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Time-limited, nagging antivirus. My poor grandmother did not know what to do with this.
Time-limited office trial. Solution: install open office. Voila, no more complaints.

And what has that got to do with Vista? If she had XP it would be the same situation.

Loads of 3rd party crap, nagging about updates and registration on every startup. This is not MSs fault, but it would not have been a problem with Ubuntu or similar

Again this has nothing to do with Vista. You would have experienced the same with XP. This is what you get for buying consumer crap from an OEM like Dell.

If you'd ordered the PC from a local vendor, they'd have install Vista and nothing else or whatever you wanted, and you would have paid about the same.

Missing codecs. Solution: installing CCCP. This is not actually any more difficult in windows, if you know that you ought to get CCCP. Just hunting on the 'net for windows codecs is a good way to pick up virii. There is less risk of picking up virus if you hunt for a Ubuntu repo with codecs and decss (not illegal here, btw).

1) Actually, Vista Home Premium and Ultimate both include DVD decoding codecs.

2) Vista Home Basic, and Vista Business do not, and if you try to play a DVD you should end up directed to the microsoft.com page

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/plugins.aspx#DVDDecoder

where you can buy either the Roxio or Cyberlink codecs (either for $15.00) Granted its not free, but odds are you have home premium with your new home PC, and it IS a proprietary operating system, and those codecs...so what do you expect?

In any case this is where grandma should have ended up...not on the slummy side of the net googling for free codec packs amongst the malware sites.

-------

Bottom line your grandmother didn't have any Vista related issues. She would have been just as 'tripped up' if she could have bought an XP PC from the same OEM.

And if Linux ever becomes 'mainstream' on the desktop, and 3rd party vendors make Linux versions of their crud, you can bet that Dell will ship it full of it too.

Your negative windows vista experience really had nothing to do with windows. The trialware/nagware was the fault of your OEM not MS, and not Vista. Hell, even the DVD codec issue is sort of wonky. If the OEM sold you a PC they thought you would play DVDs on they should have liceneced and preinstalled codec for you, or at least sold you home premium.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/968272.mspx

(The possible "catch-22's" are listed on that page (which shouldn't BE any if you do what is below properly), as well as the basics, which I am putting out examples for others to use here, on how to implement this work-around from MS for this EXCEL issue - read on)

Create the "BinaryFiles" entry, using this template (copy the contents of what's between these dashed lines into notepad.exe, save it to disk w/ a .reg extension, to open it in regedit.exe later for "merging")

----

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock]
"BinaryFiles"=dword:00000001

----

Copy & paste THAT to notepad.exe (what's between the dashed lines above),save it to disk, & THEN?

Open it in regedit.exe, to merge it...

(HOWEVER - This will stop EXCEL from working though, so you need to do just a wee bit more, like so (creating an exempt folder, from w/in which you CAN run .xls files again)):

-----

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\OICEExemptions]
"ExemptDirectory"="C:\\Documents and Settings\\APK\\My Documents"

----

Again - Copy & paste THAT to notepad.exe (what's between the dashed lines above),save it to disk, & THEN?

Open it in regedit.exe, to merge it...

"VOILA - DONE!"

----

E.G.-> My having done so here, yesterday?

Well - I'm once again able to open Excel sheets I created back in 1997 even... as well as current Office 2003 ones I use occasionally here (not a BIG Excel user usually anymore, though, on MY part).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do please note, that I am using a LOCAL disk pathway, & that IF you have to use a UNC network path? I am NOT sure it will work here (that YOU have to test if you do this)...

HOWEVER - Simply keeping the SERVER service PATCHED (vs. other recently + past executed & exploiting machinations out there today that take advantage of holes in it, such as the recent server service RPC/Port 445 vulnerability) & active, you can simply map network drives to use & assign them a driveletter & voila - SHOULD work, just as mine does here on LOCAL disks, just fine (for those that will have to use UNC paths OR mapped network drives as letters).

