Slashdot Mirror
Big Brother Lifetime Award Goes To Microsoft
D4C5CE writes "Microsoft's ceaseless "success" in bringing instability, insecurity and
breaches of privacy as well as a deplorable lack of open standards to
almost Every Desktop on Earth has now earned them an "Oscar" for Data
Leeches, the Lifetime Award for
"outstanding mis-achievement" from the BigBrotherAwards 2002
in Germany. Microsoft's
Data Protection Officer actually attended the ceremony to collect the
prize (probably delighted that unlike the "laureates"
of last year's event in Austria, at least he would not receive live
cockroaches), and this unlucky winner took the opportunity to make some critical
remarks on the company's communications regarding the Windows
Media Player and Digital Restrictions (or, euphemistically, in his words: Rights) Management technologies which he deemed crucial for modern
business models, rather than acknowledging that it's in fact not just the advertising but the approach itself which is fundamentally flawed."
iWANTED FIRST POST
that's about right...
can you say troll?
news for trolls, flamebait that matters. this article is nothing more than a well-crafted troll
Get out the tin-foil, it's getting deep around here.
I love it... another article that's a troll: "instability". By checking out the links, it doesn't look like they have anything at all to do with stability. On top of that, anyone's who's been awake in the past 2-3 years knows that W2K is incredibly stable.
Bad articles are one things, but blatant trolls are another. Who keeps approving these things?
microsoft sends a representative to something that's making fun of them?
track7.org has all kinds of interesting stuff!
The post sounds like a propoganda against Microsoft, which totally decreases its own value rather than Microsoft's. I am not even sure whether there was such an event or not.
Funny that these awards were held in Germany. Big Brother himself practically lives there. Germans are constantly spied upon by their own government! Add that to the fact that they have no free speech rights (just try to start a pro-nazi site or even sell nazi memorabilia) and you've got a pretty un-free state. The award should have gone to their own government rather than M$.
I don't read German....but this looked funny..... Translation
You keep going until you die..."Me".
It was a close match between Apple Faguar and Gaynu/linux, but Apple won thanks to mac porn. All linux could come up with was this
Big bread ago Microsoft [ update ]
/c't)
With the award of the Lifetime Award and the main price Microsoft is the clear winner of the Big of this year bread ago Award . The annually lent price for ignoring the data security was issued to the German address of Microsoft and should actually be lent Kurt Sibold. Instead of its the commisioner for data protection of Microsoft, Sascha Hanke, to Bielefeld came and took the price personally in receipt, a new fact in the history of the German Big bread ago Award. "we are not pleased of the jury" over the price, accept however the judgement, avowed Hanke. "for us the price shows that communication did not run over the function mode of the Windows Media Player and the function digitally of the Rights management optimally." Hanke stressed that it did not have new business models a chance without a system for the protection of digital media. "Microsoft is obligated to give to the Multimedia industry a solid basis on which it can prosper", to avowed Hanke opposite heise on-line. To Bielefeld it drove voluntarily, because each opportunity must be used to illuminate the position from Microsoft to.
In its Laudatio on the main winner jury member explained Patrick Goltzsch ( FITUG ) that Microsoft equal for several products "and consistent ignoring of standards" get the price. Begun with the on-line registration of Windows 98 over license control of the eBook reader up to the update politics of the Windows Media Player Microsoft everything did for the fact that from the general-purpose PC a copyright policeman becomes. At present only the DRM concept palladium recognizable in outlines is only the coronation/culmination. "Microsoft gave to us unstable operating systems, for an abundance at viruses the soil prepared and for a lack of standards provided. And now the users with the introduction are to be finally taken by DRM to the Gaengelband. That is price worthy."
To the Big of this year Award came bread ago about 100 useful suggestions, by which 8 was praemiert by the jury. To the long list of those, which went out empty, but with a "praising" mention, counted companies were considered nevertheless like Robert Bosch AG (for new monitoring technology), financial establishments like the Frankfurt savings bank of 1822 and those Hamburg Haspa (for unreasonable on-line trading conditions).
Also Juergen Buessow , the head of the provincial government von Duesseldorf, went out empty. But his colleague Fritz Behrens, Minister of the Interior von Nordrhein-Westfalen was honoured, with the "restaurant price". Behrens received the price also -- that is a new fact -- for the Herbeiluegen of successes. In a letter for video monitoring Behrens had stated the camera monitoring of the Ravensburger park in Bielefeld as proof for the success of such measures. As Laudator explained padeluun from the Foebud, the criminality took in the park before installation of the cameras, off simply because the park for the Expo was prepared. The Bielefelder example is suited in no case for a respectable evaluation. The fact that this from North-Rhine/Westphalia Minister of the Interior with wrong numbers overacted deficiency also the German authorities admits is shows an explanation, the Brandenburgi Minister of the Interior Joerg Schoenbohm let which spread. It started those few days ago country widely first long-term study to the "video protection", in which the data of different monitoring installations of the German Federal Republic are coordinated evaluated by the professional school of the police Brandenburg .
In the category "communication" was little surprisingly from the Upper House of Parliament adopted "externally stored data storage" of connecting data by the TK Provider of the receivers of the price. Which was meant for accounting purposes so far only, develop with the initiative of the Upper House of Parliament to a veritablen monitoring instance. Laudator Rolf Goessner pointed out that in the course of the Danish European Union presidency by the conservative Danish government a still far handing step was planned, externally stored data storage not only as right to fix but as obligation of all Provider. Goessner gave the speech in agency of the schleswig holsteinischen data-security commissioner Thilo Weichert, which was stuck on way of a conference of all German data-security commissioners to Trier in the back-up. Weichert reached Bielefeld briefly before end of the meeting, in order to be able to communicate to the applaudierenden participants that the German data-security commissioners in a resolution reject supply storage as unconstitutional. "the times become more rauer. It is to be seen clear that the winners of this year earned the Big bread ago Award more strongly than the winners of the last yearly ", summarized Weichert its impression.
For the attempt to approve the so-called raster search also without judicial resolution and without concrete danger situation the hessian Minister of the Interior Volker Bouffier received the Award in the category "politics". Before 25 years the negative raster search practiced for the first time works with the data of all citizens, who are sieved until the bad ones are separate from the good ones. Such a comprehensive method should be permitted so far only in special danger situations and with judicial permission. The hessian Minister of the Interior kept the price representative of the attempts of all Ministers of the Interior to make the raster search a normal search. The methods of the investigators played also in the category "authorities and administration" a price-worthy role. The Federal Criminal Investigation Office Wiesbaden received the price in this section for its effort, the group files LIMO (force author left), to lead REMO (force author of right) and AUMO (politically motivated foreigner criminality). These files do not store yet remarkable persons become, from whom it is to be assumed that they could commit in the future criminal offences. Which today like an anticipated Minority report constitutes itself, by the Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigations it is internationally sent away and is to have been causally responsible for the fact that to the G-8-Gipfel to Genova travelers persons were suddenly refused in the year 2001 as "police well-known" the departure from Germany.
Also in the category technology went the Big to Award bread ago into the future: The coming system of the truck duty , which is installed shortly country widely by the citizens of Berlin company TollCollect, proved according to opinion of the jury as price worthy. The increasing trend to subcontractors in the forwarding trade with only one truck would run out on it that not the settlement dates, but actually transaction data of a driver were seized, so the reason. Like the Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigations, then the Laudator prognosticated franc rose-refined from the CCC: "we foresee that the motorway toll is introduced also for passenger vehicles and the massive processing of transaction data comes." More convincingly there the winners were in the categories "working sphere" and "consumer protection", formerly led as "Business and finances". Of companies such as DaimlerChrysler, Bosch, BASF and most kept those representative to Bavarian AG the price for practice to submit applicants to a drug test. Thus the enterprises hardly received usable data, but communicated to the beginner, "you no secrets before us will have", to avowed Laudatorin Rena tangent. Load and emergency leases can the German post office about a Big Award be pleased bread ago, because their practice of the application to forward mail leads to the fact that address data can be used better ever by address dealers.
By the Big bread ago Awards is to become after the will of the organizers "the abstract topic data security interesting and public effective". Circumstances, which were connected with data security and the "Datenkraken", became "descriptive and generally understandable" because of the concrete examples, which supplied the prices. In the past year the main price went at Federals Minister of the Interior Otto Schily.
In Austria the Big is lent bread ago Award on Saturday, in Switzerland on Tuesday coming week. For the first time the Big Brother price was lent on 26 October 1998 in London. In the meantime it is lent annually in nine countries to those, which made themselves "earned" around the injury of the privatsphaere at most. In some countries also positive prices lent to those, which used themselves at the strongest for retaining the privatsphaere -- in Spain the German data security initiative stop 1984 received straight such a positive price .
The jury from Foebud (association for the promotion of the public moved and motionless data traffic e.V.), chaos computer club ( CCC ), German federation for data security ( DVD ), which FifF and the promotion association information technology and society (FITUG) distinguished alternative computer scientist federation as "Protagonisten of the monitoring company" and with it a winner of the BigBrotherAwards in Germany in detail:
Microsoft receives the Lifetime Award "because of the summation of Privacy problems over many years." This price is at the same time the main price of the Big bread ago Awards of the yearly 2002 "particularly for earnings/services during the surface covering introduction of control technology for copyrights: Digitally Rights management ".
Bavarian receives bread ago Award in the category " working sphere" to the Big for "their humiliating practice to submit training before the attitude to a Drogenscreening in such a way specified".
Fritz Behrens , Minister of the Interior of the country North Rhine-Westphalia, receives the regional price "for his attempt to launch in obscure way a novella of the police regulation of the country North-Rhine/Westphalia with video and/or camera-supported monitoring the oe *** TRANSLATION ENDS HERE ***ffentlicher Plä tze im Bundesland m ö glich werden sollen".
Die Deutsche Post erh ä lt den Preis in der Kategorie "Verbraucherschutz" "wegen ihres datenschutzwidrigen Umgangs mit Adressangaben aus den Post-Nachsendeantr ä gen".
Volker Bouffier , Hessischen Innenminister, erh ä lt den Big Brother Award in der Kategorie "Politik" , da das Innenministerium "unter der Leitung von Herrn Bouffier eine Polizeirechtsnovelle zu verantworten [hat], mit der die Voraussetzungen zur Rasterfahndung erheblich herabgesetzt wurden".
Der Deutsche Bundesrat erh ä lt die Auszeichnung in der Kategorie "Kommunikation" "f ü r seinen Beschluss, Telekommunikations(dienste)anbieter zu verpflichten, die Verbindungsdaten von Nutzenden f ü r eine nicht festgelegte Dauer f ü r Zwecke von Polizei und Geheimdiensten auf Vorrat zu speichern".
Die Toll Collect GmbH erh ä lt den Big Brother Award in der Kategorie "Technik , "da mit der satellitengest ü tzten Erhebung und zentralen Verarbeitung der Bewegungsdaten von Kraftfahrzeugen eine neue Dimension der Beobachtung von Verkehrsteilnehmern m ö glich wird".
Das Bundeskriminalamt erh ä lt den Preis in der Kategorie "Beh ö rden und Verwaltung" , "weil das Amt seit 2001 im Zusammenhang mit drei neu eingerichteten Pr ä ventiv-Dateien gegen das informationelle Selbstbestimmungsrecht der darin erfassten Personen verst ö ß t".
Zu den BigBrotherAwards in Deutschland siehe auch:
Preis f ü r Datenkraken in Telepolis.
( Detlef Borchers ) / ( jk
not. jeezus, is the weekend the time when slashdot just goes to utter shit?
Holy fuck, I sure am bored today. How about you suck my cock?
Whatever you think of what he (?) said, that Sascha Hanke has a lot of balls!
Wanted: One witty yet thought provoking
I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Michael's ceaseless "success" in bringing instability, insecurity and breaches of journalistic integrity as well as a deplorable lack of standards to almost Every Desktop on Earth has now earned them an "Ogre" for Pointlessness, the Lifetime Award for "outstanding mis-achievement" from the BigOgreAwards 2002 in Germany. The site's Hype Perpetutation Officer actually attended the ceremony to collect his prize (probably delighted that unlike the "laureates" of last year's event in Austria, at least he would not receive live cockroaches), and this unlucky winner took the opportunity to make some critical remarks on Microsoft's communications regarding the Windows Media Player and Digital Restrictions (or, euphemistically, in his words: Rape) Management technologies which he deemed crucial for open-source business models, rather than acknowledging that in fact it's not just the desktop that sucks in Linux but that the approach itself is fundamentally flawed."
Why read a lousy Google/Altavista translation, when the site has an English version?
Like Digital Freedoms? Then donate to EFF before they're gone.
It has always seemed to me that it's the outdated business models that DRM is meant to protect.
We've probably reached the point at which our considering of MS as the new evil empire may backfire right in our face, as it becomes a good source of advertisement and brand recog.
Do not forget, if you criticize someone, then you're talking about that someone. If you talk enough about that someone, he won't even need PR reps to have a recognized name (or a "brand image" as they say).
Karma cannot be described by words alone.
Six months in front and nine behind: adj. Physical unsightliness due to the tragic combination of morbid obesity and misproportion (alluding to the visual similarity to a gravid female); Very dumpy
"Girl, you know Albert be wantin' to bump uglies wit' you like a wild dog!"
"I know, and he nice and all, but he got six months in front and nine behind. Should I hit it wit' him?"
"You go girl, mo' cushin' fo' de pushin'!!"
ROTFLMAO
Leave it to a translation software to translate the English word brother used in a German text as bread ago.
It makes sense. They probably thought it was Brot her. Which could be translated as bread (=Brot) ago (=her), but just as well as gimmi (=her) bread.
***Quis custodiet ipsos custodes***
For you, Win2K may be good. For me, it sucks.
Windows is getting more stable all the time. However, an improvement from 0.01 acceptable to 0.5 acceptable isn't going to impress anyone, even if it's a 50-fold improvement.
You conveniently chose to ignore the other two points, namely:
I choose to remain celibate, like my father and his father before him.
that the BigBrotherAwards2002 was put out in Germany? I have nothing against the country especially with german heritige, but they do have one of the more repressive societies in the western world. Lacking in key area's of freedom of expression and in control of diffrent forms of media. Examples include Press, games, and radio.
They did the same thing when slashdot and others tried the Refund trick a few years ago as documented in the fine film 'Revolution OS'. They had a table with free coffee and a banner that read 'Microsoft welcomes the Open Source community' (or some such thing). The Theory is very sound, if you duck an issue you get pissed off people, if you at least greet a attack with some grace it defuses the force of the argument. It's social aikido. You just can't punch out someone who offers you coffee....
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
We love you!
Anyone else read the title and think this was about the women's cable network station Lifetime? I was like, "What are they doing giving a big brother award to Microsoft?", but then my brain was like fart, fart, fart, fart and it totally derailed my train of thought. I had to think up something new about this article and but I did it fast and it wasn't as good... It was kinda, a bummer.
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Obviously in some kinda outer-space moon language or maybe some bastardization of pig-latin. Does someone have the original article before it was h4x0r3d?
He loved Microsoft.
Microsoft wants people to be able to purchase movies online. The spread of Gnutella, Kazaa and the rest has ensured that anyone who attempts to start a busniess model doing this will be immediately undercut by a bunch of pirates who have never created anything in their lives.
DRM is the solution to this problem. Not only that, but DRM solvees this problem without adding any extra problems. Even existing pirated media still works. It does not restrict you in any way that the user does not agree to. If the user totally objects to all the limitations, then he is free not to download a movie.
The problem most definitely was the advertising, or lack thereof. By hiding it in this way, MS imply that there is something fundamentally underhand about their technology.
I thought bashing MS was phase newb-h4x0r go through then get over?
Here's business 101.
If MS windows were not a desirable product why would so many people use it?
Hint: You may blame their shady practices but when it boils down to it people [e.g. the mass horde of end users] just like simple point and click setups. As further proof consider KDE, Gnome and all the other WM out there...
And since when is this news? So what? Some dork l33t-dudez thinks that giving a dis-award to MS will prove a point? How about they post decorating patterns for their parents basement. Seems like they'd know alot about that too!
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Heh.
Can you say (-1, Flamebait), kids?
I knew you could.
Funny how we never see stories like this about Linux.
slashdot!=valid HTML
It's like we love you, like.
What good can possible come from such a negative event? This is just childish slander. Lets try to be more constructive in our criticisms and make a good name for ourselves (I mean linux advocates when I say ourselves) instead of spouting this silly nonsense.
"However, an improvement from 0.01 acceptable to 0.5 acceptable isn't going to impress anyone, even if it's a 50-fold improvement. "
r es s_releases/USBank-release.html
Is this sort of like the reporting that Linux has gone from 1 user to 50 users, representing a 5000% increase in marketshare?
"Insecurity. Sure, MS is currently putting lots of money into securing all their products, but the only reason this huge drive was nesescary is that most any MS product is shock-full of security holes! "
Of course the sad fact is... all software is shock-full of security holes. Only Microsoft seems to be receiving criticism for it, and so they are doing something about it.
"Breaches of privacy. MS is all for BoP! Hell, that's their middle name! They do everything they can to screw over their customers any way they can! "
This is where this gets strange. There have been lot's of accusations over the years. Ever since the Win95 beta asked to send information about your system during the registration process. But there's never been any proof that Microsoft has violated any consumer privacy. Rather they seem to do their utmost to insure that they are not collected personal information. Even the Windows XP activation does not require you to register the product with your name/address.
Microsoft is one of the few companies I've ever given my address to that has not turned around and sold it to someone else. One of the advantages of giving slight variations on your address when registering or subscribing.
There's plenty of real examples of companies that violate privacy... Just read the news.
http://www.state.ia.us/government/ag/consumer/p
It just seems a shame to attack a company for trying to do the right thing, while ignoring companies who are flagarant violators. It dilutes your entire argument.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Look, making fun of Microsoft is like hating the Yankees. You can't call yourself a baseball fan if you don't live in New York but still like the Yankees. Just saying "They have to be the best, they win all the time, that's why I like them" makes you sound like a twit.
Similarly, statements like "if windows was so bad, then why do so many people choose to use it" doesn't contribute anything to the discussion, and just shows that you're trying to justify your existance in some way or another, and supporting a winning team seems to do it for you. But I'm not here to judge.
___
Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
They do really evil stuff now, when things are still going very well for the company.
You ain't seen nothing. Just wait until they get desperate.
I wish I were kidding.
I think Windows is largely a desktop OS, regardless of any "Professional" labels MS choose to put on them. Remember that a "profesional" user is far too often someone who knows how to use MS Office and Outlook with zero security awareness.
:-)
And for a desktop OS, Windows XP is sure stable and secure enough for me. Sometimes I have to wonder if an easy-to-use OS makes people lazy and don't care about firewalls, anti-virus software and other obvious security software that are necessary today, especially if you're going to use an Operating System that's by far the most common on the market. Microsoft's responsibility isn't to provide security to prevent us from spreading trojans. Only education can do that.
But don't get me wrong -- I blame MS if they don't have a patch ready before a virus/trojan/whatever is released. But, to use Bugbear as an example, if a patch is released a year ago and someone didn't care to download it, is it then Microsoft's responisiblity to foresee the problem and have a fix when Windows 2000 went retail or the user's responsibility to keep up to date with security patches?
I guess it all boils down to the fact that we're all human... Since Microsoft has a hard time to keep up with exploits from a huge amount of potential hackers due to the OS' wide-spread use and the end users for not keeping up with security software and patches. Perhaps Windows would be much better of as Open Source since it would help with a larger programmer base, but that's of course impossible as long as Bill Gates has something to say.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Looks like they are dissing 'The Tick' This was attached to MS defiles NYC with with killer-bee adverts Guys it's THE TICK. So pour me another cup of hot steaming Justice!
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
Me fail English? That unpossible!
Wrong. I work in the MS kernel development world - I have to in order to earn a living, because MS owns the market. I don't dislike MS because I love Linux. I dislike them because of they use brute force tactics and marketing muscle to shove their mediocre product down everyone's throat instead of concentrating on their efforts on producing products of technical superiority.
However I have never seen a linux kernel panic before and do not even know what they look like. I have used linux for 3 years now. I am aware the recent 2.4x series is not as stable as earlier version or other unixies but I use linux as a workstation and not a server.
Now before we state that ms is finally getitng it, I would like to mention how many years it took for ms to make a good industrial OS. Take a wild guess? 2 years? 5 years? 10 years ? 15 years?
Microsoft began NT work with os/2 back in 1985. They invented the early win32api's in windows386 which was later supposed to be added to os/2. IT wasn't untill 1988 when they hired David Cutley that they officially began what is now NT. This is after ms decided to dump os/2. It took 11 years to make it server ready! Thats right! 1988-1999 when w2k came out! Lets see where linux came in 11 years or how long it took Bell labs to make Unix ready for the mini market? The 2.0 kernel was the first server ready kernel. I admit the smp sucked and some of the features might of been lacking but it was stable, 24x7 ready, and fully posix compliant for server use back in 1996. It took linux 5 years. It probably would of been quicker if Linus decided to make seperate stable and development branches earlier. Now lets look at unix. I believe the first commercial versions came out in the mid 1970's if I am correct. 6-7 years before it became 24x7 ready.
My point is that it took ms a decade with full working win32 as well as os/2 code to base work on! I only imagine how long it would take if they had to write NT from scratch without any os/2 code. An admin told me once that the first version of NT would display os/2 errors whenever a problem errupted. Where as in the other projects, all the code was written from scratch. Linus I believe decided to dump all minux code for the first version of linux even though it was used to write it. w2k still needs some work and that is a bad track record. Reward is deserved indeed regardless of how good w2k is currently.
http://saveie6.com/
Want more info? Click here and I'll send it to you
SIR,
I can not click it, for there is NO hyperlink!!!
But I am interested!
Plshlpthx!!!
that's it. I am never coming back to Slashdot again. You guys are so f*ck*ng pathetic. Don't you see how technology will change our lives? We need DRM and things like that to make sure the whole fu**ing system doesn't collapse. It was your damn Open Source insanity that caused stock hysteria to finally loose thousands of people billions of dollars. Red Hat and especially VA Software caused to bubble to burst. All your talk of "free" and you as*shol*s don't even allow people to say "fuck" in your irc channels. Fuck you you fucking strung out coke heads. Leave money and technology where they belong in the hands of the powerful.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
How DRM affects the content of Gnutella or FastTrack depends on how content gets onto those networks in the first place
If a lot of people rip their own content and post it on the networks then making it difficult for the average user to do this could have a significant impact on the content offered on these networks.
If, OTOH, most of the files on the networks have their origins in a small handfull of cracking groups DRM will have no effect. These groups can crack the DRM and post the free versions of the media.
Eventually the media industry groups will realize they will make money and market share by offering a superior user experience and data mining the shit out of their userbase.
If there was a single website/network with the entire RIAA back catalogue available in acceptable quality, clearly labled, easy to find, and easy to use formats (I.E. not proprietary) you could see people flocking to it just for the guarantee that they could find what they were looking for without the hassle of lengthy searches yeilding mislabled mangled tracks and dropped downloads.
They will not be ale to compete by offering inconvenient, limited use, overpriced, restrictive media when someone else is offering the equivalent content in a free format and for a free price. A free format and a low price and a much higher quality user experience and content of a guaranteed level of quality is the only way they will win against the P2P market
they could charge actual cost for the downloads and have the system pay for itself. They could charge the cost of people's conscience (I.E. how much can you charge before the free/illegal option looks more attractive?) and turn a profit on the system alone. But this isn't where you make the money... you make the money on processing all the information about user habits to produce music that you know will be popular.
%PopTart releases an album but only tracks 2 and 5 are being downloaded? Cool, slash your Listening Group budget, and fire your image consultants- you already know what your singles are going to be.
For some strange reason that unpromoted band you signed gets people downloading their tracks in every city they play a concert. Maybe you should put them into heavier rotation nationally?
For some other strange reason this other semi-promoted band is heavily downloaded in Splatsville, IL and Goatshed, WY... maybe we should add those spots to the tour they're planning?
You can sell the service of working the data to the artists and albums. THAT is where the real money comes from... direct 1 of seperation from the buying public and the high quality of trending information possible.
Not that the *AAs will understand any of this. They think of DRM as a way to keep people buying CDs and DVDs.
Simple Machines in Higher Dimensions
misconceptions still abound regarding windows.
2k and XP use a completely different kernel system, so comparing them to 98 and ME as the same thing is a bit foolish. the NT kernel is a much more stable platform, and has been much improved since the NT4 days.
as for product activation i swapped out my motherboard and did not have to reactivate my system. so I really don't see what all the fuss is about.
and also it is worth considering what would happen to the billions in dollars that go to charity every year through microsoft's matching program.
I dont see that many linux companies pouring out like that, unless it is to the EFF or the FSF.
The operation could not be completed.
Access is denied.
There really should be a "-9" checkbox.
"Windows is getting more stable all the time. However, an improvement from 0.01 acceptable to 0.5 acceptable isn't going to impress anyone, even if it's a 50-fold improvement."
It's acceptable when you have an easy to use computer that everything runs on (including hardware).
why do these companies keep forgeting that their business models will prosper if they promote creativity, not restrict it with with all this s**t..
just my thoughts
For the same reason so many people in India drink arsenic tainted wellwater, they feel they have no easy alternative. Public education is the answer here and there. First people need to be made aware of the what they are doing to themselves. Second they need to know alternate sources are available and how to get them. The worse the consequenses the greater the effort should be. For software the alternatives are easy to come by.
Big Brother is just another voice that has recognized how bad M$'s software and licensing has become.
It is apparent that individuals and companies that use M$ trash will suffer. You might enjoy your mail being under the control of others, not being able to listen to anything but RIAA music, spam, continual format purge, and all the other joys of M$ software. Good for you. Others might not.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
...must have been anti-trust law. Assuming that high market share=good products is a pretty dangerous fallacy that big business would very much like you to buy into. You forget anticompetitive business practices and such that keep their market share where it is.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
You've thought about this a lot haven't you.
You're quite right. DRM is not the best solution, but it seems to be the only *AA approved method. The question remains as to whether it will be consumer approved.
I have a few theories about the RIAA. I believe they believe their own dogma that every downloaded file is a lost sale. I believe they assume that downloaders will download even if there's an alternative legitimate source. I believe that they think that people will illegally upload (via gnutella) all the files they download (from the RIAA).
On the whole, I believe that if you sell people something, they're a lot less likely to want to share it, under the assumption that the people who might want it can get it from the same place that you did. Could it be that people only share files because they feel they owe it to the community for all the files they download? It could be the case. If so, then they'll stop sharing when there's another way to download.
But there's a problem here. Or two problems - Risk and monopolies. Monopolies don't take risks. Their competitors do, but competing with the RIAA on their own music is illegal, and most people ar enot interested in a service that only gives obscure bands.
Hell my win98 box can get 112 hours of uptime, that aint shit. I got nix boxes that have been running for 600 plus days.
Got Code?
Read Judge Jackson's Findings of Fact to figure out why.
As for this tripe:
and also it is worth considering what would happen to the billions in dollars that go to charity every year through microsoft's matching program.
I dont see that many linux companies pouring out like that, unless it is to the EFF or the FSF.
You must be some sort of astroturfing M$ whore to spout that crap. You might as well be saying "Hitler was good for Europe. Imagine Europe without Germany's autobahns.". If M$ hadn't spent the better part of the last two decades actively trying to break any and all non-M$ products it's hard to believe we wouldn't have a better selection of computer products to choose from.
Its time for a Free Hardware Foundation....
PENAROL: Seras eterno como el tiempo y floreceras en cada primavera.
Mod this post up!
It is pathetic that people will mod posts down just because they disagree with what the guy is saying.
I lost two days work (5 GB of data) this morning due to a Windows default setting that corrupts backup files.
I wouldn't entrust a grocery list to Windows.
Hey, my linux box has a SAK too!
Does it do the same thing that MS SAK does?
my
I'm in awe.
While my winshit uptime record is only two weeks, I can honestly say that I've had a Linux system on for a year and my primary server was once on for 9 months.
There were not stopped by "Evil Hackers" or "General Protection Faults" but by power-company downtime.
Just for the hell of it, we tried to install winshit 2k on our server while the internet connection was out last year. The installer kept crashing because of a ram incompatibility that a single kernel parameter fixed in Linux!
If you can show me a version of winshit that is at least as stable as Mac OS X 10.2(Jaguar(Jagwire)) I will literally eat the packaging. If you can show me a version as stable as Linux, then I will not only eat the packaging but also pay the @#$@$#ing $300 for the license fee.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
You both inadvertently failed to mention the most important point, namely:
Regardless of how much MS improves its products' stability, insecurity, and disrespect for privacy, it's still a monopoly with an inordinate amount of control. The bottom line is that no one would give a lick if MS weren't a monopoly, because we could all use something else.
Understanding that a "benevolent" dictator is still a dictator is a point that many seem to have forgotten.
On behaf of microsoft, i'd like to accept this award. So many people to thank. First, i'd like to thank the invisible flying monkeys working on windows, tirelessly bloating it and inputing more bugs than ever. We couldn't have done it without you. I'd like to thank Balmer for his bizarre style of dance, for constantly keeping us motivated. And the windows development team, whos tireless dedicatiion to ignoring standards, causing blatant security issues, and not testing their work made this all possible. Here at microsoft we have a motto. "Trustworthless computing." We want to lose your trust. And with awards like these and constant support from the community, we think we can do it. Thank you, and and goodnight!
This is not real. It is just a joke. So don't sue me.
The winners of the austrian BBAs were announced today. For those who care: Microsoft did not win a single one, although they were nominated in two categories. All the awards went to companies and public institutions that invaded the privacy of austrian citizens in a much more direct way than Microsoft is able to.
I do think that giving the award to Microsoft was more of a publicity stunt pulled by the organizers of the german event than anything else. Giving them a "lifetime achievement" for things they will likely do in the future does seem a bit out of place.
The BigBrotherAwards are not totally useless. But at the moment they should mainly operate on a national level and raise awareness of existing intrusions into privacy. I don't know if there is an international version of these awards. If such a thing exists, then two years down the line Microsoft might deserve to be honored, but right now it just is a cheap attempt to get some publicity.
In completely unrelated and off-topic news: I just found out that Richard Harris, among a lot of other achievments known as the actor who played Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films, died today at the age of 72. Bummer.
Hank! White!
Anyone else notice almost every post has an SD advert at the top.
Did anyone else even care to read past the letters SD?
Mj
BoP is MS's middle name? Would that make them MBoPS? Wasn't that an old Hanson song a few years ago...?
Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
You said, "The problem most definitely was the advertising, or lack thereof. By hiding it in this way, MS imply that there is something fundamentally underhand about their technology.".
If there is one thing that I have learned about advertising, it is that when a company makes a major change to a product and then misrepresents that change in its advertising, THE CHANGE IS ALMOST CERTAINLY "FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED"!
Think of Ford Pinto exploding gas tanks! Think of a bank using Windows XP for electronic funds transfer!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
So did the robber barons of the 19th century - in amounts that make Gates look like a suburban household donating to the Girl Scouts.
Carnegie-Mellon University, Vanderbilt University. Hell, at one point old John D. Rockefeller owned something like 2 or 3 percent of the entire United States. These guys make Bill Gates and Microsoft look like "Billy G's Corner Lemonade Stand".
BFD. They still earned their "robber baron" label.
And how much did Enron and Arthur Andersen give to charity? Giving to charity is an irrelevant corporate PR behavior designed to make morons like you spend more for a product. And it's doubly irrelevant when the money is obtained in an illegal manner.
It's not even accurate to call MSFT systems and software unstable or insecure anymore. MSFT has it's focus squarely on security these days. What other OS can say that? Like people running Linux don't get hacked? Gimme a break. The linux/BSD wackos where I work hack each other for fun.
... that lets somebody hack your web interface without you even noticing. Good for you. Glad you like it. I'll keep my Linux, thanks. It's not perfect, but it is better - and I don't have to pay an arm and two legs for false security either. Even BillG says that the security is lacking. Of course his front man, Dancing Monkey Boy, probably wouldn't admit it.
...
And don't get me started on Dell Hell
"A generation which ignores history has no past and no future." -- Robert Heinlein
In what way is f.e. SQLServer 'bad software' ?
You say: "Big Brother is just another voice that has recognized how bad M$'s software and licensing has become."
Now, stop crying and tell me, IN WHAT WAY is SQLServer a bad piece of software and IN WHAT WAY is SQLServer f.e. badly licensed, compared to competitors like DB2 and Oracle ?
Ah... the silence is hurting, isn't it?
If you want to talk about what's bad: the moderation on the reactions to the newsposting. You scoring a +4 on an utterly piece of flamebait with words like 'M$ trash'. A great formulation of a non-biased view on the topic, isn't it?
Never underestimate the relief of true separation of Religion and State.
The only MS product currently filled with holes is Internet Explorer. The rest is patched fairly fast and reliably. Please, give me a list of security holes currently in Windows2000 which can't be patched. I'm sure you have a long list of them, since you say:
"[...]most any MS product is shock-full of security holes! "
Also the BoP issue is well documented on your side I'm sure. