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I just checked that last 90 days of ncidents for eastern US for Azure. And I saw 19 incidents. None of them accounts for a full outage, only a particular feature may be down.

I have worked with mainframe maintenance. For one this "24/7/365 for decades at a time" isn't really true. As even the best maintained system will have scheduled outages. Otherwise you may have a "God help us if this system ever fails" issue, as a failure over such time could show off all the other systems that have failed.
I have seen such long running systems, up for years, without being maintained. The system just did its thing and did it well. So much so that the application ran completely in active RAM, and once the system went down, we found out the drives failed a long time ago. Why didn't we see it in the logs? Well the logs were attempted to be written to the disk. And the operator at the time had a tendency to ignore and clear out console errors on the terminal.

    Also much like Azure, while the System may be running, there are often parts of it that may fail, and would need to get restarted. Stop and restart the database. Unmounted the drive and replace a new one.

Who comes up with these idiotic names?

I don't know who, but I do know when. IE 8 introduced the X-ua-compatible header. "Use the following value to display the webpage in edge mode, which is the highest standards mode supported by Internet Explorer."

Still can't use it on Amazon (excluding the worthless-to-me ELB).

Microsoft Azure does not support IPv6 at all. From Azure's FAQ:

Does Azure support IPv6?

Microsoft has played a leading role in helping customers to smoothly transition from IPv4 to IPv6 for the past several years. To date, Microsoft has built IPv6 support into many of its products and solutions like Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 R2. Microsoft is committed to expanding the worldwide capabilities of the Internet through IPv6 and enabling a variety of valuable and exciting scenarios, including peer-to-peer and mobile applications. The foundational work to enable IPv6 in the Azure environment is well underway. However, we are unable to share a date when IPv6 support will be generally available at this time. For more information on IPv6 technologies and IPv6 support available in the Windows operating system today, see Microsoft’s IPv6 information site which includes business, technical, and developer resources: http://technet.microsoft.com/e...

So, no. Maybe some day.

Source: http://azure.microsoft.com/en-...

Still can't use it on Amazon (excluding the worthless-to-me ELB).

Microsoft Azure does not support IPv6 at all. From Azure's FAQ:

Does Azure support IPv6?

Microsoft has played a leading role in helping customers to smoothly transition from IPv4 to IPv6 for the past several years. To date, Microsoft has built IPv6 support into many of its products and solutions like Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 R2. Microsoft is committed to expanding the worldwide capabilities of the Internet through IPv6 and enabling a variety of valuable and exciting scenarios, including peer-to-peer and mobile applications. The foundational work to enable IPv6 in the Azure environment is well underway. However, we are unable to share a date when IPv6 support will be generally available at this time. For more information on IPv6 technologies and IPv6 support available in the Windows operating system today, see Microsoft’s IPv6 information site which includes business, technical, and developer resources: http://technet.microsoft.com/e...

So, no. Maybe some day.

Source: http://azure.microsoft.com/en-...

Let 'em know: http://windows.microsoft.com/e...

Or just ask them to change the defaults on a checkbox: http://windows.microsoft.com/e...

Looks like I was wrong about this being PHONE only, that said, I think changing the checkbox to default unchecked would be sufficent. How about letting MS know your thoughts: http://windows.microsoft.com/e...

...when you connect to a new network, there's a "share with my contacts" checkbox that you have to turn ON for this network to be shared.

If true, this would be a departure from the Windows Phone 8.1 OEM requirements, which requires OEMs to fully enable this, "killer feature:" https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...

No, Home version is $120 and Pro is $200 MSRP
https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

I haven't yet found one that I can. I've asked several people who claim that there is no problem, how do I get into UEFI setup, to turn it off (or add my own keys)? The thing is, while Microsoft turned around and added a requirement to be able to turn UEFI off (originally, they weren't going to), they also made a requirement that to boot faster, it was not allowed to let people press a key to enter setup.