APK

P.S.=> OH, also? The Folder you edit into "ExemptDirectory" may be diff. than mine, but, it HAS to exist first, before you apply & try this... &, that is where you will have to gather all your EXCEL SPREADSHEET files & place them into said folder... or, you won't be able to use them, via opening them in EXCEL from that folder!

(Common-sense, yes I know, but worth noting just in case)... apk

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/968272.mspx

Create the "BinaryFiles" entry, using this template (copy the contents of what's between these dashed lines into notepad.exe, save it to disk w/ a .reg extension, to open it in regedit.exe later for "merging")

----

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock]
"BinaryFiles"=dword:00000001

----

This will stop EXCEL from working though, so you need to do just a wee bit more, like so (creating an exempt folder, from w/in which you CAN run .xls files again):

-----

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\OICEExemptions]
"ExemptDirectory"="C:\\Documents and Settings\\APK\\My Documents"

----

Again - Copy & paste THAT to notepad.exe (what's between the dashed lines above),save it to disk, & THEN?

Open it in regedit.exe, to merge it...

E.G.-> My having done so here, yesterday?

Well - I'm once again able to open Excel sheets I created back in 1997 even... as well as current Office 2003 ones I use occasionally here (not a BIG Excel user usually anymore, though, on MY part).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do please note, that I am using a LOCAL disk pathway, & that IF you have to use a UNC network path? I am NOT sure it will work here (that YOU have to test if you do this)...

HOWEVER - Simply keeping the SERVER service PATCHED (vs. other recently + past executed & exploiting machinations out there today that take advantage of holes in it, such as the recent server service RPC/Port 445 vulnerability) & active, you can simply map network drives to use & assign them a driveletter & voila - SHOULD work, just as mine does here on LOCAL disks, just fine (for those that will have to use UNC paths OR mapped network drives as letters).

APK

P.S.=> OH, also? The Folder you edit into "ExemptDirectory" may be diff. than mine, but, it HAS to exist first, before you apply & try this...

(Common-sense, yes I know, but worth noting just in case)... apk

Since you still don't seem to get it, here, I'll try to make it even more simple.

Have you ever been to a funeral? They're pretty somber occasions. Most of the time, people stand around a church moping, rehashing good memories about the person who is deceased and comforting the family with kind words. Now imagine that some asshole comes in and starts loudly condemning what a lousy son of a bitch that Democrat was (when the deceased was not, in fact, particularly political), and started essentially making a Republican stump speech griping about those damn liberals with their social programs, homosexuals, killing babies, godlessness, political correctness, and so on.

Obviously, it would be well within the church's right to ask the person to leave, possibly even calling the cops to remove them if necessary. Even most right-wingers would agree that this is an inappropriate time and place to push a political agenda, especially in such a provoking way.

Of course, the next recourse of that person would be to post on The Internets how they got kicked out of one of those new age liberal churches because (gasp!) they have Conservative political views, and chances are, they'd round up a bunch of naive stupid twits who take everything they read from anonymous strangers at face value talking about how awful that church is.

Being a gay rights supporter and card-carrying member of the ACLU, incidentally, I seen this kind of bullshit happen all too often. Some gay twit gets the idea in their head that even though a company like Microsoft doesn't allow topics of sexuality in profiles at all, even for straight people, they have some special magical right to disregard the rules, break the terms of service, and get away with it because they're gay. When Microsoft hits them with the ban stick—again, for sexuality, not gay sexuality, a point you keep deliberately overlooking—then they seek commiseration in The Internets, where they know they'll find a bastion of really stupid people who take the word of an anonymous stranger at face value.

Of course, if this conversation follows its normal course, this is the part where you misinterpret where I said "gay twit" as meaning that all gay people are twits, instead of the reasonable assertion that in the population of gay people, some of them are stupid. At any rate, congratulations on being sucked into The Agenda. Microsoft is one of the first companies to offer same-sex domestic partnership benefits back in 1993 when this was very odd for a company to do. I remember how much shit they took from the right wingers for doing so and, while I'll be the first in line to gripe about their anti-competitive practices and support for DRM, I think it's pretty stupid that one of the companies instrumental in advancing gay rights is now being attacked for applying their terms of service equally.

