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Hopefully they will do a more competent job than on Dungeon Siege 2.

You ran explicitly unsupported software then.

I understand, but the problem is that too much software that people expect to be supported is unsupported, or at least it was back when L230 was top of the line.

I said elsewhere we use x550s, that's where you save money.

If you can keep all workstations within 30 feet of a full-size desktop PC with a PCI slot. (Do new computers still have PCI slots, or is it all PCIe now?) Now I realize that in a school computer lab or Internet cafe, the range limitation is not a problem. But it was a problem where I tried them, which is why we used the L series and perhaps why I forgot about the X series. Besides, you will still need a Windows TS or RDS CAL for each workstation that runs even one app that is not ported to Linux, and at $150 each, the licenses alone almost as expensive as a nettop.

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

I'd agree that HTML5 is a work in progress, but I'd like to point out that as that's the case, sticking a honky great link to it on your company homepage is misplaced and stupid.

What Apple should've done is written something like Microsoft's IE9 HTML5 demos that actually work in multiple browsers, and maybe just linked to it from their developer portal. I suspect they've tried to be too clever and shot themselves in the foot in this little 'standards' skirmish...

http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Default.html

No user agent checking, and they work (or don't work in the case of older IE versions) in different browsers...

The way I see it, it's just Apple using their current 'standards' press coverage to increase browser share among the general populace. Microsoft 2.0 indeed.

Maybe have a look at:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx

I think that he was confused by the time that he wrote "Because libraries actually puts everything in one location" because they, er, don't:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-7-libraries-%E2%80%93-and-why-you-want-them/

What they do do is make stuff appear when viewed in one particular way (via the Explorer) as being in the same location. Useful if the only way you ever access stuff is via the Start menu; not so much if it isn't.

The funny thing is that NTFS has supported the equivalent of Unix soft links for ages:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=205524

it just hasn't made it easy to create them.

I think that he was confused by the time that he wrote "Because libraries actually puts everything in one location" because they, er, don't:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-7-libraries-%E2%80%93-and-why-you-want-them/

What they do do is make stuff appear when viewed in one particular way (via the Explorer) as being in the same location. Useful if the only way you ever access stuff is via the Start menu; not so much if it isn't.

The funny thing is that NTFS has supported the equivalent of Unix soft links for ages:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=205524

it just hasn't made it easy to create them.

I honestly think it is Shuttleworth and his totally insane 6 month release schedule. How in the fuck are you supposed to do even minimal QA in that little amount of time? I got so damned tired of being told "It'll get better in the next release" only to have two things fixed and three things broken! It got to the point I looked at the update notification as a "break Linux NOW" button. How can I sell an OS to customers that I myself am afraid to update?

And I hear your pain drinkypoo, God I spent more time after Drapper just trawling forums hoping to God somebody somewhere knew how to get whatever broke working it wasn't even funny anymore! Graphics, wireless, sound, networking, you name it broke at least twice, usually more, and in wonderful combos like no wireless AND no Ethernet! And it wasn't like I was using some uber strange hardware here, we are talking bog standard ATI and Nvidia GPUs, Realtek sound, and either Realtek or SiS Ethernet. If it can't work on the bog standard gear that a good 90%+ of desktops have onboard, what chance do we have?

Definitely get Windows 7 drinkypoo, you will NOT regret it! I went from sliding the DVD in to a fully functional desktop in under 35 minutes, Windows found and downloaded ALL the drivers, no hassles, no trawling looking for fixes, it all "Just worked. If you are worried about whether it will run well on your hardware you can get a free trial of enterprise 7 but I can tell you it purrs like a kitten, even on this 1.8GHz Sempron with 1.5Gb of RAM. Windows 7 HP x64 was the best $100 I ever spent!

A word of advice, just to make the journey a little easier, a little trick from your old pal hairyfeet, once you get to desktop load IE and go to Ninite. There you will find FF and Chrome, iTunes and songbird, Irfanview and Picasa, even free AV like MSFT security Essentials, all automated so a single click will install any combo you desire. It really takes the setup hassles out of a new windows PC, and if there are any programs you want they don't have, just let them know and they'll add it!

And sorry for the length, but I am just fed up with the hype and bullshit. I wanted to believe in Linux, I really did. I came from the days of Atari and Amiga and wanted there to be a "third way" to offer my customers choices and lower prices. But when I can't even run a SINGLE update without something breaking, every single damned time, how can I sell that to customers? I take pride in my work, I have computers over a decade old still working in factories or as point of sale PCs. I can't sell a PC where the first update is gonna take out half their hardware, and where the forums would tell me either "it'll get fixed next release" or "buy new hardware". Yeah, like my customers would like being told they have to throw out half their gear because update foo broke everything. No sale.

Their SDK actually looks pretty good, though the docs so far don't seem quite as good as I've seen with the others (iPhone, and my skimming of Android). Is it true they're going to support OpenGL ES with Mobile 7? That'd make the transition much easier for me.

The Insert Node Into Selection test is equally retarded.

They create a new <div> element and insert it at the end of the selection in an existing <div>. In other words, they generate this:

<div id="div1">some text<div>new text</div></div>

...then they check to see if the value returned by selection.toString() is equal to “some textnew text”.

Morons. It shows up as this:

some text new text

...and that’s what toString() gives you, too.

The test is right per the spec text, the behavior of Gecko and WebKit is wrong. Opera is also right here. Read the definition of toString(). It says, "This does nothing more than simply concatenate all the character data selected by the Range. This includes character data in both Text and CDATASection nodes." In the example you give, there is no actual newline character in any text node – the line break is inserted by CSS.

Now, maybe the Gecko and WebKit behavior makes more sense. But it's not what the spec says.

The Insert Node Into Selection test is equally retarded.

They create a new <div> element and insert it at the end of the selection in an existing <div>. In other words, they generate this:

<div id="div1">some text<div>new text</div></div>

...then they check to see if the value returned by selection.toString() is equal to “some textnew text”.

Morons. It shows up as this:

some text
new text

...and that’s what toString() gives you, too.

Who the hell wrote these stupid tests? Whoever it is was a fucking moron.

I went down the list and picked the first one that Firefox supposedly failed on... “Call select() on a text field.” Firefox fails this test? What the fuck? I’ve used select() on text fields many a time and Firefox supports it just fine. Something’s fishy. So.......... I hit up the test page and read the source code.

If there’s a javascript error, the test obviously fails. A bunch of the attributes of window.getSelection() are checked, and if those don’t match what the test expected, the test fails. So I added a descriptive message to each fail condition, ran it again, and came up with the following list of exceptions:

Test result:
Anchor node not null (FAIL)
Anchor offset not zero (FAIL)
Focus node not null (FAIL)
Focus offset not zero (FAIL)
Is collapsed (PASS)
Range count not zero (FAIL)
Selection matched (PASS)
FAIL

Umm... so let’s see...

In order to pass this test, after selecting some text, the anchor node must be null, the offset zero, the focus node null, its offset zero, and the range count must be zero.

WHAT THE FUCK?

http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/editing.html#selection-0:

interface Selection {
readonly attribute Node anchorNode;
readonly attribute long anchorOffset;
readonly attribute Node focusNode;
readonly attribute long focusOffset;
readonly attribute boolean isCollapsed;
void collapse(in Node parentNode, in long offset);
void collapseToStart();
void collapseToEnd();
void selectAllChildren(in Node parentNode);
void deleteFromDocument();
readonly attribute long rangeCount;
Range getRangeAt(in long index);
void addRange(in Range range);
void removeRange(in Range range);
void removeAllRanges();
stringifier DOMString ();
};

selection.anchorNode
Returns the element that contains the start of the selection.
Returns null if there's no selection.

selection.anchorOffset
Returns the offset of the start of the selection relative to the element that contains the start of the selection.
Returns 0 if there's no selection.

selection.focusNode
Returns the element that contains the end of the selection.
Returns null if there's no selection.

selection.focusOffset
Returns the offset of the end of the selection relative to the element that contains the end of the selection.
Returns 0 if there's no selection.

selection.isCollapsed()
Returns true if there's no selection or if the selection is empty. Otherwise, returns false.

selection.rangeCount
Returns the number of ranges in the selection.

They wrote the exact opposite of these conditions for what you should expect after selecting text.

Strangely enough, Opera 10.53 also “passed”.

This is beyond incompetent, it is sleazy. They wrote their test to call everything that IE fails at a “pass” and anything that does it correctly will “fail”.

The correct test results should be:

Firefox 3.6.3:
Anchor node not null (PASS)
Anchor offset not zero (PASS)
Focus node not null (PASS)
Focus offset not zero (PASS)
Is collapsed (FAIL)
Range count not zero (PASS)
Selection matched (PASS)
FAIL

Opera 10.53:
Anchor node is null (FAIL)
Anchor offset is zero (FAIL)
Focus node

Yes, there is a point after each IE release where Microsoft pushes the newest version through Automatic Updates (I think it's even pushed as a critical update, but I can't remember for sure). There is a toolkit and various registry settings to stop the automatic delivery of IE through Automatic Updates, which is supposed to be applied by IT before that time.

