Slashdot Mirror

Is he no longer chairman of Microsoft? They have him listed as of the 2008 report:
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/reports/ar08/10k_do_dir.html
I'm thinking if they call him, he'll probably pick it up...

Microsoft has put its Azure customers on notice that 'all applications and storage accounts in the 'USA - Northwest' region will need to move to another region in the next few months, or they will be deleted'. So much for not diverting you from your core duties). BTW, Microsoft seems to think it's entitled to a 100% sales tax exemption.

Having one big data file and the OS caching it are two different things. Most of the comments here seem to assume that the app, in this case Outlook, orders the OS to cache the datafile while really it's the Sysmain background process (Superfetch, whatever you want to call it) that will cache it if the file is accessed frequently enough.

Though not publicly documented, the PST file format is said to be designed around a relational database (Source: Ontrack). Strangely, the PST/OST file format is not on the MS Open Specification Promise.
 
Now we're done with the facts, and I'll play the devil's advocate now. That it's one big file must have something to do with data consistency. Otoh, caching the file can be advantageous because querying a relational database from RAM is really fast, even without full-text indexing, and I don't see why not if you have 400 MB to spare. Searching a random word, time range, attachment name, etc. in all of your mail can be completed near instantly.
Sure, a structured... thing... on the filesystem works fine for many applications, but in that same 400 MB store, a huge folder tree with files really isn't the fastest way to access (or more important, search) data.
I personally like large files for data stores because it is easier to make a consistent backup of and it generally prevents mucking about with the filesystem.

Have you looked at Silveright http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb404700(VS.95).aspx ?

Imaging? Norton Ghost, Acronis TrueImage, or you can try this (it worked well for me for image backups) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=C7D4BC6D-15F3-4284-9123-679830D629F2&displaylang=en

It's "direct hardware access" in the same sense as the 2D accelerated DrawRectangle() is "direct hardware access".

Oh, sorta like GDI? :)

We went through a few bad years when the .jpg libraries had buffer overflow vulnerabilities on platforms from Linux to Solaris, and on Windows, this was further compounded by GDI+ vulnerabilities.

The GDI+ vulnerability was particularly annoying; it wasn't specific to web browsers, but any JPEG viewer that used GDI was vulnerable. (Hey, make sure to update your copy of ACDSee or IrfanView before viewing that .JPG you downloaded off alt.binaries.goats.e.e.e, even though not a single packet traveled over port 80 in the process. Are you sure the guy who wrote some obscure shareware game where you could replace a bobblehead-doll target with a URL pointing to a pic of your favorite celebrity didn't use the wrong version of the library? Did he release a patch, or has he been out of business for 5 years...)

This has the potential to repeat that mistake: untrusted third-party content will be thrown at libraries (and drivers) that, up until now, had been written with at least the tacit assumption of console access being the normal use case.

Yes, I know OpenGL doesn't strictly require console access -- it works over a network in a way that DirectX never could, so there's some abstraction going on, and those extra layers of abstraction might provide a little bit of protection.

But the people who write the drivers for ATI(AMD) and NVIDIA - a market in which every frame per second counts - probably took the odd shortcut from time to time. Hell, even the people writing the drivers for Intel and VIA's integrated graphics chips took shortcuts for performance. 99% of the users will use the app from the console, and the remaining 1% running OpenGL apps over a network aren't plentiful enough for malware writers to develop exploits. OpenGL calls spawned from web content changes that balance.

Does Google advertise Internet Explorer on Youtube?

There are, likely, some videos promoting IE among all the crap in Youtube, but a closer match would be Google itself, where searching for the phrase "benefits of using Internet Explorer" and hitting "I'm feeling lucky" leads you to this, as expected, instead of Chrome's download page.

So no, not the same thing at all.

I tested searching for "Microsoft Linux".
The results were biased towards articles in swedish; I'm from Sweden, but it seems that that wasn't the only bias...