But cases like these aren't about equality. It is, as I said before, about pushing an agenda in an inappropriate place and trying to use a minority status to get a free pass on breaking the rules. It is disgusting and counterproductive to the very cause they are trying to advance.

Yeah, it is the point. Mac and linux have more bases covered every day. Windows is becoming irrelevant. The big hassle with linux now is the lack of standardization in package management. And a big pain in the ass it is. And of course microsoft seems fully intent on dragging linux through patent and copyright hell. So they have two things going for them, inertia and the law. That is the thread they hang on today. But we no longer need them. Provided you're not using a Canon printer on an RPM based system. But then, I blame Canon for lack of support there. Let me show you a little something where linux blows microsoft out of the water. If this was an open source project, a script would have been written to automate the entire process. Time to say bye bye, MS. I only tinker with it to stay up to speed for the people that need my help. But I finally got a client with an eee pc. She couldn't happier, except for the damn canon. Everything else she figured out on her own. Wireless, the works. And also, for people who want to upgrade their HPs and Compaqs back to XP, good luck finding drivers. You gotta search through older models to find one that works. Linux? Out of the box, ready to run. There is no need to be a Windows Defender.

MS never even made an in-car mapping device to my knowledge, or any kind of in-car computer

The BMW iDrive as well as Ford SYNC both run Windows Automotive.

This is unusual, since Microsoft is apparently considered one of the most gay friendly employers in the US.

From the site:

It was one of the first companies in the world to offer employee benefits to same-sex domestic partners and to include sexual orientation in its corporate nondiscrimination policy. Since 1989, Microsoft has supported and sponsored gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues at Microsoft. In 1993 an organized employee resource groupâ"Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Employees at Microsoft (GLEAM)â"was launched. GLEAM now has more than 700 members.

The group even has it's own Wikipedia entry (for what that's worth).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935865

The Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE) feature that is added to the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats is used to more securely open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint binary format files.

They have the code to do this securely... but can't implement it because users want the features which allow security holes. Disable macros and probably internet connections too, convert the file, then open it. Look at all the "issues", which are essentially MS saying these are dangerous (but still in the design).

• After you use MOICE to convert a file, the default save location is the %temp% folder when you try to save the file. Also, the %temp% folder is the default folder when you try to open a file.
• Anyone who has access to the computer can view the files in the %temp% folder.
• When you use MOICE to convert a file, the converted file is saved in the %temp% folder. The converted file is not deleted from the %temp% folder when the file is closed. If a file is opened multiple times, the file is converted multiple times. Additionally, more than one copy of the file is saved in the %temp% folder. If you have made changes to the first copy of the document, the second copy of the document will not contain the changes.
• By default, the applicable program opens after MOICE finishes a file conversion. Then, the converted document is opened. (...snipped...)
• Smart tag data is stripped from PowerPoint presentations when you use MOICE to convert a presentation that contains smart tags.
• Macros are stripped from files when you use MOICE to convert files that contain macros.
• When you open a file by using a link inside a file that has been converted by MOICE, the linked file is not converted by MOICE.
• Embedded documents cannot be converted.
• Documents that use rights management cannot be converted.
• Documents that use passwords cannot be converted.
• You cannot use the Edit Document in Microsoft Office Program_Name feature in Microsoft SharePoint when you use MOICE to convert Office files.
• If damage exists, it will be removed from a binary Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc) file during the conversion. Therefore, the contents of the file may change unexpectedly.

Again, from a support perspective, not a sales perspective.

Machines get old and need to be replaced, or eventually fail. And the "System Builder License Availability" expiration date for all versions of XP was January 31st, 2009. Unless you want to pony up the $150 price tag to upgrade from Vista to XP.

Then there's cute tricks like not releasing DirectX 10 for XP, when it was almost certainly developed on XP. That's not going to impact many businesses, but it's probably the most egregious case of Microsoft's forced obsolescence.

No, I followed links all the way to the security advisories. They are the EXACT same vulnerability. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/968272.mspx

Don't be a dildo. The article linked in the summary points to an article on Ars that points to this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/968272.mspx

The link in the comment you replied to points an infoworld article that points to this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/968272.mspx

The articles are about the same issue.