I have a few friends that play games this much. On consoles. The thing is, however, that it doesnt make them good. Console players IME tend to have a lot less 'skill'; ie- twitch reflexes and battlefield awareness.

I think that has little to do with who plays what and more to do with the environment they choose to play in. A PC gaming rig is much more likely, historically speaking, to have a higher fidelity in display, audio, and input devices.

I don't need a whole hand to count the number of console games that support multiple displays, and I'd wager more people use stereo instead of positional audio with their TV. A console is more likely to be played at a lower resolution on a bigger display, sitting back on a couch in a living room with the dog or other family distractions. Some console games I don't mind playing while lying down, which certainly isn't conducive to alertness, and I'm fine with falling asleep controller-in-hand. It's entertainment.

As a controller junkie I will choose developer sanctioned auto-aim assist rather than the grubby sandbox of PC aimbot mods. So game developers are the biggest influence in what skills are required by the player. I played flight sims in the days when, if you didn't own a Thrustmaster flight stick with its own dedicated controller card, you weren't serious. Then Freelancer came out and suddenly you could pilot with a mouse and frakking beat the game. That was unsettling. Flight sims haven't been the same since, because developers went mainstream and accessible. I think the RTS is still the only genre that truly benefits from a keyboard and mouse, because they haven't perfected radial menus yet, and even MMOs are getting menu accessible.

Moral of the story, play PC games if you want to have a challenge. Consoles are fun if you like games with stories.

Uhh.. Activision, PopCap and LucasArts would like to have a word with you...

This was one http://samples.msdn.microsoft.com/ietestcenter/html5/selection_harness.htm?url=selectionStartEnd
fails on the iPhone but it worked in chrome Wednesday

MS seem to be doing a good job of implementing HTML5 in IE9 http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/

Bill is still Chairman of the Board and reportedly an advisor on key development projects. If you draw a salary you can't be said to "not work there any more".

Only people who didn't read the directions turned it all the way off.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709691(WS.10).aspx#BKMK_S3
Advanced configuration options for UAC are not available in Windows Vista Starter, Windows Vista Home Basic, or Windows Vista Home Premium.

Most people buying computers end up with Home Basic or Home Premium.
They don't have the option of moderating the level of annoyance that is UAC.

I understand why you might think this way, but realize that the language was created by a pretty smart guy -- Dr. Brad Cox -- and he had one main goal in mind: Be a strict superset of C (not even C++ does this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compatibility_of_C_and_C%2B%2B#Constructs_valid_in_C_but_not_C.2B.2B)

He also wanted it to be truly object-oriented and dynamic in every sense. Your comment therefore has some innaccuracies / unfairness to it:
"The Obj-C creator basically didn't know how to code linker-loader address binding"

This is by design. It allows dynamic messaging. You can even, for example, send a message to nil and everything is fine.

"He also didn't know about name mangling"

Again, only something you need in a statically linked object-inheritance style language like C++.

"method names and args are explicitly named, so you end up with arg named calling methods like [obj method:arg1 count:count]"

Again, by design. Named arguments makes Objective-C one of the best languages for code readability. You don't have to wonder what the arguments are!

"For adding properties to a class you have enter the same info in triplicate"

Good point -- this is frustrating even in ObjC-2.0. They should get rid of @synthesize and do it automatically.

"the creator didn't understand the value of name space partitioning in OOP"

Dr Cox certainly understood. He just wanted to keep things as close to "pure" C as possible, and had a different way of partitioning spaces -- use 2 letter codes. This is primitive but surprisingly effective, and why all Cocoa objects begin with NS. Think of all the typing this saves, and you never have to wonder what namespace context you're in.

"mind-numbing hyper-verbosity"

I agree that the Cocoa library objects / methods are verbose, but this is a GOOD thing. Also, other more recent languages do the same with there libraries, for example: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system(v=VS.100).aspx

"While the Xcode editor is doing heoric efforts in trying to guess what you meant "

I agree 100% with you -- Code completion in XCode needs to improve

"you still end up doing lots of cut & paste of the Cocoa names"

100% agreed -- XCode needs to have something better than their macro insertion stuff to save me a lot of typing.

... using windows reduces TCO and improves performance...
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/compare/linux/windows-server-tco.mspx
what is it going to be next? opensource bring bad karma and incantation upon us?

Per my subject-line above?

