough to cause Microsoft to come up with new ideas for their Office Suite. And I'm forced to use MS Office at work and I'm okay with that. It's becoming a contender. And as "tech debt" or "IT debt" begins to be realized for Microsoft and what it did to our history of proprietary format documents, I think OpenOffice.org is only going to look better and better. Yes, there's some cost with OO.o but there's some cost with MS Office as well.

It doesn't always happen but sometimes open source catches up to and even surpasses proprietary software. I cannot say OO.o will pass MS Office but it has made up a lot of ground in the past 2-3 years. A good example of this is the Linux 2.6 kernel and its steadily growing stability and features compared to Windows that remained largely stagnant while this occurred.

With the serious changes to the interface of MS Office suites (not saying they're bad, they're just some of the most major updates I've seen from MS), I think now is going to be the hardest time for Microsoft to find current quotes from customers criticizing open source. Because flipping from MS Word 2007 to OO.o is probably going to be as difficult for users to adapt to as flipping from MS Word 2007 to MS Word 2010.

Exactly. Here are Microsoft's statistics after computer prevalence is taken into account. Quote from that page:

Among locations with more than 200,000 executions of the MSRT in 2Q10, Turkey had the highest infection rate, with 36.6 computers cleaned for every 1,000 MSRT executions (CCM 36.6). Following Turkey were Spain (35.7), Korea (34.4), Taiwan (33.5), and Brazil (25.8). All have been among the locations with the highest infection rates for several periods.

Locations with the lowest infection rates include Belarus (1.3), Bangladesh (1.5), Sri Lanka (1.8), Tunisia (1.8), and Morocco (1.9).

Given the very low infection rate of most of Africa, though, something tells me Microsoft's "CCM" metric may not perfectly reflect real infection rates.

Figure 15 [the map] shows the infection rates in locations around the world using a metric called computers cleaned per thousand, or CCM, which represents the number of reported computers cleaned for every 1,000 executions of the MSRT.

The actual site is here if you want to get straight to the information (link is also given in the article).

Figure 15 [the map] shows the infection rates in locations around the world using a metric called computers cleaned per thousand, or CCM, which represents the number of reported computers cleaned for every 1,000 executions of the MSRT.

The actual site is here if you want to get straight to the information (link is also given in the article).

The US is most in absolute numbers. In rate per 1000, Turkey has the highest rate.

Don't trust it.

More reading: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/wiffler-091610.aspx

Autocomplete is basically the only part that's left.

Pic: http://i.technet.microsoft.com/Dd361929.ch08_09(en-us,TechNet.10).gif

Article: http://www.pcworld.com/article/4699/microsoft_offers_cyber_wallet_for_online_purchases.html

I'm not saying it's better than Roboform--it wasn't, which is why nobody used it. I'm saying that Microsoft has tried to integrate password storage into the OS.

If MS can improve the state of the art as it relates to mobile app development, then they may just be able to carve a slice out of the mobile device market.

I'm obviously not impartial (given that I work on said tools... not WP7 tools in particular, but VS in general), but I dare say that it has the best developer experience so far. I wouldn't say it's perfect, mind you (not for as long as there are issues in the bug tracker...), but in terms of getting things done, I think it's plenty good already.

Anyway, why not try it and judge for yourself? VS Phone Express is free, and includes the complete SDK.

Assuming the development environment has a flexible and robust separation to the presentation tier, this should be rather seamless.

Well, it's Silverlight, meaning that you have data binding throughout the UI, and MVVM as the "officially recommended" pattern for data separation.