Don't be a dildo. The article linked in the summary points to an article on Ars that points to this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/968272.mspx

The link in the comment you replied to points an infoworld article that points to this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/968272.mspx

The articles are about the same issue.

Maybe I'm missing the humor here, but there is a compatibility pack for opening Office 2007 files in Office 2003.

FileFormatConverters

Funny is both Netscape 4 and IE 3 (or 4?) had font embedding feature and somehow nobody cared for it.

IE still supports the IE method of font embedding. Of course it was totally MS with .CAB files wondering around. Netscape`s own one (which wasn't standard too) didn't make to Mozilla (Firefox).

Here is IE method:
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/web/embedding/default.aspx

I don't think average webmaster who still can't get rid of damn Arial while both MS and Apple gives them some great fonts for usage will rush and learn HTML font embedding. There could also be licensing issues with pro fonts?

My father asked me the same question once too.. why are PCs so slow and why is software so bloated?

I used a simple example of a text input field. You know, a text box, like the one you used to enter your Slashdot comment. Back in the 386 days, this was implemented using fixed point ASCII text, usually in text mode, and ran fast with a memory usage of a few kilobytes. These days, the total code & libraries required to implement a 'simple' text box might be over several dozen megabytes and would have taken many man-years of effort to develop. The code won't even LOAD on a 386 because it wouldn't fit into memory, let alone run at an acceptable pace.

But I hear you ask... why so complicated? It's just a text box! It doesn't need to do anything other than poll for keyboard input and display some characters.

Well... not quite. In a modern OS or application, even really trivial things like text input fields are fantastically complicated, and hence big and slow.

For example, a modern application would use a text box widget that can do most, or all, of the following:

- Undo and redo.
- Cut & paste, with automatic conversion of multiple formats.
- Mouse and keyboard based selection, highlighting, with automatic entire word selection.
- Alternate keyboard input (such as multiple keystrokes for a single asian character).
- Right-to-left and left-to-right text, including MIXING of the two, with proper handling of caret movement and selection highlights.
- Scrolling, horizontally, vertically, or both.
- text alignment, updated on the fly while typing
- support for all 40,000+ characters in the unicode character set, including various automatic conversions, font substitutions, and related processing. The lookup tables for Unicode and a basic font is several megabytes by itself.
- Combined characters. You know, like in tamil or arabic, where characters look different depending on adjacent characters or position in a word.

Newer controls ( as in WPF, for example ) can even do things like use your GPU to accelerate sub-pixel precision font rendering, kerning computations, and do full justification in real time as you type.

Take a look at "Typography in WPF" for an idea: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms742190.aspx

In the good old 386 days, almost none of that worked. You couldn't mix languages. You couldn't mix left-to-right and right-to-left. You couldn't use a mouse. You couldn't mix fonts on the screen, let alone within a control. Cut and paste was often unavailable, or limited in capability. Editing typographically complex languages was either impossible, or not WYSIWYG.

Examples like that abound. The inter-process memory protection that makes modern PCs relatively stable has a price. Virtual memory comes with its own overhead. Abstract driver models that let you "plug and play" aren't free either (remember IRQs? DIP switches?).

Get used to it, or go buy a 386 and try browsing the web with it.

You mean like Windows Installer or Windows Marketplace (now the Microsoft Store)?

Surely, there is major room for improvement, but there are the foundations of what you're talking about there. As for an apt-get sort of thing, where there's a big repository of software, you have to realize there's a lot of proprietary software out there. How would it work for Microsoft to get involved with managing licenses and stuff like that? I just don't know how they'd manage things like individual product activations for third party apps. Even if they could, would you want them to?

If there were some industry-wide standard for licensing, product activation, and dare I say it, DRM, then maybe something like that would work out. But in a world where most software isn't free, it's going to be really hard for Microsoft to play middle man and wrap everything up into a nice installer.

I highly suspect Microsoft has itself toyed with this idea, but took it to vendors who would be adding to their software to this repository, and the vendors said they weren't interested.