----

Consumer, Hardware, and Multimedia products:

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy

"Microsoft will offer Mainstream Support for either a minimum of 5 years from the date of a product's general availability, or for 2 years after the successor productExtended Support is not offered for Consumer, Hardware, and Multimedia products."

----

Note: XP is Consumer grade Operating System material... for one thing. For another?

----

YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR EXTENDED SUPPORT:

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy

"Requires extended hotfix agreement, purchased within 90 days of mainstream support ending."

----

So, mainstream support which I cited? IS what 99/100 folks WILL use (& it would be STUPID to go and purchase an OS that MS is about to drop mainstream support for, and especially in light of the fact Windows Server 2003, Windows 7, & Windows Server 2008 (heck even VISTA) show less security problems than XP does!)

(Of course, nobody ever said you were smart... my guess here? You're just a tech, IF that! So much for you trying to use the "EXTENDED SUPPORT" part for XP here, lol!)

APK

P.S.=> Ah, yes: Another "/. techie" trying to "outfox me & play expert" by changing the rules we are using firstly, and secondly, you're probably YET ANOTHER ONE OF THAT "ILK" (lowly, lowest of the low in this field imo @ least, because all your kind does, and same with network admins & engineers largely too, is USE WHAT PEOPLE LIKE ME (software engineers/programmer-analysts) WRITE FOR YOU TO MERELY USE (your kind? Creates nearly NOTHING of worth, & certainly not stuff that's been to respected trade mags & books/newspapers as my work had many times while you were still in diapers is my guess here on that account)).

Yes, my guess here is that you're just doubtless another minus degrees in CSC/CIS/MIS, & possibly even certifications to your name in the computer sciences!

The end result? You're just falling on your face, in "trying to change the rules" here...

I say this, because I kept my comparison STRICTLY to Linux's latest offering (shows more security vulernabilities than Windows 7, Microsoft's "latest/greatest" does, even though it's ONLY THE LINUX KERNEL BEING SHOWN, not its shells like KDE or Gnome (& their vulerabilities, which would make the security vulnerabilities on Linux go even HIGHER than the core/kernel itself has))... apk

Per my subject-line above?

----

Consumer, Hardware, and Multimedia products:

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy

"Microsoft will offer Mainstream Support for either a minimum of 5 years from the date of a product's general availability, or for 2 years after the successor productExtended Support is not offered for Consumer, Hardware, and Multimedia products."

----

Note: XP is Consumer grade Operating System material... for one thing. For another?

----

YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR EXTENDED SUPPORT:

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy

"Requires extended hotfix agreement, purchased within 90 days of mainstream support ending."

----

So, mainstream support which I cited? IS what 99/100 folks WILL use (& it would be STUPID to go and purchase an OS that MS is about to drop mainstream support for, and especially in light of the fact Windows Server 2003, Windows 7, & Windows Server 2008 (heck even VISTA) show less security problems than XP does!)

(Of course, nobody ever said you were smart... my guess here? You're just a tech, IF that! So much for you trying to use the "EXTENDED SUPPORT" part for XP here, lol!)

APK

P.S.=> Ah, yes: Another "/. techie" trying to "outfox me & play expert" by changing the rules we are using firstly, and secondly, you're probably YET ANOTHER ONE OF THAT "ILK" (lowly, lowest of the low in this field imo @ least, because all your kind does, and same with network admins & engineers largely too, is USE WHAT PEOPLE LIKE ME (software engineers/programmer-analysts) WRITE FOR YOU TO MERELY USE (your kind? Creates nearly NOTHING of worth, & certainly not stuff that's been to respected trade mags & books/newspapers as my work had many times while you were still in diapers is my guess here on that account)).

Yes, my guess here is that you're just doubtless another minus degrees in CSC/CIS/MIS, & possibly even certifications to your name in the computer sciences!

The end result? You're just falling on your face, in "trying to change the rules" here...

I say this, because I kept my comparison STRICTLY to Linux's latest offering (shows more security vulernabilities than Windows 7, Microsoft's "latest/greatest" does, even though it's ONLY THE LINUX KERNEL BEING SHOWN, not its shells like KDE or Gnome (& their vulerabilities, which would make the security vulnerabilities on Linux go even HIGHER than the core/kernel itself has))... apk

"You misspelled "2014" (reference: the page you sent me)." - y Just Some Guy (3352) on Tuesday June 01, @03:53PM (#32422758) Homepage

Ahem, B.S. (I copied this exact link I posted earlier from MS themselves, so who are you trying to fool here?):

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-gb&C2=1173

In fact, again - See there, mainstream support from MS themselves, ended for XP on 04/2009 (and will end TOTALLY as of next month in fact).