Hold the key down before powering on (and keep it held for a second or two after). On a Toshiba the key is F2, and it will definitely get you into the setup. On other brands you could try ESC, Del, F1, F2, F4, F10 or F12. Microsoft seems to think that you can access your BIOS settings with a keystroke. Have a look at their instructions on how to Disable Secure Boot:

Open the PC BIOS menu. You can often access this menu by pressing a key during the boot-up sequence, such as F1, F2, F12, or Esc.

Or, from Windows, hold the Shift key while selecting Restart. Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options: UEFI Firmware Settings.

Also, if Windows fails to boot 3 times in a row it will enter the boot menu, from which you can access the BIOS. Try booting, then turning it off three times. I had to do that once when I had a hardware fault once.

And no, the signed Microsoft Linux that some distros use for setup is not a valid option either.

Or you could use a distro with a Microsoft signature. Good suggestion. Oh, except for some reason you don't want to run Linux.

You mean like this Windows powertoy from Technet?

I had two computers that had issues, one physical win 7 with 2gb RAM, one VM with 4gb. Turns out windows update (running in svchost.exe) was using excessive amounts of RAM on windows update runs (And I mean excessive). The whole system became unusable for what felt like 20mins while the Windows Update run going. Lots and lots of paging until Windows update released the memory, and then very sluggish while applications were paged back in.

https://support.microsoft.com/...

Nice one Microsoft releasing this as an "optional" update. The perfect upgrade push. How many Joe Average uses would just be "Wow, my computer is really slow, time for an upgrade" because they aren't aware there is an optional update hiding there under Windows Update to fix it.

It is not a matter of HD activity, either, and it's not superstition. Just two examples: in the case of Windows XP, which is post-Windows 98, we had the catastrophic Windows Update failure to scale that caused all Windows XP machines to become unusable for hours just some months ago. Back then it was a matter of CPU usage, not disk. In the case of Windows 7, which is post-Windows 98 too, you might have noticed that on machines with 2 GB of memory or less (which is twice the minimum required amount) another Windows Update bug caused the Windows Update service to eat all the available RAM and thrash the machine, again, into the land of unusability. In this case, it was a matter of RAM usage, not disk.

My parents' computer was also suffering from the Windows Update checks consuming a lot of memory. Microsoft has released update 3050265 to fix this problem which did greatly reduce the memory usage during checks. Note that the update is only listed an optional update so you need to manually select that update for installation.

Agreed. The Component Based Servicing that Windows 7 uses kind of sucks, if you compare it to how XP worked. http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

It is caused by poorly written programs that run as admin and write to the registry each time they run. So you run the app 200 days a year and it creates 200 forks of the registry that need to launch in parallel at startup :-)

Um, the registry is an integral part of Windows. Lots of built in components read and write to it constantly. Fire up Process Monitor and you will quickly notice that there is lots of boilerplate registry accesses that go on that applications don't specifically perform (for example, if a program launches another program, Windows checks to see if there is an override in place for which application should actually be launched... in the registry). Registry access is a completely normal part of Windows, and is not a sign of a poorly written program.

I am also not sure where you get a write of the registry creates a fork. All I can think of is that there is the Previous Versions system which will back up previous versions of files, thus creating "forks". I am not sure if it is enabled for the registry (not sure how useful it would be, System Restore creates backups itself and Previous Versions is meant for user files) but even if it does only one copy would be loaded and actively used at once.

The only other thing you could be referring to AFAIK is Registry Virtualization. Legacy applications may have registry writes redirected for compatibility reasons (when NOT running as admin), but those go to a different location in the same registry; it doesn't create copies of the registry to store these redirected writes.

Of course as you create more registry cruft from installing more applications things COULD slow down in various ways unrelated to the performance of the registry. Most likely is you'll see Windows Explorer slow down as it interoperates with third-party components a great deal, and thus there is ample opportunity for broken components to cause delays or timeouts in things like right-click menus. The only thing the registry has to do with this is Explorer reads configurations on how to use third-party components from there. When people talk about "fixing the registry" it's usually in cleaning up the mess broken third-party components have left, and not any performance issues in the registry itself.

