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Because it's a trial version. Contrary to other replies, this isn't particularly relevant to it being a non-final version, except that all non-final releases are legally trial versions. However, you can just as well get a 90-day trial version of Windows 7 Enterprise final version for free (and if you just want to try it, that's what you really should use, rather than RC).

If you're not going to read the article, at least glance at the summary:

Well, where would the fun be in that? And, more seriously, the article seems to say

To avoid any data loss, I suggest making plans to move to a released version of Windows 7 before the automatic shutdowns start. During these shutdowns, your work will not be saved.

Meaning, I think, you'll get a warning that you might get a shutdown at some point. But, when the shutdown happens, it might come without a more imminent warning. The linked MS KB article supports that while you will get scheduled warnings, when the actual shutdown happens "When the computer restarts, your work will not be saved" -- the reboot will simply happen and kill whatever you're working on.

I have seen a dialog box that says "Reboot now?" with only "OK" and full modal focus. It was evil (and I'm not even saying it was an MS dialog box, since I can't remember).

I'm sure come June 1 or whatever the final cut-off date is, it will be far less polite about it.

Truthfully, I have no qualms about MS shutting down trial versions. A friend of mine has raved so much about Windows 7 I've been weighing the option of upgrading my Vista box -- but I've actually been really happy with my Vista experience, and I don't want to go through the bother of the upgrade/migration process.

Cheers

The problem with English "grammar" is that it doesn't work. Fifty or a hundred years ago, the study of English grammar was taken seriously because it was believed to be a description of how the language worked. Once computers started processing English text, that belief was destroyed. Parsing of English sentences using a grammatical rule set just didn't work.

A few decades later, parsing of English is better understood. Microsoft Word's grammar checker really does parse sentences. At one time, Microsoft Research offered a tool which plugged into Word's parser and displayed the sentence diagrams it uses internally. The tools for this require Bayesian statistics; they're not based on rigid rules.

Research linguists have a handle on the parsing problem now. But the methods that really work aren't useful as teaching tools for students. So the teaching of "grammar" has lost its underpinnings.

Incidentally, in English there are only four main types of "open class" words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Then there are about 150-300 "closed class words" (opinions vary, but a common list contains 288), which have to be treated as special cases. Parsing is driven almost entirely by the closed class words. (This is why "Jabberwocky" works.) Closed class words are added to English very slowly - the last one was "Ms." But that's not how students are taught grammar.

They don't have to reverse engineer anything. Microsoft publishes the the format specifications:

http://www.microsoft.com/interop/docs/OfficeBinaryFormats.mspx

The new versions of Windows restrict driver development to "approved corporations" only.

That's not true. You can always install test signed drivers on your machine if you install your test certificate.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906344.aspx

Hell if you could convince customers to this they could install your unsigned drivers on their machines too.

However for a sane user experience you should run the WHQL tests on your machine and have Microsoft WHQL sign the drivers. That needs a Verisign certificate which costs hundreds of dollars per year. Still consider - the hardware vendor writes the drivers. They spent a lot more than a hundred dollars doing that. The requirement that code be signed in kernel mode means that the company that wrote it is known and the certificate can be revoked if they write malware. And WHQL signing will at least catch many of the common bugs.

So as a user I'd definitely want to only use WHQL'd drivers on my machine. Still I could work around that if I wanted - the freedom that has been removed is the freedom for anonymous and unaccountable entities to install kernel mode code on other people's machines, not of users to write their own drivers and install them on their own ones.

This is not the case on most games consoles or mobile phones - there the hardware will refuse to load unsigned software. You'd need to buy a special development system to program them and the code you write will only run on that system until the vendor approves your code and release signs it. So there your freedom to tinker is really not present.

Yes there is an app store and IIRC you can sell apps there or serve up apps from your server using .NET compact framework or Visual C++. Here is the SDK if you want to give it a spin, but of course you'll need VS proper (no express) to use it.

> it seems to be a common occurrence to find space projects with horrid web sites.

