Slashdot Mirror

Methinks you should look at the server side like: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/default.aspx

There is a lot that 2003 doesn't do that the modern versions do. 2003 is more or less on par with LibreOffice.

Mandatory. On non-ARM systems, the platform MUST implement the ability for a physically present user to select between two Secure Boot modes in firmware setup: "Custom" and "Standard". Custom Mode allows for more flexibility as specified in the following: It shall be possible for a physically present user to use the Custom Mode firmware setup option to modify the contents of the Secure Boot signature databases and the PK. This may be implemented by simply providing the option to clear all Secure Boot databases (PK, KEK, db, dbx), which puts the system into setup mode.

Para.18:

Mandatory. Enable/Disable Secure Boot. On non-ARM systems, it is required to implement the ability to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup. A physically present user must be allowed to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup without possession of PKpriv.

"Sure, MS give lip service to this but there's nothing that guarantees it will be available. Nothing at all."

Yes, there is. I quote http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/windows/hardware/jj128256, "Windows Hardware Certification Requirements for Client and Server Systems":

Now please inform us as to under which conditions windows hardware certification may be revoked.

"Sure, MS give lip service to this but there's nothing that guarantees it will be available. Nothing at all."

Yes, there is. I quote http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/windows/hardware/jj128256, "Windows Hardware Certification Requirements for Client and Server Systems":

"Mandatory. On non-ARM systems, the platform MUST implement the ability for a physically present user to select between two Secure Boot modes in firmware setup: "Custom" and "Standard". Custom Mode allows for more flexibility as specified in the following:

        It shall be possible for a physically present user to use the Custom Mode firmware setup option to modify the contents of the Secure Boot signature databases and the PK. This may be implemented by simply providing the option to clear all Secure Boot databases (PK, KEK, db, dbx), which puts the system into setup mode.

        If the user ends up deleting the PK then, upon exiting the Custom Mode firmware setup, the system is operating in Setup Mode with SecureBoot turned off.

        The firmware setup shall indicate if Secure Boot is turned on, and if it is operated in Standard or Custom Mode. The firmware setup must provide an option to return from Custom to Standard Mode which restores the factory defaults. On an ARM system, it is forbidden to enable Custom Mode. Only Standard Mode may be enabled."

Perhaps you're referring to IE's smartscreen filter?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/smartscreen-filter-frequently-asked-questions-ie9

You do that know that Chrome, Firefox and Opera have similar functionality enabled to block fishing and malware ridden sites right?

http://connect.microsoft.com/directory/?keywords=internet+explorer
https://connect.microsoft.com/IE/4792
These pages work just fine. Seems like Feross didn't look hard enough for the proper place to file an MSIE bug.

http://connect.microsoft.com/directory/?keywords=internet+explorer
https://connect.microsoft.com/IE/4792
These pages work just fine. Seems like Feross didn't look hard enough for the proper place to file an MSIE bug.

but couldn't do so for MSIE because 'the page is broken" (see http://connect.microsoft.com/IE). Oops

FUD! We haven't recieved a complaint yet.

Yours truely,
MS support.

only idiots spent $200 for MS Office at home

Yeah especially when it only costs $140.

I would have to pay For the crippled home and business 2013 its £220($333) and for office professional its £390 ($590)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-office-professional-2013-FX102918381.aspx?WT.intid1=ODC_ENGB_FX010064710_XT103927664&WT.intid2=ODC_ENGB_FX010064710_XT103927685

What do you mean by "ActiveX was not open source"? ActiveX is a protocol, a specification - a bunch of ABIs (COM) and APIs. IE is closed-source, yes, but you can definitely have another browser support ActiveX controls (in fact, Mozilla was halfway there with XPCOM, and someone actually wrote a plugin for it that lets it host ActiveX controls). For that matter, ActiveX was never IE-specific - any Windows app can host a control, and many apps do, both those from Microsoft and third-party ones. It does not require any secret magic closed source code.

The real problem is that ActiveX controls are inherently non-portable, because the API is Windows-centric - for example, it deals in things like Win32 device context and window handles.

