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Sure you can arrest the drug dealer, put him in prison for a few years and then release him without changing anything or you can go after the head of the operation and solve the problem permanently. The only party that benefits from this is Microsoft, no fucking bullshit-FUD-internet-forum-made-up word doubt about it.

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

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

Like this?

Microsoft is currently working on a $40B stock buy back, having recently completed ANOTHER $40B stock buy back. That's the amusing thing about the people who say that Apple is getting bigger than MS, based purely on cash in hand. Yes, MSFT "only" has $25B cash. That's after buying back $80B of stock.

in most companies , the concept of stock buyback is flimsily misunderstood to say the least: let me go on and explain.
In the fiscal years from 2005 to 2008, MSFT retired about 66 billion dollars in its own stock; at the same time, it issued a bit less than 14 billion in stock. This is probably for the most part the result of the exercise of stock options by the employees. Net result, they retired about 42 bn.in their own equity.
as of end 2008, their return on equity has been about 48%.That comes from dividing about 17 bn net income by their 36bn stockholders equity. Now, if they had let the cash build up, their stockholders equity would have been 78 bn, and their return on equity a more down to earth 22%.
Going back to the stock option plans: if the employees are assigned a significant number of options, say 10% of the issued capital,they can force a massive dilution on other shareholders. a neat 10% stock buyback will set everything right, but on a practical level is the same as paying out 10% of the company to the employees involved.

There was a question about this on the Axum forum, where Niklas elaborates some about the inspirations for Axum.

Well, the good side of it is that some particularly annoying WPF deficiencies are finally being fixed, and performance improved. So I suggest you wait until the final release to see how it turns out.

(By the way, the fix linked above won't be in VS2010 beta 1, according to a post on MSDN blogs that I can't find right now.)

According to the Google finance chart for MSFT, they started offering dividends in '03, but didn't make it a regular quarterly event until August 2004, which is confirmed by MS, plus a one time dividend and a 4 year stock buy back at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/jul04/07-20boardPR.mspx. Google search indicates Microsoft announced stock buy backs of $40 billion in both '06 and '08, but I'm not sure how much of that cash has been paid out yet.

Yeah, sure. Let me quote a relevant passage:

So given that this takes less than thirty seconds to find on MSDN, including waiting for the pages to load, does that mean you simply didn't bother looking, or you're just an idiot ?

Yeah, sure. Let me quote a relevant passage:

So given that this takes less than thirty seconds to find on MSDN, including waiting for the pages to load, does that mean you simply didn't bother looking, or you're just an idiot ?

Do you suppose that MS Office does NOT have access to the most up-to-date source?

I honestly can't even image why they would need/want such access. Office suites do not use some advanced OS functionality that requires say low-level OS constructs etc. In fact, each Office version is available for multiple versions of windows, so if anything, they probably write abstraction layers on top of the windows APIs to make life easier for themselves.

And, advance warning when some new "feature" might break something?

I think you might have put the cart in front of the horse in this analysis :). Applications like Office, Firefox, Photoshop, Adobe Reader, Flash, etc. etc. are used by such a ridiculously huge number of users. Forget the versions in development - there are so many released versions out there that are expected to function flawlessly with the next version of windows whenever it is released. i.e. the windows team will probably be bending over backwards to make sure that they do not break any of these applications. These applications (or rather their teams) will get the CTP/Beta/RC builds of windows to test against to be sure, but the windows guys will already have done their best to make sure that nothing breaks.

Let's say that a change in some API will break OpenOffice - when does OOo find out about it? Probably when OOo users complain, then they have to research, and find a fix.

Would it not be due diligence on the part of OOo to test against the CTP/beta/RC builds when they are available? The beta would be available roughly one year ahead of the release of the OS. Btw, see this resource -- MS is clearly serious about making sure that apps are ready for the next version of windows.

Let's say that the same change in the same API will break something in MS Office. When do THEY find out about it? About 6 months before it is ever released to the public as a beta.

Aside from the points above, I'm just not following your logic here. Your entire post sort of makes the assumption that MS wants office to always function perfectly, but wants to break (or does not care if they break) other applications that run on windows. How could that possibly be their goal? The whole reason everyone sticks with windows is the ridiculous wealth of apps on it.

