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Finally, browser vendors are now committed to making continuous improvements to their web browsers while aligning more closely with standards.

I'm curious how long Microsoft will continue improving Internet Explorer for Windows 7. Microsoft has historically ended development of new IE features once a particular version of Windows goes into extended support. This means Windows Vista is stuck on IE 9, and unless IE 12 comes out before January 2015, Windows 7 will be stuck on IE 11. In any case, even IE 9 supports enough of the W3C DOM that you might not need jQuery or any other monolithic framework in your site's JavaScript. People who can't give up IE might end up having to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 with Classic Shell.

except...

1-Win98 won't even see the second core as it's not SMP aware
2-Win98 will probably have problems using above 1.5GB of RAM

http://support.microsoft.com/k...

Want speed? get some CF cards and IDE adpaters

Per my last post I replied to, see subject-line: "WTF!!!", & here is the EXACT problem I am experiencing (known issue? STUPID creation of a huge problem is what this is knocking out rightclick menus & trayicon popup menus too) -> https://support.microsoft.com/...

PERTINENT QUOTE/EXCERPT:

"Known issue 2
After you install this update, the z-order of the windows is changed. (The z-order calls the SetWindowPos function together with the HWND_TOP parameter.) Therefore, the windows of certain applications may become invisible or may be incorrectly displayed behind other windows.

Status
We are currently working on a resolution for this issue.

Notes
  This issue also occurs after you install the following updates:
2965768 Stop error 0x3B when an application changes the z-order of a window in Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
2970228 Update to support the new currency symbol for the Russian ruble in Windows
2973201 MS14-039: Description of the security update for Windows on-screen keyboard: July 8, 2014
2975719 August 2014 update rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2"

---

* Lastly, per my subject-line: I *tried* to UNINSTALL it, to go back to the previous GDI32.DLL & Win32k.sys files, & it's a "no go" on that too... wtf!

APK

P.S.=> "We are currently working on a resolution for this issue." ? HURRY THE HELL UP & FIX THIS since this IS an UNACCEPTABLE "fix" that breaks more than it fixes... imo @ least! That, is all I can say... apk

Not sure what you're talking about. The link on Windows Update takes you to the KB article directly. In the introduction of that KB article is a clearly marked link for more information for IT professionals, which takes you to the TechNet security advisory.

For the patch in question, here are those URLs:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2993651
https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/MS14-045

I read every single one of them before installing. They've never been remotely difficult to find.

Not sure what you're talking about. The link on Windows Update takes you to the KB article directly. In the introduction of that KB article is a clearly marked link for more information for IT professionals, which takes you to the TechNet security advisory.

For the patch in question, here are those URLs:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2993651
https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/MS14-045

I read every single one of them before installing. They've never been remotely difficult to find.

Had the same problem yesterday on a newly patched Windows 7 laptop and then today on a Windows Server 2008 R2 server.

Problems with Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.320 and DNS seems to be where this is headed.

But I'm holding off on KB 2993651 and Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.320 until this one gets resolved too.

Had the same problem yesterday on a newly patched Windows 7 laptop and then today on a Windows Server 2008 R2 server.

Problems with Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.320 and DNS seems to be where this is headed.

But I'm holding off on KB 2993651 and Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.320 until this one gets resolved too.

Had the same problem yesterday on a newly patched Windows 7 laptop and then today on a Windows Server 2008 R2 server.

Problems with Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.320 and DNS seems to be where this is headed.

But I'm holding off on KB 2993651 and Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.320 until this one gets resolved too.

"Click on the update and you should see a 'More Information' link on the right. Click it and your browser should open to a MS knowledge base page that explains what the patch does".

"To view this vulnerability as a standard entry in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures list, see CVE-2014-0318." ref

'win32k.sys .. does not properly control access to thread-owned objects, which allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka "Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability ."'

You beat me to it, this page is what we need:
https://technet.microsoft.com/...

But of course that info should be right there on the windows update window.

What pigs me off is that when you use Windows Update and look at a patch it gives you no info, so you click the patch and still no info', you click the link given but that pretty much just says it's a patch and you should install it, finally after following another link, scrolling down and expanding a section of page you get to find out whether or not the patch is actually relevant to your installation and not just a fix for something you will never use.