Since for whatever reason, neither the /. summary nor the actual article have any links to download IE 10, so...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/downloads/ie-10/worldwide-languages

Ahem:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=11940
Assuming you are using SCCM and WSUS which would be step 4 which actually becomes Step 1

Platform update does say "there's a list on our website if you're interesting" right there in Windows Update. The link is http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2670838. It looks like it's mostly imaging and video component support brought back from Windows 8, plus something for XPS documents:

Direct2D
DirectWrite
Direct3D
Windows Imaging Component (WIC)
Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP)
Windows Animation Manager (WAM)
XPS Document API
H.264 Video Decoder
JPEG XR codec

How is using the term "platform" less insulting to audiences than using the term "bunch of other stuff"? How can the latter possibly be considered less of a "process of handwaving and ignorance with a healthy dollop of disdain for the user". The term platform is used to refer to a collection of things that are incredibly tedious to say together. Much like you say you're a Linux user, or Gnome user or GNU/Linux user or Ubuntu user, but you certainly don't say you're an ssh/bash/Gnome/Linux/OpenOffice/World Of Warcraft/Logitech mouse driver/Generic keyboard driver/PS/2/USB/HDMI/NVidia binary blob video driver/audio mixer/[...] user, nor do you say "I use computers and stuff" as though saying Linux would be an insult to anybody's intelligence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing_platform

* I have no fucking idea whether Logitech distributes binary blobs; work with me here.

I can't find it in Windows Update, even after refreshing the list of updates. Here's the real link: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/downloads/ie-10/worldwide-languages

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/downloads/ie-10/worldwide-languages

Take a read (w/ reputable sources) per my subject-line -> http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3488893&cid=42993393

There. you can see how many times they've bushwhacked users with infected maliciously scripted adbanners, robbing bandwidth + CPU cycles/RAM/Other forms of I/O too = higher electricity bills from that latter part also! What I list, mind you? Is ONLY PARTIAL & incomplete... keep THAT in mind, it's important!

(IF not also users having to end up PAYING moreso, for removals of malwares due to negligence on THEIR parts (both webmasters & advertiser paymasters of them))...

All from documented reputable sources (& that's only a PARTIAL LIST mind you) on that very account!

---

* Then, "tell us another one..." on messing with folks that stall out such threats, both financial & otherwise!

(Where advertisers were CAUGHT STEALING USERS' HISTORIES online violating users' privacy, to top it ALL off - not only slowing up users with adbanners, but also infecting them too... & more reprehensible "tactics" too!)

I say that, simply for 1 reason - since the 'sword' of YOURS "cuts both ways" on thieving + stupid negligence if not illegal activities!

There's just far, Far, FAR MORE in favor of doing something about it!

Additionally - By using technology to counter for it, & better ways than in Adblock (crippled by default), Ghostery (advertiser owned tracker), DNS servers (vulnerable as hell to the Kaminsky flaw for 1/2 a decade++ now no less, unpatched on MOST dns servers setup in recursive mode worldwide no less:

---

5 years after major DNS flaw is discovered, few US companies have deployed long-term fix (vs. Kaminsky Bug above...):

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/012913-dnssec-266197.html?page=3

WORST OF ALL @ THE ISP LEVEL MOSTLY!

(That's what threatens end users the MOST!)

---

OR

Doing just as I did!

By writing up my OWN more efficient & MORE CAPABLE solution using a native built-in feature of the OS proper, & IP Stack itself, with over 44++ yrs. of refinement in performance + security into it, shown below...!

Simply by running a single file filter result from my program noted below, & from RAM for it for most speed as well!

(All since it operates in kernelmode/ring 0/rpl 0 for even more efficiency & speed!)

That makes the now crippled AdBlock + crippled & bogus Ghostery tracker REDUNDANT (since the OS & IP stack + calling webbound apps call out to the built in DNS resolver engine in tcpip.sys FIRST, before anything else -> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/172218 which loads @ OS startup + when apps call on it, first! Meaning my app's resulting outputs make Ghostery & AdBlock especially redundant, & especially considering they "just ain't what they used to be" either... far from it!)