Even more common is finding horrid software (and licensing) behind professional looking websites:

Consider:
http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx
http://www.apple.com/webapps/

"Only on a Mac" is no different from the "only on a Windows box" development for Windows Mobile.

Philisophically its no different.

In practice its worlds apart.

Mac has what? 90% marketshare of the home market. So in practice, its not all that unreasonable to "assume" the family has a "free PC". 90% of them actually do.

And the 10% that have a mac can add windows to it for ~$100. Or you can buy a whole laptop for $300.
The 90% that have a PC would have to buy a Mac, and there isn't a Mac at the $300 price point.

Bottom line, in practice, the cost of entry to get windows if your a mac owner is pretty low, while the reverse is not true. And in an average pool of kids most of them will already have access to a windows PC, far fewer will already have access to a mac. So, no, "only on Windows" is not really the same thing as "only on OSX" in the real world.

And Visual Studio, last time I checked, did not ship with all PCs... unlike X-Code's presence on Mac (if you choose to install it).

Visual Studio is only a download a way:

The express versions are free to all.
http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/

High school and post secondary school students also have access to:
https://www.dreamspark.com/default.aspx
Which gives them access to Server 2008, SQL Server, and Pro development tools for free (for non-commercial use).

Microsoft is pretty decent to students if you ask me. What sucks is graduating university, and losing it. Although a Technet Subscription or MSDN subscription is pretty good for what you get.

The answer is on the Microsoft pages themselves. I'm just singling out one simple example (check where he worked before he joined MS) but it would be unfair on the guy to claim he's the only one: MS employs people from the sectors they want to sell into.
If you have influence in a sector and are planning to leave, MS will pay for your network. It's not unusual - happens everywhere - but I must admit it has worked spectacularly well with New Labour.

It's a sort of reverse McKinsey where leavers get an exit bonus so they'll ring their pals if they need any consulting done.

Actually no - in the plugin space like Flash and PDF IE is superior due to its model of running different zones in different access levels. For example the "Internet Zone" runs with less privilege than a "standard user" account and cannot write to the file system outside of Temporary Internet Files and cannot write to the registry outside of a specific non-trusted area. This is with IE already running as standard user - even if the user is running as administrator. You can read up on it here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb250462(VS.85).aspx. For well controlled (corporate) systems, users cannot willy-nilly add sites to the "Trusted Sites" zone which would enable those plugins to now run as standard user (basically move from the low integrity level to the medium level). Home users, of course, can often be tricked into raising the security level of a site - making integrity levels less effective in helping to prevent successful exploit, but even here it prevents most original "drive bys" and requires the user to take an action (indicating trust of the site) before anything bad could happen. Remember that most of these exploits that folks have recently been seeing a lot in the press are IE6 / Windows XP only. With Windows XP of course the whole integrity level and running sites as lower than standard user doesn't exist.

I saw an idea somewhere that politicians these days should require NASCAR/Formula-1 style sponsor patches to be worn on their suits at all times, to indicate which corporations are funding their campaigns.

Then when someone says there is no evidence of IE being less secure, we can Look for the logo

Maybe the installer is broken. You could try downloading SP3:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5B33B5A8-5E76-401F-BE08-1E1555D4F3D4&displaylang=en

(or SP2, it is available in a similar package)

If the installer is intact, you are of into fun fun haha land.

Thanks that very helpful. I found a howto which links to an install of SP2 and I tried that file directly. But it does the same thing as my brothers file. It fails with a message saying the system has less than 4 mb free. I will try the full slipstreaming thing. Thanks.

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux/Apple/QuickTime/Qt/Nokia/Amazon/Kindle 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'

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux/Apple/QuickTime/Qt/Nokia/Amazon/Kindle 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'

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux/Apple/QuickTime/Qt/Nokia/Amazon/Kindle 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'

I thought Microsoft has a VM available on their web site that just has IE6 in it [so it's WinXP + IE6, and you can't install other apps in it], as least for testing web sites. And they are free.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=21eabb90-958f-4b64-b5f1-73d0a413c8ef&DisplayLang=en

I know why there are so many businesses that won't upgrade from IE6, with their legacy web apps that they refuse to upgrade, but for God's sake, IE8 has compatibility mode. For the good of humanity, upgrade!

