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Internet of Things isn't even a thing, it's wishful thinking, and a bunch of random crap "visionaries" with no business plan are all pushing as the Next Big Thing.
It's marketing hype by people trying to cash in, but who otherwise have no idea what it's good for.

Ahh you sound like the type of person who is assuming IoT means internet connected lightbulbs. Mind you I don't blame you, there are some stupid marketing companies destroying the product by polluting the definition and the serious companies get stuck.

IoT is about telemetry and there are many MANY good business cases for it, and many large companies providing supporting frame work for the analysis of data. One good example of IoT done right to dramatically reduce cost, and customer downtime has been the predictive maintenance between Thyssen Krup and Microsoft. That's what IoT is really about, and this is why it has major benefits for city infrastructure.

If your local law allows you to recover damages from Microsoft even though this agreement does not, you cannot recover more than you paid for the software (or up to $50 USD if you acquired the software for no charge).

From country where I come from (Slovenia) I have checked and i can confirm that software is #1 product that is least regulated product. One is by law unable to get refund on open CD and costumer protective laws does not apply for software. I think that is legally allowed to sell software on blank CD without any data. Software is single product on market that is 100% unregulated.

According to the article, drive C: is actually a symbolic link to \Device\HarddiskVolume4, COM3 is \Device\Serial0 and so on.

I knew about that, but I've always wondered what the namespace was for things like S-1-5-21-nnnnnnnn-nnnnnnnnn..." that I see in $RECYCLE.BIN and elsehwere whenever I poke under the hood. Neat.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

Forgot to put in the web page.

--
BMO

It's just a WebView component embedded inside a web page.

One thing I wasn't able to deduce from the article is whether or not "x-ms-webview" components can exist in publicly served webpages. Are the only for use in Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications?

If they are available elsewhere (ex. open up a local html file with one, or from an intranet site, or from the public internet), it would seem that this *could* be a step backwards in some ways. To quote one of those articles:

The crux of the functionality stems around the powerful WebView control. Offering a comprehensive set of APIs, it overcomes several of the limitations which encumber iframes, such as framebusting sites and document loading events. Additionally, the x-ms-webview, how one declares a WebView in HTML, provides new functionality that is not possible with an iframe, such as better access to local content and the ability to take screenshots.

... so the page loading the component could, or example, be a really clean phishing attempt (ex. loading your bank and screenshotting the webview).

Actually... IGNORE EVERYTHING I JUST WROTE. I should have looked at actual tech pages: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...
It's only for windows runtime apps, and when a windows store app uses it, it ends up being turned into an iframe. Nothing new to see here.

This "Open-Source" browser makes use of the WebView component:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn301831.aspx

Where is the open source code for this component, please?

Citation, please?

KB3068708
KB3022345
KB3075249
KB2976978
KB3021917

Citation, please?

KB3068708
KB3022345
KB3075249
KB2976978
KB3021917

Citation, please?

KB3068708
KB3022345
KB3075249
KB2976978
KB3021917

Citation, please?

KB3068708
KB3022345
KB3075249
KB2976978
KB3021917

Citation, please?

KB3068708
KB3022345
KB3075249
KB2976978
KB3021917

I think the idea is this:
Windows XP = open to privacy violations by cyber criminals
Windows 10 = systematic privacy violations by Microsoft

Actually, this second issue about Microsoft having lots of access to your private information is not new. At least as far back as Windows 2000 sp3, there were concerns that the EULA would violate HIPAA (US law protecting the privacy of health information). You would have to have what HIPAA calls a "Business Associates Agreement" (BAA) with Microsoft in order to be HIPAA compliant while using Windows 2000 sp3. IIRC, Microsoft later backed off on the EULA and this was no longer an issue. This time around, given their approach to HIPAA and their cloud service, Azure, maybe they will offer to sign a BAA for everyone using Windows 10 who needs HIPAA compliance.

Seriously? This is a networked Windows XP computer storing data on the movements of private individuals until they run out of space...

Yes: "Support for Windows XP ended April 8th, 2014"

If you're horrified about the possible privacy leaks, be glad they're using XP. Imagine if they were using Windows 10!

Actually, the exact opposite is true. Microsoft quit releasing security patches for XP over a year ago. The only thing preventing anyone who wants to pwn that box from doing so right this second is if its too busy doing its botnet work to service any other requests.

If it is one thing MS does well it is backwards capability.

I pretty much laughed at this. I can tell you that the backwards compatibility statement from MS about 4.5 is patently false. Just try doing an elevation of privileges on an unprivileged process (ie, actually elevate the process above its base privilege). Works on .NET4, not on .NET 4.5, or, more accurately, not on .NET 4.5 on 2008SR2. It might work on .NET 4.5 2008... I didn't check. But, more telling is the last clause, which says well, maybe we aren't backwards compatible, but we allow you to run the previous versions of .NET in those cases, except for .NET4, which we completely nerfed. You also get stories like driver complaints or office issues or even with the new xbox.

It appears these updates are usage trackers:

KB 2952664
KB 3022345

No. KB 2952664 is a Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7. It has nothing to do with telemetry.

And KB 3022345 -- which does have to do with telemetry -- has been superseded by KB 3068708.

Other telemetry updates are:

• KB 3075249 "Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7"
• KB 3080149 "Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry"

.
Then there is KB 3021917 ("Update to Windows 7 SP1 for performance improvements") which is sort of a telemetry update insomuch as it does indeed send back telemetry data to Microsoft, but supposedly only data related to performance issues and not actual usage.

That's all I know about.

It appears these updates are usage trackers:

KB 2952664
KB 3022345

No. KB 2952664 is a Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7. It has nothing to do with telemetry.

And KB 3022345 -- which does have to do with telemetry -- has been superseded by KB 3068708.

Other telemetry updates are:

• KB 3075249 "Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7"
• KB 3080149 "Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry"

.
Then there is KB 3021917 ("Update to Windows 7 SP1 for performance improvements") which is sort of a telemetry update insomuch as it does indeed send back telemetry data to Microsoft, but supposedly only data related to performance issues and not actual usage.

That's all I know about.

It appears these updates are usage trackers:

KB 2952664
KB 3022345

No. KB 2952664 is a Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7. It has nothing to do with telemetry.

And KB 3022345 -- which does have to do with telemetry -- has been superseded by KB 3068708.

Other telemetry updates are:

• KB 3075249 "Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7"
• KB 3080149 "Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry"

.
Then there is KB 3021917 ("Update to Windows 7 SP1 for performance improvements") which is sort of a telemetry update insomuch as it does indeed send back telemetry data to Microsoft, but supposedly only data related to performance issues and not actual usage.

That's all I know about.

It appears these updates are usage trackers:

KB 2952664
KB 3022345

No. KB 2952664 is a Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7. It has nothing to do with telemetry.

And KB 3022345 -- which does have to do with telemetry -- has been superseded by KB 3068708.

Other telemetry updates are:

• KB 3075249 "Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7"
• KB 3080149 "Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry"

.
Then there is KB 3021917 ("Update to Windows 7 SP1 for performance improvements") which is sort of a telemetry update insomuch as it does indeed send back telemetry data to Microsoft, but supposedly only data related to performance issues and not actual usage.

That's all I know about.

It appears these updates are usage trackers:

KB 2952664
KB 3022345

No. KB 2952664 is a Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7. It has nothing to do with telemetry.

And KB 3022345 -- which does have to do with telemetry -- has been superseded by KB 3068708.

Other telemetry updates are:

• KB 3075249 "Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7"
• KB 3080149 "Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry"

.
Then there is KB 3021917 ("Update to Windows 7 SP1 for performance improvements") which is sort of a telemetry update insomuch as it does indeed send back telemetry data to Microsoft, but supposedly only data related to performance issues and not actual usage.

That's all I know about.

It appears these updates are usage trackers:

KB 2952664
KB 3022345

No. KB 2952664 is a Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7. It has nothing to do with telemetry.

And KB 3022345 -- which does have to do with telemetry -- has been superseded by KB 3068708.

Other telemetry updates are:

• KB 3075249 "Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7"
• KB 3080149 "Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry"

.
Then there is KB 3021917 ("Update to Windows 7 SP1 for performance improvements") which is sort of a telemetry update insomuch as it does indeed send back telemetry data to Microsoft, but supposedly only data related to performance issues and not actual usage.

That's all I know about.

Here are two that I skipped from the most recent patch set: (windows 7)
kb3075249: Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7
kb3080149: Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry

also: since there's a full write up for each patch on MicroSoft's website, why the f**k isn't that info available in windows update?

Here are two that I skipped from the most recent patch set: (windows 7)
kb3075249: Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7
kb3080149: Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry

also: since there's a full write up for each patch on MicroSoft's website, why the f**k isn't that info available in windows update?

I don't know about MS Sync; I think Sync is name of the application, which runs on top Windows CE and MS Auto. My recollection could be wrong -- I've tried incredibly hard to forget everything 've ever known about WinCE, but I think WinCE and maybe MS Auto are "Shared Source", where you can obtain the source.

QNX is definitely open-source.

Get a torrent of Enterprise LTSB, verify via https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-... (click Details, make sure you get the right version, N vs. non-N, US English vs. UK English, x86 vs. x64) and then apply manual stripdown via info on the net.

Microsoft Surface comes in 10.8", 12", 55" and 84"

Microsoft Surface comes in 10.8", 12", 55" and 84"

Microsoft Surface comes in 10.8", 12", 55" and 84"

3021917 (update for Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program
3068708 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3080149 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3075249 (telemetry)
2990214 (Windows 10 upgrade) (I suppose this isn't technically privacy. And Microsoft claims you actually need it; your choice whether to believe them. Also, 3044374 for Windows 8.1.

3021917 (update for Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program
3068708 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3080149 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3075249 (telemetry)
2990214 (Windows 10 upgrade) (I suppose this isn't technically privacy. And Microsoft claims you actually need it; your choice whether to believe them. Also, 3044374 for Windows 8.1.

3021917 (update for Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program
3068708 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3080149 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3075249 (telemetry)
2990214 (Windows 10 upgrade) (I suppose this isn't technically privacy. And Microsoft claims you actually need it; your choice whether to believe them. Also, 3044374 for Windows 8.1.

3021917 (update for Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program
3068708 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3080149 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3075249 (telemetry)
2990214 (Windows 10 upgrade) (I suppose this isn't technically privacy. And Microsoft claims you actually need it; your choice whether to believe them. Also, 3044374 for Windows 8.1.

3021917 (update for Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program
3068708 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3080149 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3075249 (telemetry)
2990214 (Windows 10 upgrade) (I suppose this isn't technically privacy. And Microsoft claims you actually need it; your choice whether to believe them. Also, 3044374 for Windows 8.1.

3021917 (update for Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program
3068708 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3080149 (update for CEIP and telemetry)
3075249 (telemetry)
2990214 (Windows 10 upgrade) (I suppose this isn't technically privacy. And Microsoft claims you actually need it; your choice whether to believe them. Also, 3044374 for Windows 8.1.

Didn't Microsoft demonstrate that as their "Surface", originally? I believe it is now PixelSense.

I'm uncertain of a successful feet test, though.

Huh? https://www.microsoft.com/reso...

Actually:

7 keys for the left hand (tilde, 1-6)
7 keys for the right hand (7-0, minus, equals, backspace)

I prefer the keyboard to be centered on the screen.

While looking at the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard I noticed that the N key is taking up the space of two keys. Many folks have pointed out that the B key is centered below G and H of an inline keyboard. Those who press the B key ambidextrously have complained about it on ergonomic keyboards. While I don't want to see the 6 key doubled up, I do see merit in placing a duplicate B key on the right half; especially with room pre-allocated for it.

For proxy filtering, I don't have a full list for the app store, but here's a list from Intune which includes all of the update pieces: https://technet.microsoft.com/... - that would at least be a start. Also, Microsoft does have some additional steps on isolating Windows Store apps once they are on a PC, but I'm not sure I fully understood the direction they are going. It looks like they recommending the removal of networking permissions to anything except your user account, but I'd have to test it out to fully digest it: https://technet.microsoft.com/...

For proxy filtering, I don't have a full list for the app store, but here's a list from Intune which includes all of the update pieces: https://technet.microsoft.com/... - that would at least be a start. Also, Microsoft does have some additional steps on isolating Windows Store apps once they are on a PC, but I'm not sure I fully understood the direction they are going. It looks like they recommending the removal of networking permissions to anything except your user account, but I'd have to test it out to fully digest it: https://technet.microsoft.com/...

This implies that the Netics report has figures to an accuracy of better than 0.01%, which I find, to put it mildly, surprising.

I was going to post something along the lines that I am prepared to believe that an organisation might find it more efficient to use Microsoft products instead of open source, but that given the unbelievable precison of the figures:
(1) I don't trust the figures, and (2) I don't trust anyone who prepares a report with unbelievably precise figures: at best, they are being lazy in not rounding the raw figures, or worse they don't understand what they are doing, or at worst they are being deliberately misleading:

Spurious accuracy seduces journalists time and time again
Wikipedia - False Precision
Slashdotters may enjoy the 3.5inch floppy diskette story. Personal computers with 3.5 inch diskette drives were commonly specified as having 88.9 mm drives in metric countries, 88.9 mm being the exact, though overly precise, conversion of 3.5 inches. In fact, the diskettes are 90 mm wide everywhere in the world per ISO/IEC 9529-1 specification, 3.5 inch being an approximation. (I had intended to put an "allegedly" in front of that story, but the Wikipedia article links to that ISO/IEC specification and to an HP specifications sheet with the width of the diskette drive being 3.5in/88.9 mm!)

That was what I intended to post. Then it occurred to me to look at the Microsoft Italy page linked in the ZDNet article:
https://news.microsoft.com/it-...

Using Google Translate gives:
... with OpenOffice annual spending per user has been estimated at more than 500 euros, much higher than the previous annual spending Office user of about 118 Euros ...
... The annual expenditure per user with Office 365 is also approximately 197 euros ...
... the net annual spending per user falls further to around 110 euros ...

The "more than 500" is fine and the "around 110" is probably ok.
Being picky, the "about 118" and "approximately 197" should probably be rounded.

Even so, that is much better than the ludicrous "precision" of the figures in the ZDNet article. I assume Federico Guerrini (for Italy's got tech) didn't invent the figures in the ZDNet article, so a plausible guess is:

1. Maybe the Netics researchers' report did give figures to "better" than 0.01% "accuracy".
2. Someone in news.microsoft.com/it had the good sense to round these figures for their news item.
3. The ZDNet article by Federico Guerrini used the figures directly from the Netics report.

If so, then I suggest that the Italian ZDNet reporters take their Microsoft colleagues out for a long lunch and learn how to treat statistics properly, including asking *really* hard and probing questions to any researchers who use inappropriate precision.

If not, then I am really intrigued as to why the ZDNet article has those "precise" figures.

Another game dev here. Running with 32GB and Window's retarded Virtual Memory turned off. You'll love the upgrade!

One note: If you are on Windows 7 you will need Windows 7 Professional (or higher), because Win 7 Starter / Home / Premium versions are crippled to only supporting 16 GB. Microsoft "fixed" this in Windows 8.1+

* http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-u...

Having 32GB allows you to spin up a few VMs each with 4GB if needed, and still have plenty of available RAM to keep 30+ tabs of Chrome/Firefox open, MSVC, Gimp/Photoshop, VM's all open all the time.

Oh, I agree 100%.
It's a gimmicky feature that is of little use if you know that sleep/full hibernate exist (which are faster since they save your entire session).
But I guess MS figured that most people don't know those exist and can be easily fooled into thinking that Windows actually _boots_ faster now.

