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As usual, Dvorak's knowledge of the topic at hand is shallow and his conclusions are simplistic and short sighted.

Microsoft is not interesting in gaining browser market share outside of the Windows platform. Sure, they might be able to steer more people toward MSN and thereby make more in advertising revenue, but how much more? If 90% of the market already uses Windows, and gaining that extra 10% is fairly difficult for a wide variety of reasons, it may not be worth it to them.

Even if it was, it has nothing to do with why Microsoft dropped support for the Mac. The direction Microsoft is taking IE is different than the direction everybody else is taking web browsers. Microsoft sees IE as an application that will allow users to access both web pages and smart client applications.

They see the future as a mesh of standard web apps and smart client applications created with things like ClickOnce (at first), and eventually IE-hosted Avalon applications. (WPF.) Their hope is that eventually the line between web apps and client apps will blur, and since it will be (they hope) via IE and Avalon, it will draw even more people to using Windows since the UI/functionality experience is so much better than standard web applications. At least that's the business point of view.

Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly "Avalon").

http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/building/pr esentation/default.aspx

What's wrong with http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/? What API is missing?

We ... support USB keyboard input for the Xbox 360 virtual keyboard. Just plug in a USB keyboard at any time and use it while the virtual keyboard is displayed.

I thought that the Xbox 360 console was going to have some sort of lockout against input devices not approved by Microsoft. Does it work with USB keyboards other than these?

It works great. plus snychs the windows usernames and passwords to the linux servers and workstations.

something that is 100% impossible with a Windows PDC BDC combination.

That is simply not true...
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/interopmigration/ unix/sfu/sfu35wp.mspx

You probably meant $75M/month (without the period). $2.4M/day is $876M/year (unless it's a leap year) which is roughly $73M/month (dividing the year by 12--some are shorter than others...). Microsoft's reported quarterly revenues was $10.6B for the quarter ending in June 2005 (from one quick search--http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2 005/jul05/4Q-05ERPR.mspx). For the sake of discussion, extrapolate that out to $42.6B/year (quarter times four--M$ expected $43.7B to $44.5B in the release) or roughly $3.533B/month (year divided by twelve). Taking out the estimated $73M/month, that's a reduction to $3.46B revenue remaining. I concede that I've made global estimations for a regional "fine." It may be the case that the regional sales don't make enough to cover it, but as a company...

MS has a multi-billion dollar / month cashflow? That's close but perhaps a slight exaggeration. Net income for quarter ending 30Sep2004 was $2.901 billon so that's about 1 billion a month in profits.
Report here.

On 2.4M/day in a month, thats 72M which is 7% of 1 billion. I think MS will definitely feel it. The shareholders are not going to let 7% of profits go to a fine.

So, like what a previous poster said, the main question will be is 7% of profits greater than the cost of opening up or not?

How does this compare to Mike Howard's DropMyRights program?

The way DropMyRights works is you run it with the path to the target program as a command-line argument. It then spawns the target program automatically with lower privileges. (Maybe too simple; Mike Howard's implementation doesn't allow for passing command-line arguments to the target program itself, although the code is basic enough that others have made their own implementations.)

The only problem is that although it lets you easily modify the shortcut that starts Internet Explorer, there are plenty of ways to start IE without going through that shortcut. Without doing some registry hacking to change your file and protocol associations, it won't help you if you run, say, Outlook with administrator privileges and click a link in an email.

Does eCondom somehow address this? And if it does, then how does it allow exceptions (like going to Windows Update)?

We can have that warm, fuzzy maliscious app feeling too... just download IE for Mac!

Microsoft provides this URL for users to immediately get rid of the latest Malware: Remove Malware

Some replys suggest xcopy32 or Norton Ghost to make mirror backups. I suggest Robocopy ("robust copy") from (yea, I know I know) Microsoft. It comes in the Win 2003 Server RK, or Google it. It includes a lot of options more suited to performing mirror operations, especially when copying over a network.

No way am I giving up my current keyboard for that thing.

iexplore.exe is little more than a thin wrapper around shdocvw.dll, which is also loaded by explorer.exe (which also explains why iexplore loads so fast), so you can never really get away from internet explorer. If you kill off system file protection, and remove iexplore.exe, simply typing a URL into any explorer window will make Internet Explorer reassert itself. If you remove the REAL bits that make up Internet Explorer, shdocvw and mshtml, explorer, windows media player (version 7+), windows help (XP), MSN messenger and many other components will stop working.

Free until November 6, 2006. Although a newer free version may be available by that time.