Frankly, #pragmas are ugly, and what if you want to parallelize operations on STL containers? How about a library solution using C++0x lambdas instead:

#include <ppl.h>
using namespace Concurrency;
 
std::list<int> xs = ...;
parallel_for_each(
  xs.begin(), xs.end(),
  [&](int x) { /* do whatever you want the item here */ });

But, of course, it would require you to embrace "MS-Java++", and therefore automatically evil, right?

This is slashdot. MS can NEVER be seen as anything but evil here.

You're lying. Slashdot frequently has pro-M$ posts. M$ marketers and M$ marketing victims appear to have their very own reality distortion field and can't cope with a website that has any alternative points of view at all.

When websites like microsoft.com or Paul Thurott are fair and balanced then you might have a point. Until then any so-called bias by slashdot website contributers is just balancing out a tiny fraction of the incredible volume of propaganda coming out of Redmond and their client websites.

Oh, and to anticipate one snide comment: "M$" is a reminder that they are currently costing the world USD$50,000,000,000+ per year for a dozen programs mostly written decades ago with the most difficult bits, the device drivers, being written by third parties. It's also a response to them putting multiple marketing keys on general purpose PC keyboards.

---

Adopt an astroturfer. Make their life hell.

But, I'd bet Microsoft is going #2. No betting actually, that's the plan.

Yes, it's a documented plan (See "Can I upgrade from the RC to the final version of Windows 7?")

So they're going to have a bunch of people who are just going to deal with reboots.

And, in case you hadn't read, the reboots are only phase one. Phase two is that the RC expires on June 1, 2010. This, like the reboot thing, is documented on the RC's download page.

Having said that, there is a way to upgrade Windows 7 Beta or RC, provided (oddly enough) by the the Windows 7 team.

But, I'd bet Microsoft is going #2. No betting actually, that's the plan.

Yes, it's a documented plan (See "Can I upgrade from the RC to the final version of Windows 7?")

So they're going to have a bunch of people who are just going to deal with reboots.

And, in case you hadn't read, the reboots are only phase one. Phase two is that the RC expires on June 1, 2010. This, like the reboot thing, is documented on the RC's download page.

Having said that, there is a way to upgrade Windows 7 Beta or RC, provided (oddly enough) by the the Windows 7 team.

er... you don't even need to read the EULA to know this. It's the second bullet point after the "Here's what you need to know" on the Windows 7 download page. The one that says Watch the calendar in bold.

Other bolded items in that bullet point are June 1, 2010 and March 1, 2010 (twice). Gee, should read the unbolded text to find out why those dates are important?

"No Windows system is stable that long at a time" - by T Murphy (1054674) on Monday May 11, @11:45AM (#27907843)

NASDAQ says, & proves, quite otherwise!

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 [windowsfs.com] [windowsfs.com]

&/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/ [sqlauthority.com] [sqlauthority.com]

"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 [microsoft.com] [microsoft.com] [microsoft.com]

"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 [nasdaqtrader.com] [nasdaqtrader.com] [nasdaqtrader.com]

"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."

----

So much for your humor... because, in the end? That's ALL it is... poor humor.

APK

P.S.=> I'm going to take a risk, & assume you're another "Pro-*NIX" sheep - &, thus, that you're ignorant of HOW to keep a Windows system running in a stable high performing fashion... &, yes, that happens. Stability, security, AND performance often are determined by the person(s) running the Windows (or even *NIX variant systems) & taking care of/administering them... apk

The thread control facilities available in the C# language are already quite extensive and include pretty much every known way to control concurrency presently used in software: mutexes, semaphores, locks, etc...they are all there. For example, the following paper (PDF link), written by Andrew Birrell of Microsoft Research, covers all the basics and explains the various options in C#. If they wanted more robust threading frameworks then why not simply add the relevant classes to the .NET Framework class library (i.e. in System.Threading)?

First, go to the iPhone page of the Apple web site and see if you can read the big number in the middle of the page.

Never mind, I'll save you the trouble, it's 35,000. And that number was not hard to track down at all. http://www.apple.com/iphone/

Further, a CURRENT Microsoft press release (March '09), states, "Current Windows® phone users already have access to more than 20,000 applications through multiple distribution partners." http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/mar09/03-30CTIA09PR.mspx

The above is NOT flamebait, any more than was the parent post that attempted to refute an earlier statement by giving the WRONG numbers for the number of iPhone and WiMo applications.

