Slashdot Mirror

And then there are Windows+E, Windows+R, Windows+F, Windows+Pause, Windows+D and a lot more. The Windows key already had a lot of power for those of us who always preferred the keyboard's speed to the mouse's ease of use (check http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ph/windows7/keyboard-shortcuts, under "Windows logo key keyboard shortcuts").

We don't need Win8 in order to have a keyboard-oriented interface (in fact, that's definitely NOT the UI paradigm Win8 is trying to push). Ten years ago, still using win98, I spent a whole summer without a mouse, and I only missed it in certain program whose crappy UI didn't have key bindings.

Microsoft offers the Malicious Software Removal Tool (IA32 version) , (AMD64 version) which they update monthly. It's not perfect, but it's worth running on Windows machines.

If Congress wants to apply pressure to somebody, it might be worthwhile to investigate how well that's working, and what it's missing.

Microsoft offers the Malicious Software Removal Tool (IA32 version) , (AMD64 version) which they update monthly. It's not perfect, but it's worth running on Windows machines.

If Congress wants to apply pressure to somebody, it might be worthwhile to investigate how well that's working, and what it's missing.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/windows-explorer-expands-folders-inappropriately/50a81b05-da98-4d55-821d-55ffbbd0e998

But Microsoft Windows XP Professional for Embedded Systems will continue to be sold until December 2016. It's the same codebase, just with different licence conditions. Will Microsoft actually stop releasing security updates for a product they're still selling? Will they keep developing security updates for Windows XP but withhold them from non-embedded customers?

With Windows 7, Microsoft finally made it work. They developed the Static Driver Verifier, which uses proof of correctness techniques to insure that drivers won't crash the operating system, and made everybody run their drivers through it before they were signed. That eliminated about half of all crashes. Anything else was Microsoft's fault, and they knew it.

Microsoft also developed an internal tool that takes in crash dumps and matches them to other crash dumps. This made it possible to digest a huge number of crash dumps and tie them back to the cause.

With those tools, Microsoft finally had the ability to make the thing work. And they did. Windows 7 is much more reliable than previous versions of Windows.

Then, having finally produced a solid desktop system, they found they were being clobbered by the tablet industry, and came out with a desktop interface borrowed from a phone. Sigh.

I can't speak to breakage in Windows 7, but Windows 8 flat-out removes the IFilter technology that older version of Windows provided, which allowed third-party software to extract text from various file formats to do things like build desktop search technologies. From here:

Indexing Service is no longer supported as of Windows XP and is unavailable for use as of Windows 8.

So, "created properly" really doesn't guarantee that it will work on future versions of Windows unless you assume that "properly" means that you have a crystal ball and can tell which technologies Microsoft will discard in the future.

.Net 2.0 hasn't fully left the "mainstream support" category yet.

The .Net Framework v2.0 has, but the .Net Runtime v2.0, via .Net Framework v3.5 SP1, is considered to be part of Windows 7 and will receive mainstream support until January 13, 2015, when Windows 7 RTM mainstream support ends.

For those that are scratching their heads due to unfamiliarity with .Net's version number screwiness:
- .Net CLR 1.0 runs .Net FX 1.0-1.1
- .Net CLR 2.0 runs .Net FX 2.0-3.5SP1
- .Net CLR 4.0 runs .Net FX 4.0-4.5

The documentation is great in general, you seem to have found one missing link in a relatively obscure class. As a whole, Python's docs are great. They generally explain well and give full examples.

Just compare (not, these are not exactly same thing, just pretty close):

• Qt5 QFile
• Java6+ java.nio.channels.FileChannel
• .NET FileStream
• Python 3 io module

Of these, Python's is least clear and useful in my eyes, by quite a margin. YMMV.

Investing in one of THESE is a big help:

DDoS Appliances:

http://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&site=&source=hp&q=%22DDos+Appliance%22&btnG=Search&gbv=1&sei=KYw7UI-4FsXs6wH3uIDoDw

Because DDoS/DoS CAN be stopped (Microsoft & Amazon are setup PERFECTLY vs. it in fact, read on below on that note)!

