Slashdot Mirror

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

Im after downloading it for free and getting a legal key valid till 2010

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

surprised that microsoft are so "generous" lately

quite happy with it so far and (gasp!) will ensure my next laptop has win7 on it

Microsoft natural multimedia keyboard
http://www.microsoft.com/products/info/product.aspx?view=22&pcid=e4eef44d-ef98-44d2-9451-abc336a4ec1b&type=ovr
Optical desktop 1000
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=058
Laser desktop 4000
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=094

They all have the said delete key change and separation of ESC key. But people have been complaining about the change of delete key though.

Microsoft natural multimedia keyboard
http://www.microsoft.com/products/info/product.aspx?view=22&pcid=e4eef44d-ef98-44d2-9451-abc336a4ec1b&type=ovr
Optical desktop 1000
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=058
Laser desktop 4000
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=094

They all have the said delete key change and separation of ESC key. But people have been complaining about the change of delete key though.

Microsoft natural multimedia keyboard
http://www.microsoft.com/products/info/product.aspx?view=22&pcid=e4eef44d-ef98-44d2-9451-abc336a4ec1b&type=ovr
Optical desktop 1000
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=058
Laser desktop 4000
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=094

They all have the said delete key change and separation of ESC key. But people have been complaining about the change of delete key though.

I'm not a Microsoft poweruser, so someone else will have to speak about how to deal with that. I'm surprised they didn't hire some Unix guys to tell them about version numbering dlls, but then again the decision they made about how to deal with DLLs must have happened 20+ years ago when they only had the FAT filesystem, and so it would never have occurred to "them" to leave themselves some wriggle room.

Windows has actually had DLL versioning for some time. It's not really worth going into it in detail here, but you can read about it in another Confidential article by Raymond, a much more descriptive article on MSDN, and obviously on Wikipedia.

It's worth noting that *nix is most certainly not immune to dependency hell. Like Windows, it's better now than it used to be, but I still pause for a minute when I see a big update to something very "core" like libstdc++ or glibc.

I'm not a Microsoft poweruser, so someone else will have to speak about how to deal with that. I'm surprised they didn't hire some Unix guys to tell them about version numbering dlls, but then again the decision they made about how to deal with DLLs must have happened 20+ years ago when they only had the FAT filesystem, and so it would never have occurred to "them" to leave themselves some wriggle room.

Windows has actually had DLL versioning for some time. It's not really worth going into it in detail here, but you can read about it in another Confidential article by Raymond, a much more descriptive article on MSDN, and obviously on Wikipedia.

It's worth noting that *nix is most certainly not immune to dependency hell. Like Windows, it's better now than it used to be, but I still pause for a minute when I see a big update to something very "core" like libstdc++ or glibc.

After reading Windows Can but Won't I am still unimpressed. This article tries to hide a substantial feature preset in Linux but not in Windows. Call it a misfeature, a bug, an engineering decision or a precaution but, as it seems, Microsoft's filesystems do not support file removal well. If a DLL is in use you can't remove it without dire consequence, you are left with modifying the original file.

On Linux, you can remove the DLL without destabilizing running applications. This is because the file is unlinked from the directory structure, appearing as if it was removed, and the old file contents is still accessible to running applications. On Linux, an update mechanism can remove the DLL and put a new DLL in its place without affecting any running applications. Running applications continue using the old DLL, posing no substantial stability risk.

The Linux way isn't perfect either because running applications do not benefit from the update. Such an application will effectively use the old DLL until it is restarted giving a false sense of security. If an affected service is not restarted, then the computer is still at risk.

This is something I've wondered for a while. Both Linux and Windows have the ability to modify images (executables and libraries) on the fly without rebooting, and most Linux updates do this but Windows usually doesn't. Now we're looking at not only that, but some pretty low level mucking around in the kernel, all while the machine is running.

I know partly why Microsoft doesn't normally do this for Windows, but why is it that Linux doesn't have the same problems described in that article? If you replace an executable you can restart it, sure, but what happens if you update libraries with various inter-dependencies?