First, go to the iPhone page of the Apple web site and see if you can read the big number in the middle of the page.

Never mind, I'll save you the trouble, it's 35,000. And that number was not hard to track down at all. http://www.apple.com/iphone/

Further, a CURRENT Microsoft press release (March '09), states, "Current Windows® phone users already have access to more than 20,000 applications through multiple distribution partners." http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/mar09/03-30CTIA09PR.mspx

35,000. 20,000. 35,000. 20,000. 35,000. 20,000. Hmmmmm. Which number is larger?

Sorry, but in your utterance of your rabid denial you've given away your anti-Apple-fanboi status.

>Old uncompressed formats like WAV has limited support for metadata and more than 2 channels.

Meta data you can keep, nChannels went > 2 at least 2 years ago. Do keep up

My other half uses a transcription service, SpinVox for her mobile phone which takes the messages and sends them via text message and email. Unfortunately I have a rather non-standard accent, what with the elocution lessons my parents made me take during my childhood in Northern Ireland, spending half my life in England and my default ability to try to match the speaking patterns of who I am talking to. It consistently mangles it's transcription of my messages.

A more interesting (for me anyway) approach for me is that taken by Microsoft's unified communications stuff where I've seen your phone number route through to your computer to Office communicator, with voicemails being emailed as attachments. Of course this is very corporate centric, but it strikes me as more useful. Sure you have to listen to the attachment, but there's no risk of misunderstanding because a transcribing service got it horribly wrong.

ms, to the larger part, makes money from the programs and products they sell that run on windows machines.

I call BS. Couldn't find any more recent figures, but from http://www.microsoft.com/msft/earnings/FY07/earn_rel_q4_07.mspx I gather that in 2007, MS made a total revenue of $26B in the Client and Server division, and a measly $16B in the Business division (and I assume their server applications belong there). You also didn't bother to read TFS which explains nicely why pirated versions cause headaches. You, sir, earn zero points.

No, that isn't piracy... Having a HP WinXP OEM CD or a Fujitsu OEM CD or an Asus OEM CD (need I go on?) is not piracy. You cannot install them without a correct key. This correct key is usually pasted on the machine. I often have the same problem. Someone comes along and has a HP with WinXP Home in French. I cannot help them, because their harddisk is fucked up and I do not have a HP OEM WinXP Home CD in French.

I could help them if I had such a CD without having a key myself. Just the ISO, ready to be used if someone comes along needing help. I don't use the software illegally. I do not have a key, not even an illegal one.

By now, I have found that one can install a VLK version of WinXP Pro and if the machine has a WinXP Pro sticker, I can change the (obviously illegal VLK) with their legal key. It's done withe a tool by Microsoft. I have not yet found a solution for XP Home installations.

So, no...Just having the ISO isn't piracy... Running it without a valid license is.

The primary free windows debugger is WinDBG, which is available for free download from Microsoft. Recent versions have been distributed as part of the Debugging Tools for Windows, in which the core engine has been re-factored out to a dll, and 3 different command line interfaces to the engine are included. See: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx

See the page: http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/FAQ.aspx
Look for the question: Do security updates require validation?

When Windows is detected as non-genuine, the automatic updates client will only download Critical Updates. It is not possible to use the Windows Update or Microsoft Update sites in that case. However, the individual patch downloads are still available though Microsoft's download site. When downloading individual patches, you can download any Critical Update patches, but validation is required to download other patches. For non-patch downloads validation is usually not required, but it varies.

Actually the windows repair option won't work registry files are corrupted or missing, It won't recognize a windows installation to repair. This, however, will fix the problem: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

The ArsTechnica article makes an interesting point: could Microsoft have done an XP mode that works on all CPUs?

PC virtualization has been around for years, and predates the special instructions. There is a hack called Binary Translation (BT) where a VM system patches the memory image of the guest program to cause a trap where the guest program uses any difficult-to-virtualize instruction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_virtualization

The new Windows Virtual PC feature is based on the old Microsoft Virtual PC. Microsoft Virtual PC does not require the virtualization instructions; it can run using BT. So, the point ArsTechnica asked is: why did Microsoft require the virtualization instructions?

I'll try to answer that question. But first, I'm going to rant.

Microsoft has made this much weirder and more confusing than necessary. The new feature is "Windows Virtual PC" and the old, rather different feature, is "Microsoft Virtual PC". In three years, will we have some new third thing that is completely different and is called "Microsoft Windows Virtual PC"? I'll use some abbreviations: I'll call the shiny new Windows 7 virtualization solution, Windows Virtual PC, "W7V" (Windows 7 Virtualization). I'll call the old Microsoft Virtual PC "VPC" (Virtual PC). My first draft of this article was full of "Microsoft Virtual PC" and "Windows Virtual PC" and it was hard to keep track of which was which. Also, Microsoft has broken their web site: links that used to go to VPC are now redirected to W7V. If you are trying to get information on VPC, ha ha! You lose. I was able to find the download page for VPC 2007, but all the links for information now redirect to the W7V page. <end_rant>

So, why did Microsoft require virtualization instructions for W7V? I'm just guessing here, but I think it's pretty obvious.

Take a look at the comparision page for Windows Virtual PC:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/features/compare.aspx

W7V adds some new features over the old VPC. Smart cards work, USB devices work, storage drives can be shared. This means that Microsoft did a nontrivial amount of work for W7V. I'll guarantee you that it was easier to just require the virtualization instructions than to try to use BT hacks across the whole Windows XP infrastructure; and this requirement slices away a whole bunch of old computers that now don't need to be tested for compatibility with the new W7V features.

So, the work to create W7V was easier, and testing and support costs reduced, by this decision. Since only the very cheapest new CPUs don't have the virtualization instructions, and this feature was chiefly aimed at corporate customers (who usually don't buy bargain-bin hardware), this decision was likely viewed as a no-brainer.

VPC is still available; customers who have old hardware and don't need the full features of W7V can just use VPC. And VPC remains a free download. (Of course, those customers could also switch to Ubuntu and run their old apps in VirtualBox. I'm just sayin'.)

steveha

The ArsTechnica article makes an interesting point: could Microsoft have done an XP mode that works on all CPUs?

PC virtualization has been around for years, and predates the special instructions. There is a hack called Binary Translation (BT) where a VM system patches the memory image of the guest program to cause a trap where the guest program uses any difficult-to-virtualize instruction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_virtualization

The new Windows Virtual PC feature is based on the old Microsoft Virtual PC. Microsoft Virtual PC does not require the virtualization instructions; it can run using BT. So, the point ArsTechnica asked is: why did Microsoft require the virtualization instructions?

I'll try to answer that question. But first, I'm going to rant.

Microsoft has made this much weirder and more confusing than necessary. The new feature is "Windows Virtual PC" and the old, rather different feature, is "Microsoft Virtual PC". In three years, will we have some new third thing that is completely different and is called "Microsoft Windows Virtual PC"? I'll use some abbreviations: I'll call the shiny new Windows 7 virtualization solution, Windows Virtual PC, "W7V" (Windows 7 Virtualization). I'll call the old Microsoft Virtual PC "VPC" (Virtual PC). My first draft of this article was full of "Microsoft Virtual PC" and "Windows Virtual PC" and it was hard to keep track of which was which. Also, Microsoft has broken their web site: links that used to go to VPC are now redirected to W7V. If you are trying to get information on VPC, ha ha! You lose. I was able to find the download page for VPC 2007, but all the links for information now redirect to the W7V page. <end_rant>

So, why did Microsoft require virtualization instructions for W7V? I'm just guessing here, but I think it's pretty obvious.

Take a look at the comparision page for Windows Virtual PC:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/features/compare.aspx

W7V adds some new features over the old VPC. Smart cards work, USB devices work, storage drives can be shared. This means that Microsoft did a nontrivial amount of work for W7V. I'll guarantee you that it was easier to just require the virtualization instructions than to try to use BT hacks across the whole Windows XP infrastructure; and this requirement slices away a whole bunch of old computers that now don't need to be tested for compatibility with the new W7V features.

So, the work to create W7V was easier, and testing and support costs reduced, by this decision. Since only the very cheapest new CPUs don't have the virtualization instructions, and this feature was chiefly aimed at corporate customers (who usually don't buy bargain-bin hardware), this decision was likely viewed as a no-brainer.