Did you ever check out Microsoft Research's Singularity OS, which implemented a new OS kernel from scratch in a dialect of C#. It has no traditional processes and relies on software/compiler enforced isolation instead of VMM/page tables. It has some other rather interesting ideas in it too, like contract based IPC channels. Relatedly, there was some work done a while ago to allow better integration between garbage collected heaps and the kernel swap system (bookmarking collectors), but the patches were never merged. Do you have any thoughts on how Linux could better support non-C/C++ based software in this way?

It wasn't the drivers dude, if I were to hazard a guess it was your OS, specifically the registry and Windows love of reinstalling drivers on reboot. The reason it didn't affect your Nvidia card? Because that would have written new entries in the registry.

Next time you have an issue like that? Uninstall the drivers and then use a good registry cleaner to blow out the registry along with removing the old driver from the driver store BEFORE you install another driver. All your driver switching simply added good code on top of bad code and just made the mess that much bigger. I've seen it countless times in the shop, this is one place where MSFT fucks it up BIG time.

Remember if you haven't removed the driver from the Windows Driver Store Windows will reinstall it the second you boot back up,so the only way to truly install clean on Windows 7 and above is remove the particular drivers from the driver store.

*cough*

Do you really think a congressman or the senators would care. No! all that matters to them is who can put more cash in there pockets. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, the bank and on & on they all make money selling your profile. That is the way it has been for the past 20 years, what makes you think this would change. And this was the privacy form that I was reading was for the new agreement for windows 10 for July 29 2015. I stop being an alpha tester years ago, do you think that beta is any different. And for the past week the little notification has bugged me,. So before saying yes a looked at all the contract agreements for the new OS. And yes it is state as such, http://www.microsoft.com/priva... this not for Beta Or Alpha testing this mean for users PC And Cell phones. It just gets broken down in to different places of the agreement, but that is what it all comes down to. Like I stated read,. The NSA dose not need to circumvent anything you will do it your self. Windows is not my primary platform to work just to game, that is Linux & BSD is for work. Even if I was given no choice on the matter of OS, I would put it in VR inside a sand box. With no internet access, that would be the only way I would use it now. All communication have been compromised since day one. All telecommunications have and will always be intercepted, it's simple all they have to do is send it outside of the border and back. That makes it legal and since it is no longer a local call web search or what ever. That is the job of governments, control and intimidate through there populists. Tell me is the web a centralized network,! No? Why! It is not for efficiency, was it done to get any message on time. No! It was made to verify all that would be sent will be the same from one end to the other. The HASH has to match up to it's maps. Making communications a stander form on the net. If anything was encrypted. And who made this standers was it a developer under who’s orders. And it is now illogical, to say it is now legal to the same. What is good for the goose is not good for the rest. Kiss my ass.

Do you really think a congressman or the senators would care. No! all that matters to them is who can put more cash in there pockets. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, the bank and on & on they all make money selling your profile. That is the way it has been for the past 20 years, what makes you think this would change. And this was the privacy form that I was reading was for the new agreement for windows 10 for July 29 2015. I stop being an alpha tester years ago, do you think that beta is any different. And for the past week the little notification has bugged me,. So before saying yes a looked at all the contract agreements for the new OS. And yes it is state as such, http://www.microsoft.com/priva... this not for Beta Or Alpha testing this mean for users PC And Cell phones. It just gets broken down in to different places of the agreement, but that is what it all comes down to. Like I stated read,. The NSA dose not need to circumvent anything you will do it your self. Windows is not my primary platform to work just to game, that is Linux & BSD is for work. Even if I was given no choice on the matter of OS, I would put it in VR inside a sand box. With no internet access, that would be the only way I would use it now. All communication have been compromised since day one. All telecommunications have and will always be intercepted, it's simple all they have to do is send it outside of the border and back. That makes it legal and since it is no longer a local call web search or what ever. That is the job of governments, control and intimidate through there populists.

> You also forgot the BYTE, WORD, LONG, etc. types all over the Windows API. Sure, they're older than stdint.h, but they're yet another buttload of type aliases to keep track of.

I didn't mention it because that is a separate issue. Microsoft's stupidity is not part of C++, though they seem to have inherited some of it.

I guess someone at Microsoft liked C's "double", and hated the inconsistency with "float" so they added an alias System.Single in C# !

In contradistinction to System.Double

> You also forgot the BYTE, WORD, LONG, etc. types all over the Windows API. Sure, they're older than stdint.h, but they're yet another buttload of type aliases to keep track of.

I didn't mention it because that is a separate issue. Microsoft's stupidity is not part of C++, though they seem to have inherited some of it.

I guess someone at Microsoft liked C's "double", and hated the inconsistency with "float" so they added an alias System.Single in C# !

In contradistinction to System.Double

Except the upgrade from W7 SP1 doesn't work. There's no option to upgrade even with KB3035583 installed and proper activation from bought deliverables.

You can't upgrade because it's not available. It doesn't show yet because either the update could not determine if your machine is compatible, you're running a pirated version of Windows, or you've turned off or blocked Windows Update. https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

Well, maybe I'm not rational then: from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us...
Boldface mine.

"*Windows Offer Details

Yes, free! This upgrade offer is for a full version of Windows 10, not a trial. 3GB download required; standard data rates apply. To take advantage of this free offer, you must upgrade to Windows 10 within one year of availability. Once you upgrade, you have Windows 10 for free on that device.

Windows 10 Upgrade Offer is valid for qualified Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices, including devices you already own. Some hardware/software requirements apply and feature availability may vary by device and market. The availability of Windows 10 upgrade for Windows Phone 8.1 devices may vary by OEM, mobile operator or carrier. Devices must be connected to the internet and have Windows Update enabled. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 Update required. Some editions are excluded: Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT 8.1. Active Software Assurance customers in volume licensing have the benefit to upgrade to Windows 10 enterprise offerings outside of this offer. To check for compatibility and other important installation information, visit your device manufacturerâ(TM)s website and the Windows 10 Specifications page. Additional requirements may apply over time for updates. Security and features are kept automatically up-to-date which is always enabled. See the Windows 10 How to Upgrade page for details."

Precisely how else might a 'rational' mind interpret that?

What I'm unsure of, and isn't clearly addressed above is whether Win10 eventually becomes one of those 'instead of buying it you pay monthly' things like Office365, and thus you might have a version of Win10 for free, but support ends in 12 months or something.

It's the reverse direction. Buy Windows 8 Pro and you get free downgrade rights to Windows 7. However, I'm not sure if that applies to machines that come from the factory with Windows 7. It's probably just a Windows 7 license in that case.

http://www.microsoft.com/OEM/e...

Avoid this release like the plague! No RSAT tools, a VLAN change can crash it, install will corrupt itself, Windows updates break to the point a DISM image fix is required, and the list goes on and on.

"An RSAT package will be available shortly after Windows 10 RTM."
from https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

Probably not what you mean, but http://www.microsoft.com/en-us... and then after 90 days use the slmgr rearm trick.

I'm not sure about 8.1 enterprise but other versions have allowed this trick 3 time, then you boot from a disk, clear some registry keys and start the whole process over again. Or ignore the "your windows isn't genuine" if you use one of the OEM keys you can find via google.

I'm sure that once the product is released the policy will be published in the usual place... https://support.microsoft.com/...

For now, it's a good idea to sign up and start a trial install on VirtualBox or on a real machine.

Who wants to trash a valid working version of 7 or 8 rather than beta test a fresh install of Windows 10. This would be great if the free license was for those who install and beta test a fresh version of Windows 10 on a PC without having to upgrade an existing copy first.

Well, lucky you - because that is exactly how it is. You download the (free) technical preview build ISO http://windows.microsoft.com/e..., install it, and then later on it will be upgraded to a (free) fully licensed copy. Only requirement is that you have to sign up for a Microsoft account (just create some new email address for that).

Or, in easier words, the full version of Windows 10 is free for everybody who participates in the technical preview.

Oh, just shut the fuck up. You keep spouting all of this FUD when it's painfully obvious that you don't have a fucking clue what you are talking about.

From Microsoft:

If you upgrade from a OEM or retail version of Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 to the free Windows 10 upgrade this summer, the license is consumed into it. Because the free upgrade is derived from the base qualifying license, Windows 10 will carry that licensing too.

The specific page:

http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

Now play nice.

So make an image of your Windows 7 setup before you upgrade.

From Microsoft:

http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

Specifically :If you upgrade from a OEM or retail version of Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 to the free Windows 10 upgrade this summer, the license is consumed into it. Because the free upgrade is derived from the base qualifying license, Windows 10 will carry that licensing too.

Try it and tell me how it works for you?

"...adds 7,716 new characters to the existing 21,499 – that's more than 35% growth!"

There were already 113K characters in Unicode version 7.0. Which is more than 2^16 characters, so remember:

• 1. UTF-16 is *not* two bytes per character
• 2. Therefore a "character" in Java, C#, Javascript sometimes only holds half a Unicode character
• 3. Even a whole unicode character may be only part of a grapheme cluster, which means that taking arbitrary substrings may not result in readable text.

But wasn't UTF-16 supposed to cover all the practical languages (I'm not talking about Klingon or other languages created out of movies). In which case, the 65k should have covered it. Why does Unicode need weirdass characters for playing cards or stuff of that nature? Just stick to their original roles - supporting the implementation of written & spoken languages in computers, and leave it at that.

"...adds 7,716 new characters to the existing 21,499 – that's more than 35% growth!"

There were already 113K characters in Unicode version 7.0. Which is more than 2^16 characters, so remember:

• 1. UTF-16 is *not* two bytes per character
• 2. Therefore a "character" in Java, C#, Javascript sometimes only holds half a Unicode character
• 3. Even a whole unicode character may be only part of a grapheme cluster, which means that taking arbitrary substrings may not result in readable text.

actually WinRT is not any language specific. You don't even need the C++/CLR bindings for it.

What happened is Microsoft took the .NET runtime (which was mostly a wrapper around win32 anyway) and turned it into a different wrapper that is now much more native code directly exposed to .NET apps, but that native code is also directly exposed to all other languages.

They have the WinRT wrapper for it which looks very much like the old .NET runtime,but it more like COM than a managed API. You can also access it via a c++ style API (that's known as WinRL) that was inspired by Microsoft's ATL APIs.

So technically .NET no longer exists, its all native runtimes bundled into the Windows core.

"The .NET 3.5->4.0->4.5 upgrades were absolutely horrible if you were doing anything with escalating permissions or anything else that tied to system resources. "

I'm struggling to understand what you mean by this, it doesn't really make any kind of sense. Are we talking about upgrading code, or upgrading the CLR?

You tell me... ;) .NET 3.5/4.0/4.5 directory implies the CLR.

3.5 code is forwards compatible, the breaking changes are minimal and insanely rare edge cases).

untrue.

...3.5 runs on the 2.0 runtime, and 4.0 had it's own new runtime. ...4.5 was an in place upgrade for 4.0, it changed some things under the hood but the breaking changes were again few and again very edge cases that 99% of .NET devs will never have encountered...

Thanks for proving my points. That's exactly right, and exactly what was a horrible nightmare to deal with. Those few, edge case incompatibilities were what hit me each time. And, the 3.5->4.0 wasn't as minor as you make out. Even the 4.0->4.5 isn't 100% smooth, nor would it be, given the shenanigans MS did there.

I still love languages like Scala and Python and I still want Linux for most of my web servers, but the gaps are closing and the game is getting really interesting. If you are ignoring Microsoft, you may get caught by surprise.