It'll be a cold day in hell before Microsoft distributes Iceweasel under the GPL, and provides the source themselves.

Not actually true. ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/Interix/interix22/

Pay attention to the copy of "GPL.TXT" and the huge fucking hulking 100MB of GPLed source code. On a Microsoft FTP server.

From what I've heard MS even has an open source (but non-free) implementation of .NET (AFAIR called Rotor) that works under FreeBSD. Hm...

That's here - it's unusual to see FreeBSD in requirements on Microsoft Downloads site :)

If I were MS I'd use FreeBSD (to avoid the GPL), and maybe take the old (BSD-licensed) version of Wine and patch it with bits of the original implementation of win32 to have some backward compatibility.

You don't know what you are talking about. Going to break binary compatibility for millions of applications (most of which are without sources)? That's a suicide for every company.

If you ever tried to change whatever API/ABI that has a lot of (external) client code - no matter, commercial or not, you'd understand how much woe it inflicts on your client developers. Even in opensource world, deprecated things (like libbonobo) hang around for long.

The main reason why Windows is so popular is because of its continuous binary compatibility spanning 10+ years.

"That is only a workaround if you hate the guts of everybody who works the help desk." - by fuzzyfuzzyfungus (1223518) on Tuesday February 24, @03:33PM (#26974607)

I suggest you do a bit of reading here then from the URL below...

(Simply because, based on the data about this (straight from the horses' mouth @ MS)? There is a GOOD chance your networking folks will merge this on bootup logon scripts to protect you with it, @ this point so far @ least!)

Microsoft Security Advisory (968272)

Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/968272.mspx

----

SALIENT EXCERPT/QUOTE:

"Suggested Actions

Microsoft has tested the following workarounds. Although these workarounds will not correct the underlying vulnerability, they help block known attack vectors. When a workaround reduces functionality, it is identified in the following section:

For Office 2003

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock]

"BinaryFiles"=dword:00000001

Note In order to use 'FileOpenBlock' with Office 2003, all of the latest Office 2003 security updates must be applied.

Impact of Workaround: Users who have configured the File Block policy and have not configured a special exempt directory as discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 922848 will be unable to open Office 2003 files or earlier versions in Office 2003 or 2007 Microsoft Office System.

For 2007 Office system

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock]

"BinaryFiles"=dword:00000001

Note In order to use 'FileOpenBlock' with the 2007 Microsoft Office system, all of the latest security updates for the 2007 Microsoft Office system must be applied.

Impact of Workaround: Users who have configured the File Block policy and have not configured a special exempt directory as discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 922848 will be unable to open Office 2003 files or earlier versions in Office 2003 or 2007 Microsoft Office System.

How to Undo the Workaround:

For Office 2003

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock]

"BinaryFiles"=dword:00000000

For 2007 Office system

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock]

"BinaryFiles"=dword:00000000"

----

Especially since currently there is apparently NO other way to @ least protect yourself from this attack...

APK

P.S.=> The "adverse impacts" of this temporary work-around fix, IF any, are listed on said page also... apk

Why would I want to use a server solution on my desktop? Right now, there's only this OSs to use in the desktop:

- Mac OS X
- Windows

The other ones are just server OS, is time to accept it.

So Windows and MacOS aren't suitable for servers, then? *whew* Guess this and this are just figments of my imagination.

Microsoft supports Outlook 2003/2007 integration with Hotmail via their "Outlook Connector" plugin. Works fantastically, even synchs calendar data if you are paying them for the calendar features in your "Live" account. It's been around since 2006, and there were earlier incarnations under different names. more info: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102218231033.aspx

Microsoft, The EU has sapoken! give them what they want!

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/sa/benefits/fundamentals.mspx

No IE, No WMP, Hell, Not Even Notepad or EDLIN! After all, MS uses its windows Marketshare to crush all the other text editing apps. Vi and Emacs can finally have a chance to compete!