VPC is still available; customers who have old hardware and don't need the full features of W7V can just use VPC. And VPC remains a free download. (Of course, those customers could also switch to Ubuntu and run their old apps in VirtualBox. I'm just sayin'.)

steveha

Under Win32, threads can roam between processors, and you can also set thread affinity - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms684251.aspx?ppud=4

Sounds like you want SDelete:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/sysinternals/bb897443.aspx

You can use SDelete both to securely delete existing files, as well as to securely erase any file data that exists in the unallocated portions of a disk (including files that you have already deleted or encrypted). SDelete implements the Department of Defense clearing and sanitizing standard DOD 5220.22-M, to give you confidence that once deleted with SDelete, your file data is gone forever. Note that SDelete securely deletes file data, but not file names located in free disk space.

Yeah. It's almost like we should move towards some type of hidden metadata that indicates what a file's type is, and maybe another one indicating what application created it. That way, a user could change the filename as much as they want, but the file will still retain the key information that identifies what it really is (which lets other programs open it), as well as what program initially created it (so that program will launch when the document is opened or double-clicked). Probably too advanced for modern systems, though...

Actually, NTFS allows for something called an ADS (Alternate Data Streams). Any amount of data can exist there. It's even possible to have multiple data streams...so...why not just reserve one or two for application information? Well, only a handful of popular file systems use/understand an ADS...any version of FAT, CDFS, ISO9660 etc can't story that data, so if one copies data to a volume with one of these file systems, the ADS data is lost.

Some very smart viruses like to hide in ADS land...as in, you might see a file with 0k allocated, but in fact, in an ADS, it might have its payload. Unfortunately, until Vista, Windows Explorer didn't tally the ADS in it's "Total Size on Disk" line in a file's properties dialog, so you could have a file report as 1k, but actually take up gigs, and there isn't a way to account for it.

Try it! Bring up a command shell in Windows 2000 through Win 7. Go to a temp dir, and create a file like this:

      echo Regular Stream > testfile.txt

Then create an ADS, but use of the semicolon:

      echo Alternate Stream > testfile.txt:anything

Then display your newly created file:

      type testfile.txt

      more (less-than sign) testfile.txt:anything

(Sorry, I don't know how to properly escape a less-than sign)

Note the use of "more" for the alternate stream. I suppose "type" doesn't understand an ADS.

There you have it. A relatively surreptitious way to protect data in plain sight.

As for the iWork vs. Office scenario, academic discounts are a *wonderful* thing. Or how about just OpenOffice.org? I've got that on my flash drive, for if I need to do work on someone else's computer, since there's no guarantee they'll have anything I can use. And fine, hardware costs being equal, TCO still isn't radically different.

Those aren't the only discounts either. If your employer has a volume license, they may have opted into the Employee Purchase Program, which offers discounts on things like Office.

I know my employer has, even though I don't use Office at home.

[citation needed] Seriously. It's not like I paid for my A/V software. It's not like I run scans when I'm using the system, so my work isn't being slowed.

Ok, but that either means one of many things:

A) You pirated your AV software, which, being illegal, should include the full retail price when figuring out total cost of ownership

B) You have a free AV, which, might not be protecting you enough (depending on which AV you have) And either way, you aren't necessarily 100% protected without it being scanned often

As much as I hate to defend Microsoft, they do make an anti-virus program... but can't bundle it with Windows or give it away for free because Symantec has made it known that they will pursue antitrust actions if Microsoft does.

While Windows does have more software choices, a Mac is going to be able to do a whole lot more out of the box. And third party software is about the same price, but first party isn't. You can get iWork for about $50, while Office costs much more.

Three things:
1. According to the Apple Store, iWork '09 is $79.
2. Microsoft Works 9 is $40. Works doesn't contain anything like Keynote or Powerpoint, but then again, it includes a database program instead.
3. Office Home and Student 2007 (Windows) and Office Home and Student 2008 (OSX) are $150.

[citation needed] Seriously. It's not like I paid for my A/V software. It's not like I run scans when I'm using the system, so my work isn't being slowed.

Ok, but that either means one of many things:

A) You pirated your AV software, which, being illegal, should include the full retail price when figuring out total cost of ownership

B) You have a free AV, which, might not be protecting you enough (depending on which AV you have) And either way, you aren't necessarily 100% protected without it being scanned often

As much as I hate to defend Microsoft, they do make an anti-virus program... but can't bundle it with Windows or give it away for free because Symantec has made it known that they will pursue antitrust actions if Microsoft does.

