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You're correct. Protected mode means something different in this context.

Nowhere near as much fun as handling triple faults in your assembly code!

OEM exports for the Windows PC generates employment and income in China.

To mark its entry into the WTO, Microsoft was the first foreign company admitted into China's software trade association.

Microsoft Research Asia has been based in Beijing since 1998.

Microcoft has purchased a small stake in one of China's largest TV makers and signed an agreement with Shanghai Media Group, the country's second largest media company.

SMG will use Microsoft products across its new-media division, which includes Internet video, IPTV and mobile television. Microsoft Looks for Space in China's Living Room [June 22, 2007]

Microsoft's target is China's emergent middle class, where it is strongly positioned to be successful.

This article answers the question as to why the shutdown can take longer:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues /2007/03/VistaKernel/default.aspx

From the article it would seem that more defensive shutdown sequence can cause a slowdown with the extra checks on each service it performs, rather than madly slashing down services at will. Ho hum, any publicity is still just that...

Especially this one: Shift-RightClick on a folder and you can open a CMD shell at that location!! Fucking A! no more reg hacking.

You mean like this one?

• Closed source, for extra Security Through Obscurity(tm),
• Compatibility with the latest viruses and malware,
• Innovative new Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) to help you manage your digital rights,
• DirectX 10.

One type of captcha that could work is asirra where they use images from petfinder.com, display 12 of them and ask them to click on all of the cats. A computer finds this extra-ordinarilly difficult as the fur is very simmilar and the cats and dogs are all in different poses and all the lighting conditions are different, but a human can distinguish them very clearly.

OK, so I know it's microsoft and why aren't they using it on hotmail already, but I think it's the right direction for Captchas.

Alright then, lets compare the Java and .NET Documentations

First off trying to find the user interface namespaces, we have the two class overviews:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/
and
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/d11h6832( VS.71).aspx

If one have no prior knowledge of any of the two, one would probably probably start off searching for GUI on the page, no result on the .NET reference, and one result in Java: java.awt.dnd

So, let's go look closer at java.awt.dnd before ruling it out, even tho I can see this is just something drag'n'drop, it may refer to something more useful, who knows? I continue into DragSource, perhaps it can tell me exactly what kind of objects are used for this? From there I find something about a serialized form, being perhaps 30 pages of not so relevant text, and java awt.GraphicsEnvironment, which seems like some sort of rules for a canvas. So I would at this point give up and return to the overview.
(in fact I would really give up just seeing the description of java.awt.dnd but if i didn't go there in this experiment I'd be accused of not trying hard enough)

Okay so the next thing so search for on the overviews would be "Graphical User Interface"... alright, same results as with GUI... Then how about "User Interface"? Alright now something happens (and by knowing where I should be going I also know that I am now on the right way). The Java overview gives me java.awt, java.swing.plaf.basic, java.swing.plaf.metal and java.swing.plaf.multi , while the .NET gives me System.ComponentModel.Design, System.Drawing.Design, System.ServiceProcess, System.Web.UI and System.Windows.Forms

From the descriptions it's difficult to sort out any of the results from the Java reference, while in the .NET it's easy to rule out System.ServiceProcess and System.Web.UI

Looking a little closer on my findings I rule out whatever says "custom", because noone starts out with GUI by customizing widgets, and the java.swing.plaf.* seems not very useful for my purpose, looking at their content of Interfaces and Classes, however being on the right path it wouldn't take long from there to find the generic swing namespace.

So the first useful results from the two would be System.Windows.Forms on .NET and java.awk on Java. Keep in mind that a search with no possible matches takes shorter time than those with useless matches, that doesn't reveal that they're useless from the start. Seeing the java.awk as the first useful result, with Java, I would probably go for that one, even though it resembles writing windows applications in C++ using the default Windows API, with lots of work and slow progress. I'm not the impatient kind, but I'm rather sure my employer would like more action for his money.