Yes, rebooting is annoying, especially for important servers, but doesn't it make more sense to be 100% sure that the changes you're making aren't destabilizing the system (doubly for servers) than that few minutes of down time rebooting costs? Just wondering.

Microsoft goes out of their way to make their .NET libraries skip 10% of what a typical developer actually requires.

To my eyes, there are deliberate looking 'holes' in the API. If you Google for a solution, lots of helpful web pages explain how to do native Win32 interop. Some of these come from Microsoft themselves. Seems helpful, right? Except that if they know that there's a problem, and they know that enough developers are experiencing it that they need to put up a technet article about it, then why isn't it already solved in the standard library? It's up to version 3.5 now, surely, they've had the time!

For the most part, I've had the experiences that you describe when using Windows Forms. That API is fairly clearly Win32-centric, and always had been (heck, its Control class has a WndProc method!) - which isn't surprising to anyone who has seen J++ and Windows Foundation Classes before, since WinForms is really in many ways WFC ported to C#.

However, it's a very different story for WPF. WPF doesn't deal in, or leak, Win32 abstractions - it's a much higher level framework, which does all rendering, layout etc itself - like Qt - so it is much less likely that you're ever going to need Win32 interop in a WPF app.

Well, not quite - you may still need it, but only if you want to do deep OS integration - i.e., if you want to deal with concepts that are OS-specific (like, say, the new Win7 taskbar). Even then, it's the same scenarios that you typically cannot do in Java+Swing at all, or can only do using JNI.

So WPF, in theory, is very much a cross-platform toolkit by design. If Mono would implement it, it would make writing cross-platform CLR applications so much easier. Which is why I'm surprised there are no plans to support it. Yes, it is large and fairly complicated to implement, compared to most .NET APIs - but it would be well worth it...

Microsoft goes out of their way to make their .NET libraries skip 10% of what a typical developer actually requires.

To my eyes, there are deliberate looking 'holes' in the API. If you Google for a solution, lots of helpful web pages explain how to do native Win32 interop. Some of these come from Microsoft themselves. Seems helpful, right? Except that if they know that there's a problem, and they know that enough developers are experiencing it that they need to put up a technet article about it, then why isn't it already solved in the standard library? It's up to version 3.5 now, surely, they've had the time!

For the most part, I've had the experiences that you describe when using Windows Forms. That API is fairly clearly Win32-centric, and always had been (heck, its Control class has a WndProc method!) - which isn't surprising to anyone who has seen J++ and Windows Foundation Classes before, since WinForms is really in many ways WFC ported to C#.

However, it's a very different story for WPF. WPF doesn't deal in, or leak, Win32 abstractions - it's a much higher level framework, which does all rendering, layout etc itself - like Qt - so it is much less likely that you're ever going to need Win32 interop in a WPF app.

Well, not quite - you may still need it, but only if you want to do deep OS integration - i.e., if you want to deal with concepts that are OS-specific (like, say, the new Win7 taskbar). Even then, it's the same scenarios that you typically cannot do in Java+Swing at all, or can only do using JNI.

So WPF, in theory, is very much a cross-platform toolkit by design. If Mono would implement it, it would make writing cross-platform CLR applications so much easier. Which is why I'm surprised there are no plans to support it. Yes, it is large and fairly complicated to implement, compared to most .NET APIs - but it would be well worth it...

Microsoft's world domination by operating system monopoly is over, they are a dead man walking.

Microsoft is seeing continued growth in earnings, even in a down market, is about to release their strongest client OS offering yet, and is showing notable gains in server and entertainment markets. How exactly is the company a "dead man walking," except in a Linux or Apple fanboy's dream world? I'm not one to idolize Microsoft, but declaring them dead on no basis whatsoever - in a thread about Facebook and Google, no less - is really a bit over the top.

I suppose this is the year of Linux on the desktop, too? Wake me when you come back in contact with the real world. I won't be holding my breath ...