APK

P.S.=>

"Forget about Pirate Bay, streamers, etc. I am sure those two inconspicuous guys inflicted over the years more damage to internet biz than all the rest of the public enemies combined." - by mapkinase (958129) on Sunday February 24, @07:40AM (#42994751) Homepage

NoScript's fine - AdBlock's NOT anymore by default (leading to your NEXT point in fact)!

Mainly since it no longer blocks ALL ads (& it ought to be called "almost all ads blocked" now, since it's crippled by DEFAULT, see links below on that note too... )

---

"I find it funny how industry spent so much energy fighting VHS and TiVo in the past and yet not single pip was given about ADP and NS. This is a true Internet miracles,

Continuing on my last posts' premise -> http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3489093&cid=42994773 where I found an issue in hosts files after 12/09/2008 MS "Patch Tuesday" in VISTA onwards (Windows 7 &/or Server 2008 r2 + beyond) where hosts files could no longer use the faster to load into memory 0 blocking "ip address", an analog to a DROP request in a firewall pretty much (due to smaller files resulting) & faster to parse line-by-line as well (via the tcpip.sys built-in DNS resolver loading hosts & referencing it, FIRST, before anything else by default -> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/172218 ).

Fact is - I reported this to Microsoft during their "Engineering Windows 7" blog, here -> http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2009/02/25/feedback-and-engineering-windows-7.aspx?CommentPosted=true&PageIndex=3#comments

In addition to THAT?

Here on /., I literally also got their VP of the "Windows Client Performance Division" to concede my point that using 0 as a blocking "IP address" is superior (faster/more efficient) vs. the 6 characters-per-line larger & slower 0.0.0.0 even (worse yet, vs. the larger by 2-8 characters per line to parse loopback adapter address of 127.0.0.1) & that it would be slower, to LOAD & PARSE that larger custom hosts file result, ala his words quoted next below:

---

PERTINENT QUOTE/EXCERPT:

"Of course, larger files take longer to load." - by Foredecker (161844) * on Wednesday December 09, @10:34PM (#30384666) Homepage

FROM -> http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1467692&cid=30384918

---

Quite a bit faster results happens with smaller blocking addresses noted below, due to smaller filesize for looped programmatic reads by the IP stack of the hosts file, & NOTICEABLY SO!

(As it's linearly related to the diff here between these filesizes being read in, where large size differentials result):

---

BLOCKING ADDRESSES USED & FILESIZE VARIANCE:

0 = ~ 42mb size

0.0.0.0 = ~ 53mb size

127.0.0.1 = ~ 58mb size

---

Using a custom hosts file with each above having 1,934,453++ entries largely composed of KNOWN malicious sites online to be blocked out (what I use now).

---

* See my point? It NEVER got fixed... & ought to be!

(Linux doesn't have this issue & it's 1 thing I will DEFINITELY hand it over Windows in fact - hearing that from ME, the "poster child for Windows' fanboy on /." is a rarity, mind you...)

Lastly: 0 STILL WORKS, oddly enough, on Windows 2000 SP#2 onwards, into XP, & right into Windows Server 2003 though too, oddly enough - whereas, again, by comparison, it doesn't on Windows VISTA, 7, Server 2008 r2 & beyond!

("Will wonders NEVER cease"?)

APK

P.S.=> You got lucky, & yours was DIRECTLY "security-related" + got fixed...

Needed it, since DNS has issues (worst of all being largely MOSTLY unpatched vs. the Kaminsky redirect poisoning bug for 1/2 a decade++ now mostly worldwide & worst of all, @ the ISP level):

---

5 years after major DNS flaw is discovered, few US companies have deployed long-term fix (vs. Kaminsky Bug above...):

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/012913-dnssec-266197.html?page=3

---

Which custom hosts files actually SECURE against it by using hardcoded favorites reverse DNS resolved vs. the in arpa addr 'tld' that houses that info

Microsoft has strong ties to Burson Marsteller and uses them to manage social media marketing.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow described B-M as follows in August 2012:

"Who's Burson-Marsteller? Well, let me put it this way -- when Blackwater killed those 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, they called Burson-Marsteller. When there was a nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island, Bobcock & Wilcox, who built that plant, called Burson-Marsteller.