1st result: http://www.mslinux.org/A "MS version of Linux" spoof.
2nd: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.236944/sa-krossar-microsoft-linux&prev=hp"Så krossar Microsoft Linux" - "How Microsoft crushes Linux" (via Google Translate)
3rd: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http://blogs.technet.com/microsoftnyheter/archive/2009/07/21/microsoft-sl-pper-kod-till-linux.aspx&prev=hpAn article from one of MS' sites about their GPL code donation. (via Google Translate)
4th: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.236944/sa-krossar-microsoft-linux?articleRenderMode=listpostings&prev=hpThe comments page for the "Så krossar Microsoft Linux"-article. (via Google Translate)
5th: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/compare/default.mspxGetthefacts 2.0
6th: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http://opensource.idg.se/2.1014/1.236944/sa-krossar-microsoft-linux?articleRenderMode=listpostings&prev=hpBasically the 4th result, but on a different page. (via Google Translate)
7th: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http://www.datormagazin.se/nyheter/article485456.ece&prev=hpAnother article about the GPL contribution. (via Google Translate)
8th: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/Jul09/07-20LinuxQA.mspxMicrosoft.com GPL code contribution.

I tested searching for "Microsoft Linux".
The results were biased towards articles in swedish; I'm from Sweden, but it seems that that wasn't the only bias...

1st result: http://www.mslinux.org/A "MS version of Linux" spoof.
2nd: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.236944/sa-krossar-microsoft-linux&prev=hp"Så krossar Microsoft Linux" - "How Microsoft crushes Linux" (via Google Translate)
3rd: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http://blogs.technet.com/microsoftnyheter/archive/2009/07/21/microsoft-sl-pper-kod-till-linux.aspx&prev=hpAn article from one of MS' sites about their GPL code donation. (via Google Translate)
4th: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.236944/sa-krossar-microsoft-linux?articleRenderMode=listpostings&prev=hpThe comments page for the "Så krossar Microsoft Linux"-article. (via Google Translate)
5th: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/compare/default.mspxGetthefacts 2.0
6th: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http://opensource.idg.se/2.1014/1.236944/sa-krossar-microsoft-linux?articleRenderMode=listpostings&prev=hpBasically the 4th result, but on a different page. (via Google Translate)
7th: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http://www.datormagazin.se/nyheter/article485456.ece&prev=hpAnother article about the GPL contribution. (via Google Translate)
8th: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/Jul09/07-20LinuxQA.mspxMicrosoft.com GPL code contribution.

Outlook and IE don't use the ribbon. Hardly evidence that the Ribbon is inconsistent.

I wonder why Microsoft would have a page on their site titled "Customizing the Ribbon in Outlook 2007", then. (dated June 2006 - this is NOT news!)

Sorry, Outlook DOES use the ribbon, and mail is likely the office application that is used by more users than any other application, including probably Word, definitely Excel, and definitely Powerpoint. Then trying to use those "learnings" from Outlook on Word or Excel is pointless.

you have Windows.

Period.

Yours In Commerce,
K. Trout

I moved to OpenOffice specifically because Office 2007 can't be operated from the keyboard.

You didn't try hard enough.
List of keyboard shortcuts for Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007 That list is just for Word!
Some have changed for Word 2007 to accommodate the Ribbon UI - a whopping six of them.

"Can't be operated from the keyboard" - my arse.

With the ribbon you can't bring down a menu with an Alt keypress and see the options on it.

The Ribbon does not have the same style menus as Office 2003. That was pretty much the point of the ribbon. Pressing ALT will bring up the shortcuts for the ribbon's tabs; using these shortcuts will select a tab with the keyboard shortcuts highlighted.

I moved to OpenOffice specifically because Office 2007 can't be operated from the keyboard.

You didn't try hard enough.
List of keyboard shortcuts for Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007 That list is just for Word!
Some have changed for Word 2007 to accommodate the Ribbon UI - a whopping six of them.

"Can't be operated from the keyboard" - my arse.

With the ribbon you can't bring down a menu with an Alt keypress and see the options on it.

The Ribbon does not have the same style menus as Office 2003. That was pretty much the point of the ribbon. Pressing ALT will bring up the shortcuts for the ribbon's tabs; using these shortcuts will select a tab with the keyboard shortcuts highlighted.

MS Office doesn't have built-in Works support, but you can download a beerfree plugin from MS' download page.

I'll have to try Go-oo out; my attempts at importing Works docs using OO.org 3 didn't go anywhere, so I didn't really dig around much further than that.

To access AutoCorrect options in Word 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button (the button in the upper-left corner of the Word window) and choose "Word Options," which is near the bottom right corner of the menu. In the options dialog, choose "Proofing" in the left-hand pane, and an "AutoCorrect Options..." button should be available near the top of the right-hand pane. The options provided for AutoCorrect should be similar to earlier versions of Word.