So much for THIS trollery from you next below:

"The rest of your invalid reasoning can be similarly dismissed." - y Just Some Guy (3352) on Tuesday June 01, @03:53PM (#32422758) Homepage

Really? Ok then, dismiss anything I posted to SanityInAnarchy here then:

http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1670694&cid=32416552

OR, before that, here:

http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1670694&cid=32413754

APK

P.S.=> Oh, and a question: Do you even CSC, CIS, or MIS degree? How about a certification even (A+ or MCSE will do nicely for some of this, but a CISSP would be better & MORE REFINED for the links above I am waiting for SanityInAnarchy to reply on though)... have YOU personally ever accomplished anything noted by others in respected publications in this field as decent?

I do... would you like to see them? I probably have done more than you have around this field that's been noted well by others in it than you have while you were still in diapers! See here:

"My Name is Ozymandias: King of Kings - Look upon my works, ye mighty, & DESPAIR..."

----

Windows NT Magazine (now Windows IT Pro) April 1997 "BACK OFFICE PERFORMANCE" issue, page 61

(&, for work done for EEC Systems/SuperSpeed.com on PAID CONTRACT (writing portions of their SuperCache program increasing its performance by up to 40% via my work) albeit, for their SuperDisk & HOW TO APPLY IT, took them to a finalist position @ MS Tech Ed, two years in a row 2000-2002, in its HARDEST CATEGORY: SQLServer Performance Enhancement).

WINDOWS MAGAZINE, 1997, "Top Freeware & Shareware of the Year" issue page 210, #1/first entry in fact (my work is there)

PC-WELT FEB 1998 - page 84, again, my work is featured there

WINDOWS MAGAZINE, WINTER 1998 - page 92, insert section, MUST HAVE WARES, my work is again, there

PC-WELT FEB 1999 - page 83, again, my work is featured there

CHIP Magazine 7/99 - page 100, my work is there

GERMAN PC BOOK, Data Becker publisher "PC Aufrusten und Repairen" 2000, where my work is contained in it

HOT SHAREWARE Numero 46 issue, pg. 54 (PC ware mag from Spain), 2001 my work is there, first one featured, yet again!

Also, a British PC Mag in 2002 for many utilities I wrote, saw it @ BORDERS BOOKS but didn't buy it... by that point, I had moved onto other areas in this field besides coding only...

Lastly, being paid for an article that made me money over @ PCPitstop in 2008 for writing up a guide that has people showing NO VIRUSES/SPYWARES & other screwups, via following its point, such as THRONKA sees here -> http://www.xtremepccentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=ee926d913b81bf6d63c3c7372fd2a24c&t=28430&page=3

----

What do I have to say about that much above? I can't say it any better, than this was stated already (from the greatest book of all time, the "tech manual for life" imo):

"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored

"Yet doing ordinary patch detection and downloads can only be done with Internet Explorer"

Second time you've claimed that. It's still untrue. If you try to do so now, you'll get this link: http://www.update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/vistadefault.aspx?ln=en-us

  Windows Update is included in Control Panel. In the future, to check for updates (or if this webpage doesn’t open Windows Update automatically):
    Click the Start button, click All Programs, and then click Windows Update.

"you have to count XP vulnerabilities as current." - by Just Some Guy (3352) on Tuesday June 01, @12:18PM (#32419748) Homepage

Windows XP support's is DONE/OVER WITH (by Microsoft), see here:

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-gb&C2=1173

(That is WHY I kept this comparison STRICTLY to Windows modern builds, vs. the most modern kernel build of LINUX, in 2.6x, ONLY!).

"And don't forget that you can still buy XP machines new off-the-shelf today" - by Just Some Guy (3352) on Tuesday June 01, @12:18PM (#32419748) Homepage

Where is this? Does Microsoft condone this I wonder, especially considering they no longer support XP?? I see that support for the current builds and service pack level for XP is done, again, as of 04/2009!

That is why we are comparing the "latest/greatest" from Microsoft (Windows VISTA/Windows 7/Windows Server 2008) & the Linux camp's 'latest offering' & only PARTIAL @ that, because no OS shell is even considered, and LINUX's kernel shows more bugs than Windows 7 in its ENTIRETY no less as well!

(I used the latest from LINUX, in kernel 2.6x... again, that's NOT counting their OS shells like KDE or Gnome even (whereas you ARE on Windows), or their Window manager systems either, which would most likely COMPOUND what the Linux kernel's showing in version 2.6x even moreso, which is more than Windows 7 does in its whole build being considered here...).

APK

P.S.=> Additionally, based on what you stated? Then, by YOUR reasoning? I can include all older models of LINUX too & their vulnerabilities in kernel's below 2.6x (as well as their GUI shell (KDE or Gnome usually), & tty terminal shells like BA$H too)... apk

Indeed, which is an incredibly good thing, but not if you don't know about it. MSVC's STL implementation provides iterator debugging (debug mode) and checked iterators (debug/release modes) by default. This can dramatically slow down a program, and is something many inexperienced C++ programmers fail to disable when profiling, resulting in inaccurate timings.

Indeed, which is an incredibly good thing, but not if you don't know about it. MSVC's STL implementation provides iterator debugging (debug mode) and checked iterators (debug/release modes) by default. This can dramatically slow down a program, and is something many inexperienced C++ programmers fail to disable when profiling, resulting in inaccurate timings.

Full disclosure: my employer is a Microsoft Reseller.

That said, you're right in that Windows Server + Exchange = overkill for small businesses. However, the small business demographic is generally served well by SBS: http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/products/server/default.aspx Windows Server + SQL Server + Exchange rolled into one box and scaled down for the SMB market.

This is the part where I point out that c# can act as a low-levelish language. You can do pointer arithmatic and shoot yourself in the foot with buffer overruns just fine writing unsafe code.

Of course writing such low-level code in C usually looks more elegant than doing it in C#.

Windows 7 has XP mode which is a virtual XP system built in.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-xp-mode

It allows you to run software and hardware that is not windows 7 compatible. It also has built in IE 6 for anything that still requires that.

I would not have upgraded to Windows 7 if I could only run my software in XP virtual mode, I have no idea how Mac users would be OK with that.

The automatic sharing of the C: drive as \\hostname\c$\, for example, has been nearly impossible to turn off for even a competent systems administrator without ripping out parts of the operating system you may want.

have to disagree, most competent admins know how to search knowlegde base articles. Took all of about 8 seconds to find the KB articles that describe the registry settings in detail. eg. heres the windows 2003 one. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816524

I just downloaded Google Chrome 3.0.192.0 for Mac and it crashed before I could even open a page. There is no excuse for this; my Mac Pro is perfect in every way with eight 2.93 GHz cores, 32 GB RAM, and a fresh install of Mac OS X Leopard v10.5.7. Ergo any crashing Google Chrome does is Google Chrome's own fault!

Why is it that Apple and Mozilla can do this but Google can't? I ran Internet Explorer 8 for months before its final release, Firefox 3.5 since its 3.1 days, and found Safari 4 Developer Preview more stable than Safari 3. In fact, even WebKit is more stable than Chrome.

What really baffles me, however, isn't the instability I've come to expect from Google, but that Google has the audacity to ask for personal user info to improve its browser. Is the search engine maker datamonger really so desperate for my private information that it's stooped to the level of Trojan horses to get it?

They should ask me that when it doesn't crash on launch.

Everything Google does is just another way to sieve personal data away for targeting ads. This kind of Big Brother crap is more repulsive than the fat programmers that make it possible. Google, with its deep pockets and doctoral scholars, thinks that by holding user data hostage it can maneuver around Apple and Microsoft. While this may be true, I'm not willing to be a part of it.

In using Google's search, Gmail, Chrome or whatever else the faceless robot of a company invents, the user is surrendering their personal information to a giant hivemind. No longer are their personal preferences some choice they make; they're a string of data processed by a Google algorithm: Google dehumanizes its users!

So while Google is arrogant enough to paint spyware shiny so it can parse our browsing habits, the least they could do is make sure it doesn't crash. If Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla can get their preview releases right, why can't Google? And now they're making their own operating systems?

Get real, Google! I'll use your crashing codebloat when my Mac is cold and dead and I'm looking for handouts. Until then, quit mining my personal data!

I just downloaded Google Chrome 3.0.192.0 for Mac and it crashed before I could even open a page. There is no excuse for this; my Mac Pro is perfect in every way with eight 2.93 GHz cores, 32 GB RAM, and a fresh install of Mac OS X Leopard v10.5.7. Ergo any crashing Google Chrome does is Google Chrome's own fault!

Why is it that Apple and Mozilla can do this but Google can't? I ran Internet Explorer 8 for months before its final release, Firefox 3.5 since its 3.1 days, and found Safari 4 Developer Preview more stable than Safari 3. In fact, even WebKit is more stable than Chrome.

What really baffles me, however, isn't the instability I've come to expect from Google, but that Google has the audacity to ask for personal user info to improve its browser. Is the search engine maker datamonger really so desperate for my private information that it's stooped to the level of Trojan horses to get it?