        "[After the] Bhopal chemical disaster that killed thousands of people in India, Union Carbide called Burson-Marsteller. Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu -- Burson-Marsteller. The government of Saudi Arabia, three days after 9/11 -- Burson-Marsteller.

        "The military junta that overthrew the government of Argentina in 1976, the generals dialed Burson-Marsteller. The government of Indonesia, accused of genocide in East Timor, Burson-Marsteller.

        "The government of Nigeria, accused of genocide in Biafra, Burson- Marsteller. Philip Morris, Burson-Marsteller. Silicone breast implants, Burson-Marsteller. The government of Columbia trying to make all those dead union organizers not getting in the way of the new trade deal, they called Burson-Marsteller.

        "Do you remember Aqua Dots? Little toy beads coded with something that turned into to date rape drug when kids put the beads in their mouths and all these kids ended up in comas? Yes, even the date rape Aqua Dots people called Burson-Marsteller.

        "When evil needs public relations, evil has Burson-Marsteller on speed dial. That`s why it was creepy that Hillary Clinton`s pollster and chief strategist in her presidential campaign was Mark Penn, CEO of Burson- Marsteller."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/sep/23/money.digitalmedia

They use other organizations as well.

Much of my work for Microsoft does indeed speak to advertising fraud. Microsoft must make sure Bing doesn’t show ads for scams, that fraudsters don’t use the Microsoft DRIVEpm ad network, that Windows Defender properly detects spyware/adware, etc. I’ve worked with Microsoft on these kinds of matters.

Ben Edelman

No, no, no, you let your tedious "DBAs" think they're right and do all that "normalization" and "tuning" shit they keep yammering on about (whatevs), then get the new shiny so you can blob the whole fucker up and never have to worry about anything but said "SELECT * FROM FOO." It's great because our developers no longer have to talk to our DBAs about "optimizing" all that dynamic SQL our webforms were generating. The DBAs are now screaming about resource utilization, but, HELLO, they're the ones who insisted on building all those freakin tables in the first place when everyone knows you just need one to throw in all the XML. Idiots.

Office 2010 has it: http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/word-help/save-as-pdf-HA010354239.aspx#BM11

--Back in the day when Win7 SP1 came out, I read up on user experiences - and various people were posting things like SP1 slowed down their system, and did not offer any significant features as a worthwhile reason to update to it.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/17982/windows_7_service_pack_1_dont_install_it_yet

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/windows-7-service-pack-1-made-my-computer-slow/0d8d1373-4267-44ef-970d-39b0349748a9

--Even now, I would ONLY install SP1 after making a full system-image backup.

You need to stop blaming Windows and/or the GPU vendor and troubleshoot your system. My GPU has reset precisely zero times when playing BF3, over a total of about 107 hours. I have seen GPU resets on my system on rare occasion, generally with broken software, but never in BF3 and I have more than a bit of testing with it.

You have something wrong on your system, you should figure out what.

I'm not saying there's nothing is wrong with my system. I can say we have
different systems I built mine not sure yours, but they are different.

This GPU reset I refer to is intentional and part of a program called a "Windows user experience"
"Windows User Experience Guidelines" http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=4249 (PDF)

The GPU reset is explained here in more detail."Timeout Detection and Recovery of GPUs through WDDM"
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/gg487368.aspx

Nope sorry it's a windows feature since vista, I just disable it.

You need to stop blaming Windows and/or the GPU vendor and troubleshoot your system. My GPU has reset precisely zero times when playing BF3, over a total of about 107 hours. I have seen GPU resets on my system on rare occasion, generally with broken software, but never in BF3 and I have more than a bit of testing with it.

You have something wrong on your system, you should figure out what.

I'm not saying there's nothing is wrong with my system. I can say we have
different systems I built mine not sure yours, but they are different.

This GPU reset I refer to is intentional and part of a program called a "Windows user experience"
"Windows User Experience Guidelines" http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=4249 (PDF)

The GPU reset is explained here in more detail."Timeout Detection and Recovery of GPUs through WDDM"
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/gg487368.aspx

Nope sorry it's a windows feature since vista, I just disable it.