---

Microsoft Windows NT-based OS settings vs. DoS:

Protect Against SYN Attacks

FROM -> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff648853.aspx

A SYN attack exploits a vulnerability in the TCP/IP connection establishment mechanism. To mount a SYN flood attack, an attacker uses a program to send a flood of TCP SYN requests to fill the pending connection queue on the server. This prevents other users from establishing network connections.

To protect the network against SYN attacks, follow these generalized steps, explained later in this document:

Enable SYN attack protection
Set SYN protection thresholds
Set additional protections

Enable SYN Attack Protection

---

The named value to enable SYN attack protection is located beneath the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TcpIp\Parameters.

Value name: SynAttackProtect

Recommended value: 2

Valid values: 0, 1, 2

Description: Causes TCP to adjust retransmission of SYN-ACKS. When you configure this value the connection responses timeout more quickly in the event of a SYN attack. A SYN attack is triggered when the values of TcpMaxHalfOpen or TcpMaxHalfOpenRetried are exceeded.

---

Set SYN Protection Thresholds

The following values determine the thresholds for which SYN protection is triggered. All of the keys and values in this section are under the registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TcpIp\Parameters

These keys and values are:

Value name: TcpMaxPortsExhausted

Recommended value: 5

Valid values: 0?65535

Description: Specifies the threshold of TCP connection requests that must be exceeded before SYN flood protection is triggered.

Value name: TcpMaxHalfOpen

Recommended value data: 500

Valid values: 100?65535

Description: When SynAttackProtect is enabled, this value specifies the threshold of TCP connections in the SYN_RCVD state. When SynAttackProtect is exceeded, SYN flood protection is triggered.

Value name: TcpMaxHalfOpenRetried

Recommended value data: 400

Valid values: 80?65535

Description: When SynAttackProtect is enabled, this value specifies the threshold of TCP connections in the SYN_RCVD state for which at least one retransmission has been sent. When SynAttackProtect is exceeded, SYN flood protection is triggered.

---

Set Additional Protections

All the keys and values in this section are located under the registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TcpIp\Parameters. These keys and values are:

Value name: TcpMaxConnectResponseRetransmissions

Recommended value data: 2

Valid values: 0?255

Description: Controls how many times a SYN-ACK is retransmitted before canceling the attempt when responding to a SYN request.

Value name: TcpMaxDataRetransmissions

Recommended value data: 2

Valid values: 0?65535

Description: Specifies the number of times that TCP retransmits an individual data segment (not connection request segments) before aborting the connection.

Value name: EnablePMTUDiscovery

Recommended value data: 0

Valid values: 0, 1

Description: Setting this value to 1

"Deal with it" seems to be Microsoft's mantra not just in the console market, but with Windows as well. They let their employees' pride and stubbornness override basic business considerations. ...

A little tip from someone who used to work for Microsoft for many years (up until a little over a year ago):

Microsoft has very strict guidelines regarding employee behaviour when making public statements via online social norms (specifically mentioned are blogs, forums, chat rooms, etc.), regardless of that employee's role or stature. All employees (managers and underlings alike) have to take what is called SBC (Standards of Business Conduct) training. These trainings are mandatory, take about an hour to complete, are performed every 6 months to 12 months, and the results of the testing (along with digital signature) are submit to your superiors as confirmation that you passed all the tests / acknowledge you understand what's right and wrong. I can't go into details about the training material, but I can tell you that the last SBC training I took had an entire section dedicated to a scenario almost exactly like what Orth did. A lot of it is common sense (to me anyway) -- but it appears some people lack this.

Don't get me wrong, Microsoft is respectful and open about employees participating in social media -- they encourage employees to communicate and be helpful and chat with the world -- but they do not tolerate employees acting aggressive or making blanket statements that can/will reflect badly on the company or its products outside of proper channels (not necessarily PR, but there are proper teams/divisions throughout Microsoft that handle this sort of thing). Any kind of statement that implies an "official statement from Microsoft" (on a large scale) has to go through proper channels within the company, and not some employee (Director or otherwise) "cowboying it".