It's also called SenderID.

http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/safety/technologie s/senderid/default.mspx

There are some services out there, too, that you can use to verify senders. When you receive an email, your client takes the From address and the source IP and compares them to a record on an online database. If messages from *@domain.com are not registered as coming from the source IP, then the mail is rejected. Problem with this is that all mail servers would need to be registered, and all mail recipients would need to use this service.

Doing this on a global scale is possible, but it would require additional official regulation of SMTP. Or, if people just start adopting such a thing willingly, then only the people who don't use it will get spam email, and the rest of us could remorselessly ignore them.

I said this has been fixed more than an year ago, in this patch:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin /MS04-004.mspx

and Firefox didn't have that vulnerability (I guess the rest followed suit).

This is not new. This is why IE stopped supporting direct login from the url an year or so back:

http://www.domain.com/

Phishers were using it to fake legitimate domain names:

http://www.microsoft.com?sid=2149wef07wefewf5e4f9f 8f6ewf68002@123.234.324.123/ (i.e. notice the true address is the IP in the end).

Phishers use everything they can get their hands on, it's not as if they're afraid of braking the law :)

And why on earth is People's Daily being used as the canonical source of a story entirely based in the US? It's not a leak, it's announced on Microsoft's site for all to see.

Check out the Coding4Fun site. You can get free downloads of lightweight versions of many of MS's development tools, plus lots of ideas, resources, message boards, etc.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/coding4fun/

Me personally, I like playing with things like Amazon.com's API or Google's various tool APIs and building my own hacks.

Amazon's AWS/Alexa

Google Desktop API

Note that Express Editions do not allow you to sell or distribute your software...

That's not what I'm reading in the FAQ, question 4.

Can I use Express Editions for commercial use?

Yes, there are no licensing restrictions for applications built using the Express Editions.

I would suggest reading up on the security measures you currently use. Maybe you use HTTPS and should read up about the security zones you can make using HTTPS.

If you can verify that your trusted sites really are trusted, then you should feel safer.

I think a lot of companies fall victim to using a security method X with out investigating security methods W, Y & Z. After minimal investigation, it might be clear that X has had problems in the past and there is a lot of buzz about possible future problems (like the book in the article might point out).

I don't know a ton about security but I would suggest you simply make yourself a subject matter expert and look out for possible problems with your particular security method.

Well, I guess 30 month old and duped news is still news. You could have gotten the statement straight from Microsoft.

Well, of course. If there isn't a dress code at all (basics will do, it doesn't mean suits) that indicates that the company really has no idea of what they're doing.

Gee, I'd better go tell Jeff and Bill that they're doing it all wrong.

The way I do things, there are several components to Web Development:

Document markup and design:
HTML: Used for document markup only!
CSS: Used to solve most display requirements

Content management / functionality:
Javascript: Client side DHTML (when you DONT want to refresh the page)
PHP: database interaction, web forms, etc.

The CSS links CanSpice points to are excellent resources. I think you should start there, regardless of wanting to learn a web programming language. Knowing CSS will benefit you to:

+ Start on the right path with web standards (as opposed to old HTML 4 sins that many webmasters commit to this day). HTML is NOT for display / design purposes, only for document markup.
+ Cross-browser functionality
+ Less code (you can usually do a lot more with a little css, compared to html)
+ Separation of design and code. You can keep all your css in an external stylesheet than can be updated independently of the site code.

As far as web programming, you basically have two sides:

1. Javascript
It is extremely useful for its DHTML capabilities. You can instantly move html elements around on a page and do some pretty powerful stuff with this. People hate it when they have to refresh a page for something as simple as sorting a table. This is where Javascript shines. Get started by learning the DOM (document object model). Keep in mind that each browser implements this model a little differently so you can consult each browser's documentation.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url= /workshop/author/dhtml/dhtml.asp (IE)
http://www.mozilla.org/docs/dom/domref/dom_shortIX .html (mozilla)
http://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-2-Core/core.html (safari implements this)
www.brainjar.com (great for DHTML as well as CSS)

(by no means a complete list but you get the picture)

2. PHP.
YMMV, but I have found this to be one of the easiest languages to learn. Other contenders in this category include: ASP, ASP.NET, C#, Perl, ColdFusion just to name a few. PHP has a very low effort to learn and there are tons of resources on the web to help you. The Microsoft languages (.NET stuff) are pretty powerful too, but you mentioned this is mostly for hobby reasons so I would recommend going with something with an open license like PHP. ColdFusion is also extremely easy to learn, but your host may not support it (and you may not want to have to purchase the Macromedia IDE for it).