If by compatibibility mode, you mean compatibility view, according to Microsoft it will "display the website as viewed in Internet Explorer 7", not ie6.

Seriously, it might sound really "anti-Microsoft" or being pathetic, but everyone should really either be blacklisting or reducing the available functionality of websites to users still browsing with MSIE 6.0

Reducing functionality and putting up a message to let users know that they need to upgrade, would be the best decision.

After all, it's not as if there aren't any alternatives available...

ObjC as used on the Mac combines the best of both worlds -- you get pointers for low level control, *and* a nice OO framework/API and niceties like garbage collection.

It should be noted that this is equally true for C# - it also has raw pointers and related stuff available for when you need it, but otherwise it's fully OO, runs under VM with GC, and so on.

Out of my head, I can think of a few advantages either one has over the other.

C# advantages:
- namespaces
- generics, so all collections can be statically typed
- first-class functions and lambdas (closures) with argument type inference
- LINQ query comprehensions (a la Python's "[x for x in ...]", but much more extensive - covering sorting, grouping, joins etc.
- portable code generation with JIT(System.Reflection.Emit & DynamicMethod)
- mark-compact generational GC (ObjC one is a conservative mark & sweep, which means that it's both slower and suffers more from heap fragmentation)

ObjC advantages:
- truly dynamic dispatch, objects can intercept unknown messages sent to them, redirect them etc
- duck typing (C# is going to have it in 4.0, though, which is right around the corner)
- can avoid GC altogether even when using all OO-related language facilities, which can have some performance benefits
- can use C/C++ libraries directly, no wrapping or FFI declarations needed
- gcc generally produces better optimized code than .NET JIT, much less Mono JIT

In general, I'd say that C# is a little bit more high-level, but overall the preference for one or another depends on whether you like static or dynamic typing more. ObjC provides more features to go with the latter, but can be type-unsafe at times (e.g. due to non-generic collections).

ObjC as used on the Mac combines the best of both worlds -- you get pointers for low level control, *and* a nice OO framework/API and niceties like garbage collection.

It should be noted that this is equally true for C# - it also has raw pointers and related stuff available for when you need it, but otherwise it's fully OO, runs under VM with GC, and so on.

Out of my head, I can think of a few advantages either one has over the other.

C# advantages:
- namespaces
- generics, so all collections can be statically typed
- first-class functions and lambdas (closures) with argument type inference
- LINQ query comprehensions (a la Python's "[x for x in ...]", but much more extensive - covering sorting, grouping, joins etc.
- portable code generation with JIT(System.Reflection.Emit & DynamicMethod)
- mark-compact generational GC (ObjC one is a conservative mark & sweep, which means that it's both slower and suffers more from heap fragmentation)

ObjC advantages:
- truly dynamic dispatch, objects can intercept unknown messages sent to them, redirect them etc
- duck typing (C# is going to have it in 4.0, though, which is right around the corner)
- can avoid GC altogether even when using all OO-related language facilities, which can have some performance benefits
- can use C/C++ libraries directly, no wrapping or FFI declarations needed
- gcc generally produces better optimized code than .NET JIT, much less Mono JIT

In general, I'd say that C# is a little bit more high-level, but overall the preference for one or another depends on whether you like static or dynamic typing more. ObjC provides more features to go with the latter, but can be type-unsafe at times (e.g. due to non-generic collections).

ObjC as used on the Mac combines the best of both worlds -- you get pointers for low level control, *and* a nice OO framework/API and niceties like garbage collection.

It should be noted that this is equally true for C# - it also has raw pointers and related stuff available for when you need it, but otherwise it's fully OO, runs under VM with GC, and so on.