I can assure you Orth come next week (if not today) will be having a very uncomfortable meeting with his supervisor/manager, probably his manager's manager, and possibly HR, because his statements. He won't lose his job (trust me), but he will definitely be walking out of that meeting room with his tail between his legs. Microsoft employees know better than to do things like this -- and this is exactly why SBC exists.

Orth, if you're reading this, I'll speak candidly: why did you open your mouth given that you know this sort of thing is against company policy? Worse, as someone who's part of Microsoft Studios in a key role (Creative Director), you should be open to diversity of ideas, think about the bigger picture, and think about diversity (other people's needs/wants different than yours). Don't be so bullheaded.

The OP most likely doesn't have Mac as most Mac users believe they are immune from the problems of malware. (Lower probability of blindly running blindly off a cliff is not the same thing as immunity...) The OP almost certainly doesn't use Linux seeing they way they differentiated the Linux boot CD from their normal environment.
So if they want to install an add on VM system like VMware they can:
- Acquire and install the virtual host software
- Figure out how to install the virtual OS inside the host
- Figure out how to activate and/or license the virtualized OS

Or if the OP has Win 7 (pretty good odds)
- They can follow the prompts on the download page for XP Mode and get a legally licensed, preloaded, and activated copy of Win XP in a virtual environment that 95% of adults will be able to navigate with no learning curve. I was mistaken earlier when I thought XP Mode required the Pro version of Windows. (Pretty uncharacteristic of them to make something like that available for free across the whole product range.)
The download link is: Microsoft Download Center - XP Mode. Just follow the page instructions and download and install the pieces and you are golden. I would create them a separate Win 7 user and remove all the obvious icons for anything local to keep them from mucking things up.

Once it is in it runs as if it is an RDP session to a remote computer. Very simple.


But yeah, if you want to buy or stealware a more difficult solution, then yeah, that is possible.

IE has a public bug tracker these days - using it is likely to give fastest response times and fixes. It looks like there is already a bunch of SVG-related bugs; if one of those is what you see then vote for it.

IE has a public bug tracker these days - using it is likely to give fastest response times and fixes. It looks like there is already a bunch of SVG-related bugs; if one of those is what you see then vote for it.

Could you link to me where you are getting you Windows server pricing from ? According to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/buy.aspx Their cheapest is $501 with a 25 cal limit and the datacenter edition is $4,809 per processor plus cal licences needed on top.

The hack to remove that "forbidden"-ness of third-party desktop apps is widely published, has been noted and then ignored by Microsoft, and works great (the current version also allows kernel-mode code).

Sideloading (a term which only reasonably applies to store apps; anything else would just be called "installing") is fully possible; Microsoft has not only failed to forbid it, they actually publish step-by-step instructions for it along with a warning to beware of untrusted sideloaded apps. It is also free. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/Hh974578.aspx

Win32 is an API, and is very much present on Windows RT (along with WinRT, the new API for Windows Store apps, which can be used on x86 and x64 machines as well). It's true that x86-compiled software is difficult (not impossible - there's an emulation layer, but it currently supports relatively few system DLLs - and support is all the time) to run on RT, but open-source software can be recompiled, .NET software can usually run unmodified, Java software can run with some restrictions (via a .NET-based Java runtime called IKVM), Python is partially available (the foreign function interface is full of assembly and taking time to port), and in theory other languages are also possible.

A large number of people appear to actually believe that RT has no desktop at all, possible because MS almost never shows it in their ads. I was attempting to correct this misconception. "Windows 8 without the normal desktop mode" and "Windows 8 compiled for ARM and requiring a small unlock utility before it can runt third-party desktop apps" are very different things.