So I'll keep my first statement, Java is tricky to learn if you're on your own, with nobody to point out where to look and what to use. It is my experience that the tutorials available for Java starts with "Hello World" in a terminal, then without explaining what happens in between, they jump to some template project where you are just to handle those objects the template has laid out for you. And those covering more advanced projects usually features only code examples of a few useful features, while the text refers to objects like you "of course" have done that before even starting to read. It appears to me as a gap in what's available, the documentation refers to inside understandings, that I can't get without attending courses. This is most likely because Java is what's most commonly used in education to explain OOP, I learned OOP through C++ (which can also be a b*tch to learn from reference) so I don't know all those inside jokes the documentation refers to, there's too much of-course-you-know's as a result of a very widespread use in education, and I don't have 3, 6 or 9 months to learn a language, as I did during my education. To me it just doesn't seem very accessible.

Try Office for 60 days.

I work on the Windows team at MS and my team's role is to test Applications Compatibility, so I'm posting AC here.

Their old toolbar broke on Vista because it was referencing an API that was neither documented, supported, nor guaranteed to exist in later versions. This was discovered early in the beta process and was fixed in Google's next version- I'm not sure whether one of our engagement folks worked with them on it or if they spotted it themselves. This is always regrettable, but it's often necessary.

When we change Windows, it sometimes breaks apps- including Microsoft apps, which *also* do stuff that makes us pull our hair out, and which they have to fix. We do our best to give guidance on how to make your apps work well version to version, but it's a big job getting guidance to everyone and sometimes it takes some time to get it right. Any suggestion that we go breaking competitors' apps on purpose is plain wrong- we go out of our way to preserve functionality, sometimes even functionality that isn't guaranteed or documented- but we won't do that if it means foregoing a security improvement, or giving up a fundamental architectural improvement.
Maybe the top thing that gives Windows its value to consumers is that their apps will work from one version to the next. I'd call legal and report it myself if I ever thought we took a change specifically to break the competition.

I doubt the factual accuracy of that article. Microsoft's 1999 Annual Report shows $4,106,000,000 in income taxes, which is 31.5% of their net income before taxes. This is a lot higher than zero.

More than just that: their careers page shows they've got development centers in Beijing, Copenhagen, Aachen, Hyderabad, Dublin, Haifa, Cambridge and Redmond. Not all or even half of these are in what I'd consider "cheap" labor markets.

net stop bits
net stop wuauserv
rmdir /s /q %windir%\SoftwareDistribution
net start wuauserv
net start bits

I am pretty sure they mean something like the W3C's message transmission optimization mechanism (MTOM) which is the optimized way to send binary data/large SOAP messages over HTTP protocols ("web services"). I didn't RTFA, but if any of the claims made involve the specific method of transmission for said data files, MTOM is probably prior art.

Other prior art may include the Microsoft research done with web services and data storage used in the Microsoft TerraServer project. Dr. Jim Gray and Microsoft had basically proposed an idea pretty similar to this a while ago (see his presentation of grid-computing based web services - careful that's a powerpoint presentation!).

-SixD

I am pretty sure they mean something like the W3C's message transmission optimization mechanism (MTOM) which is the optimized way to send binary data/large SOAP messages over HTTP protocols ("web services"). I didn't RTFA, but if any of the claims made involve the specific method of transmission for said data files, MTOM is probably prior art.

Other prior art may include the Microsoft research done with web services and data storage used in the Microsoft TerraServer project. Dr. Jim Gray and Microsoft had basically proposed an idea pretty similar to this a while ago (see his presentation of grid-computing based web services - careful that's a powerpoint presentation!).

-SixD

I listent to the MSFT conference call regarding this. They indidcated that for the first year or so, the defect rate wasn't that high, but really increased in recent months as units that were over a year old began failing. This increased the need for fixes, but more importantly, gave them a larger data set with which to work with to try to find reasons for the problem. They say they've identified numerous causes for the problem and have made fixes to address those, so that units manufactured from now on should be much more reliable.

Peter Moore's Open Letter says the same thing (but with less detail).

I'll wait until Sept. If it looks like newer units are more reliable, then I'll make the jump, because the game library is too good to be ignored. :)

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jul0 7/07-05MSExpandVancouverPR.mspx/

When he says 'images', he's not talking about images as-in virtualization, he's talking about images as-in automated desktop deployment from 'images' of a base desktop build.

As in this stuff.

Ask yourself, why are they moving to Canada and not India/China if low wages is all they are after?

Are you trying to tell me they are interested in something other than the immigration laws they are complaining about, or that the driver for that is getting cheap labor? I don't really see it in your Candada is a great place and has better immigration laws spiel.