I think that the Debian folks, although they are doing a impressive job in maintaining the project, are very close to a situation where one could wonder if they don't keep double standards. But to make matters more grim I can't help wonder if they didn't bring this whole situation upon themselves.

When it comes to licenses and the slightest indication of software possibly being "non free" then Debian holds very high standards. And don't get me wrong: rightfully so. But where things started getting heavily off course (IMO naturally) is when they include broken software to make up for the loss of the original. There are many examples but the one I personally experienced was with Java. Instead of simply making the point "No, we don't include Java because its not open source" (an opinion which I still find highly questionable) they chose to include broken software and presented it in a way as Java (it "looked" and "felt" the same after all). Unfortunately, that horribly POS (personal opinion) wasn't even capable of getting people through the first chapters of the official Java tutorial. A situation which I think has put many people on the wrong track with regards to Java, even to a point where they concluded that Java on Linux was broke.

And now I'm wondering if that same approach hasn't moved many Debian (or deratives) users away from Java due to the extreme hassle around it only to adopt another (seemingly) better supported platform; C# in the form of Mono. Maybe this is a little too black/white portraited but I still think it might apply to some of them. So in that aspect I can't help wonder if Debian brought this entirely upon itself.

As for Stallman and his worries; I have to agree to some extend. History has shown us multiple times that you can't trust MS with things like these. I'm even shocked to see that Debian would exclude the official Java implementation because they deemed it "not open source" (only because the source was freely available, but not under a license which people liked) but will happily include an environment which cannot be deemed entirely free (yet?). But on the other hand, if you take a closer look at MS's trademarks you will see that there isn't any friction (yet) when comparing those to what can be seen on the Mono website.

Because please bear well in mind the header of that MS page: "The absence of a name or logo in this list does not constitute a waiver of any and all intellectual property rights that Microsoft Corporation or its subsidiaries have established in any of their product, feature, or service names or logos.". But one could always wonder; should MS do start throwing some weight around; what is stopping Mono from changing their: "We provide C# on other platforms" to "We provide a MS powered java-like platform on other platforms.".

All in all I think Debian is making a grave mistake, but I doubt it can result in a scenario as forewarned by Stallman.

No, the net installer is what fits on a CD. Most of the software is downloaded from online repositories.

The net installer is a 10MiB iso image that you can download here. It's a twist on the Debian net installer. You choose what to install. The idea is not to waste bandwidth downloading a 700MiB or 4300MiB iso. On the other hand, if you do not have an ethernet connection or your connection is, for some reason or other, unreliable, you can download a LiveCD with the standard packages (I dare say, more than is included in the 2300MiB Win7 iso) or an alternate CD aimed at advanced users or users of lower-end computers. If you're so inclined, you can even download a DVD image with some more obscure packages included. Hell, you can easily make or buy a snapshot of the repositories if that's what floats your boat. Stating that the net installer takes up 700MiB on the disk is quite plainly incorrect, however. Quite ironic given your signature.

And another gripe with C# and .java is that they don't seem to me to ever be the best tool for a job. They're horribly inefficient to develop in (python's much better), mediocre OO languages (ruby's better), bad at doing low level stuff (C's better), etc. I'd say that Python + C extensions is a better solution for almost any problem C# can be used for except for interacting with Windows internals.

From your listing of languages, it sounds like you're a fan of dynamically typed programming languages in general. If so, then there might not be any point in discussing this, since you are inherently biased against any statically typed language such as Java or C#... but I'll try.

C# the language does not "interact nicely with Windows objects". It doesn't even know anything about them. It's just a language, pretty much like Java, but with a few additions that make it somewhat more convenient to code in.

It also has a bunch of stuff in it that makes it easier to interop with OS APIs, and C libraries in general - not just on Windows, but anywhere. For example, it supports raw pointers and pointer arithmetic, packed structs, and unions. It also lets you access functions from C libraries far easier than, say, Python - because C# type system overlaps with C, you can just import functions directly from shared libraries with a single declaration.