IE would crash when visiting http://www.microsoft.com/ with startling regularity!

When the other browsers came out, they ended up in the 'renders like Netscape' category and only IE was in the 'renders like IE' category.

There was never a compatibility speedbump migrating from Navigator to Firefox like there was going from IE6 to IE7.

So one feature less in one incremental version

So, if I remove the stick shift in a car when moving to a tiptronic version, I have removed a feature? Are you on drugs? A change is not the same as a feature drop, if you can do the same (launch an application) it is a change. If you could no longer launch apps it would be a feature drop. Basically what you are saying is that when a number of companies moved the "Options" menu from the "Edit" menu to the "Windows" menu (or the other way around) the dropped a feature. Try again.

{windows+R}vn -> gives an error

It's interesting to hear. Are you sure you are using a computer? Running Windows? Windows+R has worked since Windows 95 at least. Are you sure you were not trying to do something with one of those things in your wall where the light comes in? I was talking about the Windows Operating System on your computer.

you have to lie about windows+R being a replacement to save your face

No lies. Remember, to operate a computer you need something called a keyboard. There are keys on it that you can press, some of them give meaning when you press two or more keys together. So, when I say the Windows key, I mean the key with what looks like a little flag on it. It wasn't the idea that you should press the "w", "i", "n", "d", "o", "w" (don't know how you'd press and hold it twice) and "s" keys and then hit the "r" key. I don't know if I can explain it to you, but if you can find an adult, they should be able to. There is even a place on what is called the Internet where you can learn all the different "shortcut" keys for this particular operating system.

Please note, to use the Windows+R key you need to know the exact name of your application. If you want to use a more "fuzzy" search, you'll have to use the Windows+F key combination. Another combination that has been available since Windows 95.

ehhhhh..... You can add a MacBook to the domain and install Outlook on it.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/outlook

Group Policy even works.

It does more than I would ever need it to. Honestly... it has too much. So I don't see how there's even a market anymore for Microsoft Office, cloud or not.

Microsoft positions the MS Office suite as part of an integrated office system that scales to an enterprise of any size. with solutions for the client, the server and the web.

Microsoft Office 365 for Health Organizations

It's a given that the small business accounting program and any other productivity app or resource the clerical worker or professional needs will integrate smoothly into the MS Office environment.

The reason you put up with the hoop jumping is because the overall gain in cleanliness and layout of the UI dominates the very rare occurance of wanting to see this information.

Perhaps it's because I'm a geek, but I disagree that it's a "very rare occurrence". Say the progress dialog has a show/hide button to show or hide this tail display, placed next to the random number generator labeled "estimate of remaining time". How exactly does removing this show/hide button produce an overwhelming "overall gain in cleanliness and layout of the UI"? What it does is provide an incentive to keep the "estimated remaining time" honest.

Even if the ETAs are increasing rather than decreasing because of the slowdowns you mention, they will still be reassured that the process hasn't frozen.

If a time remaining display ends up fluctuating between (say) 1 minute and 1 hour depending on what step the process is on, the user gets the impression that the estimation is uselessly inaccurate. In this case, showing the title of the current step assures the user that the time remaining display isn't just wired up to display random numbers to placate the user.

Ideally, the program would write a log file containing the title and completion timestamp of each step, and it would send that log file to the developer to help improve the estimation in the next version. But I imagine that a lot of users aren't willing to enable that out of phobia against applications that "phone home". Do you check the "Customer Experience Improvement Program" box (or other publishers' counterparts) when you install software? Showing the title of the current step gives the user something to talk about in reviews even if the user chooses not to share the log file, as a form of indirect customer feedback.

The actually used "low-tier" editions don't explicitly forbid it (I don't know about the 3rd-world editions). Even Windows 7 Home Basic allows virtualization explicitly. Of course you need one license per VM, and one for the host.

Microsoft still has the multi PC license for home that includes cloud services: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/home-premium/
They also offer a 1PC version: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/home-and-student/

I also doubt they are going to give you much trouble about moving the 1PC version a sane number of times.