Out of my head, I can think of a few advantages either one has over the other.

C# advantages:
- namespaces
- generics, so all collections can be statically typed
- first-class functions and lambdas (closures) with argument type inference
- LINQ query comprehensions (a la Python's "[x for x in ...]", but much more extensive - covering sorting, grouping, joins etc.
- portable code generation with JIT(System.Reflection.Emit & DynamicMethod)
- mark-compact generational GC (ObjC one is a conservative mark & sweep, which means that it's both slower and suffers more from heap fragmentation)

ObjC advantages:
- truly dynamic dispatch, objects can intercept unknown messages sent to them, redirect them etc
- duck typing (C# is going to have it in 4.0, though, which is right around the corner)
- can avoid GC altogether even when using all OO-related language facilities, which can have some performance benefits
- can use C/C++ libraries directly, no wrapping or FFI declarations needed
- gcc generally produces better optimized code than .NET JIT, much less Mono JIT

In general, I'd say that C# is a little bit more high-level, but overall the preference for one or another depends on whether you like static or dynamic typing more. ObjC provides more features to go with the latter, but can be type-unsafe at times (e.g. due to non-generic collections).

VC2010 will fix this: https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=371743&wa=wsignin1.0

Surprisingly the only company that does not make a plugin is MS itself.

I'll take the bait and post this despite my dislike for Microsoft.

link

In a big step forward for interoperability, Microsoft’s recently-released Service Pack 2 for Office 2007 includes built-in support for a range of additional file formats including the OpenDocument Format (ODF).

Also, their PR

When using SP2, customers will be able to open, edit and save documents using ODF and save documents into the XPS and PDF fixed formats from directly within the application without having to install any other code. It will also allow customers to set ODF as the default file format for Office 2007.

Hm. No plugin, because no plugin is necessary, I presume.

to fix the bugs in all of MicroCRAP's software.

Yours In Minsk,
K. Trout

Was going to post about this too, here is the Microsoft link for it.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/FX100487701033.aspx
http://iheartonenote.com/
http://tech4teaching.org/wpblog/?p=602
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA010789831033.aspx

as much detail as you can get, download the demo and mess with it. You'll learn more that way.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/FX100487701033.aspx
http://iheartonenote.com/
http://tech4teaching.org/wpblog/?p=602
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA010789831033.aspx

as much detail as you can get, download the demo and mess with it. You'll learn more that way.

How do you enable multiple desktops on Windows without 3rd party software?

With the Microsoft Virtual Desktop Manager powertoy. Works well enough.

I like the OP's idea, which if I understand it correctly is the ability to set either monitor independently to any of the available virtual desktops.

Reading between the lines on the description for this tool:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc817881.aspx

it sounds like it might be possible to have a different sessions on different screens, but it also sounds like it would be awkward (no moving windows between screens, and it isn't obvious that the screens could each have their own desktop object, I'm just assuming it might work).

Which of these are you trying to say?

1. 
        
2. Corporations need to apply bylaws. Microsoft's bylaws

3.      

4. Corporations have to go buy laws. Recent Supreme Court campaign finance decision

5.      

6. Corporations need to abide by laws. [please provide a reference]

Microsoft doesn't enable services to listen on IPv6 unless the application explicitly requests it. Furthermore, the built-in firewall doesn't allow unsolicited inbound traffic unless you explicitly enable it.

As for netbios, it's not defined over IPv6.

I'm not sure that first link applies to Windows XP, as its for Windows Mobile 6.

The second link you referenced says NetBT is not defined over ipv6, which is correct as NetBT is netbios implemented over ipv4. To be more precise I should have said file/print sharing instead of netbios, which by default is listening on ipv6 if its running.

A fair number of people are not running the built-in firewall when they are behind a corporate or home firewall. If file/print sharing are enabled, there are holes punched in the local firewall anyway. A lot of third-party software opens up holes in the Microsoft firewall as well. Some third-party firewalls I tested last year totally ignored ipv6 traffic and let it all through.