Additionally, this workbook available from Microsoft provides a reference for the "Locations of Microsoft Office Word 2003 commands in Microsoft Office Word 2007":

Word Ribbon mapping workbook

Hey now, it only took me about ten minutes of Googling. First, you double-click on the file. Then, when it tells you that you can't open it because you made the mistake of installing SP2, you then go to this thread, which then tells you about this new semi-secret hotfix package that Microsoft churned out. Then, you choose which part of the package you want to download, give Microsoft your e-mail address, fill in the CAPTCHA, then wait to receive an e-mail. Once you receive the e-mail, you click on the link, download the executable, double-click on it, type in the password listed in the e-mail, tell it where you want to extract to, and then you're almost done.

Almost.

Now, you'll have another executable. Double-click on that (make sure to close Office first, otherwise you'll probably need to reboot), wait half a minute for the package to install, then attempt to open the file again. If you did it right and all goes according to plan, you'll now be able to open that pesky Publisher document that you were foolish enough to create with either Office 2003 or Office 2007 SP1. If you didn't, go back to the beginning and try again.

See? Easy! ;-)

Hey now, it only took me about ten minutes of Googling. First, you double-click on the file. Then, when it tells you that you can't open it because you made the mistake of installing SP2, you then go to this thread, which then tells you about this new semi-secret hotfix package that Microsoft churned out. Then, you choose which part of the package you want to download, give Microsoft your e-mail address, fill in the CAPTCHA, then wait to receive an e-mail. Once you receive the e-mail, you click on the link, download the executable, double-click on it, type in the password listed in the e-mail, tell it where you want to extract to, and then you're almost done.

Almost.

Now, you'll have another executable. Double-click on that (make sure to close Office first, otherwise you'll probably need to reboot), wait half a minute for the package to install, then attempt to open the file again. If you did it right and all goes according to plan, you'll now be able to open that pesky Publisher document that you were foolish enough to create with either Office 2003 or Office 2007 SP1. If you didn't, go back to the beginning and try again.

See? Easy! ;-)

It's disallowed by MS specifically for Office-like applications. (nothing else)

The license is royalty-free.

It's a simple click-through agreement.

The program does not involve code or technical specifications and there are no protocols or file formats.

The license is platform-independent.

The license is available for {any application] except [those] that compete directly with the five MS Office applications that have the new UI.

Office UI Licensing Developer Center

Office 2007 was the first implementation of the "Fluent" UI, but it is not necessarily the best. This is the doc that convinced me to use the ribbon for a UI redesign:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5ae8ea78-6ba9-4de4-aabd-2616d010caa7&displaylang=en

The goals of the Fluent UI design matched our needs almost perfectly. I think it works better for us than it does for Office. Many things seem rushed or forced in the Office 2007 implementation of the ribbon. Maybe Office 2010 will better deliver.

(It is interesting to note that this doc talks about the ribbon being custiomizable by the user, which is decidedly NOT the case in Office.)

I call bullshit, there's no ribbon in Outlook 2007.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA101656351033.aspx

if you ignore shutdown time

In fact, the horrible shutdown time for XP might very well be fixed by this addon from Microsoft. It's strange that so few people seem to know about it. It tends to fix problems with Windows 2000 or XP appearing to "hang" for about 30 sec. when trying to log off.

For many years now, MSFT's annual report has warned about the competative threat that Linux poses, including desktop, server and embedded platforms. There are several direct mentions of this in Microsoft's 2005 report, availble here: http://www.microsoft.com/msft/reports/ar05/staticversion/10k_fr_bus_06.html Old news.

From TFS:

The deal, announced last week, will mean that Microsoft's Bing search engine will power Yahoo's search site and Yahoo will sell premium search ad services for both companies

I think that answers it nicely. You'll be wanting this instead.

> Sounds like FUD.

Right. Because there's never been a person who has lost a file when Word crashed and the *.tmp files are entirely reliable and very easy to search through. In fact, it's so reliable, there was never any need to build recover functionality into it. Come on - just because you've lucked out and it's worked " seamlessly and effortlessly" for you doesn't mean a ton of us haven't lost important files because of Word's lack of 100% "uptime."