I don't use and don't need patches for One-Note, IE, Windows Media Centre, SQL Server. Privilege escalation bugs don't bother me, if you've been compromised that far then you're probably f**ked anyway.

The only bugs that look half-dangerous this month are MS14-046 and MS14-047 because they can lead to you being rooted when joined with browser etc bugs

For future use: https://technet.microsoft.com/...

Don't be a paranoid faggot. Bust out Process Explorer and check for yourself.

OK, the AC OP was an obvious troll, but...

They used the universal escape character for the path separator.

Windows of today remains largely compatible with conventions of MS-DOS, including the backslash as a path separator. However, the API has been able to handle the use of forward-slash as a path separator for a long time now. So, your problem is either mostly with outdated third-party applications, or continued impotent whining about something that has been around since MS-DOS 1.0. Get over it already.

You cannot assess [sic] an open file, even to read it, so you have to shut things down to do ANYTHING.

That's completely false. Your problem is with applications that either fail to open the file with a minimum of read/write restrictions, or fail to close a Windows Explorer object when they should. Even classic VB6 (and VB5, too) allowed one to write applications that could open a file with shared read access - no special finagling or libraries needed, it was built right in to the language.

If the problems are happening with Windows Explorer itself (usually for folders rather than files), you should configure the option to have each Explorer instance run as a separate process. IMHO, that should be the default setting, but MS doesn't listen to my gripes. That way you can close the offending Explorer process without having to go to more extensive measures. There are free tools to find out what process is locking a file, some with source code provided, so finding the specific Explorer process is also easy.

The logs can only be accessed using an API...

While I agree this is less convenient than simple text files, there are trade-offs such as easy filtering and monitoring of events due to having a standardized format. Further, the API is trivially easy to use if all you want to do is dump the the events as text for some reason; IMHO, the built-in viewer is sufficient for most needs. If you can't be bothered to write a trivial log dumper in C (or PowerShell, or VBScript, or C#, or $LANGUAGE), examples are all over the internet. Even if Java is your preferred kink, I'm willing to bet (without searching) that several FLOSS libraries good enough for that task have already been written and published.

...and unless you register all kinds of crazy garbage, the EventLog has a bunch of empty columns.

At a minimum, to use either the default application event log or (for a service or similar OS-bound application) system event log, you have to configure two fairly straightforward registry keys having simple value entries (actually, you can get by with just one if the MC file is simple; you can skip the key for categories). IMHO, "two" does not equate to "all kinds". The entries tell the OS where to find the binary (EXE or DLL) containing the (optionally localized) event strings. It's only "crazy" if you're a confirmed registry-hater. You can still do it that simply on current OS versions. However, there is now support for application-specific event logs and other enhancements. Of course, those features come with added complexity, but they're not mandatory.

Creating a Service is the most complicated process imaginable three layers deep.

You have to follow some clearly documented rules, and some recommendations on older OS versions (e.g. no IPC with desktop processes via shell message passing) are now enforced on current OS versions. Other than that, there's nothing complicated about it, though debugging a service is initially counter-intuitive. With a quick search, I found a minimal C example, but if you want to see a full example, the MSDN has something only a little more complex, but it illustrates everything needed in a producti

So Microsoft, a global company more than half of whose employees are based outside the US, keeps almost half its revenues outside the US?

Say it ain't so.

pretty neat/unique tech in it by embedding that .avi into the .exe as a resource

You mean like using the resource designer which has been in visual studio since as far back as... Well, forever?

FAR MORE EFFICIENT single moving part machinery done in a language that rivals & even exceeds MSVC++ in Borland Delphi 7.1 Object Pascal code.

MSVC++ in Borland Delphi 7.1 Object Pascal... Wow.

It was so ahead of it's time:

http://research.microsoft.com/...

Shakespearian touch interface already included baby.

You missed out Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio and the Dynamics range of products. All of them are making plenty of money.

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

They say ASLR is disabled

I *think* what they are saying is that:
ASLR is disabled in their build of the software. (It must be enabled via compiler option).

However, ASLR is enabled in windows itself.

from Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/secur...

Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR): In older versions of Windows, core processes tended to be loaded into predictable memory locations upon system startup. Some exploits work by targeting memory locations known to be associated with particular processes. ASLR randomizes the memory locations used by system files and other programs, making it much harder for an attacker to correctly guess the location of a given process. The combination of ASLR and DEP creates a fairly formidable barrier for attackers to overcome in order to achieve reliable code execution when exploiting vulnerabilities.