I'm not sure what you mean by "mediocre OO language", and how Ruby is better there. It seems that most stories about how superior Ruby is are centered about blocks & lambdas - but these are present in C# as well, and let you do similar things (even if the syntax is not quite as neat).

So, can you be more specific about your dislike of C# as a language?

And another gripe with C# and .java is that they don't seem to me to ever be the best tool for a job. They're horribly inefficient to develop in (python's much better), mediocre OO languages (ruby's better), bad at doing low level stuff (C's better), etc. I'd say that Python + C extensions is a better solution for almost any problem C# can be used for except for interacting with Windows internals.

From your listing of languages, it sounds like you're a fan of dynamically typed programming languages in general. If so, then there might not be any point in discussing this, since you are inherently biased against any statically typed language such as Java or C#... but I'll try.

C# the language does not "interact nicely with Windows objects". It doesn't even know anything about them. It's just a language, pretty much like Java, but with a few additions that make it somewhat more convenient to code in.

It also has a bunch of stuff in it that makes it easier to interop with OS APIs, and C libraries in general - not just on Windows, but anywhere. For example, it supports raw pointers and pointer arithmetic, packed structs, and unions. It also lets you access functions from C libraries far easier than, say, Python - because C# type system overlaps with C, you can just import functions directly from shared libraries with a single declaration.

I'm not sure what you mean by "mediocre OO language", and how Ruby is better there. It seems that most stories about how superior Ruby is are centered about blocks & lambdas - but these are present in C# as well, and let you do similar things (even if the syntax is not quite as neat).

So, can you be more specific about your dislike of C# as a language?

Unbeknown to me I ordered Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit for System Builders - OEM for $99.99 USD edition just two days before this limited-time upgrade deal was announced and now the package is in the mail. Luckily for me, I intend to refuse delivery and Newegg will take the items back and refund me the money. I'll be able to recoup my costs.

Strangely if I bought my Vista version after June 26, 2009 I could get Windows 7 for only $9.99 USD for the upgrade, but because I placed the order on June 24th I don't get squat.

I just downloaded the Microsoft Windows 7 Release Candidate 64-bit version for free and got a product key that will work all the way until March 1, 2010 and then expire June 1, 2010. I'm going to install this version on a new system upgrade that I just built with Intel Core i7 920 2.6 GHz, Asus P6T, G.Skill 6GB DDR3-1600 C8 memory, and Xigmatek HDT-S1284EE cooler.

If I purchase the Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade pre-order for $49.99 USD by July 11, 2009 then I can jump from my Windows XP to Windows 7 for only $50 USD and I get to do a clean install anyway.

When October 22, 2009 rolls around and they release the full version of Windows 7 then I can either update, upgrade, or at worst do a clean reinstall to the full release RTM version then. I think that this is the path that I'm going to take and save myself half costs and skip Windows Vista along the way.

Unbeknown to me I ordered Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit for System Builders - OEM for $99.99 USD edition just two days before this limited-time upgrade deal was announced and now the package is in the mail. Luckily for me, I intend to refuse delivery and Newegg will take the items back and refund me the money. I'll be able to recoup my costs.

Strangely if I bought my Vista version after June 26, 2009 I could get Windows 7 for only $9.99 USD for the upgrade, but because I placed the order on June 24th I don't get squat.

I just downloaded the Microsoft Windows 7 Release Candidate 64-bit version for free and got a product key that will work all the way until March 1, 2010 and then expire June 1, 2010. I'm going to install this version on a new system upgrade that I just built with Intel Core i7 920 2.6 GHz, Asus P6T, G.Skill 6GB DDR3-1600 C8 memory, and Xigmatek HDT-S1284EE cooler.

If I purchase the Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade pre-order for $49.99 USD by July 11, 2009 then I can jump from my Windows XP to Windows 7 for only $50 USD and I get to do a clean install anyway.