What prerelease hype? Go to the Microsoft website and download it for yourself.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx

Its one thing to say you'll only believe it when you see it for products that exist only in the hands of the coders and beta testers (Duke Nukem Forever), but for something that's had an open beta for nearly a year now, its sorta just saying "I need ninjas to break into my house and install it on my hard drive". Which is unfair, because ninjas are expensive as hell. The only significant difference between the free beta and the final version is language support. I think you're unwilling to even try it, and have already decided that Windows 7 has failed.

Original poster is right. Its not FUD. Its a fact. I was sent xlsx documents recently. Couldn't read them. No converters available - the file format readers on Microsofts site could only handle .doc files and .xls files - nothing to read .docs or .xlsx.

Really? Guess you didn't look very hard.

Word viewer 2007 works on any version of windows released in the last 9 years. I would not call windows 2000 a recent version of windows.

I figured MS was no help even though they eventually were, but it redirected the help and support window to a bing search which displayed nothing either. Subsequently, I found and resolved the problem with a trusty old google search. It turned out that somehow a service started loading before it's dependencies were loaded causing a failure in the service. Changing a few registry entries cleared that up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Microsoft_evangelists

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/bb905078.aspx

http://www.nearsoft.com/blog/MS-test.html

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100444731033.aspx Microsoft's .docx converter for Office 2003 and before.

For those of you that may have heard of "A Black Day for Internet Freedom in Germany" from this /. article -> http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/06/16/1657255/A-Black-Day-For-Internet-Freedom-In-Germany ?

I have a way around your "woes", & one that will not get you DNS port 53 udp logged either, in case your ISP/BSP (or gov't./police even) blocks out your fav. sites online, & it's VERY SIMPLE to do, using a custom HOSTS file & a text editor (like notepad.exe, but pay attention below to notepad.exe .txt extension warning I note below though)!

----

1.) Find the IP addresses (ping'ing them will get you this usually) of your favorite websites (even IF they are "banned/restricted" by your ISP/BSP & their DNS servers)

2.) Enter their "IP Address-to-URL" equation/resolution into your local HOSTS file (typically located under %WinDi5%\system32\drivers\etc ), using notepad.exe (be sure to save it as type ALL FILES though, because notepad.exe defaults to a .txt extension, & the HOSTS file HAS NO EXTENSION like .txt in its name)...

----

This will stop your making requests to ANY DNS server, having YOU act as your OWN DNS SERVER (more-or-less)!

(AND, thus, it first "proofs you" vs. DNS request logging over port 53 udp... plus, this SECONDLY actually makes you F A S T E R online, since you do not "burn time" calling out to remote DNS servers for URL-to-IP Address resolutions (which take between 30-60ns roundtrip to complete - this is what you dispense with, & it makes you THAT MUCH FASTER online))

OH, & "nice part also", is that IF a remote DNS server "goes down" (or is dns poisoned, OR BLOCKED OUT (per this article & the url I posted above), etc. et al)? YOU STILL CAN REACH THOSE FAV. SITES OF YOURS!

You MAY have to alter this in your registry though, but not always needed:

HOW TO ALTER NAME RESOLUTION ORDER IN WINDOWS:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/139270/EN-US

----

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider]
"LocalPriority"=dword:00000005
"HostsPriority"=dword:00000006
"DnsPriority"=dword:00000007
"NetbtPriority"=dword:00000008

(LOWER NUMBERS HERE = GREATER PRIORITY)

----

As you can see, I give my LOCAL DNS Cache the greatest priority (because it has my HOSTS file loaded into it @ system startup (IP stack startup, actually)), & THEN, my custom adbanner blocking/speedup fav sites (which this post is showing folks how to do, & yes, it works) is next, & then my ISP/BSP's DNS servers, & lastly NetBios/WINS stuff (which I just plain do NOT use, because I have no LanManager style network running here, ONLY Tcp/IP)

APK

P.S.=> Entries like these go into your HOSTS files for this (you'd be advised to "ping" each URL from YOUR END, as your IP Address values MAY NOT COME OUT THE SAME AS MINE HAVE HERE, in ny example HOSTS files entries below, for "hardcoded favorite sites" in a HOSTS file, in the format of IPAddress(single space)URL(cr+lf), & cr+lf means an ENTER keypress @ the end of each line, as shown below):

128.103.64.79 stopbadware.org
128.121.95.55 whois.net
206.171.41.22 www.borland.com
207.46.19.190 www.microsoft.com
207.46.196.125 technet2.microsoft.com
207.46.199.248 technet.microsoft.com
207.46.225.250 support.microsoft.com
208.48.161.101 www.tomshardware.com
208.48.161.102 tomshardware.com
208.67.217.231 www.google.com
209.123.109.175 dslreports.com
213.150.41.226 secunia.com
213.150.41.226 www.secunia.com
4.79.142.200 grc.com
63.175.76.152 borland.com
64.233.187.99 google.com
65.214.39.56 ask.com
65.214.39.56 www.ask.com
66.35.45.