M$ has already opened shop in India. Opening an office in Canada while complaining about immigration is pure bullshit. The only advantage an office in Canada has for hiring foreign workers is that it's in a closer timezone. They want cheap labor close and under their thumb, nothing more.

M$ cares only about owning the code you write. When you are finished writing it, they are finished with you. US citizens, perma-temps and others previously doing this work will be shown the door.

The real reason they are going this way? Because it's almost game over for M$. A key piece of the M$ success story was their ability to pay workers in stock options based on perpetual growth. To do this, the options must gain value and M$ must always beat Wall Street expectations. Their growth leveled off a while ago and Vista is going to pull it into negative territory. They will no longer be able to offer people decent compensation and that will be it for them. They have also long been out of software to steal as people have avoided new Windows based software companies. Non free code has never really been competitive from a development perspective. Vista has demonstrated just how expensive and slow non free really is. Slave labor and foreign workers are temporary measures that won't save them from collapse.

Good riddance.

Microsoft is having a very hard time recruiting for new positions, and new positions are opening up more quickly than they can fill them. Go look at http://members.microsoft.com/careers/search/defaul t.aspx. They have 3034 job openings in the US alone. You cannot argue that they are offshoring jobs, or trying to get workers for cheaper wages. They are just trying to get workers. They pay at the high end of the tech industry, and they are very picky about who they hire.

According to this, MS will continue to support XP until April 8, 2014. I'm sure most companies will be into Vista long before that date comes.

Scripting in PhotoShop?
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp? ftpID=1536

Scripting in PaintShop Pro?
Python!

Application on windows?
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms950396. aspx
Python
Perl
many more

To make "application":
1. Open notepad
2. Write code
3. Save file
4. Double click
5. ???
6. Profit

It wasn't difficult, was it?

Since I host it, I get to connect to it however I damn well please. I can run the best webmail client on the server that I like, I can get at it with IMAP, POP, or any other method I see fit, and customize my spam blockers the way I like. It's truly miles above any of the free services out there, though Gmail probably has the best web client.

Win CE is not Microsoft's only entry in the embedded market.

The embedded market for devices with a GUI has grown rather larger and more complex than that of the PDA. Microsoft Windows Embedded, Windows Automotive

Win CE is not Microsoft's only entry in the embedded market.

The embedded market for devices with a GUI has grown rather larger and more complex than that of the PDA. Microsoft Windows Embedded, Windows Automotive

It's essentially a beefed up task manager that allows you to suspend and kill specific threads and processes.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/embedded/aa714410 .aspx

Says about $90/device for Windows XP Embedded.

For Qtopia, it is somewhat less but I can't find any info on TT's site about the actual pricing. It is about $200 for the SDK. I *think* I saw that it was about $20-$30 per device some time ago. Much cheaper than Windows.

Of course, you could just hack X+Gnome and be 100% "free" (not really for free, costs money to hack the thing for a phone). But I guess some other WM would be better than having Gnome there.

As for Apple Stock, it actually fell 0.6% today to $121. Their P/E ratio is about 38 which means even if they have a 30% jump in profit, that means their P/E ratio will drop to about 29. That is still relatively high. Companies like Microsoft and IBM have their P/E ratios at about 21 and 16 respectfully. Currently there seems to be a 15% anticipated increase in profits for next year over current year. If that does not materialize, Apple stock will drop.

Apple may be a better company to invest in today than MSFT though. I'm not sure if the price is warranted though (they'll need to double their earnings to be at the same price as MSFT is right now)

and what it sends back to Microsoft. It's opt-in. Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program and Resulting Internet Communication in Windows Vista

But, seriously, why the cloak-and-dagger approach? Just tell the user "Vista is now gonna send MS the following information about your system, anonymized so it can't be tracked, and we want it to see what hardware platforms our system should run best on. Thanks for your co-op."

Well how about reading Windows Update Privacy Statement from here http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/lib rary/3998fef5-4e07-4128-881d-754375b679121033.mspx ?mfr=true or updated version from Windows Update site from here http://www.update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6 /default.aspx?ln=en-us. And if you are paranoid enough, just add TCP dump to somewhere on your network to see what's really submitted, don't know if it's encrypted though.