When October 22, 2009 rolls around and they release the full version of Windows 7 then I can either update, upgrade, or at worst do a clean reinstall to the full release RTM version then. I think that this is the path that I'm going to take and save myself half costs and skip Windows Vista along the way.

This might help a little bit.

I haven't had to deal with this yet, but I disabled most of Lenovo's start-up junk a while ago by using "autoruns". It has a nice interface and lets you hunt down running processes, and then gives the option to disable them permanently. Made booting XP a lot faster.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

It's legit: quote is from this MS blog, the pre-order page is here.

A developer would use their MSDN Windows license. They wouldn't be buying a box at retail. Unless they're really stupid. That marks D off your list.

Might want to check the MSDN Subscription Software Use Rights. Especially this interesting part:

Many MSDN subscribers use a computer for mixed use--both design, development, testing, and demonstration of your programs (the use allowed under the MSDN Subscription license) and some other use. Using the software in any other way, such as for doing email, playing games, or editing a document is another use and is not covered by the MSDN Subscription license. When this happens, the underlying operating system must also be licensed normally by purchasing a regular copy of Windows such as the one that came with a new OEM PC.

So by installing a copy of Windows of which you are legitimately using by having a MSDN subscription and had received it by downloading it from MSDN site, and then editing any document or configuration file (such as the Windows registry maybe?) via not using their developer tools then you're using the operating system outside of the terms of use... Wow nice licensing there Microsoft.

It looks like "Languages" check mark refers to the inclusion of MUI Language Pack support. According to MSDN, this is for dynamically switching the language of the user interface.

So, you can choose what language you want to use when you install the system independent of which edition you have (well, except maybe Home Basic, but that's a different situation entirely), but only with Ultimate you can change the language on the fly.

So they're offering you a discount if you purchase before any reviews of the OS are released. Maybe they did learn from Vista...

The idea of preorders has been around in the gaming world for quite a while. Also, the Windows 7 Beta/RC has been officially downloadable for a few months now, so people have had quite a good opportunity to get an idea of whether they like it or not.

On http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare-editions there's a feature which only comes with the Ultimate edition: "Work in the language of your choice and switch between any of 35 languages." It's interesting that Microsoft, with all its billions, only supports 35 languages -- at a serious premium. Compare this to volunteer-based projects such as KDE, which has (admittedly varying) levels of support for over 60 languages. For free.

So they're offering you a discount if you purchase before any reviews of the OS are released. Maybe they did learn from Vista...

Also, I was looking at the Edition Comparisons (curious what was left out of 'Ultimate' since it's not in the discounted upgrade offer). Does that say you can't choose your language unless you buy Ultimate, or am I just reading that chart incorrectly?

Bzzt. SFU is no longer a seperate product. It's part of Windows now, in Windows Server 2003 R2 and above - which includes Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7.

It's called the Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA). Relevant TechNet link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786798(WS.10).aspx

Here's a good Wikipedia article on the product, showing the history from Interix, to SFU, to SUA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interix

There's even a Debian port for it: http://debian-interix.net/

Offered. It's past its mainstream support date. Microsoft was retiring this package back when Vista was first rolling out. So SFU isn't something I'd say they're currently shipping.
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-us&x=15&y=6&p1=3207

The 'official product page' takes you to a comparison page trying to sell you Windows Server over a Unix OS.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/migrate/unix/unixproresources/default.mspx

Offered. It's past its mainstream support date. Microsoft was retiring this package back when Vista was first rolling out. So SFU isn't something I'd say they're currently shipping.
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-us&x=15&y=6&p1=3207

The 'official product page' takes you to a comparison page trying to sell you Windows Server over a Unix OS.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/migrate/unix/unixproresources/default.mspx

I should be able to submit bug reports directly to MS

secure@microsoft.com

I have actually submitted information about a vulnerability that way. It was fixed.

Um... no.

A real shell is a POSIX XCU compatible one. Microsoft does offer this as SFU

http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/details.aspx?familyid=896C9688-601B-44F1-81A4-02878FF11778&displaylang=en

bash is then available (may have to install it separately -- not too sure anymore). This also supplies NIS and NFS.