Microsoft still has the multi PC license for home that includes cloud services: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/home-premium/
They also offer a 1PC version: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/home-and-student/

I also doubt they are going to give you much trouble about moving the 1PC version a sane number of times.

Isn't the official release already out?

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/

Must be imagining this then: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3/ "By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able to open, edit, and save files using the file formats in newer versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint . "

Microsoft's Home Use Program makes Office Pro a $10 download for many users.

The price goes up a little (and you'll likely be paying S&H on the media) if your employer has you based in some god forsaken outpost like the Pitcairn Islands.

Office 365 University is $80 for a four year subscription and two seat license. You'll need student ID but this is not the same product and dirt-cheap academic pricing you'll get from the campus-wide agreement.

Microsoft positions the MS Office suite as part of an office system that scales to an enterprise of any size and integrates solutions for the client, server and the web. Microsoft Office 365 for Health Organizations

It's a given that your home or small business accounting program will integrate with Office. The same can be said for any "productivity" app or resource you could name. If you are using MS Office at home it is because it is one of the standard tools of your trade or profession.

The main issue is control inputs. Windows doesn't support more than one mouse input

For one thing, Windows since Windows XP has offered the Raw Input API. Rag Doll Kung Fu anyone? For another, Windows since Windows 98 has offered support for multiple gamepads through DirectInput and later XInput. Gamepad users could use the control bindings for the existing port of Minecraft to Xbox 360.

A more relevent subject for discussion is how the thieves got hold of your 'banking passwords` in the first place.

Here is the list of all Win32 API functions available in Windows Store apps.

If you seriously think that it's anywhere even close to 80% of the entire Win32 API surface, you haven't written many (any?) Win32 apps.

Windows 7 on the other hand has not changed from Windows Vista in terms of Win32 application development. What works on one more than likely will work on the other.

Most of the C++ library for Windows is version-independent and distributed separately from the OS.

For instance, here's the Visual Studio 2012 runtime library update 1.

Since Windows XP is still supported by MS, the VS2k12 C++ runtime library still supports it.

> there are companies out there whose sole purpose in life is not to screw you over.

I think you might find this study interesting:
"THE INFLUENCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE ON SOFTWARE QUALITY: AN EMPIRICAL CASE STUDY":
http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/70535/tr-2008-11.pdf

Summary: organizational distance between employees is best known way to predict bugs in a software project. It is even better than code coverage, complexity or pre-release bugs. In best case scenario all employees work for the same boss and you get best quality. In worst case scenario they work for different companies and you get the worst quality.

I'm not getting one thing - why would they need all versions of .NET - aren't they all compatible?

No. AFAIK from a program perspective each version of .NET is independent. I know for certain that .NET 3.0 and .NET 4.0 must both be present on an XP system to run applications compiled against 3.0 and 4.0 respectively. You can see that React themselves are tracking the different frameworks as separate sub-projects: http://www.reactos.org/compat/?show=entry&id=646

Oh, and as far as Networking goes, support only IPv6 initially, and let IPv4 support be a separate addon program later - if needed. For both OSs

I'm all in favor of IPv6 migration. But many Win7 and certainly many XP applications are IPv4 only. v4 vs. v6 isn't the problem though between Win7 and XP. XP had a fairly basic networking stack. Win 7 has a networking stack with many layers of complexity each with their own API and the capabilities for self and programatic adjustments which are truly impressive http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/network/bb545475.aspx

___

The reason I'm arguing for the same time, is that mostly we are looking at subsets in terms of technology. There isn't much that's thrown away and each step builds on the previous replacing simple systems with vastly more complex systems. But even if that weren't the case, Win 7 includes compatibility modes, and many of them. So for example programs can make use of Win95/WinMe compatibility subsystem. And then quite literally you need to a have a functioning DOS for Win 7 application compatibility since some Win 7 applications still have parts that use emulated DOS.

____

The only thing ReactOS has going for them is the huge number of people still using XP and thus the huge number of applications that don't want to walk away from XP compatibility. The problem is more and more those XP users are people who just don't buy software at all. Once the developers move away from XP the desire to support Win8 is going to push them towards later versions of the .NET framework and ReactOS is going to be a system for legacy support.