For those of you that may have heard of "A Black Day for Internet Freedom in Germany" from this /. article here recently of -> http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/06/16/1657255/A-Black-Day-For-Internet-Freedom-In-Germany ?

I have a way around your "woes", & one that will not get you DNS port 53 udp logged either, in case your ISP/BSP (or gov't./police even) blocks out your fav. sites online, & it's VERY SIMPLE to do, using a custom HOSTS file & a text editor (like notepad.exe, but pay attention below to notepad.exe .txt extension warning I note below though)!

----

1.) Find the IP addresses (ping'ing them will get you this usually) of your favorite websites (even IF they are "banned/restricted" by your ISP/BSP & their DNS servers)

2.) Enter their "IP Address-to-URL" equation/resolution into your local HOSTS file (typically located under %WinDi5%\system32\drivers\etc ), using notepad.exe (be sure to save it as type ALL FILES though, because notepad.exe defaults to a .txt extension, & the HOSTS file HAS NO EXTENSION like .txt in its name)...

----

This will stop your making requests to ANY DNS server, having YOU act as your OWN DNS SERVER (more-or-less)!

(AND, thus, it first "proofs you" vs. DNS request logging over port 53 udp... plus, this SECONDLY actually makes you F A S T E R online, since you do not "burn time" calling out to remote DNS servers for URL-to-IP Address resolutions (which take between 30-60ns roundtrip to complete - this is what you dispense with, & it makes you THAT MUCH FASTER online))

OH, & "nice part also", is that IF a remote DNS server "goes down" (or is dns poisoned, OR BLOCKED OUT (per this article & the url I posted above), etc. et al)? YOU STILL CAN REACH THOSE FAV. SITES OF YOURS!

You MAY have to alter this in your registry though, but not always needed:

HOW TO ALTER NAME RESOLUTION ORDER IN WINDOWS:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/139270/EN-US

----

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider]
"LocalPriority"=dword:00000005
"HostsPriority"=dword:00000006
"DnsPriority"=dword:00000007
"NetbtPriority"=dword:00000008

(LOWER NUMBERS HERE = GREATER PRIORITY)

----

As you can see, I give my LOCAL DNS Cache the greatest priority (because it has my HOSTS file loaded into it @ system startup (IP stack startup, actually)), & THEN, my custom adbanner blocking/speedup fav sites (which this post is showing folks how to do, & yes, it works) is next, & then my ISP/BSP's DNS servers, & lastly NetBios/WINS stuff (which I just plain do NOT use, because I have no LanManager style network running here, ONLY Tcp/IP)

APK

P.S.=> Entries like these go into your HOSTS files for this (you'd be advised to "ping" each URL from YOUR END, as your IP Address values MAY NOT COME OUT THE SAME AS MINE HAVE HERE, in ny example HOSTS files entries below, for "hardcoded favorite sites" in a HOSTS file, in the format of IPAddress(single space)URL(cr+lf), & cr+lf means an ENTER keypress @ the end of each line, as shown below):

128.103.64.79 stopbadware.org
128.121.95.55 whois.net
206.171.41.22 www.borland.com
207.46.19.190 www.microsoft.com
207.46.196.125 technet2.microsoft.com
207.46.199.248 technet.microsoft.com
207.46.225.250 support.microsoft.com
208.48.161.101 www.tomshardware.com
208.48.161.102 tomshardware.com
208.67.217.231 www.google.com
209.123.109.175 dslreports.com
213.150.41.226 secunia.com
213.150.41.226 www.secunia.com
4.79.142.200 grc.com
63.175.76.152 borland.com
64.233.187.99 google.com
65.214.39.56 ask.com
65.214.39.56 www.ask

For those of you that may have heard of "A Black Day for Internet Freedom in Germany" from this /. article -> http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/06/16/1657255/A-Black-Day-For-Internet-Freedom-In-Germany ?