But found the following message:

Alert!

Thank you for your interest in joining the Microsoft® Security Essentials Beta. We are not accepting additional participants at this time. Please check back at later a date for possible additional availability.

Anyone know where to get a copy of the beta? I'd like to put it on a machine I just built.

Btw Robocopy is part of the Windows 2003 Server Resource Kit.
Robocopy GUI :: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2006.11.utilityspotlight.aspx

and appears to of been supplanted by:

RichCopy :: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.04.utilityspotlight.aspx

Btw Robocopy is part of the Windows 2003 Server Resource Kit.
Robocopy GUI :: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2006.11.utilityspotlight.aspx

and appears to of been supplanted by:

RichCopy :: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.04.utilityspotlight.aspx

With a Windows workstation you can use offline files to sync data from your server, plus there are a ton of third-party apps that you can use to synchronize from a network folder. For versioning there is Volume Shadow Copy Service. For synchronization between servers there is DFS.

With a Windows workstation you can use offline files to sync data from your server, plus there are a ton of third-party apps that you can use to synchronize from a network folder. For versioning there is Volume Shadow Copy Service. For synchronization between servers there is DFS.

"OSX *can* pull five nines. it's only on windows where five nines of reliability are fabled." - by RyuuzakiTetsuya (195424) on Tuesday June 23, @03:00PM (#28443103)

Fabled? Not really! AND??

This is no mere "FABLE", but instead, reality (provable, concrete, & verifiable reality):

NASDAQ proves it... of course, this is also contingent upon the team adminning it as well (keep this in mind, with ANY OS)

Here is an example of NASDAQ's uptime, AND stability, in a high tpm environs, industrially (using Windows no less):

NASDAQ keeps on running 24x7, into the fabled "5-9's" of 99.999% uptime using Windows Server 2003 + SQLServer 2005 (in failover clusters) since late 2005, acting as the official dissemination system of official trade data:

----

NASDAQ Migrates to SQL Server 2005:

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

&/or

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

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

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

+

Case Studies - Financial Services:

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

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

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

----

SO, that all "said & aside" - You want PROOF of that "stability/uptime", you say?

OK, see here -> http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=MarketShare

"NASDAQ is renowned for its high performance technology and has proven reliability with 99.999+% uptime. Whats more, firms count on NASDAQ for unsurpassed speed and tested capacity to execute trades quickly and efficiently."

----

What I'd like to see is actual proof of MacOS X pulling that "fabled '5-9's", albeit in a HIGH TPM environs that has run for 1/2 decade++ or more, & just as stably + secure as NASDAQ has seen...

You have me wrong I think (& my replies MAY have given you that impression):

I don't "hate *NIX"!

In fact, it, along with VAX's VMS (on a VAX-1180 in the early to mid 1980's) is where I started i

What?
If you have enough files and move between systems frequently enough that this is an issue, consider a USB flash drive.

Store your files there.
Keep backups on each machine.

Want versioning? Seems to me that files typically have a datestamp for when they were last modified. That's all the versioning people need 99.9% of the time.

If you're in a situation where this is a big problem (many users many files many machines), you want your damned files stored in a more permanent location, such as on, I don't know, a file server?

Save your fucking files to the server. If you're away from the server, upload your file when you get back. When you get to another machine, grab the files you intend to work on.

Hell, Windows has supported this shit for ages with offline files and the whole "Briefcase" bullshit.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/learnmore/offlinefiles.mspx
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307885

And yes, Windows does a simple versioning and backup with shadow copies.

In your case, 2 Linux servers and OS X, just sync shit on a schedule when all machines are on the network if you want. The 2 servers should always be in sync with each other (since they're servers and should always be up and networked).

The laptop is the only issue, and should sync when connecting to and before disconnecting from the network.