If IE11 is released before January 2015 it should be available for Windows 7. That's what differentiates "Mainstream Support" from "Extended Support"; new features. http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=14482

Provided IE11 is released while Windows 8 is in "Mainstream Support" (new features) and before it moves to "Extended Support" (security fixes only), then Windows 8 will be enough. As Windows 8 will be in Mainstream Support until September 2018, safe bet to say Windows 8 will get IE11. http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=16799

It looks like this might finally be the year. With Windows 8 throwing a lot of users away with a bad interface and a marketplace lock-in.

PC games --- from the casual to the most sophisticated --- are run full screen, each with its own UI.

The geek may have a dozen desktop apps running across multiple screens, which is trivially easy to do in Windows 8. Use multiple monitors But I've never found a plausible excuse for putting more than six quick-launch apps on the taskbar, including Skype and a radio player.

There is no "marketplace lock-in " on the Win 8 desktop.

The Windows Store is --- for all practical purposes --- indistinguishable from the Android, Apple or Ubuntu store. The best "Modern" apps have a distinctive look and feel. They install easily and are updated frequently.

Nokia made big inroads into the cell-phone market because their products were easy to use. Microsoft teamed up with Nokia with the view of entering the marked with a Microsoft powered device. This is the result.

Speaking to the people who own a Windows phone, they are very happy with it. People are familiar with Windows and Nokia's reputation for useability has probably paid dividends.

Not all of the users of cell-phones are the younger generation who easily adapt to a complicated device.

Amazon Glacier has really changed my backup strategy since this time last year - I now push all my own, generated content (ie: pictures, documents, things I could never get back if I lost everything) up to Glacier using the free Windows client, Fast Glacier. In February I was charged $0.13 by Amazon for storing ~8Gb of data. I tend to push new content up as and when I create it (for example, after I process holiday snaps, or get back from a day out).

Day to day file changes are now handled by Windows 8's File History feature where my changes are pushed to a small NAS (Dlink DNS-320) in my shed (technically off site?) over a Homeplug AV ethernet link. For added security I use the legacy Windows Backup application (still present in Windows 8) to create ~ monthly snapshots of the system which I store on a 320Gb external HDD. This drive is one of two which go back and forth between my parents house each time I got and visit. These disks are encrypted using Microsoft Bitlocker drive encryption.

I should get around to properly encrypting my NAS in the shed, I've been looking at encfs.

Amazon Glacier has really changed my backup strategy since this time last year - I now push all my own, generated content (ie: pictures, documents, things I could never get back if I lost everything) up to Glacier using the free Windows client, Fast Glacier. In February I was charged $0.13 by Amazon for storing ~8Gb of data. I tend to push new content up as and when I create it (for example, after I process holiday snaps, or get back from a day out).

Day to day file changes are now handled by Windows 8's File History feature where my changes are pushed to a small NAS (Dlink DNS-320) in my shed (technically off site?) over a Homeplug AV ethernet link. For added security I use the legacy Windows Backup application (still present in Windows 8) to create ~ monthly snapshots of the system which I store on a 320Gb external HDD. This drive is one of two which go back and forth between my parents house each time I got and visit. These disks are encrypted using Microsoft Bitlocker drive encryption.

I should get around to properly encrypting my NAS in the shed, I've been looking at encfs.

Yep, that's a serious issue.

There is a difference between identity and authentication, and that difference is lost when one uses biometric identity measures for authentication.

Great writeup on this from 2006 over at MSDN

Short version: identify and authentication must remain distinct if you want to have a system where users are held responsible for their actions.

http://www.microsoft.com/privacystatement/en-gb/bing/default.aspx

"We collect information when you register, sign in and use our sites and services. We may also get information from other companies. We collect this information in a variety of ways, including from web forms, technologies such as cookies, web logging and software on your computer or other device.

When you conduct a search, Microsoft collects the following:

        Search term and time and date of your search
        IP address, browser configuration and approximate location
        Any unique identifiers contained in the cookies"

and...

"we may use search query data for the purpose of personalising the ads we display to you as you use our services or those of our advertising partners."

and...