ASLR was introduced in Windows Vista and has been included in all subsequent releases of Windows. As with DEP, ASLR is only enabled by default for core operating system binaries and applications that are explicitly configured to use it via a new linker switch.

As for EMET and ASLR:

Basically EMET can force recent versions of Windows to use ASLR even on applications that don't explicitly build with support for it:

http://krebsonsecurity.com/tag...

EMET can force a non-Microsoft application to perform ASLR on every component it loads, whether the program wants it or not. Please note that before you install EMET, youâ(TM)ll need to have Microsoftâ(TM)s .NET Framwork 4 platform installed. And while EMET does work on Windows XP (Service Pack 3 only), XP users cannot take advantage of mandatory ASLR and a few other notable protections included in this tool.

From the DOCX specs:

Microsoft has patents that may cover your implementations of the technologies described in the Open Specifications. Neither this notice nor Microsoft's delivery of the documentation grants any licenses under those or any other Microsoft patents. However, a given Open Specification may be covered by Microsoft Open Specification Promise or the Community Promise. If you would prefer a written license, or if the technologies described in the Open Specifications are not covered by the Open Specifications Promise or Community Promise, as applicable, patent licenses are available by contacting iplg@microsoft.com.

Yep. And then all that money that would be used to pay salaries that would be used on expenses locally, making the local economy work, will be redirected to Bill Gate's pockets.

Who in turn gave the vast bulk of his money to end disease, educate children, feed the world, etc.

Some people can live with the charity of the riches. Some other prefer to work hard to earn money, pay the taxes and then demanding proper health care and education.

I prefer to live with the second way of life.

I can live with that.

Considering Germany is a net exporter: I'm not sure "keeping the money local" is actually a need.

Perhaps not, I don't know. But would be wiser to avoid putting all their eggs on the USA's basket again.

When in a few years, when all our documents will be locked in a proprietary cloud (that anyone with the right influence will have access) or stored locally in a format that you must pay to read, remember 2004.

MS uses XML to save documents. Put them wherever you like.

Yeah. Right. You was embraced and extended. :-)

Use of cloud storage is hardly unique to MS. Want me to start citing Linux distros doing it?

Yes.

A glitch on gtalk rendered me with my cellphone out of the cell network for weeks until the support from an app (that I was thinking was the culprid) help me to locate the problem.

A friend lose this documents because his account was terminated by mistake (other company, not related to the previous case).

There's privacy concerns everywhere.

So, yes. Cloud, no matter from whom, is going to be a nighmare.

Not true. 2GB for 64-bit

Microsoft doesn't have many fans on Slashdot but even the most die-hard of fans must now see that they're in a real bad position.

The used to be invincible in the consumer space but now the computing device of choice is either the tablet or the smart phone. Precious few of these are Windows based.

The used to be invincible in the business user space but the move to mobile computing means business people are using iPhone and iPads, not Windows Phones and Surface.

Then there was the own goal of the latest generation XBox. They managed to piss everyone off for no discernible gain.

The only area their grip is still strong is PC gaming. For how long, who knows?

Microsoft mice are still popular... (grin)

The XBox and PS3 were pretty much even, there was no clear definitive advantage for Microsoft. Plus, we don't even know if Microsoft ever broke even with the Xbox.

Microsoft's bread-n-butter has always been MS Office, Desktop OS, and the Enterprise space. MS is developing Office Apps for the iPad and Android, PC/Laptop sales have stabilized as people realize that they still need them to edit and create content, and the Enterprise space is doing better than ever with the advent of virtual servers.

I'm not saying that Microsoft doesn't have challenges but saying that they are "struggling just to remain relevant" shows a lack of understanding about the business as a whole. As proof, in Q4 2014 Microsoft enterprise sales "increased $2.3 billion or 6%, due primarily to increased revenue from our server products". A $2.3 billion dollar increase in one quarter is nothing to sneeze at...

http://www.microsoft.com/Inves...

2GB per process - closer to 1.75 in practice.
3.25GB total usable.

First the 2GB limit is not fixed, it can be increased to 3GB. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-u...