My point is that enabling ipv6 adds exposure. If you've implemented an ipv6 tunnel, you could be inadvertently bypassing firewall protections as you essentially create a tunnel for the entire ipv6 world to directly access your computer.

As an example, try setting up teredo on an XP box that's behind NAT (the main reason for using teredo, btw). Doing a bit of packet sniffing, you'll discover that you're getting an occassional port scan. Yes indeed there are black hats out there scanning ipv6 space already.

Microsoft doesn't enable services to listen on IPv6 unless the application explicitly requests it. Furthermore, the built-in firewall doesn't allow unsolicited inbound traffic unless you explicitly enable it.

As for netbios, it's not defined over IPv6.

I'm not sure that first link applies to Windows XP, as its for Windows Mobile 6.

The second link you referenced says NetBT is not defined over ipv6, which is correct as NetBT is netbios implemented over ipv4. To be more precise I should have said file/print sharing instead of netbios, which by default is listening on ipv6 if its running.

A fair number of people are not running the built-in firewall when they are behind a corporate or home firewall. If file/print sharing are enabled, there are holes punched in the local firewall anyway. A lot of third-party software opens up holes in the Microsoft firewall as well. Some third-party firewalls I tested last year totally ignored ipv6 traffic and let it all through.

My point is that enabling ipv6 adds exposure. If you've implemented an ipv6 tunnel, you could be inadvertently bypassing firewall protections as you essentially create a tunnel for the entire ipv6 world to directly access your computer.

As an example, try setting up teredo on an XP box that's behind NAT (the main reason for using teredo, btw). Doing a bit of packet sniffing, you'll discover that you're getting an occassional port scan. Yes indeed there are black hats out there scanning ipv6 space already.

Microsoft doesn't enable services to listen on IPv6 unless the application explicitly requests it. Furthermore, the built-in firewall doesn't allow unsolicited inbound traffic unless you explicitly enable it.

As for netbios, it's not defined over IPv6.

Microsoft doesn't enable services to listen on IPv6 unless the application explicitly requests it. Furthermore, the built-in firewall doesn't allow unsolicited inbound traffic unless you explicitly enable it.

As for netbios, it's not defined over IPv6.

Luckily, the same software on your PC doesn't listen on IPv6 in the first place, so it doesn't really matter that your box is v6 accessible.

Huh? Most of the Microsoft services listen just fine on ipv6. Are you comfortable with anyone on the ipv6 internet being able to hit your netbios ports? Even Microsoft points out ipv6 tunneling at a security risk and recommends blocking teredo traffic as the network boundary. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726956.aspx

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Search/en-US/?query=disable%20IPv6 (Myself being one of them.) Being as the vast majority of home users and small businesses still send their money to One Microsoft Way, Redmond Washington, the standard Slashdot solution of install Ubuntu/Gentoo/OpenBSD/FreeBSD/Buy a Mac might not work for everybody. (I am a dual-booter, by the way.)

And the consensus was that it never got any better, even after a year of use.

Had they solid arguments to support this?

Then to top things off, you can't save in the newest version because your document will be useless to anyone not yet updated.

Anyone not yet updated from Office XP or Office 2003 can ask IT to deploy the compatibility pack.

There is an option for privacy enhanced web browsing: IE compatibility test virtualization images. A very common OS packaged with a vanilla install of a very common browser, neatly resettable in a virtual machine. Thank you, Microsoft.

OMFG is is MSFT!!!! THE are EVILZ!!11!

I won't accpet anything that they do. They are impossible to do anything good!!11!!!
I will keep using Google because they 'do no evil'.

I used to HATE Microsoft. Their products were not the best out there word v word perfect, excel v lotus 123. They used cost manuvers, and rapid improvments to gain insane amounts of market share. But they don't put out 100% bad and evil stuff.