Some great PHP resources:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/
www.w3schools.com

Good luck!

Most recently, I downloaded Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition. I dabbled in MFC/Visual C++ for a couple of years of my career, and I like keeping up on the latest technology, good or bad. I had read a review of Visual Studio .NET, and I was from the opinion of a former MFC/Visual C++ user--which convinced me to stay away from the MS development products for a while.

The interface was confusing for someone who generally liked the old Visual Studio interface. So, I did what any newbie would do. I started a new project. The whole C++/CLI additions threw me off:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/homepageheadline s/ecma/default.aspx

more on C++/CLI:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/05/02/Pur eC/

Something smells here. I just can't qualify it... this is C++?
static Point^ operator+(Point^ a, Point^ b);

Most recently, I downloaded Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition. I dabbled in MFC/Visual C++ for a couple of years of my career, and I like keeping up on the latest technology, good or bad. I had read a review of Visual Studio .NET, and I was from the opinion of a former MFC/Visual C++ user--which convinced me to stay away from the MS development products for a while.

The interface was confusing for someone who generally liked the old Visual Studio interface. So, I did what any newbie would do. I started a new project. The whole C++/CLI additions threw me off:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/homepageheadline s/ecma/default.aspx

more on C++/CLI:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/05/02/Pur eC/

Something smells here. I just can't qualify it... this is C++?
static Point^ operator+(Point^ a, Point^ b);

Also, is there anyway that MicroSoft can beat back the Google threat on the mobile front, based on the fact that they make the OS that many of these phones use?
Microsoft is already way ahead of google on this front. OMA has been available for exchange for as long as I've been using it.

Check out these wicked effing cute promotional cartoons in an otherwise lame-ass flash based web page that looks optimized for 640x480:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/ie/5/autodem o/c_ienewlook.htm

I know IE is generally considered trash, but the Mac product was actually totally different, and for its time, it was pretty great. It had a lot of unnecessary features, but some of them were actually useful, and you could tell that the creative spirit was there.

I have a feeling that if the Mac BU at Microsoft continued developing IE for Mac, it'd be a kick ass product still.

From the horse's mouth (or is it ass?):

Ok, so it doesn't ship anymore, but there USE to be an IE for UNIX, which is pretty close.

There is always Virtual PC 7 for the Mac.

I work on a Power Mac and for the majority of my workflow I can accomplish everything I need in OSX. For those few administrative details and even fewer sites I need to deal with that depend on Windows or IE, Virtual PC comes in handy.

Here is what I get when I view the Gap site in Safari:

"We're sorry, but we do not support the version of the browser you are using.
Our site works best with the following browsers:

PC users
Internet Explorer 5.5 and above. Download browser: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx
Netscape 7 and above. Download browser: http://browser.netscape.com/
Mozilla (including Firefox) 1.0 and above. Download browser: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox

Mac users
Netscape 7 and above. Download browser: http://browser.netscape.com/
Mozilla (including Firefox) 1.0 and above. Download browser: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox"

It sounds like they have decided to only support a couple of browsers and they reject others based on the useragent string.

the whole thing is MS's fault. not the users. The app developers have secondary responsibility but MS caused the problem in the first place. Their developer resources promote doing all kinds of bogus things in their apps. For years MSDN has gone out of its way to promote all the OS level hooks that are available to developers, many of which only work as admin.

here's an example from a couple of months ago:How to capture the print screen key and totally change how your user's GUI works. Just what I want, the ability for some random application to subvert basic elements of the system interface.

Update rollup 905915 includes the cumulative security fixes that are documented in security bulletin MS05-054. The update rollup also includes hotfixes for Microsoft Internet Explorer that were released after the release of security bulletin MS04-004 and of security bulletin MS04-038.
If update rollup 873377, update rollup 889669, or an Internet Explorer hotfix that was released after security bulletin MS04-038 are not installed, and if you want to install the hotfixes that are included in update rollup 905915, you must follow the instructions in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 897225. Otherwise, all Internet Explorer hotfixes that you have installed are removed.
897225 How to install hotfixes that are included in cumulative security updates for Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1
The update rollup 905915 installer verifies whether one or more of the files that are being updated on the computer have previously been updated by an Internet Explorer hotfix. However, the installer detects only hotfixes that were released after security bulletin MS04-038, after update rollup 873377, or after update rollup 889669. Therefore, if you have installed update rollup 873377, update rollup 889669, or an Internet Explorer hotfix that was released after update rollup 873377, the update rollup 905915 installer automatically installs the hotfixes and the security updates that are included in update rollup 905915.