"Using our sites, applications and services - We collect information that tells us how you interact with our applications or services, including the browser you’re using, your IP address, location, cookies or other unique IDs, the pages you visit and features you use.
Data from other sources - We may get additional information about you, such as demographic data we purchase from other companies. As discussed in the Facebook Personalization section below, we may also obtain certain information from Facebook to enable personalization features."

We all know here than Microsoft is using a Double standard here, and is a more oppressive company.

Irrelevancy? Microsoft first. In fact, it is happening right now.

You should reread my post. I think its pretty good. Microsoft are going nowhere, they still have an [abusive] monopoly on the Desktop, in fact with Apples Neglect, and Linux small [albeit growing] market share if anything its larger...its just the pie of connected electronic devices got a lot larger. Its got years of Mismanagement to drive users to alternative platforms...whether they be a good fit or not. In real terms its still signing 10 year government contract [those people should go to jail], and I believe had their most profitable year on record. This is Ballmers letter to shareholders http://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar12/shareholder-letter/index.html That is a lot of money. That is after Windows 8 Surface...and missing out on revolutions like Mobile, and the internet.

My point about Apple being irrelevant is it was about the iPhone which is their most profitable product...and they had great sales numbers [computers and ipods awful] with a massive profit margin. In fact their best ever. They have an incredible amount of cash on hand, and that cash flow is not going to come to stop any time soon, it has lots of fans frothing at the mouth, and the Media behind it...but its done so at the cost of market share. Its happened even faster in the tablet market. Personally I think Apple after throwing away its own Computer market (down 25% this quarter year on year). I do not see that in the future. I used to think an iPhone mini would change Apples future, not the rumours are everywhere. I can't help think they are too late. The reality is I think they have become just another electronics company, and Apple is not showing it can succeed at that.

I'd rather take one solid piece of software than 10 which are broken in different ways.

I believe this distribution is what you're looking for.

he said solid not unstable or unusable

I'd rather take one solid piece of software than 10 which are broken in different ways.

I believe this distribution is what you're looking for.

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 paedophilia.

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 is an anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman, spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox 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 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, 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 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 slut!

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 perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. 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 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 terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra (or to use the common parlance, 'piss-pipe'), then his homosexual lover blows firmly down the straw to inflate his scrotum. This is, of course, when he's not busy violating the dignity and c

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 paedophilia.

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 is an anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman, spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox 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 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, 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 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 slut!

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 perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. 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 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 terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra (or to use the common parlance, 'piss-pipe'), then his homosexual lover blows firmly down the straw to inflate his scrotum. This is, of course, when he's not busy violating the dignity and c

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 paedophilia.

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 is an anagram of slit anus or VD 'L,' clearly referring to himself by the first initial.
• Richard M. Stallman, spokespervert for the Gaysex's Not Unusual 'movement' is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad.
• Alan Cox 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 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, 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 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 slut!

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 perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. 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 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 terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra (or to use the common parlance, 'piss-pipe'), then his homosexual lover blows firmly down the straw to inflate his scrotum. This is, of course, when he's not busy violating the dignity and c

From the horse's mouth:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302686

When you choose to run a regular format on a volume, files are removed from the volume that you are formatting and the hard disk is scanned for bad sectors. The scan for bad sectors is responsible for the majority of the time that it takes to format a volume.

If you choose the Quick format option, format removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged.

If you installed Windows XP on a partition that was formatted by using the Quick format option, you can also check your disk by using the chkdsk /r command after the installation of Windows XP is completed.

There is no difference between running a quick format followed by chkdsk /r, and running a full format.

Microsoft placed C# and the CLI under it's Community Promise umbrella, which is basically the same thing as the Google promise.

Yea, the main thing is not new features. See http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/.

I was thinking more like this: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/bibuxton/buxtoncollection/detail.aspx?id=178

"Rather than a free-standing slate/tablet computer, the Zenith CruisePAD was a remote terminal to one's PC. It was designed to allow the user to interact with that PC's applications from a distance over a wireless network. What made it interesting to me was that it let one do so directly on the CruisePAD's screen, using either a stylus or finger."