Google isn't all nice and open. Android is 'open' but isn't really. Their Android apps can't be distributed by anyone. Their office/email is so closed they don't even let you run it locally. Sure they use Linux servers, because it is less expensive for them, and they can tivker and optimize for their odd usage. Google only looks open because they don't sell software (when they do it is just as locked down as MSFT), their drafting program. They sell ads, and they give you software so you can see more ads. For all the ad hating that Slashdot has I am amazed with the blind Google love.
Bing and Google have the same notifications for changing their privace policys. Whith the caveat that if anything Material changes BING MUST notify in some way, Google and Yahoo only notify if there are important changes, or start limiting privacy.

http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/fullnotice.mspx#EKDAC
http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html
http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/details.html

Software patents stifle innovation.
Yet they are still around.

Many of us hate software patents. (myself included).
They limit what we can do, so we have to find innovative ways to avoid them.
Meanwhile we are happy when some large companies get bitten by patents.

Besides litigation, how do software patents benefit their holders?

My CompTIA Certification Story

I got my CompTIA A+ certification working as a repair technician in Computer City (defunct now) in 1999. Their two tests were pretty good at determining if you had basic skills to be junior computer repair technician. Their test was valued by employers who wanted some kind of a basic measure of people who did not have a college diploma or a vocational certification from DeVry to determine if they should even bother interviewing you for basic computer support jobs in repair or help desk. This test is still a basic benchmark of computer repair ability.

Later as I started working as a junior Windows Desktop & Server Administrator at a small company and I liked what I learned in the study books from the previous exam and I started gaining skills in server administration so I bought study books to learn more and took their new Network+ and Server+ certifications. I liked that the study guides gave me a general but well rounded overview of network and server administration and it certainly taught me a few things about the field even though I was already administering two dozen Windows 95 desktops and four Windows NT 4.0 at the company along with the network and Internet connection. Later CompTIA released a beta of the Security+ exam and they invited me to take it and get the certification if I passed the exam after answering and commenting on each of the questions in it.

I am planning to go back to take the Linux+ certification sometime this year to round-out my CompTIA certification list since I've been doing a little more work with Linux with Asterisk PBX on CentOS based Elastix release. I know just enough Linux to get around and configure Asterisk but not nearly enough to do any type of even basic administration since I don't use the OS on a daily basis as most people. I looked at the study guide and it gives a nice rounded view of things to know about Linux to fill in some of the holes that I have in my knowledge and since I'll be reading the guide that I already bought a while back I might as well take the certification.

Since then I've put 10-years behind my belt and am now a senior Windows Server Engineer with three MCSE's and various vendor hardware certifications like the HP ASE and others. I will be working on my fourth MCSE this year and some more high end certifications like Cisco, VMWare, Symantec, etc.

CompTIA Became Almost Irrelevant

What a strategy for CompTIA, if this passed they would have become irrelevant in the certification field because they decided to change their minds and renege on their past promise of lifetime certification. If they did decide to expire all the lifetime certifications then I certainly wouldn't bother retaking any of them and I would let them expire since I've moved way beyond what those certifications offer. I bet that most of the folks in my position would just give up on CompTIA then and forget about them. The only folks that would have to worry are those in help desk, desktop support and computer repair who need their cert for their job since they haven't moved up from those jobs yet or their employers who would need to spend even more money to keep their techs certified so they can advertise as an A+ certified shop. Most of these folks who have plans on upward movement within their career already have or will be moving on to the Microsoft Certified Processional (MCP) certifications by now for Windows and Office and I think that they wouldn't bother retaking the CompTIA upgrade exams anyway.

Microsoft Tried to Expire MCSE Certifications Also

It does. However, since some plug-ins do so extremely often (FlashPlayer being one of them) Adobe automatically adds an exception in the registry for "Don't prompt when this program tries to break out of the sandbox." This *might* be justifiable if Adobe's security record wasn't so terrible, but as it is, it's a decent reason to browse with the Flash ActiveX control disabled on sites where you don't need it (technically IE only allows you to disable it on a per-process basis, but since IE8 runs each tab in its own process, this works out fine - Pandora aside I almost never visit anything that needs Flash, so the Pandora tab gets Flash and the rest present me with a message complaining they can't find it).