But, seriously, why the cloak-and-dagger approach? Just tell the user "Vista is now gonna send MS the following information about your system, anonymized so it can't be tracked, and we want it to see what hardware platforms our system should run best on. Thanks for your co-op."

Well how about reading Windows Update Privacy Statement from here http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/lib rary/3998fef5-4e07-4128-881d-754375b679121033.mspx ?mfr=true or updated version from Windows Update site from here http://www.update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6 /default.aspx?ln=en-us. And if you are paranoid enough, just add TCP dump to somewhere on your network to see what's really submitted, don't know if it's encrypted though.

I'm not sure to what nefarious purpose Microsoft's web server and firewall logs will be put, but if you consider the routine kinds of activity tracking performed by the average web farm, of course Microsoft will have your IP address and user agent information when you or the Automatic Updates client hits https://updates.microsoft.com/. That's the way the web works! The same goes for things like the time synchronization service - this is a client/server technology, so of course the other end will have your IP address.

Now, what's strange is how things like the IPv6 tunneling driver, the IME, etc. talk back to Microsoft. I'm willing to bet that its almost all performance-related logging, but it'd be nice to see a detailed dump of all of it.

The link is buried in the article, so in case you didn't catch it: Windows Vista Privacy Statement

There's a short highlights page as well: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/privacy/vist artm.mspx.

Notice that this is a separate document from the EULA that is both more specific about exactly what data is ever sent and much more readable than the typical legalese found elsewhere.

The link is buried in the article, so in case you didn't catch it: Windows Vista Privacy Statement

There's a short highlights page as well: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/privacy/vist artm.mspx.

Notice that this is a separate document from the EULA that is both more specific about exactly what data is ever sent and much more readable than the typical legalese found elsewhere.

The home licence agreement can be found here (I'm sure that you all read it before activating Vista :-P) http://download.microsoft.com/documents/useterms/W indows%20Vista_Ultimate_English_36d0fe99-75e4-4875 -8153-889cf5105718.pdf I'd be more concerned that Microsoft don't want you to "work around any technical limitations in the software".

The paranoia claims are really ridiculous.

Sorry, I don't know. I found a page on microsoft.com, but it doesn't include any mention of OEM versus retail.

The File Association Web Service does not send the whole list. that wouldn't make sense. All it sends is the EXTENSION of the file you are looking for a program for.

The Games data is used to download info and covers, especially for old games.

Parental Controls, I believe you have to opt-in for this. It sends URLs to check Allow/Block lists. Nothing serious.

The PNRP data is sent only when you USE PNRP. It's just like (and as necessary as) sending data to a BitTorrent tracker, only you wouldn't send pirated data over it.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/privacy/vist artm_detail.mspx

Oh, the article is just plain old FUD.

The following list describes various aspects of Windows Time Service data that is sent to and from the Internet and how the exchange of information takes place:

  Port: NTP uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port 123 on time servers. If this port is not open to the Internet, you cannot synchronize your server to Internet NTP servers.

  Protocol: The service on Windows Vista implements NTP to communicate with other computers on the network.

The things that get transmitted are:
1. Activation info. Well, duh.
2. Windows Update. -do-
3. Auto Root Update. Updates the list of trusted certificate authorities. You know, Verisign etc.
4. Windows Media DRM. Not an issue if you don't use DRM files, and no, information isn't transmitted every time you play the song.
5. Windows Media Player. To download album art/track names. Again, no different from other players. Easy to disable completely.
6. Malicious Software Removal. What's the problem if info is transmitted to Microsoft that you had an infection and it was cleaned? Non-issue. You can choose not to use it at all.
7. Network Connectivity Status Icon. This doesn't TRANSMIT anything except the HTTP request. It just downloads a small page to check if the Internet connection is working. Easy to disable, no problem.
8. Windows Time Service. Syncs time. Again, what's the problem? It's easy to disable if you really have a problem.
9. Problem reports. It asks you very clearly if data is to be sent to Microsoft, and asks you again if you want to send personal data. And reporting problems is good.
10. Games. Come on, it downloads fucking info and covers.
11. Event Viewer. Data is sent only when you specifically REQUEST for more online help. http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/libr ary/28cd5e13-e955-4941-91d9-fec2525e96c71033.mspx? mfr=true
12. Customer Experience Improvement Program. Microsoft *SPECIFICALLY ASKS YOU* if you want to opt-in. Once you say no, it never asks you again.