The funny part is, MS is no longer trying to pretend that the world ends at its bubble - .NET is nice, but not all people like it, and it's not perfect for everything; and that's okay. So, for example, you can do Python using Microsoft tools and on Microsoft platforms (and yes, it is all open source under sane licenses like AL 2.0). At the same time, a Microsoft employee is one of the core CPython maintainers, and is basically responsible for the official Win32 releases. Expect more of that kind of thing in the future.

(full disclosure: I am a developer on the PTVS team)

Nope.

For analysis the entire data set has to be decrypted.

Well lets see:

Transparent Data Encryption

Oracle Advanced Security Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) stops would-be attackers from bypassing the database and reading sensitive information from storage by enforcing data-at-rest encryption in the database layer. Applications and users authenticated to the database continue to have access to application data transparently (no application code or configuration changes are required), while attacks from OS users attempting to read sensitive data from tablespace files and attacks from thieves attempting to read information from acquired disks or backups are denied access to the clear text data. Transparent Data Encryption

Summary: With the introduction of transparent data encryption (TDE) in SQL Server 2008, users now have the choice between cell-level encryption as in SQL Server 2005, full database-level encryption by using TDE, or the file-level encryption options provided by Windows. TDE is the optimal choice for bulk encryption to meet regulatory compliance or corporate data security standards. TDE works at the file level, which is similar to two Windows® features: the Encrypting File System (EFS) and BitLocker Drive Encryption, the new volume-level encryption introduced in Windows Vista®, both of which also encrypt data on the hard drive. TDE does not replace cell-level encryption, EFS, or BitLocker. Database Encryption in SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition

The major players seem to do it out of the box.

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed
of so called 'alternative sexuality,' which includes anything from
hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to pedophilia.

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden
messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken
advocates:

• Linus Torvalds [microsoft.com] is an
  anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the
  first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman [geocities.com],
  spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement'
  is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox [microsoft.com] is barely an
  anagram of anal cox which is just so filthy and unchristian it
  unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual [goatse.cx] propaganda diatribe The Cathedral
and the Bizarre, is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't
need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor
little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram
for secondary rim and cord in my arse. It just goes to show
you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond
is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail [microsoft.com], which is obviously
sinister sodomite slang for 'Felch Male' -- a disgusting practise. For those
not in the know, 'felching' is the act performed by two perverts wherein one
sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it
appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good
Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into 'e-male.'

As far as Richard 'Master' Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually
quoted [salon.com] on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the
following: 'I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any
circumstance,' he says. 'It's about being able to question conventional
wisdom,' he asserts. 'I believe in love, but not monogamy,' he says
plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this
tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a
flaming homo [comp-u-geek.net] slut [rotten.com]!

Speaking about 'flaming,' who better to point out as a filthy chutney
ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although
an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already
confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual [goatse.cx]
perversion of corrupting the
innocence of young children [slashdot.org]. To quote from the article linked:

'I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the
bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is
that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis [rotten.com] in the cinema, Jon? And
letting the other boys touch it too?

We should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as 'Slashdot's
resident Gasbag.' Is there any more doubt? For those fortunate few
who aren't aware of the list of homosexual [goatse.cx]
terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who
gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed
of so called 'alternative sexuality,' which includes anything from
hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to pedophilia.

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden
messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken
advocates:

• Linus Torvalds [microsoft.com] is an
  anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the
  first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman [geocities.com],
  spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement'
  is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox [microsoft.com] is barely an
  anagram of anal cox which is just so filthy and unchristian it
  unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual [goatse.cx] propaganda diatribe The Cathedral
and the Bizarre, is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't
need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor
little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram
for secondary rim and cord in my arse. It just goes to show
you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond
is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail [microsoft.com], which is obviously
sinister sodomite slang for 'Felch Male' -- a disgusting practise. For those
not in the know, 'felching' is the act performed by two perverts wherein one
sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it
appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good
Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into 'e-male.'