Any way you want to go about syncing files is fine. Might I suggest a simple GUI drag and drop to/from the server? Seems to me most users can handle that, as long as you beat into them how to know which direction to do it. You could simplify this by making a simple script users could run. This script could include making backups on the server so we don't have issues of people going the wrong way, and so you can timestamp each old version (useful for keeping files for various projects grouped together, so people can grab old versions of a project if that's what they're working on).

You don't need services to handle this for you.
You have 2 servers and 1 laptop. I would say you don't need anything to handle this for you. I wouldn't even go as far as to keep a flash drive laying around. Just, you know, remember to grab files you're going to work on before leaving with your laptop, and remember to reupload those you've changed when you get back to the network.

If you've got a more complicated setup (multiple users accessing and modifying the same files at the same time) THEN you need a version control / checkout service running, and even then, none of them are intuitive, and users WILL get confused and break shit. Especially when you're dealing with mobile users who will be away from the network for unspecified periods of time.

What?
If you have enough files and move between systems frequently enough that this is an issue, consider a USB flash drive.

Store your files there.
Keep backups on each machine.

Want versioning? Seems to me that files typically have a datestamp for when they were last modified. That's all the versioning people need 99.9% of the time.

If you're in a situation where this is a big problem (many users many files many machines), you want your damned files stored in a more permanent location, such as on, I don't know, a file server?

Save your fucking files to the server. If you're away from the server, upload your file when you get back. When you get to another machine, grab the files you intend to work on.

Hell, Windows has supported this shit for ages with offline files and the whole "Briefcase" bullshit.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/learnmore/offlinefiles.mspx
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307885

And yes, Windows does a simple versioning and backup with shadow copies.

In your case, 2 Linux servers and OS X, just sync shit on a schedule when all machines are on the network if you want. The 2 servers should always be in sync with each other (since they're servers and should always be up and networked).

The laptop is the only issue, and should sync when connecting to and before disconnecting from the network.

Any way you want to go about syncing files is fine. Might I suggest a simple GUI drag and drop to/from the server? Seems to me most users can handle that, as long as you beat into them how to know which direction to do it. You could simplify this by making a simple script users could run. This script could include making backups on the server so we don't have issues of people going the wrong way, and so you can timestamp each old version (useful for keeping files for various projects grouped together, so people can grab old versions of a project if that's what they're working on).

You don't need services to handle this for you.
You have 2 servers and 1 laptop. I would say you don't need anything to handle this for you. I wouldn't even go as far as to keep a flash drive laying around. Just, you know, remember to grab files you're going to work on before leaving with your laptop, and remember to reupload those you've changed when you get back to the network.

If you've got a more complicated setup (multiple users accessing and modifying the same files at the same time) THEN you need a version control / checkout service running, and even then, none of them are intuitive, and users WILL get confused and break shit. Especially when you're dealing with mobile users who will be away from the network for unspecified periods of time.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c26efa36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52

Blackberries on BES offer enterprise features simply unheard of with Winmobile or iphone devices.

Maybe unheard of to you. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123484.aspx I count well over 100 group policy settings that can be applied through Activesync to a Windows Mobile 6.1 device. Some of these actually do work on an iPhone as well, such as the password and phone lock policies.

Windows mobile only recently got the much needed security features such as remote device deactivation and wiping.

Windows Mobile + Exchange 2003/2007 have had this functionality since 2005 at the release of Exchange 2003 SP2 http://www.microsoft.com/DOWNLOADS/details.aspx?familyid=535BEF85-3096-45F8-AA43-60F1F58B3C40&displaylang=en. It even works on an iPhone. I'd hardly call 2005 "recent" in the IT world.

Blackberries on BES offer enterprise features simply unheard of with Winmobile or iphone devices.

Maybe unheard of to you. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123484.aspx I count well over 100 group policy settings that can be applied through Activesync to a Windows Mobile 6.1 device. Some of these actually do work on an iPhone as well, such as the password and phone lock policies.

Windows mobile only recently got the much needed security features such as remote device deactivation and wiping.