They should ask me that when it doesn't crash on launch.

Everything Google does is just another way to sieve personal data away for targeting ads. This kind of Big Brother crap is more repulsive than the fat programmers that make it possible. Google, with its deep pockets and doctoral scholars, thinks that by holding user data hostage it can maneuver around Apple and Microsoft. While this may be true, I'm not willing to be a part of it.

In using Google's search, Gmail, Chrome or whatever else the faceless robot of a company invents, the user is surrendering their personal information to a giant hivemind. No longer are their personal preferences some choice they make; they're a string of data processed by a Google algorithm: Google dehumanizes its users!

So while Google is arrogant enough to paint spyware shiny so it can parse our browsing habits, the least they could do is make sure it doesn't crash. If Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla can get their preview releases right, why can't Google? And now they're making their own operating systems?

Get real, Google! I'll use your crashing codebloat when my Mac is cold and dead and I'm looking for handouts. Until then, quit mining my personal data!

I just downloaded Google Chrome 3.0.192.0 for Mac and it crashed before I could even open a page. There is no excuse for this; my Mac Pro is perfect in every way with eight 2.93 GHz cores, 32 GB RAM, and a fresh install of Mac OS X Leopard v10.5.7. Ergo any crashing Google Chrome does is Google Chrome's own fault!

Why is it that Apple and Mozilla can do this but Google can't? I ran Internet Explorer 8 for months before its final release, Firefox 3.5 since its 3.1 days, and found Safari 4 Developer Preview more stable than Safari 3. In fact, even WebKit is more stable than Chrome.

What really baffles me, however, isn't the instability I've come to expect from Google, but that Google has the audacity to ask for personal user info to improve its browser. Is the search engine maker datamonger really so desperate for my private information that it's stooped to the level of Trojan horses to get it?

They should ask me that when it doesn't crash on launch.

Everything Google does is just another way to sieve personal data away for targeting ads. This kind of Big Brother crap is more repulsive than the fat programmers that make it possible. Google, with its deep pockets and doctoral scholars, thinks that by holding user data hostage it can maneuver around Apple and Microsoft. While this may be true, I'm not willing to be a part of it.

In using Google's search, Gmail, Chrome or whatever else the faceless robot of a company invents, the user is surrendering their personal information to a giant hivemind. No longer are their personal preferences some choice they make; they're a string of data processed by a Google algorithm: Google dehumanizes its users!

So while Google is arrogant enough to paint spyware shiny so it can parse our browsing habits, the least they could do is make sure it doesn't crash. If Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla can get their preview releases right, why can't Google? And now they're making their own operating systems?

Get real, Google! I'll use your crashing codebloat when my Mac is cold and dead and I'm looking for handouts. Until then, quit mining my personal data!

I just downloaded Google Chrome 3.0.192.0 for Mac and it crashed before I could even open a page. There is no excuse for this; my Mac Pro is perfect in every way with eight 2.93 GHz cores, 32 GB RAM, and a fresh install of Mac OS X Leopard v10.5.7. Ergo any crashing Google Chrome does is Google Chrome's own fault!

Why is it that Apple and Mozilla can do this but Google can't? I ran Internet Explorer 8 for months before its final release, Firefox 3.5 since its 3.1 days, and found Safari 4 Developer Preview more stable than Safari 3. In fact, even WebKit is more stable than Chrome.

What really baffles me, however, isn't the instability I've come to expect from Google, but that Google has the audacity to ask for personal user info to improve its browser. Is the search engine maker datamonger really so desperate for my private information that it's stooped to the level of Trojan horses to get it?

They should ask me that when it doesn't crash on launch.

Everything Google does is just another way to sieve personal data away for targeting ads. This kind of Big Brother crap is more repulsive than the fat programmers that make it possible. Google, with its deep pockets and doctoral scholars, thinks that by holding user data hostage it can maneuver around Apple and Microsoft. While this may be true, I'm not willing to be a part of it.

In using Google's search, Gmail, Chrome or whatever else the faceless robot of a company invents, the user is surrendering their personal information to a giant hivemind. No longer are their personal preferences some choice they make; they're a string of data processed by a Google algorithm: Google dehumanizes its users!

So while Google is arrogant enough to paint spyware shiny so it can parse our browsing habits, the least they could do is make sure it doesn't crash. If Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla can get their preview releases right, why can't Google? And now they're making their own operating systems?

Get real, Google! I'll use your crashing codebloat when my Mac is cold and dead and I'm looking for handouts. Until then, quit mining my personal data!