- etc -

The paranoia claims are really ridiculous. The operating system uses Internet resources to improve your experience, like telling you when you are connected to the Internet. Please take your tinfoil hat off for a minute and look at this objectively.

IOW: blame Microsoft.

The sad part is... a properly designed Windows driver should be able to be compiled for 64-bit Windows with few or no changes. Microsoft even published a checklist of things to watch out for a few years ago.

Although, since this driver is new, it might have been a better idea to use the User Mode Driver Framework, which appears to be architecture neutral (as does the Kernel Mode Driver Framework, but I can't see why an iPhone/iPod would need kernel mode access).

You should try looking harder.

If you check out Microsoft's website they actually group almost all of their information on 64 bit versions of Windows under their server information:
http://www.microsoft.com/servers/64bit/faqs.mspx

I couldn't find any substantial information regarding 64 bit processing in their typical Vista and XP pages, so I don't think they consider it ready for mainstream either.

Go here and click on Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional English North America CD w/SP2. Adding the item to your cart gives you the product name: "Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional". This is not the 64-bit version.

Moral of the story: If you buy Windows XP Professional from Microsoft, you are not getting a separate and distinct product that runs in 64-bit mode on your processor. For that, you would need to buy Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

Not yet convinced? Visit here to see that "Windows XP Professional" and "Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" are different editions of Windows XP. A nice table illustrates the point.

If a product you buy says it is supported under Windows XP Professional, you cannot assume it is supported under Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. They are different products and they have different names.

Go here and click on Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional English North America CD w/SP2. Adding the item to your cart gives you the product name: "Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional". This is not the 64-bit version.

Moral of the story: If you buy Windows XP Professional from Microsoft, you are not getting a separate and distinct product that runs in 64-bit mode on your processor. For that, you would need to buy Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

Not yet convinced? Visit here to see that "Windows XP Professional" and "Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" are different editions of Windows XP. A nice table illustrates the point.

If a product you buy says it is supported under Windows XP Professional, you cannot assume it is supported under Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. They are different products and they have different names.

Go here and click on Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional English North America CD w/SP2. Adding the item to your cart gives you the product name: "Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional". This is not the 64-bit version.

Moral of the story: If you buy Windows XP Professional from Microsoft, you are not getting a separate and distinct product that runs in 64-bit mode on your processor. For that, you would need to buy Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

Not yet convinced? Visit here to see that "Windows XP Professional" and "Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" are different editions of Windows XP. A nice table illustrates the point.

If a product you buy says it is supported under Windows XP Professional, you cannot assume it is supported under Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. They are different products and they have different names.

Go here and click on Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional English North America CD w/SP2. Adding the item to your cart gives you the product name: "Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional". This is not the 64-bit version.

Moral of the story: If you buy Windows XP Professional from Microsoft, you are not getting a separate and distinct product that runs in 64-bit mode on your processor. For that, you would need to buy Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

Not yet convinced? Visit here to see that "Windows XP Professional" and "Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" are different editions of Windows XP. A nice table illustrates the point.

If a product you buy says it is supported under Windows XP Professional, you cannot assume it is supported under Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. They are different products and they have different names.

Yo, moron...

32 bit Vista and 64 bit Vista are two different things. Having them both on the same disc means exactly nothing. You still have to install one or the other. Blizzard ships Mac and PC versions of their games on the same disc. Amazingly they turn out to be different too!

Why does Microsoft have a web page covering 64 bit Vista if it's the same as 32 bit Vista?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsv ista/editions/64bit.mspx

but if it's being sold as XP Professsional, that's all that is relevant

Go here and click on Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional English North America CD w/SP2. Adding the item to your cart gives you the product name: "Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional". This is not the 64-bit version.

Moral of the story: If you buy Windows XP Professional from Microsoft, you are not getting a separate and distinct product that runs in 64-bit mode on your processor. For that, you would need to buy Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

Not yet convinced? Visit here to see that "Windows XP Professional" and "Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" are different editions of Windows XP. A nice table illustrates the point.

If a product you buy says it is supported under Windows XP Professional, you cannot assume it is supported under Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. They are different products and they have different names.