And sadly, they're probably right.
Even casual tech sites talk of hybrid boot as if it was proper boot, but it's not and it can lead to some bad stuff if you're dual booting or changing hardware while in that state...
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/15645.windows-8-volume-compatibility-considerations-with-prior-versions-of-windows.aspx

I have some small technical details about how Windows 10 is spying on users. I posted it on Reddit but it's already being downvoted by paid Microsoft employees I think. I'll just copy and paste here:

I had something strange happen when I downgraded to Windows 7 in an unsupported way. After trying Windows 10 with a clean install and deciding that it wasn't for me, I undeleted my Windows 7 boot partition and simply deleted the Windows 10 files and copied over my files from Windows.old.

All of my file permissions for my User folder had been changed to allow access for 'unknown user'. After some digging in the settings I found that this matched an account named S-1-15-2-1.

Some quick Googling told me that this was a well known account for the Windows Store: http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

"dax1792 replied on March 14, 2013 S-1-15-2-1 appears to be a new Well-Known SID which is used by Windows 8 with Windows Store Applications. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-u...

Windows 7 doesn't know anything about this, so it's being shown as unknown. This may be an oversight by Microsoft in the way they have deployed Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7."

So they really aren't kidding about what's spelled out in the user agreement about sharing your personal files! I'm sure that that went directly to the NSA.

We just learned that AT&T has been working hand in hand with the NSA. That they've been working with and manipulating these big corporations. I'm sure that that's how AT&T was fast-tracked for this recent DirectTV acquisition.

Our government has been completely taken over by criminals at this point and Microsoft is surely working with them.

I have some small technical details about how Windows 10 is spying on users. I posted it on Reddit but it's already being downvoted by paid Microsoft employees I think. I'll just copy and paste here:

I had something strange happen when I downgraded to Windows 7 in an unsupported way. After trying Windows 10 with a clean install and deciding that it wasn't for me, I undeleted my Windows 7 boot partition and simply deleted the Windows 10 files and copied over my files from Windows.old.

All of my file permissions for my User folder had been changed to allow access for 'unknown user'. After some digging in the settings I found that this matched an account named S-1-15-2-1.

Some quick Googling told me that this was a well known account for the Windows Store: http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

"dax1792 replied on March 14, 2013 S-1-15-2-1 appears to be a new Well-Known SID which is used by Windows 8 with Windows Store Applications. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-u...

Windows 7 doesn't know anything about this, so it's being shown as unknown. This may be an oversight by Microsoft in the way they have deployed Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7."

So they really aren't kidding about what's spelled out in the user agreement about sharing your personal files! I'm sure that that went directly to the NSA.

We just learned that AT&T has been working hand in hand with the NSA. That they've been working with and manipulating these big corporations. I'm sure that that's how AT&T was fast-tracked for this recent DirectTV acquisition.

Our government has been completely taken over by criminals at this point and Microsoft is surely working with them.

In theory, Windows is already designed this way. Only a few services require a restart. It's just that PC operating systems in general have become so big, and people on the other side of the Internet have become so malicious, that at least one update per month affects a critical system service.

In theory, Windows is already designed this way. Only a few services require a restart. It's just that PC operating systems in general have become so big, and people on the other side of the Internet have become so malicious, that at least one update per month affects a critical system service.

Fear not. Microsoft itself is giving you hashes for all their images:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...

You can safely pirate and verify.

Finally, we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith believe that doing so is necessary ...

There's those"Good Faith" weasle words. That's right up there with "For The Children" and "National Security" for being an abuse-excuse.

Finally, we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith believe that doing so is necessary ...

I had a Windows phone, a Nokia Lumia 920. For 2 years.

I loved the operating system, and the phone itself was great (very good camera for macro shots!)

But I had a problem with it... about once a week it would start to overheat seriously (like almost too hot to touch) and the battery would drain 10% every 5 minutes. I never found what caused it, and even after several updates the problem is still there. I agree with you that when this overheating problem was not going on, the battery life was great. But it was completely unpredictable, and I often found myself with a dead phone and no way to charge it.

Here, have phone reading this thread about the same problem I had, going on for more than 2 years: http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

I replaced that phone with a Moto G LTE, a great little phone. Does everything I need without any fuss, and the battery is good for almost 2 days. Crappy camera tough.