That's not bad, but it ain't a threat to Microsoft.

Microsoft also works on micro-kernel. Sources are available. http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/singularity/ Strong-typed drivers? Yes, please.

Your suggestion is a good idea to avoid this code being copied to another platform and breaking there. Microsoft does specify what happens here though, and the program as written does the right thing. Both char and unsigned char casts get "Preserve low-order byte" when you start with a larger integer.

Mandatory. On non-ARM systems, the platform MUST implement the ability for a physically present user to select between two Secure Boot modes in firmware setup: "Custom" and "Standard". Custom Mode allows for more flexibility as specified in the following: It shall be possible for a physically present user to use the Custom Mode firmware setup option to modify the contents of the Secure Boot signature databases and the PK. This may be implemented by simply providing the option to clear all Secure Boot databases (PK, KEK, db, dbx), which puts the system into setup mode.

Separately (Para.18):

Mandatory. Enable/Disable Secure Boot. On non-ARM systems, it is required to implement the ability to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup. A physically present user must be allowed to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup without possession of PKpriv.

At least, I assume that is the prevailing attitude on Slashdot these days? Let's see:

IE Patch to Fix 57 Vulnerabilities
No, as per the linked Security Bulletin Advance Notification a total of 57 vulnerabilities are being fixed across Windows, Internet Explorer, Office & the .NET Framework. There are not 57 vulnerabilities exclusively in Internet Explorer as the title suggests. We can likely further expect certain vulnerabilities to only be applicable to certain versions of Internet Explorer once the full details are available.

Microsoft is advising users to stick with other browsers until Tuesday
Source?

...when 57 patches for Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9, and even 10 are scheduled.
No, as noted above, the vulnerabilities are across a variety of products. Further, 13 "patches" (aka. updates or bulletins if you prefer) are being released as multiple vulnerabilities are often patched in a single update. As per the linked bulletin, there are two bulletin's being released for Internet Explorer, which would typically result in two updates for Internet Explorer for a given Windows installation. Of course, there'll be many different updates released for different versions of IE and architectures (ie. 32-bit/64-bit/etc...) but a given Windows installation shouldn't have more than two applicable to it.

No word on whether IE 10 will be included as part of the 57 updates.
Apart from the explicit reference to Internet Explorer 10 being affected by at least some of these vulnerabilities in the linked MS Advance Notification? Have you tried reading the very articles you post? I'm reliably informed it helps comprehension.

Are the editors trying to set a new record for inaccuracies within a small paragraph of text?

Not being able to actually uninstall your POS

Even Microsoft admits that its software is a POS.

But seriously, I've rescued several failed Windows PCs by replacing the OS with Ubuntu. Retraining casual users from Windows to Xubuntu isn't as hard as some people claim.

Oh, and they do target ads based on the subject line of the email. But that's a completely different thing.

Has anyone looked at the Privacy link at the bottom of the login screen for outlook.com?

http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/default.mspx

Quoting here: "Uses of Information: Additional Details
  We use the information we collect to provide the services you request. Our services may include the display of personalized content and advertising.
  We use your information to inform you of other products or services offered by Microsoft and its affiliates, and to send you relevant survey invitations related to Microsoft services.
  We do not sell, rent, or lease our customer lists to third parties. In order to help provide our services, we occasionally provide information to other companies that work on our behalf."

So they can personalize content and advertising, send you offers, and provide it to other companies.

s/Google Mail/outlook.com/ and the claims appear to be the same.

http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/default.mspx

I laughed when I read that. Its linked to in the bottom right hand corner of scroogled.com

Basically it says...

Uses of Information
Additional Details
        We use the information we collect to provide the services you request. Our services may include the display of personalized content and advertising.

"Microsoft's PR department has started a campaign to convince Gmail users that Google reads your personal emails, referring to Google's automated method of scanning emails for keywords to generate supposedly relevant advertising".

Exactly the same way that Windows Live Hotmail does it ...

"We use your information to inform you of other products or services offered by Microsoft and its affiliates, and to send you relevant survey invitations related to Microsoft services." link