The latter is a license restriction, not an OS one. There are 32-bit windows machines that can use 64GB of RAM and by default PAE is actually enabled by default on all versions of windows since XPSP2 (or was it SP3?) when DEP became the default as well.

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

So, if MS cared they could release a 32-bit windows professional that supports more RAM, they just choose not to. The real question is about drivers failing to use the HAL provided API's for DMA and such. While there were a few driver issues in the early 2k days most of them actually tended to work.

2GB per process - closer to 1.75 in practice.
3.25GB total usable.

First the 2GB limit is not fixed, it can be increased to 3GB. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-u...

The latter is a license restriction, not an OS one. There are 32-bit windows machines that can use 64GB of RAM and by default PAE is actually enabled by default on all versions of windows since XPSP2 (or was it SP3?) when DEP became the default as well.

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

So, if MS cared they could release a 32-bit windows professional that supports more RAM, they just choose not to. The real question is about drivers failing to use the HAL provided API's for DMA and such. While there were a few driver issues in the early 2k days most of them actually tended to work.

But why should I get Win8 when I have to get it and then jump a few hoops to get what I already had with Win7?

Because Windows operating systems have a finite life cycle. Mainstream support will end three years earlier for Windows 7 than for Windows 8, as will extended support.

Do you have any proof of this? I actually run Windows 8.1 Update 2 (x64) with Windows Update set to only notify me of updates. No updates from Microsoft have been installed without me explicitly installing them.

Well, only that I had updates turned completely off, and on several occasions my wife told me the computer was sluggish and acting weird. I shut it down, and lo, an update. The only update I ever purposely allowed was to 8.1.

I'm not the only one, and this link was regarding Windows 7:

http://superuser.com/questions...

It certainly isn't a new phenomenon, here's one from 2007

http://blog.seattlepi.com/micr...

Hey - maybe we're all just kooks? http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

Install an update when you have them turned off? No Problem Microsoft turns them back on.I've had this happen several times. Apparently Microsoft doesn't do this - it's always the customers fault:

http://social.technet.microsof...

Windows 7 users have noted:

http://www.sevenforums.com/win...

Windows 7 users have been having a big problem with some sotfware I regularly ue. They have an update that breaks the software, and they roll it back, and turn the auto update feature off, but next black tuesday, it reinstalls the offending update.

Do you have any proof of this? I actually run Windows 8.1 Update 2 (x64) with Windows Update set to only notify me of updates. No updates from Microsoft have been installed without me explicitly installing them.

Well, only that I had updates turned completely off, and on several occasions my wife told me the computer was sluggish and acting weird. I shut it down, and lo, an update. The only update I ever purposely allowed was to 8.1.

I'm not the only one, and this link was regarding Windows 7:

http://superuser.com/questions...

It certainly isn't a new phenomenon, here's one from 2007

http://blog.seattlepi.com/micr...

Hey - maybe we're all just kooks? http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

Install an update when you have them turned off? No Problem Microsoft turns them back on.I've had this happen several times. Apparently Microsoft doesn't do this - it's always the customers fault:

http://social.technet.microsof...

Windows 7 users have noted:

http://www.sevenforums.com/win...

Windows 7 users have been having a big problem with some sotfware I regularly ue. They have an update that breaks the software, and they roll it back, and turn the auto update feature off, but next black tuesday, it reinstalls the offending update.

A 'softie has posted a reasonable-looking problem analysis here (look for the screenshot) and corroborated later in the thread. So, it's a problem with shortcuts to OpenType font files... which impacts e.g. Photoshop users. Nice.

I've learned the hard way over the years. Never let Windows Update install a driver of any kind. Ever.

That's a good strategy, but one of the offending patches was a change to include the new symbol for ruble. It wasn't a driver update.

Isn't it sad that in 2014, font processing on Windows still happens in the kernel? Wouldn't it be nice if, instead of shifting around their UI, Microsoft spent time moving font processing out of the kernel?

Here is Microsoft's workaround. Notice how it involves fonts and the registry. The registry: another 'gift' that keeps on giving.

http://support.microsoft.com/k...

enjoy.

I can't fathom how slashdot fall to the point where people with ignorance on your level get modded up instead of into oblivion. Whats better is that you're claiming that Windows 8 drivers that don't work on Windows 7 caused the same problem for you. This is an ID10T or PBKAC error I think.