I have a way around your "woes", & one that will not get you DNS port 53 udp logged either, in case your ISP/BSP (or gov't./police even) blocks out your fav. sites online, & it's VERY SIMPLE to do, using a custom HOSTS file & a text editor (like notepad.exe, but pay attention below to notepad.exe .txt extension warning I note below though)!

----

1.) Find the IP addresses (ping'ing them will get you this usually) of your favorite websites (even IF they are "banned/restricted" by your ISP/BSP & their DNS servers)

2.) Enter their "IP Address-to-URL" equation/resolution into your local HOSTS file (typically located under %WinDi5%\system32\drivers\etc ), using notepad.exe (be sure to save it as type ALL FILES though, because notepad.exe defaults to a .txt extension, & the HOSTS file HAS NO EXTENSION like .txt in its name)...

----

This will stop your making requests to ANY DNS server, having YOU act as your OWN DNS SERVER (more-or-less)!

(AND, thus, it first "proofs you" vs. DNS request logging over port 53 udp... plus, this SECONDLY actually makes you F A S T E R online, since you do not "burn time" calling out to remote DNS servers for URL-to-IP Address resolutions (which take between 30-60ns roundtrip to complete - this is what you dispense with, & it makes you THAT MUCH FASTER online))

OH, & "nice part also", is that IF a remote DNS server "goes down" (or is dns poisoned, OR BLOCKED OUT (per this article & the url I posted above), etc. et al)? YOU STILL CAN REACH THOSE FAV. SITES OF YOURS!

You MAY have to alter this in your registry though, but not always needed:

HOW TO ALTER NAME RESOLUTION ORDER IN WINDOWS:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/139270/EN-US

----

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider]
"LocalPriority"=dword:00000005
"HostsPriority"=dword:00000006
"DnsPriority"=dword:00000007
"NetbtPriority"=dword:00000008

(LOWER NUMBERS HERE = GREATER PRIORITY)

----

As you can see, I give my LOCAL DNS Cache the greatest priority (because it has my HOSTS file loaded into it @ system startup (IP stack startup, actually)), & THEN, my custom adbanner blocking/speedup fav sites (which this post is showing folks how to do, & yes, it works) is next, & then my ISP/BSP's DNS servers, & lastly NetBios/WINS stuff (which I just plain do NOT use, because I have no LanManager style network running here, ONLY Tcp/IP)

APK

P.S.=> Entries like these go into your HOSTS files for this (you'd be advised to "ping" each URL from YOUR END, as your IP Address values MAY NOT COME OUT THE SAME AS MINE HAVE HERE, in ny example HOSTS files entries below, for "hardcoded favorite sites" in a HOSTS file, in the format of IPAddress(single space)URL, & cr+lf means an ENTER keypress, as shown below):

128.103.64.79 stopbadware.org
128.121.95.55 whois.net
206.171.41.22 www.borland.com
207.46.19.190 www.microsoft.com
207.46.196.125 technet2.microsoft.com
207.46.199.248 technet.microsoft.com
207.46.225.250 support.microsoft.com
208.48.161.101 www.tomshardware.com
208.48.161.102 tomshardware.com
208.67.217.231 www.google.com
209.123.109.175 dslreports.com
213.150.41.226 secunia.com
213.150.41.226 www.secunia.com
4.79.142.200 grc.com
63.175.76.152 borland.com
64.233.187.99 google.com
65.214.39.56 ask.com
65.214.39.56 www.ask.com
66.35.45.201 sans.org
66.51.119.83 w

I ask this because IIRC you can get 90 day eval versions of Windows for free. They also have a 180 day eval version of Win2K3 server, which will run just about anything the desktop runs. There are even plenty of places around the net that will show you how to turn 2K3 server into Workstation, but for a single class this would probably be overkill.

So why don't you try contacting Microsoft? Since you are teaching a class I wouldn't be surprised if they'd be willing to send you the eval discs for Vista or 2K8 server. Or you could just go here and get the 180 day 2K3 straight from MSFT. So unless your class lasts longer than 6 months there really isn't any reason why they just can't run the software on 2K3 in a VM. With 2K3 they can easily turn off the unneeded server roles and have it run decent on pretty much anything. IMHO this would be the cheapest (free) and quickest way to fix your problem without having to learn a new software.