Pushing plug-in writers to fix their code, in much the same way that UAC pushed software vendors to make their software run happily as a standard user, is a good idea. Unfortunately, since currently FlashPlayer would probably try to break out of the sandbox on every page that it was loaded on, the user would face a deluge of prompts. Until Adobe (and Sun, apparently) can fix their shit so it only requests external access when actually needed, the exemptions are somewhat necessary.

Note that you can remove them, if you wish. On Win7 x64 with IE8, the registry keys are
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\ and HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\. Note that a large number of these will be pre-configured, even if you don't have the relevant software installed. In particular, anything Acrobat-related seems to have level 3 access (silently elevate) - I don't *have* Acrobat installed, but I figure that knocking those entries down a little was a good idea anyhow.
This page describes the keys you will find here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb250462(VS.85).aspx#wpm_elebp

XP--Nobody actually knows what this stands for, but you can call it Windows 5.1 if that makes you feel better.

Straight from the horse's mouth found via Wikipedia: The XP name is short for "experience," symbolizing the rich and extended user experiences Windows and Office can offer by embracing Web services that span a broad range of devices.

In that case I am not moving to Windows 7! I want a rich experience and according to my research, only XP can provide that.

XP--Nobody actually knows what this stands for, but you can call it Windows 5.1 if that makes you feel better.

Straight from the horse's mouth found via Wikipedia:
The XP name is short for "experience," symbolizing the rich and extended user experiences Windows and Office can offer by embracing Web services that span a broad range of devices.

It runs in systray.exe under last gen Windows. Even Microsoft calls it a system tray at several places, like http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310578 & http://support.microsoft.com/kb/176085 & http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/bonuspack/powertoys.aspx#traycontrol to just name a few.

It runs in systray.exe under last gen Windows. Even Microsoft calls it a system tray at several places, like http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310578 & http://support.microsoft.com/kb/176085 & http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/bonuspack/powertoys.aspx#traycontrol to just name a few.

It runs in systray.exe under last gen Windows. Even Microsoft calls it a system tray at several places, like http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310578 & http://support.microsoft.com/kb/176085 & http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/bonuspack/powertoys.aspx#traycontrol to just name a few.

You should be thinking of more creative and easier ways to handle backup.

For example, if you don't have an Exchange Server you could switch the execs to IMAP. This way, at least their email is backed up on the server. (Also switch to Outlook 2007 to get their sent mail on the server).

Another way to handle backup is to give individual users a hard drive plugged into their docking station (you do have docking stations, don't you) and a couple of quick scripts to backup their Documents and Settings folders (no need to back up the OS.) There is also a great little add-in for Outlook pfbackup that will remind people to backup their outlook files. pfbackup makes it easy to backup an individuals outlook files (email, contacts, calendar).

You can also try enabling offline files for some directories. This way, when their machines are connected to the network the files will be automatically synchronized.

There are commercial backup programs that will launch automatically when connected (or at night) that will backup their files. Probably for a couple hunderd bucks you can solve the problem. I have to aggree with the exec that taking the machine on your schedule is quite unreasonable.

Execs are busy, have other things to consider. It's really your job to make it easy for them to backup.

Stop whining. Do your job.

Interesting you should say that... as IE sandboxes plugins by default. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd346862.aspx

It's important to note that sandboxing (a.k.a. Protected Mode) requires both IE7 or IE8 and Windows Vista or Windows 7. Sandboxing will not work on Windows XP at all !

Additionally, User Account Control (UAC) must be enabled. Vista users trying to avoid privilege elevation prompts by turning off UAC will unwittingly disable Protected Mode.

See "Protected Mode" at:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_7#Privacy_and_security
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_Account_Control