Before jumping on the previous poster for mentioning Windows 7, you might have wanted to read the linked article, or better yet Microsoft's own description of one of the updates that states it affects a LOT more than just Win8x, and it has nothing to do with drivers

Update to support the new currency symbol for the Russian ruble in Windows

... Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Buffer overflow in a character set table?

For some it was just a plain black screen with no errors displayed (win 8.1 x64) , same fixes though:

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

It was tied to the operating system, unnecessarily. The browser has exactly zilch to do with the operating system. ActiveX controls, tying versions of the browser with versions of the OS, varying behaviour of same browser version on different OS versions etc. If IE is renamed, it should be delinked from the OS like other browsers.

I agree that tying versions of IE to specific versions of Windows was a really bad idea. Many web developers are still stuck with supporting IE8 because it is the latest version that runs on XP, and many users (and even companies) still haven't upgraded. This has clearly retarded the adoption of modern technologies like canvas and SVG support, which is a serious problem.

But at this point you really can't fully remove IE from Windows without breaking stuff. Sure, you can use the uninstall option to remove iexplore.exe (and newer versions of Windows let you do that), but if the back-end components like mshtml.dll were also removed, then a non-negligible amount of existing software would break. Since backward compatibility is really Microsoft's strongest selling point, this is a non-starter. Don't forget that Microsoft Help files also use HTML, so the Trident rendering engine is needed to view them. You could argue that this is unnecessary tying, but I'm not sure a custom proprietary format would really have been a better choice than HTML for help files – it seems a fairly sensible choice.

Hello,

I know that Slashdot loves to bash Microsoft, but calling it's monthly patching cycle "Black Tuesday" is pushing it. Black Tuesday was the name for the stock market crash that preceded the Great Depression, and for all the negativism about Microsoft, I have yet to hear of someone committing suicide over a Microsoft patch.

Frankly, using Woody "I'm a Windows victim" Leonhard as a source of information about Microsoft patches isn't a good idea, at least until he stops grinding whatever axe it is he has against Microsoft. Go read Microsoft's Security TechCenter if you want to know the patches are for, or at least blogs like ComputerWorld o ZDNet's r>Ed Bott, both of whom are more likely to put facts ahead of opinions. Even Paul Thurrott provides some good coverage, although I think he often is the opposite of Woody Leonhard, e.g.doesn't critical enough coverage.
Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

The way to fix this is to delete \Windows\System32\FNTCACHE.DAT. The file will automatically be regenerated on the next boot.

(Information found on Microsoft Support Forum and used to successfully fix my own system.)

How do you delete the file if you can't boot?

(1) Press F8 during boot to get to the Windows boot manager advanced options screen.
(2) Select "Repair".
(3) Provide password for a local account that's a member of the Administrator group.
(4) Select "Command Prompt".
(5) Find drive letter assigned to Windows partition (may not be C: in the repair environment!).
(6) Delete \Windows\System32\FNTCACHE.DAT.
(7) Exit command prompt and reboot system.
(8) Fixed!

----------

And now, since this is /., here is the required Windows bashing...

This bug demonstrates the danger of running your GUI in kernel mode (win32k.sys). One stray pointer can ruin your whole day. In this case the pointer was sufficiently invalid to cause a bugcheck. A stray pointer that silently scribbles on other kernel data structures is even worse.

"Those who would give up essential Safety, to purchase a little temporary Performance, deserve neither Performance nor Safety."

You are indeed remembering incorrectly. Kinect has a colour camera, an IR camera and an IR Emitter. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-u...

So?

Windows CE is still alive and kicking. It's under the hood of Windows Embedded Handheld now, and they even revived support for good ol' WinMo 6.5 in the form of WinEHH 6.5. (Yes, "ehh", which is how most who use it feel about it.)

Last I heard, they're going to merge its features into the Windows Phone platform, so maybe we can eventually get some barcode scanners that don't require VS2008 for custom software development. (Or maybe they could just fricking port the WinMo SDK stuff to VS2013. It's the emulator that's holding them back, and not everyone needs the emulator. Personally, I require my clients to give me a physical device to test with, so I only need the tools and a build-and-deploy-to-device command.)

Windows CE was only a "failure" in the areas you're familiar with. You're obviously not familiar with the industrial or commercial handheld device markets. For further info, look up any Intermec or Motorola/Symbol handheld barcode scanners. Most of them still run WinMo/WinEHH 6.5 because there's nothing better available. Android has been a disaster in those markets, and WinPhone is just now looking promising. iOS is a total non-player.

And yet MS is coming up with new ways to license Windows that make it cheaper than ever to make sure people have proper Windows Licenses. They also have this which is what allows you to buy $99 refurbished (off lease) PCs and ensure that you get a proper Windows license. The last $99 refurb I bought came with such a license and also included an actual OS install CD.

I think they have a ways to go in terms of people building their own machines, or upgrading old versions. But it's not like they are charging ridiculous amounts of money for their software.

I'm willing to bet there's a way around the installer..

It's usually modestly painful; but unless the vendor is really determined to fuck with you('Eh, I'm just going to embed my broken legacy installer in an MSI custom action table and pretend that I've actually tried; because effort sucks...' and/or 'DRM, messing with customers and not with pirates', most commonly) Orca can usually manage it.

An OS reimage with 'doze and use sdelete.exe from Sysinternals Suite. http://technet.microsoft.com/e...
Or 'nix, dd a huge file and shred it (remember to restrict the passes with -n since the default is "a lot")
Neither is perfect, but better than delivering your data to the next schmoe on a platter (pun intended).
If you can request the specific OS image, send them a copy of a memory-resident linux installation configured to auto-wipe the HDDs with shred.

Metro was renamed Modern UI two years ago.

It's probably not something like MD5 or SHA1 since they're dealing with images. More like http://research.microsoft.com/... which says:

The algorithm uses randomized signal processing strategies for a non-reversible compression of images into random binary strings, and is shown to be robust against image changes due to compression, geometric distortions, and other attacks.

or

http://www.hackerfactor.com/bl...

Every perceptual hash algorithm that I have come across has the same basic properties: images can be scaled larger or smaller, have different aspect ratios, and even minor coloring differences (contrast, brightness, etc.) and they will still match similar images.

What are you talking about? Microsoft is crystal clear on that one:

For instance, organizations covered by the E.U. Data Protection Directive should have their own policies, security, and training program in place to ensure their personnel do not use Azure in a way that violates the Directive. We will do our part by abiding by the promises we have made, thereby helping you remain compliant. ( http://azure.microsoft.com/en-... )

Hey, the Outlook Options Dialog has one named "Other" instead of "Misc.", which is basically the same in "dumbed down language" ;-)

http://office.microsoft.com/en...

(And every time I have to use THAT at work, I have to search through "Preferences" -> "Email Options", the "Mail Setup" and "Mail Format" Tabls, because the things that are sprinkled through them don't seem to follow any kind of logic on what is where.)

Mod me flamebait, but I am with Microsoft on this one.
As mentioned in their press release at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us..., Samsung agreed that
"Microsoft will receive royalties for Samsung’s mobile phones and tablets running the Android mobile platform".

I don't know how Samsung thinks it can use Microsoft products without paying for them. I paid for my copy of Windows, and I expect Samsung to do the same.

The shills are strong on this one ;) what a surprise.

Perhaps you could just post the details of the Samsung/Microsoft agreement, since you obviously have it, to be able to judge the merit on this?

I also suspect Samsung has paid for all of its copies of windows.. but then that has absolutely nothing to do with this... does it.

Mod me flamebait, but I am with Microsoft on this one. As mentioned in their press release at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us..., Samsung agreed that "Microsoft will receive royalties for Samsung’s mobile phones and tablets running the Android mobile platform".

I don't know how Samsung thinks it can use Microsoft products without paying for them. I paid for my copy of Windows, and I expect Samsung to do the same.

its very simple. They are not using microsoft products. This is not about Windows. This is Microsoft's attempt to use software patents to steer people away from using Android and Chrome OS on their general purpose computing devices. this is about software patents that should have never been filed and should have never been granted. The supreme court has recently spoken regarding this matter. loading text before images is not patentable along with the myriad of other junk software patents that Microsoft is using against Android.

I don't know how Samsung thinks it can use Microsoft products without paying for them. I paid for my copy of Windows, and I expect Samsung to do the same.