Just an OS! No Drivers, no backgrounds, No Nothing! Perfect for your average user that buys all of their software at retail! It will stimulate the economy! Think of all the Possibilities! Web and FTP browsers and calculator apps at retail stores! Solitare games making a comeback for 9.95! Competition running Wild!!

This by itself is fraught with all sorts of potential issues, but the biggest problem is probably one of liability. As I pointed out in one of the previous umpteen discussions about this, liability is a very serious matter to a commercial software company like Microsoft.

LOL. I take it you've never actually glanced at the Windows EULA, or any commercial software EULA for that matter? In case you'd like a refresher, see the Windows XP Home EULA. Look for sections that talk about liability. I won't paste that crud here, but read Sec. 16 ("DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES") , Sec. 17 ("17. EXCLUSION OF INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL AND CERTAIN OTHER DAMAGES") and Sec. 18 ("LIMITATION OF LIABILITY AND REMEDIES") to educate yourself.

In simplified terms, they say that even if Steve Ballmer breaks into your house and kills your cat, the most you could hope for would be a refund on your Windows tax. And even that is doubtful. And don't hope that any US Court is sane enough to ignore post-purchase EULAs. They're not -- see Pro CD v. Zeidenberg.

They have changed things.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=default+browser+site%3Asupport.microsoft.com%2Fkb&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=

e.g.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810649

This a fix for bundled applications launching Internet Explorer instead of the default web browser, which is user selectable.

http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/ (David) vs http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/feb09/02-22elevateamericapr.mspx (Goliath).

I think that as well as more people turning to Open Source/Free Software alternatives that Microsoft are scared of people like Ken (from the HeliOS blog referenced above) and the power of word of mouth and community. When more and more people start using and recommending alternatives, Microsoft tries everything to disrupt and corrupt them.

See Netscape/IE, ISO/OOXML, Microsoft gatecrashing conferences and now this for examples.

I like the Ghandi quote: "First they ignore us, then they laugh at us, then they fight us, then we win!"

Why does Windows have so much more overhead for creating processes? What is it about the Windows processes that makes them cost that much?

Linux Zealot: It's because of all the spaghetti code behind it!

Seriously though, a Windows CreateProcess() call is much more complicated than a simple fork() and exec(). It has 10 arguments and and last two arguments are pointers to structures with more arguments. Windows has always been slow to create processes, this is why they run multiple services in single "svchost" processes instead of having a process for each service. For more information on CreateProcess(), see the MSDN Page.

LIES! there are only 2.4 million people who know how to use a computer! http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/certified.mspx

I'm not sure I understand the overwhelmingly negative reaction to javascript in pdf files.

Please read the 10 immutable laws of security. The one you're looking for is the first one on the list:

"If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it's not your computer anymore."

Clearly you get paid to do this? Not the first time I've seen a post to "getthefacts" which resolves to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/compare/default.mspx ...which ironically uses a flash container!

Anyway, the compare tabs are interesting. I don't disagree that solutions from MSFT work and work well but to pick nits about unix requiring maintenance and other blah blahs, it's all marketing speak. And good for ya.

Free is never free. Just like free software to schools -- it's about your first hit.
 

Let me see....

lynx http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/feb09/02-22elevateamericapr.mspx
Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x300 Data access DSISR=0x40000000 DAR=0x0000006c PC=0x06d77510 MSR=0x00009030

Yep.. looks like it.

It's a trap.

When the Elevate America page contains things like "Learn about Microsoft Certifications", "Acquire new skills through Microsoft IT Academy", and "Learn modern Web design with Microsoft Expression software", methinks it may be, as in trying to trap people into an MS-only mindset.

As an aside, this is the first site (outside of the /. Silverlight news items) that asked me to install Silverlight.

Firefox can't find the server at www.microsoft.com.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/feb09/02-22elevateamericapr.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/feb09/02-22elevateamericapr.mspx

Firefox can't find the server at www.microsoft.com.