FYI- Cost shouldn't really be a factor for acquiring Windows for your students. The Microsoft Windows operating systems are free for students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Ask around- your university should have a MSDNAA repository for students to check out Windows for free. They're also aloud to keep their license once they graduate. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/academic/dd759402.aspx If you can't find multiple platform software that meets your needs, perhaps virtualization isn't a bad idea.

Umass lowell is part of the msdn academic alliance ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/academic/default.aspx ). Students have access to more or less any msft software, including OSes. all they have to do is talk to the CS department. So no, you're not SOL in America, you're just uninformed :P

and you have to buy the iphone running the iphone os(Unless you're condoning theft of physical property in addition to violating the Apple license, via Jailbreaking)

the difference after that is that if i want to develop software for the windows machine, i can visit
http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html
or
http://www.microsoft.com/express/

and get free software, develop and test it, and release it without paying anyone.

if i want to develop for the iphone, i got to pay a huge fee, develop it, test it, send it in to apple, wait a long time to see if they like the app, if they do and release it then yay for me.

SECOND
a cheap desktop is, about $500 1 time fee, maybe $800 for a better, non high end gaming machine. This may last you 3-5 years or so
An Iphone 3G G costs you, ehhh
$199 oringal cost
$60 a month for the At&t plan, minimum 2 year so minimum $1440, + 2 year dev, so $1638 for 2 years
If we make it last 3-5 years, same as that cheap desktop, we are looking at between $2457 and $4095

As far as I know, the Windows IFS development kit is not free, neither as in speech nor as in beer.

You can download the Windows Driver Kit for free, and that includes the Installable Filesystem Kit headers and libraries and the source code to FASTFAT.SYS, the Windows FAT driver and CDFS.SYS, the ISO9660/Joliet filesystem.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/WDK/WDKpkg.mspx

That being said writing a performance filesystem for Windows is much less easy than for Linux.

That argument isn't actually based on the technical merits, and thus doesn't make any sense..

Just because a Real OS features a Real FS backed up by a real company, doesn't necessarily mean the FS or OS are any good on technical merits compared to a REAL project licensed under a REAL free software license backed up by a REAL community and supported by a REAL foundation.

That argument isn't actually based on the technical merits, and thus doesn't make any sense..

Just because a Real OS features a Real FS backed up by a real company, doesn't necessarily mean the FS or OS are any good on technical merits compared to a REAL project licensed under a REAL free software license backed up by a REAL community and supported by a REAL foundation.

The odds that my customers will find anything on sale at Walmart, Best Buy, Staples without XP support? About 0%.

And the odds that they'll find something on sale without Vista or Windows 7 support, or without 64-bit support? About 50%. I'd bet that a modern Linux distro has better hardware support than a modern Windows installation.

It's great that your customers have a vendor willing to sell them an EOLed OS that still has good driver support (as long as you run it on old hardware), but that can't last forever.

I'm not going to get into why having automatic updates on is generally a bad idea, that subject has already been beaten to death here.

WindowsXP-KB972260-x86-ENU.exe /quiet /norestart

That is the one for XP with IE6, the filenames are different for the other flavors. The list of all of the different patches is at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-034.mspx/

I thought Vista was supposed to be built with .NET, only to have those plans scrapped. If MS isn't building their OS with C# and .NET, there must be a reason.

I think you're confusing Vista with Singularity.

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 pedophilia.

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 copyright of posters to Slashdot by gathering

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 pedophilia.

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 copyright of posters to Slashdot by gathering

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 pedophilia.

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 copyright of posters to Slashdot by gathering

Someone marked this as 'funny' but it is true. Read the license it is per user... If your creating a cluster with THOUSANDS of nodes and testing things you are perfectly within your rights to do this. You can even get most of the different versions of the OS going. 98, 98se, 95 (shudder), ME (double shudder), NT4, 2k, XP, Vista, 7, etc... Putting different versions at different patch levels etc...

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/cc150618.aspx

They lost me at Wine. As that would not truly create the environment they are trying to describe.

I have had up to 100 desktops all going from 10 msdn licenses (10 users). With different levels of the OS to test install and different configurations. They probably dont even need a very high level of it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822440

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 pedophilia.

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 copyright of posters to Slashdot by gathering

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 pedophilia.

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 copyright of posters to Slashdot by gathering