While Windows does have more software choices, a Mac is going to be able to do a whole lot more out of the box. And third party software is about the same price, but first party isn't. You can get iWork for about $50, while Office costs much more.

Three things:
1. According to the Apple Store, iWork '09 is $79.
2. Microsoft Works 9 is $40. Works doesn't contain anything like Keynote or Powerpoint, but then again, it includes a database program instead.
3. Office Home and Student 2007 (Windows) and Office Home and Student 2008 (OSX) are $150.

[citation needed] Seriously. It's not like I paid for my A/V software. It's not like I run scans when I'm using the system, so my work isn't being slowed.

Ok, but that either means one of many things:

A) You pirated your AV software, which, being illegal, should include the full retail price when figuring out total cost of ownership

B) You have a free AV, which, might not be protecting you enough (depending on which AV you have) And either way, you aren't necessarily 100% protected without it being scanned often

As much as I hate to defend Microsoft, they do make an anti-virus program... but can't bundle it with Windows or give it away for free because Symantec has made it known that they will pursue antitrust actions if Microsoft does.

While Windows does have more software choices, a Mac is going to be able to do a whole lot more out of the box. And third party software is about the same price, but first party isn't. You can get iWork for about $50, while Office costs much more.

Three things:
1. According to the Apple Store, iWork '09 is $79.
2. Microsoft Works 9 is $40. Works doesn't contain anything like Keynote or Powerpoint, but then again, it includes a database program instead.
3. Office Home and Student 2007 (Windows) and Office Home and Student 2008 (OSX) are $150.

(Not that Joe would know this... he'd be stuck at the idea of "ISO" as you said.)

oh no. speed now is responsiveness.

eg. When I move a file from firectory A to B, you'd think that was an instant-completed operation? Oh no.... it takes time for Vista to calculate a new thumbnail, check for DRM violation, calculate space required and disk throughput, then to pop a little dialog saying "moving..." then to update it with "moving 1 file will take 0 seconds", then to actually move the frigging file.

Try it with a large video file and see how 'quick' it is.

Other things are just as bad, open a program, hear your hard disc grind away as all the bloated app is loaded into memory, all the .NET assemblies are then security checked to see if they've been modified (I downloaded the Visual Studio SP1 yesterday and read the web blurb to go with it. It said:

When installing on Windows Vista(TM) with User Account Control (UAC) active, there can be a substantial delay before the initial setup dialog is displayed. During this time, a UAC function is verifying digital signatures within the installation package. This service pack carries a large number of files causing the process to take up to one hour in some cases.

only 1 frikkin' hour! That's actually better than my experience so far with the thing.

These are some of the reasons Vista is pants.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but Exchange server is a database with a web interface. Don't we have all the components already? Compared to the Wine project goals, it would be almost trivial to throw some stuff together to make a feature-equivalent app.

As much as I would love to belittle Microsoft's work, replicating Exchange's functionality would be a monumental undertaking. God knows how much time I've spent battling lock-in to get decent interoperability with other systems. To give you some idea of this complexity, you can run Exchange on an X.25 network (and I think, in Exchange 5.5, the daemon spoke directly to the hardware). The overview of Microsoft's Exchange protocol suite runs to 81 pages!

Now, certainly, 95% of Microsoft's Exchange customers could get by without things like X.25 support. For lots of people email DB + IMAP + webmail is pretty good. But many Microsoft customers can't get by without a groupware platform, a highly-integrated distributed authentication database (with Kerberos support) and directory service (with an LDAP interface) with a customizable schema, and on, and on, and on... When you look at it that way, Exchange is a pretty good deal. It certainly functions reliably in our environment, and trust me, I would make a stink about it if it didn't.

The big tradeoff, of course, is that your data is locked up. But I think most IT managers say, hey, we're already running Windows, so what's the big deal? Anyway, if you could switch people off of Exchange without any trouble, people would do it. As it stands for most IT shops, that's like switching out an Apollo flight computer mid-mission. It ain't gonna happen.

Naturally, the version set doesn't map the same way, but luckily, we have Microsoft's very own upgrade path to go by. I'd say that Vista requiring a clean install for anything less than Vista Business is sufficient evidence that Home editions should not be used for price comparisons.