AutoHotKey or AutoIt are better and they are free unlike Visual Basic.

Incorrect, good sir! Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition is free!

Consolas is available for XP, and already included in Windows 7.

Here's what I used to use for a low-level format:

A>debug
g=c800:5

If you've got a fairly speedy machine, set the interleave to 1:1. Don't forget to input the list of bad blocks so the drive won't try to store data in them. There's some more info in this KB article

HTH, HAND

Its MS AI and statistics workshop.
Here is the 1999 one:
http://uncertainty99.microsoft.com/

Microsoft has a "shared source" thing where they will show you the source code for reference purposes (Wikipedia says for viewing Microsoft classes while debugging) but you can't redistribute it. Definitely not open source.

I don't particularly see much wrong with the current control panel in Windows 7, but if you really need to see absolutely buttf***-ALL EVERYTHING in there, then create your own folder or folders with a little of everything or BFA EVERYTHING in the control panel in one spot.

http://clubhouse.microsoft.com/Public/Post/16246d0f-c698-4a64-9757-925cc166d393 gives more detail, but for the tl;dr crowd:
Create new folder.
Name folder: Witty Folder Name Here.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
Open Folder.
Holy crap, everything + 20 is in here.
Rejoice.

So that would indicate to me that Microsoft produces abetting technology. Shit, I can see in my own windows on a Bing bird's eye view w/Silverlight.

This, to me, is the same as guys who put up these. Nah, providing the tools is ok, just don't actually use them right?

Grand jury time!

I had a run-in recently from a drive-by malware install (curse you Chrome!). It immediately disabled task manager and locked me out of regedit and msconfig, and icons began to fill my desktop as I gazed on in horror... I couldn't install MalwareBytes because the malware killed the installer process immediately. I couldn't even download anything with an ad-aware-like filename since the request was hijacked and I got a scareware page instead.

A reboot into safe mode failed. Luckily, I had Process Explorer on a thumbdrive and was able to wrangle it dead with judicious use of Kill Process Tree and very fast clicking, since the processes restart each other when you kill them. Then I could use autoruns to nuke anything remotely non-Microsoft from my startup, and then I could install malware removal tools and antivirus scanners.

While it's easy to bash Windows after this privilege-escalation browser-hijacking nightmare, the tools available for defeating malicious software even when it has root are impressive. The problem of regaining control from a hostile takeover is fascinating and despite the panic it's always fun to engage in combat using your own little tricks.. it's like sitting in the computer lab on locked-down machines and trying to break free :) In middle school, there were very few icons on the desktop, nothing in the start menu, task manager was locked out, Run didn't work, none of the usual key combinations were effective... but I discovered that you could embed a hyperlink to file://c:/windows/cmd.exe in a word document and control+click it to bring up the DOS prompt!

And frankly the only reason that I was able to recover control from the malware is because XP's internal security is a wreck and there are a million different things to lock down individually. Let's face it, if somehow malicious code found a way to be executed as root on my linux system, there are no tools on earth short of going over the entire filesystem in a different OS with a text editor that can save you. Even rudimentary tools like Autoruns have no analogue in Linux.. there are rc.d scripts and .bashrc scripts and .xsession scripts and rc.conf and etc etc etc scattered all over the place, it's a mess. Well, I don't want to turn this into a unix haters rant...

or use these pages for lawyer fodder:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/ff384126.aspx

http://smallbasic.com/program/?TETRIS

Yeah, 16 bit support (for an OS that became obsolete in 1995) was ONLY dropped in 64 bit OS versions (~2005 for x64 bit versions of 2k3 and XP), however continues in 32 bit versions of Win7.

Windows 7 will still load many XP drivers

In addition to application compatibility (in an EXEs properties), there's full blown virtual machine in the form of XP mode with a licence included for pro/ultimate. Are you a home premium user? These XP virtual machines are free: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en

With the release of new file formats for office 2007, they released compatibility pack for Office 2000-2003. Office 2007 can still read/write to office 2003 files

Office 2010 is compatible with WindowsXP

Apple on the other hand drops support of old hardware, OS versions, and software like a rock.

Actually IE5.01 will be dying along with it. Yes, IE 5.01 STILL GETS PATCHES. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-002.mspx

I ran it quite happily with 48mb, back in 1999. Microsoft actually state the minimum needed as 32mb, though how usable it would be with that I don't know.

Of course, it may need 80mb or more with all the service packs and updates released since launch. But back in '99, it was quite light on resources, and a pretty nimble OS. I still like it even now, despite being over a decade since release.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304297