From Microsoft's website:

The abstract modifier indicates that the thing being modified has a missing or incomplete implementation. The abstract modifier can be used with classes, methods, properties, indexers, and events. Use the abstract modifier in a class declaration to indicate that a class is intended only to be a base class of other classes. Members marked as abstract, or included in an abstract class, must be implemented by classes that derive from the abstract class.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sf985hc5.aspx

It's funny that he praises the add/remove programs control panel. Try opening it up when you have a file system mounted that contains a whole lot of files. Apparently this control panel, even though it has a cache of installed programs in some subdirectory, plus roughly the same info in a registry subtree, this sterling piece of software goes off and looks at every file on every device. That's the only explanation I can think of why the disks whir for like two hours before this control panel lists anything.

Defragment your Registry. It's always going to be slow but I almost guarantee you that this is part of your problem. If you use that particular control panel much then I bet your registry is fragmented like crazy. The registry is the biggest problem with Windows, it is horribly inefficient. Why Microsoft hasn't replaced* it with some more capable database engine by now I have no idea.

* By replaced I really mean augmented. Boot on the file-based registry, then once you get MSDE or whatever started replicate any changes since boot, then switch over. The registry gets hit hard constantly (see for yourself) and any inefficiency there really shafts your system.

It's funny that he praises the add/remove programs control panel. Try opening it up when you have a file system mounted that contains a whole lot of files. Apparently this control panel, even though it has a cache of installed programs in some subdirectory, plus roughly the same info in a registry subtree, this sterling piece of software goes off and looks at every file on every device. That's the only explanation I can think of why the disks whir for like two hours before this control panel lists anything.

Defragment your Registry. It's always going to be slow but I almost guarantee you that this is part of your problem. If you use that particular control panel much then I bet your registry is fragmented like crazy. The registry is the biggest problem with Windows, it is horribly inefficient. Why Microsoft hasn't replaced* it with some more capable database engine by now I have no idea.

* By replaced I really mean augmented. Boot on the file-based registry, then once you get MSDE or whatever started replicate any changes since boot, then switch over. The registry gets hit hard constantly (see for yourself) and any inefficiency there really shafts your system.

The metadata of gazelle.pdf ( full research paper ) reads:

Creator: TeX output 2009.02.19:1213
Producer: dvipdfm 0.13.2d

Ups... what happened with Office 2007 boys? ask for your free copy!

:-)

--omz

See C#'s `using`.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yh598w02(VS.80).aspx

In fact, many have concluded that the concept of independent kernel process cooperating via message passing, regardless of the tasks that they are attempting to perform, is inherently slower than single process monolithic designs and although object orientation allows greater flexability and abstraction it is always paid for in raw performance.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/groups/os/singularity/

I would imagine Microsoft are likely using a much larger error package, like "Microsoft Dynamics".

Here, you can post your errors and they'll go unnoticed for some time until some manager decides to read their reports.

http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/default.mspx

Who says it was a retard typo? It may just be that they are using Excel for the determination

the malware has locked the registry against editing, sometimes even in safe mode

Registry keys are controlled by ACLs just like files are. Just change the permissions.

only way to be sure is to fdisk from orbit

That's good advice for any compromised system, not just a Windows box. See the famous Reflections on Trusting Trust paper for the frightening reason.

As for gconf - it's a fanboys' implementation of the MS Windows registry for linux except you not only have one per user but you also can do even less to modify, import and export keys than you can in the MS Windows version

More data format support is a good thing. Why the ad hominem attack though? I like how gconf keys are documented directly in the schema, how there's an API for modifying these keys, and how applications immediately respect changes made directly to the configuration. gconf has never given me trouble.

Once you get a registry hive that is too big to back up onto a floppy you can really forget about any speed increase you might have originally had from it being a hierarchical collection of data in a binary. That is where the majority of sytems using it stand.

Performance reading configuration data is a non-issue on today's systems regardless of whether it's stored in a registry hive or a flat text file.

Personally my main criticism is it is difficult to parse the registry to find where problems lie, which is where it loses in comparison to the most insane plain text configuration file I could think of.

Are you talking about parsing the registry hive files? The file format is documented. If you're talking about the APIs --- what don't you like about them? Also, any registry editing tool will include a registry-wide search function. Also, under cygwin, you can just use find and grep! What could be easier?