This whole thread began with OS2 pricing discourse. Somebody said Vista is the same, being more expensive for the same general payoff. That remains true. You can't use Vista home prices to rebut, when not even Microsoft has an upgrade path from XP Pro. And as I said, people are exaggerating. In fact, I don't remember OS2 being $400 more either (though at that point, I was barely paying attention). The point remains that $200 more is far from insubstantial.

Which features of XP Pro does Vista Home Premium lack that Vista Business does not? Which crippled features are you talking about. Looking at Microsoft's compatibility chart and my own experience, about the only discrepancy would be Remote Desktop. I submit that comparing XP Pro and Vista Home Premium is still accurate.

Even so, the difference between $300 and $400 is still a $100 difference, which is not insignificant. And its still a far cry from what the original poster claimed:

Of course, Vista and 7 tried to be a $500 way of running Windows apps

Implying you need to pay $500 for Vista when there are $300 and (cheaper options available which may suite your needs) does border on dishonest. A more honest assessment would be to say you would have to pay between $200 and $300 (unless you buy system builder boxes, which I would not fault anyone for leaving out). But its fairly common to cherry-pick facts to portray Vista in the most negative light possible, so I really should be used to this by now.

In what way do the basic versions of Vista not match XP Home? From a feature perspective, they are roughly equivalent (and even have similar UIs). And Ultimate is not $400.

Vista Home Basic Retail is around $180 ... Regardless of the legality of system builder licenses, the cost of Vista is nowhere near $400, and it was dishonest of the original poster who stated this to suggest otherwise.

According to Microsoft the retail price of Vista Business is $300, which I submit is indeed somewhere near $400 (being 75% of that latter figure, Vista Ultimate is $320). I suggest that the Business version is the appropriate version for comparison since it is the version without artificial crippling of OS functions (but without the extra media apps of Ultimate).

Comparing discounter prices for crippled OS versions is hardly a fair comparison to (presumably) full price fully featured OS/2. But I wouldn't claim that the poster was being dishonest to suggest that it was.

My 8 year old computer ran xp just fine... celeron 1.1 with 512 ram Vista wants that as a minimum, if that's just for the os how are you going to use it for anything else? http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/get/system-requirements.aspx

Best use? comic relief! press the "ON" button, and look at Vista trying to squeeze itself in the RAM. the Funniest half an hour you'll get.

Vista Ultimate (OEM) is $176 at newegg. If you're building a new PC or upgrading an old one you're almost guaranteed to be able to get a combo with your motherboard, CPU or Hard Drive with at least $50 off, and possibly up to $70, which generally makes it cheaper than every version of Vista except Home Basic. They don't generally have any combos on the other versions of Vista either.

If you're worried about the (OEM) issue, read the disclaimer:

Use of this OEM System Builder Channel software is subject to the terms of the Microsoft OEM System Builder License. This software is intended for pre-installation on a new personal computer for resale. This OEM System Builder Channel software requires the assembler to provide end user support for the Windows software and cannot be transferred to another computer once it is installed. To acquire Windows software with support provided by Microsoft please see our full package "Retail" product offerings.

Oh no! We lose MS support! How horrible! You can even check the full Microsoft OEM System Builder License yourself at http://oem.microsoft.com/public/sblicense/2008_sb_licenses/fy08_sb_license_english.pdf

IANAL, but it appears that as long as I "assemble" the system and support it myself everything is legal.

I believe that you are covered under the system builder license as long as you build the PC yourself.

That's what almost everyone believes, but it's wrong according to microsoft:
http://oem.microsoft.com/script/contentPage.aspx?pageid=563841

These are quotes from the link above:

  "Microsoft retail software licenses are the appropriate licenses for the do-it-yourself market. OEM System Builder software is not intended for this use, unless the PC that is assembled is being resold to another party."

  "Use of OEM System Builder software is subject to the terms of the Microsoft OEM System Builder License: The software is intended for preinstallation on a new personal computer for resale."

  "OEM System Builder Software
Must be preinstalled on a PC and sold to another unrelated party ...
Cannot be transferred from the PC on which it is preinstalled ...
Must be preinstalled onto a new PC using the OPK."

  "If you are distributing the PCs within your organization, you can't grant the end user license terms to yourself."