That's what Windows Script Host is for. I've used it for some simple tasks, like scheduling a defrag on a W2K machine, as it doesn't have the command line defrag.exe like XP does.

"Chairs are a problem. I have several chairs just the right size for Roomba to get wedged into the space between the legs. You wouldn't beleive how persistent Roomba is about wedging itself in tight."

I have a solution for that. Invite Steve Ballmer over and piss him off! [grin]

Quote from their website:

"Most Microsoft employees are highly technology literate and routinely explore the limits of the tools available to them in order to improve product quality. For example more than 95 percent of Microsoft employees have local administrator rights to their desktops."

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/msit/ security/mssecbp.mspx

And Microsoft's martketing people are bragging about this as SECURITY FEATURES. ::shudders::

Just the other day I tried to guide someone through setting up a new account and e-mail settings on XP SP2 over the phone. I decided to play it safe and told them to create a limited account. But when you log into the new account and try to run Outlook Express you get this error message, which I couldn't get them past to configure e-mail. I later worked out that you must first run Internet Explorer at least once on the new account before the e-mail setup wizard will come up when Outlook Express is run.

I think the Microsoft TaskGallery project (part of Microsoft Research) is a prime example of what you might be referring to with 3D User interfaces. Too bad there hasn't been many (any) updates to the site recently, but you get the picture.

http://research.microsoft.com/ui/TaskGallery/

http://research.microsoft.com/ui/TaskGallery/video .mpg

I think the Microsoft TaskGallery project (part of Microsoft Research) is a prime example of what you might be referring to with 3D User interfaces. Too bad there hasn't been many (any) updates to the site recently, but you get the picture.

http://research.microsoft.com/ui/TaskGallery/

http://research.microsoft.com/ui/TaskGallery/video .mpg

naw naw ... this is how you pirate XP. If your still like me and find XP to be a waste of CD's (and still run devils own) you can simply Click here and download the entire SP2. Then all you do if it bitches about your key is get This VBS File. Once you got the VBS file then copy it to the root of your C drive then go

Start -> Run -> type "command"
It should open up a nice command window then type "cd \" (not / this is not unix :)

Simply type "cdkey YQ7XW-QPT6C-233QF-RRXC7-VF7TY"

Now install your SP2 happily without any fuss or muss. (it only works on the Volume Licensing versions of Windows XP (Devils0wn) that I know of.

If those keys don't work then here are some more
7MD2F-FYJX4-D4R2B-3M7W2-DC9PD
WGQMG-3622W-4CPWB-YJP6W-RDWGJ
BH9Y3-B7GTR-FD86G-Y23M2-4DT88
DKGV3-PH66D-Y72B6-8XDXB-R3QFB
3G874-7427P-YB4PW-D3RCB-GKJHY

Now that's how you get SP2 on a Windows XP Devils 0wn :)

...but it's why I'm still on SP1 myself. Everything I have on my machine (including some graphics-intensive Win95/98 era stuff) runs beautifully. Many, many of the things I use often (like the old UnrealEd for Unreal1, UT99, and Deus Ex) refuse to work on any of the computers my friends have. On the other hand, Freespace always seems to work, but admittedly, that's due to a weird thing with the way-too-damn-many fonts installed on my machine. Also, doesn't SP2 refuse to allow more than 10 outgoing connection attempts at a time? I know Azureus mentions such in the settings.

Also, more seriously, XP SP2 broke the ability of my parents' virus scanner to keep an active monitor running. Which in turn quickly led to the near-total destruction of the computer before I came home for the holidays last year and fixed it (it arose again like a Phoenix, though key things in Windows are still missing . . . nothing important, actually, mainly stuff that was annoying and unable to be removed with any ease before, so in a way that's kindof a plus!)

Alot more stuff is broken, I just don't recall quite what. Hmm, maybe a quick google search will clarify:

Microsoft's own list of broken apps
Also,
SP2 removes the ability of users to send raw TCP segments
It also breaks Captive-NTFS
It can break the Group Policy Object Editor
And as mentioned above, it limits TCP to 10 outgoing attempts (link also includes methods of disabling this; more detailed information on the issue can be found here.
Here's a forum in which people describe a few of the more technical problems and their solutions for SP2

I could go on, but you get the idea. There are some serious drawbacks to SP2. I could go on about how the supposed security features don't exactly impress me (and honestly, all the third-party security programs on my computer have never had to do much, since I run it very securely anyways, and they could handle it even if I didn't), but again, you can probably elaborate on your own.

My point, really, is just that parent is being truthful! Hell, it doesn't even matter if you argue that SP2 doesn't break anything worth fretting about, the perception, with enough evidence to hold sway, still exists, so it's still a huge reason for lack of adoption. Maybe parent is flamebait as well, but sometimes truth == flamebait!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?Fa milyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displa ylang=en

googled "service pack 2 windows xp network install"

You can use NtCreateProcess to create processes that aren't Win32 clients, so have no GUI overhead. You can even use it to get a real copy on write fork (this is how SFU does it). The catch is that the new process can't use Win32 services: it can't link to kernel32, user32, gdi32, advapi32 or any other libraries that depend on them, since Win32 is required to use any of them. You have to use the functions that ntdll exports directly for IO, IPC, syncronization, etc. All the primitive functionality the kernel provides to user processes are there, but some things like sockets can be a pain, since you have to interface with TDI directly. Most of the standard Win32 programming doesn't apply for such a process.

Microsoft doesn't document the native API, so you have to find third party docs.
The Windows NT/2000 Native API Reference by Gary Nebbett (ISBN:1578701996) is an excelent reference.
Reactos is an open source clone of Windows NT, and it documents and implements almost all of the same internal functions.
Sysinternals also has a short native example program.
The books Inside Windows 2000 and Undocumented Windows NT are also quite useful.

An easier way might be to just write SFU apps. SFU processes aren't Win32 clients (SFU is its own subsystem) and it provides a UNIXy programming environemnt.

You can use NtCreateProcess to create processes that aren't Win32 clients, so have no GUI overhead. You can even use it to get a real copy on write fork (this is how SFU does it). The catch is that the new process can't use Win32 services: it can't link to kernel32, user32, gdi32, advapi32 or any other libraries that depend on them, since Win32 is required to use any of them. You have to use the functions that ntdll exports directly for IO, IPC, syncronization, etc. All the primitive functionality the kernel provides to user processes are there, but some things like sockets can be a pain, since you have to interface with TDI directly. Most of the standard Win32 programming doesn't apply for such a process.

Microsoft doesn't document the native API, so you have to find third party docs.
The Windows NT/2000 Native API Reference by Gary Nebbett (ISBN:1578701996) is an excelent reference.
Reactos is an open source clone of Windows NT, and it documents and implements almost all of the same internal functions.
Sysinternals also has a short native example program.
The books Inside Windows 2000 and Undocumented Windows NT are also quite useful.

An easier way might be to just write SFU apps. SFU processes aren't Win32 clients (SFU is its own subsystem) and it provides a UNIXy programming environemnt.

Microsoft wrote a page describing how to change to a valid serial number

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=328874

You still have to Google for a keygen to get that valid serial number though.

Here's how you can actually DO it, by the way:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb; en-us;815273

Seems pretty useful, especially for when a system goes completely tits-up.

Interix is a free download.

In addition, Windows Vista Server will have them pre-installed.

The fact of the matter is, very few people actually use Interix. There just isn't much of a demand.

Everything old is new again!

Here is a link to an article on Microsoft's Technet discussing the benefits of moving it from userspace to kernelspace.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/p lan/kernelwp.mspx

Here is the overview:

Microsoft® Windows NT® Workstation 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0 include a change in the implementation of Win32® graphics-related application programming interfaces. These changes are transparent to applications and users, yet they result in a variety of improvements to graphics performance and memory requirements, as well as to simplify the design of the Windows NT Win32 subsystem. The improvements result from the move of certain operating system modules from a user-mode application process into a subsystem within the privileged portion of Windows NT, known as the Executive.

Changes to the code that operates in the kernel or privileged mode of any operating system can be of concern to application designers and system architects. Because such changes potentially affect the operating system's compatibility with existing applications, as well as its portability and reliability, such changes should be explained and justified.

I know it makes you all hip and tres cool to bash Microsoft, but they actually had this design wa-a-a-y back in NT 3.5/3.51. That would be in the mid/late 1990s for you youngsters in the audience. They made the change to the current model in NT 4.0.

Yeah well, where the drivers reside aside, is the OS still based on the assumption it's a GUI? Specifically, do we still have the idiotic and juvenile system architecture that specifies window parameters to low-level system calls? Like say, CreateProcess taking window parameters?

Or have they actually revamped the kernel no longer requires or assumes a GUI at all? Have they finally caught up to 1970?