And speaking of insane configuration files --- sendmail.cf is pure divine revelation from heaven compared to radiusd's configuration.

> "Retard typing in the info for the check keys in $20,000 instead of $2,000."

'typing in'..?

No one types check amounts in these days...I'm betting there was a spreadsheet error and we know what software was involved ('Microsoft/ADP Payroll Services'...formally Navision) so MS is hanging from their own petard on this one, sorry.

Read something about http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/groups/os/singularity/ :)

Why do you imply Microsoft Research never leads to actual implementations? Clearly, that's just not true at all!

Have a read of this page from Microsoft:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-au/windowsmobile/bb264337.aspx

Look at step 1. There are two points there with the word "purchase" in them.

You can get a free demo for a while, but Microsoft ask you to pay if you want to go beyond 90 days. The professional version costs AUD $4300 for a one-year licence.

That's the top-end though, and you can probably get by with a cheaper version. Their website is glacially slow for me, so I didn't look any further.

Right because Microsoft works SO hard to make sure developers can write for windows...

From your tone, it seems like you were trying to be sarcastic. Did you mean "write for other OSs apart from Windows"?

[...]So Steve, when we getting our official MS Office and Outlook for Linux? We'd really like it if Microsoft was open with it's toys too!

Except you're taking one issue and confusing it with another. Ballmer is talking about the freedom to develop for the iPhone. Microsoft doesn't prevent you from writing programs for its' OS (they even provide free IDEs so you can do so), and nothing's stopping you from developing on Linux. Hey, you could even help out OpenOffice, if you're so concerned about having an office suite on Linux. (Crazy idea, I know!)

So you're complaining that you've invested in the wrong hardware and software?

No. If a Windows dev shop wants to branch into mobile phone development, it makes sense for them to look into the iPhone. They aren't abandoning or giving up on their primary platform, just branching out.

Maybe look at it this way - to build for WinMob, you're going to need to build a windows VM (windows vista home premium: $240) and then you're going to need to get visual studio (standard: $299). I make that $539 total, for some software.

Except that Vista Home Premium OEM costs $100 and, depending on your needs, Visual Studio is free with a license that has no commercial-use restrictions. So we have a total of $100.

If you want to build for iPhone, you need a mac mini ($599 for the basic model) and a $0 download of Xcode. So you're moaning about the fact that you have to pay $60 to get a mac mini.

Just because I've already spent $100 for Vista doesn't negate or cancel out the $600 for the Mac. So yes, people are annoyed they have to essentially purchase a $600 per-seat devkit to write applications for the iPhone. If you could run OSX in a VM, that would put it on more equal footing as Windows -- buy a license for the OS and you're done.

Really? Where can I download the source code to Windows' core functions, like I can with OSX?

From this website -> http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/productsourceprogram.mspx

It's the full sourcecode too, not just the kernel and very basic console utilities that were opensource to begin with.

Have you checked latest IE8 build? I did not create web site for shits and giggles, I've created a number of serious websites which I had to test on IE8, starting with very first release candidate, and of course, which I had to create separate stylesheets for like so:

<!--[if gte IE 8]>

And I have to submit to you that amount of fixes needed for IE8 is minimal and that is a huge improvement considering it's IE, and that makes me happy as developer. Microsoft was kind enough to create a readiness toolkit as well :) And no I am not IE user and I am not Windows user. I am just being realistic. What you expect Microsoft to release a browser that will be compatible with Firefox or Safari?

Have you looked at Developer Tool on IE8? That thing is tremendous help for developers.

On one Russian podcast radio-t, there was interview with IE8 architect who submitted that IE8 is the most compliant browser on the market. That is why things look broken on some sites, and that is because Firefox is being considered a benchmark when it fact it isn't. Because it itself is not 100% compliant. Entire interview is available for download, it's in Russian.

And please note, I haven't gone and checked how close this architect is to the truth about compliance, I am marely relaying to you what I heard.

I am still happy for IE8 and that will be a better world when all IE6 and IE7 users will move on to IE8, if their OS (Windows 95...2000) allows it of course.