As far as Richard 'Master' Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually
quoted [salon.com] on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the
following: 'I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any
circumstance,' he says. 'It's about being able to question conventional
wisdom,' he asserts. 'I believe in love, but not monogamy,' he says
plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this
tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a
flaming homo [comp-u-geek.net] slut [rotten.com]!

Speaking about 'flaming,' who better to point out as a filthy chutney
ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although
an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already
confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual [goatse.cx]
perversion of corrupting the
innocence of young children [slashdot.org]. To quote from the article linked:

'I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the
bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is
that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis [rotten.com] in the cinema, Jon? And
letting the other boys touch it too?

We should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as 'Slashdot's
resident Gasbag.' Is there any more doubt? For those fortunate few
who aren't aware of the list of homosexual [goatse.cx]
terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who
gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw

It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed
of so called 'alternative sexuality,' which includes anything from
hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to pedophilia.

What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden
messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken
advocates:

• Linus Torvalds [microsoft.com] is an
  anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the
  first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman [geocities.com],
  spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement'
  is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox [microsoft.com] is barely an
  anagram of anal cox which is just so filthy and unchristian it
  unnerves me.

I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual [goatse.cx] propaganda diatribe The Cathedral
and the Bizarre, is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't
need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor
little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram
for secondary rim and cord in my arse. It just goes to show
you that he is indeed queer.

Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond
is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail [microsoft.com], which is obviously
sinister sodomite slang for 'Felch Male' -- a disgusting practise. For those
not in the know, 'felching' is the act performed by two perverts wherein one
sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it
appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good
Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into 'e-male.'

As far as Richard 'Master' Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually
quoted [salon.com] on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the
following: 'I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any
circumstance,' he says. 'It's about being able to question conventional
wisdom,' he asserts. 'I believe in love, but not monogamy,' he says
plainly.

And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this
tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a
flaming homo [comp-u-geek.net] slut [rotten.com]!

Speaking about 'flaming,' who better to point out as a filthy chutney
ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although
an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already
confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual [goatse.cx]
perversion of corrupting the
innocence of young children [slashdot.org]. To quote from the article linked:

'I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the
bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is
that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'

Is this why you were touching your penis [rotten.com] in the cinema, Jon? And
letting the other boys touch it too?

We should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as 'Slashdot's
resident Gasbag.' Is there any more doubt? For those fortunate few
who aren't aware of the list of homosexual [goatse.cx]
terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who
gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw

Remember VB?

Yes, I remember VB. It was the laughingstock of programming languages. I know very few developers who were anything but relieved when Microsoft put the final nail in the coffin of that abomination of a language.

Remember Silverlight? The "Flash Killer",

Yes, let's take terrible, proprietary, security-hole ridden technology and replace it with our terrible, proprietary, security-hole ridden technology. Netflix was utterly retarded for "betting the farm" on it. As such, it was never a particularly popular technology and was appropriately end-of-life'd when wiser minds at Microsoft realized there were much better ways to accomplish the same thing, and stopped investing in it.

BTW, Microsoft supported VB for 10 years after it's final version. Silverlight is still supported

I'm not sure what you are complaining about here

Remember Silverlight? The "Flash Killer", it was an excellent toolkit for writing distributed applications quickly. Performance was excellent. Many big names "bet the farm" on it. Until Microsoft walked away from it, too.

In favor of HTML5. Its funny how the tables turn as soon as Microsoft does something, now pushing open standards in favor of proprietary blobs is a bad thing. They pushed Silverlight until HTML5 was capable then stopped supporting it and released it as open source.

Remember Windows Phone 7? The next big thing (tm) and they ditched it, for WP8, and all the devs were screwed. Again.

Please explain why you believe "devs were screwed", here is the experience documented by an actual dev.

Why is the XBox 360 not compatible with the original XBox?