Windows Mobile + Exchange 2003/2007 have had this functionality since 2005 at the release of Exchange 2003 SP2 http://www.microsoft.com/DOWNLOADS/details.aspx?familyid=535BEF85-3096-45F8-AA43-60F1F58B3C40&displaylang=en. It even works on an iPhone. I'd hardly call 2005 "recent" in the IT world.

Firefox sucks!

Some languages Ubuntu has that Windows doesn't: Xhosa, Maori, Latin. And many others.

Don't believe all the Ubuntu propaganda. And I'll add, as a suggestion: please don't go around implying that Windows' lack of support for Latin has even the slightest importance. Doing so will discourage your audience from taking seriously anything else you have to say -- even if it's a serious and important point, like your citation of Xhosa.

PCs running Linux can be configured not to run executables stored in users' profiles: put /home on a separate partition and specify noexec mode in the /etc/fstab line for this partition. Windows XP and newer versions of Windows have a flexible Software Restriction Policy mechanism: allowable executables can be defined by paths (e.g. %SystemRoot% and %ProgramFiles% good), file name suffixes (e.g. *.msi and *.vbs bad), or even digital signatures.

The ad campaign is against Microsoft's competitors not previous MS browsers. For those who didn't RTFA there's a table with IE8, Firefox, and Google Chrome. IE6 is not being targeted by the campaign. I don't see how this is getting misconstrued into MS campaigning for users to upgrade from IE6 to IE8 for the altruistic good of humanity.

However, marking IE8 as a "High Priority" or "Critical" update is another story. Putting "Download IE8" in prominent locations on msn.com could be seen as encouraging people to upgrade, yes. TFA no.

Microsoft say that Internet Explorer 8 is the secure browser!?! Plus much more: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/get-the-facts/browser-comparison.aspx

"becuase they must set lower limits to avoid exhausting resources."

I would say that on a high traffic site the settings are hardly defaults. Maybe you remember one of the first pthread implementations on Linux that actually spawned things as if it was processes with shared memory. It wasn't a big deal then and it certainly isn't now that things are more hidden within one process space instead, if one looks at the threded model approach (I have done ample... and I mean AMPLE fork vs. thread testing scenarios throughout my coding ventures and I have come to realize that only some coders that seem to have drunk the Fiber cool-aid abject the idea of forking. At the end of the day it matters little because the generally bungle on race-contention instead.)

Granted a fork is heavier memory wise and uses semaphores rather than simple mutexes (but one only needs to use semaphores if sending data between processes) but with today's hardware and with the amount of memory it is less of a problem. Also the O(1) scheduler in Linux for instance would work quite effectively as well from that kind of resource scheduling point of view. I would rather have my internet banking done over a forked approach than inside of a threaded approach for security reasons, but I digress.

All this is a non issue... maybe it is an issue running Apache on Windows but I wouldn't do that in any case.

BTW: By default the thread pool would be 2048:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms682453(VS.85).aspx

Now I have had far more forked apache's running than that on Solaris/Linux/Irix (I go way back... maybe not as much as I would like in this case BUT still more than most.)

I had to uninstall IE8 from vista because it screwed up folder views for all of Vista. For some weird reason, on some systems, IE8 causes every folder to be opened in a new window. The only fix at the time was to go back to IE7. Pretty sad when upgrading a browser downgrades your OS.

That's very weird, and definitely shouldn't happen. Out of curiosity, if you upgrade to IE8 again, does the problem recur?

IE and Windows Explorer used to be tightly intertwined (they wanted to be able to argue in court that IE couldn't be removed from Windows, back in the IE4 days), but beginning with IE7 they've broken a lot of those ties, so upgrading from IE7 to IE8 shouldn't have this kind of effect.

EricLaw [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: @Eric: I had heard that IE is closely linked to Win Explorer (we can embed WinExp in a WebBrowser Control, at least). And WinExp is updated on each OS.
A: As of IE7, the "links" are much looser than ever before. As both IE and Explorer are COM objects, they can interact, but the relationship between Explorer and IE changed significantly in IE7.

Source