Read again. Hyper-V Server is 100% free - you do not have to buy Windows to get it, you download the ISO from the Microsoft site, and install it. It's fully functional (HA,live migration, live storage migration etc etc). If you wanted to run a whole bunch of Linux VM's on it then you could do that without paying microsoft a cent.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/hyper-v-server/default.aspx

Yes that is all they have to do and surprise, surprise, they do it:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11575

I love it:

Released on 11/9/2012
Supported operating systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Even MS seems to know Win 8 isn't worth supporting... LOL

Actually, IE's ability to use their old rendering engine only goes back as far as IE7, not IE6. It's funny, given that quirks mode is really IE5.5 rendering you can test every version of IE from 5.5 up except for IE6.

Going back to the VM solution, Windows 7 Professional users are allowed to download something Microsoft calls Windows XP mode (using Virtual PC) and can create their own VMs of XP that do not require you to purchase another license. If you truly need to test in IE6, IE7, and IE8 all you need do is run all of the updates for XP for IE6 but do not install IE7, then copy that VM and run the update to IE7 and run the updates for that but do not install IE8, and then create another copy where you upgrade to IE8.

Windows XP mode is not available on Windows 8. Yet another reason why businesses may hold out on upgrading ....

Actually, IE's ability to use their old rendering engine only goes back as far as IE7, not IE6. It's funny, given that quirks mode is really IE5.5 rendering you can test every version of IE from 5.5 up except for IE6.

Going back to the VM solution, Windows 7 Professional users are allowed to download something Microsoft calls Windows XP mode (using Virtual PC) and can create their own VMs of XP that do not require you to purchase another license. If you truly need to test in IE6, IE7, and IE8 all you need do is run all of the updates for XP for IE6 but do not install IE7, then copy that VM and run the update to IE7 and run the updates for that but do not install IE8, and then create another copy where you upgrade to IE8.

Windows XP mode is not available on Windows 8. Yet another reason why businesses may hold out on upgrading ....

Yes that is all they have to do and surprise, surprise, they do it:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11575

"Encryption comes for free on Windows (since at least XP)"

Only for specific versions of XP: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308989

banks and credit card companies don't understand the concept of information security

They do. But they are not concerned about things like password theft, because neither the bank nor their customers lose money that way.

So nobody cares about what you may perceive as bad security. As this PDF linked from this recent /. story shows, only third-party suckers lose money when a bank password is abused.

Where's the announcement from China? Canonical has a long history of bullshit announcements that some big vendor is going to use their product. They've made that claim in the past for both Asus and Dell. In both cases, the Canonical product never appeared on those platforms, or was a very minor niche announcement.

I'm not finding any announcement about this on China government sites. However, the Ministry of Information Industry Software and Integrated Circuit Promotion Center is listed by Microsoft as an Microsoft Embedded Partner.

Here's a recent policy announcement on open source from CSIP. They encourage using Linux, but Canonical is not mentioned. The action agency on this is the "China Innovative Strategic Alliance for Open Source", but I'm not seeing them associated with Canonical.

It is not the big secret people think it is. Many institutions, including research universities, have a copy. They have a program specially for governments, the Government Security Program.

I mean do you really think the NSA, one of the most institutionally paranoid places there is, would allow Windows to be used if they couldn't audit it? Not hardly.

MS's page on that kind of thing is here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sharedsource/default.aspx

So if China wants it, I'm sure they have it. I think this is more of a "We have to have our own thing since China Strong!" and crap like that. China seems to have ego issues about not having home grown stuff (they aren't they only country that does) and wants to have their own everything. However turns out they aren't always equipped to develop it from scratch, so they often start with something else.

Similar to their "Loongson" microprocessor. It was to be a Chinese CPU, home grown and all that. In actuality they ripped off, and then later licensed, the MIPS architecture and it is a MIPS64 based chip running at 1GHz on a 65nm process.

This sounds similar. "Hey we want an OS, but writing one from scratch is a ton of work and we don't really have enough of the skillset around to do it well. So let's get a Linux distro to start on, and then make it our 'own'."

PC and android device(s) just suddenly appear on the develope's desk when he/she wants to develop something for those platforms?

Yes, because he already owned a PC running Windows before starting to develop software. You might counter that one might have already owned a Mac, but a randomly selected x86 desktop or laptop computer is far more likely to have shipped with Windows than to be a Mac, and Macs can run Android SDK anyway. Entry-level Android tablets can be had for under $100, and brand-name ones from ASUS and Amazon for $200.

What if someone [...] now tries to develop other apps for Windows? The use still need to spend a lot of money (to buy Visual Studio) before start.

Visual Studio Express, MinGW, the JDK, and Eclipse are all distributed without charge. And even if you happen to have bought a Mac as your first computer, a copy of Windows 8 OEM to install in Boot Camp is $99 (not per year).

How does he/she know whether the Microsoft would accept

Windows 8 supports desktop and "immersive" (formerly Metro) applications. Desktop applications can be sideloaded, leaving Microsoft's policies out of scope entirely. Immersive applications come exclusively from the Windows Store, just like Windows RT applications. But unlike Apple, Microsoft publishes its guidelines for Windows Store applications, and I was able to view those without even being signed into Hotmail. Likewise, Google makes its distribution agreement and content policy for Google Play Store available to the public to inspect.

or whether the app is going to be success?

That variable is orthogonal to the concept acceptance policies of any particular platform.

There's a Mac App Store: http://www.apple.com/au/osx/apps/app-store.html
There's the iOS App Store - available from iTunes and on iOS devices
There's the Windows Store: http://windows.microsoft.com/is-is/windows-8/apps
There's Google Play: http://www.android.com/apps/

They all handle DRM for you in a relatively unobtrusive way, plus they handle payment processing and distribution. The end user doesn't need to worry about you going out of business, your authentication servers going down, your serial numbers not working etc or dealing with another payment processor.

The advantage of something like the Mac App Store is that if I buy apps on here, Apple keep my purchase history. When I get a new machine, I sign in to the App Store and download all my apps from one place, and don't need to keep track of serial numbers or activation keys or anything like that.

This leaves you to handle doing the coding and the promotion of the app. Yes, you give up a cut of 30% or so, but if that's a big problem for you, put your price up slightly to take this into account. Or, give up the 30% cut knowing you don't need to handle any payment processing, hosting downloads, going over your bandwidth cap on your hosting plan because your app became popular, DRM, activation, providing lost serial numbers to users etc...

Immutable Law of Security Administration #2: "Security only works if the secure way also happens to be the easy way."

Make it the easy way and users will train themselves. But making systems easy to use is more difficult than many people can imagine even without the extra burden of security, and it's expensive. It's easier to build unusable systems in the name of security, provide ineffective training, and then blame users' inability to learn when the inevitable breach due to user error occurs.

You do realize that MSFT has paid dividends for a while, right? http://www.microsoft.com/investor/Stock/StockSplit/default.aspx

Also, Microsoft only gets the cash from the stock sale when it's originally issued. The fluctuation in price is from stockholder to stockholder and Microsoft doesn't get any of that money. So it isn't exactly a recurring stream of money.

From where do Slashdotters get their information? From only other Slashdot posts filled with lies and misinformation?

Here is the official table of "breaking changes in core Windows Phone features" for Windows Phone 8 from Microsoft itself.

And please, speak to any of your developer friends who developed on Windows Phone 7. You're obviously not going to take my word for it. I assume you're just going to think that I cherry-picked the information I wanted from the Microsoft web site.

The "IP Stack natively provideth 1st" built in - custom hosts files, natively, & tightly integrated with the IP stack + its built-in DNS resolver engines @ the kernelmode/ring 0/rpl 0 level - clean, fast, & over 44++ yrs. of optimization poured into it over time since 1969. The IP stack loads @ OS startup, thus the hosts file too into RAM for speed, & that makes AdBlock &/or Ghostery, wasteful + redundant.

Hosts ARE superior to Ghostery &/or AdBlock - & on several levels I invite anyone to disprove me on them, listed below in fact.

Here's how I generate them, easy as apple pie, from 12++ reputable sources for custom hosts file data online:

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APK Hosts File Engine 5.0++ 32/64-bit:

http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74

Which, if you read the list of what it can do for you as an end user of the resulting output it produces listed in the link above, you'll understand how/why...

"It's as strong as steel, & a 3rd of the weight" - Howard Stark from the film "Captain America"

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Especially vs. competing alternate 'solutions', noted below in AdBlock/Ghostery & yes even DNS servers, next, as 'examples thereof'...

Solutions that used to be good & I even recommended them in security guides I wrote up over the decades now -> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22HOW+TO+SECURE+Windows+2000/XP%22&btnG=Submit&gbv=1&sei=ka3yUKzxB-6_0QHLroCQCA

That did extremely well for myself (and users of them), for Windows users, for "layered-security"/"defense-in-depth" purposes - the BEST THING WE HAVE GOING vs. threats of all kinds, currently!

(Not anymore though, & certainly NOT far as AdBlock's concerned especially, not after this):

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Adblock Plus To Offer 'Acceptable Ads' Option:

http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/12/2213233/adblock-plus-to-offer-acceptable-ads-option

(Meaning by default, which MOST USERS WON'T CHANGE, it doesn't block ALL ads - they "souled-out"... talk about "foxes guarding the henhouse")!

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Plus, Adblock CAN'T DO AS MUCH & not from a single file solution that runs in Ring 0/RPL 0/kernelmode via tcpip.sys, a driver (since it's part of the IP stack & tightly integrated into it) which is far, Far, FAR FASTER than ring 3/rpl 3/usermode apps like browsers, & addons slow them down (known issue in FireFox).

Hosts are the 1st thing your IP stack queries on webbound requests -> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/172218

(Thus, since the IP stack is already loaded by the OS @ bootup & on requests by client programs - guess what? Hosts make adblock & ghostery, REDUNDANT & WASTEFUL, also! )

To wit, 10++ things AdBlock can't do, hosts can:

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1.) Blocking rogue DNS servers malware makers use

2.) Blocking known sites/servers that serve up malware... like known sites/servers/hosts-domains that serve up malicious scripts

3.) Speeding up your FAVORITE SITES that hosts can speed up via hardcoded line item entries properly resolved by a reverse DNS ping

4.) AdBlock works on Mozilla products (browser & email), hosts work on ANY webbound app AND are multiplatform.

5.) AdBlock can't protect external to FireFox email progra

Second, no GUI toolkit supports such a thing, or ever announced any intention to do so, so you are talking out of your ass.

http://www.kde.org/applications/internet/krdc/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnome-rdp/

Surely you meant RFB, as RDP is a proprietary Microsoft protocol, and "most distributions" only include a client for it. As I have mentioned before, RFB is inadequate.

Microsoft publishes the spec:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa383515(v=vs.85).aspx

That's bullshit [in reference to buffering] Application programmer does not have to know details of X protocol,

You are reading my comment backwards. In those situations where applications need to control buffering they can't under X11. Obviously applications that don't care about buffering won't have to worry about it under Wayland or X11.

RDP is designed for Windows, and would be suboptimal for any modern GUI toolkit other than Windows.

I don't think so. I think RDP works fine as long as the client (usual meaning, server for X11) has a toolkit capable of responding to high level instructions. So a Qt clients needs to have Qt but not .NET, a Gnome client needs to have GTK...

Authentication, encryption, session management, support for absolutely everything that can be displayed, has to be done once, on one level.

RDP is a secure protocol. Encryption is handled like any other network protocol. Authentication is handled using the security system on the server. Session management is handled by the server.

____

Anyway I think I've shown pretty conclusively that far from vaporware this is going on, this is the direction. It is being implemented, the support exist...