Because the 360 has a completely different architecture to the original. This is not something new in the console world, developers want to write games specifically tailored to the hardware using architecture-specific strategies. The hardware improvement between the consoles was not enough to fully emulate the original XBox hardware in software on the new console.

Why is the XBox "One" not compatible with the XBox 360?

For the same reasons as above, however they have manage to get enough performance out of an emulation layer of sorts to be able to do backwards compatibility, it just requires the permission of the developer for distribution reasons. This is made easier since much of the games of today rely on GPU programming and while the GPU architecture is improved in the more recent console it has an AMD chip that shares many of the underlying subtleties with the AMD GPU used in its predecessor.

With every console generation, MS has been screwing the developers.

If you write software that depends on specific hardware obviously you can't expect that software to work when the hardware is different...duh!

I know that Windows uses TRIM. Why am I not seeing any problems?

Maybe because Windows only enables TRIM for white-listed drives after they've been through the certification process:

• Trim Test, https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...
• Trim Zero-Range Test, https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...
• Hybrid Trim Performance Test (LOGO), https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...

I know that Windows uses TRIM. Why am I not seeing any problems?

Maybe because Windows only enables TRIM for white-listed drives after they've been through the certification process:

• Trim Test, https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...
• Trim Zero-Range Test, https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...
• Hybrid Trim Performance Test (LOGO), https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...

I know that Windows uses TRIM. Why am I not seeing any problems?

Maybe because Windows only enables TRIM for white-listed drives after they've been through the certification process:

• Trim Test, https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...
• Trim Zero-Range Test, https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...
• Hybrid Trim Performance Test (LOGO), https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...

But is it powerful enough to run the Windows 10 Minesweeper game?! http://wscont1.apps.microsoft....

Seriously, no joke. The Win10 version of games are horribly resource hungry for fuck knows what reason. In the time it took to just load Minesweeper on the Win 10 tech preview, I loaded up a web browser, played an entire game of mines in it, closed the browser, came back, and it was STILL loading.

I originally played Minesweeper in Windows 3.1 on a 386sx 16MHz. I'm now on a 3GHz quad-core. On raw cycle processing power alone, that is literally 1,000 the speed (this is before accounting for enhancements to the architecture over the past 20 years). And yet the game struggles on modern hardware!? If this isn't the definition of bloat, I don't know what is!

What, no happy face Microsoft Bob button?

Microsoft Bob and and Jimmy Hoffa have left us by similar means, one digital and one analog, I'm afraid, but we were able to incorporate Bob's essence --- the packaging material of the Kit is comprised of 100% recycled encrypted Bob! . While we strive to include at least "a Bob's worth in every Kit"... due to variations in manufacture and settling part of him is missing or arrived too late, so you'll need to purchase five or more kits to ensure you have a whole Bob.

The decryption key for Bob was not provided to us, but there are rumors that the Russians and Chinese have cracked it and a reconstituted corrupted version of Microsoft Bob was used to infiltrate the Office of Personnel Management.

If your package has been tampered with or Microsoft Bob is smoking a pipe... you have "weaponized Bob", and your product has been contaminated by Slack from this divine pre-Windows entity. Please return the product for a full and cutaneous refund.

There's always the mouse, but I think you're missing out on some useful shortcuts.

https://support.microsoft.com/...

I find the Windows Logo + cursor keys particularly useful.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...
Microsoft specifically recommends you set DPI aware in the manifest and NOT call SetProcessDPIAware(), but they both do the same thing.
You can also force the setting by checking "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings" in the properties for the EXE or shortcut, under the Compatibility tab. This usually makes things get cut off in dialogs or have lots of fonts that are half the intended size and still unreadable because of that, even if they are now displayed crisp and smooth.
For Skype, the menu bar becomes perfect, but the chat font is now 50% scale (but crisp!), and things like the Options screens also have 50% font scale but the checkboxes/radio buttons are 100% scale, and cut off on the top.
Basically, bad programming. Nobody on the Skype team tests on high-DPI screens obviously.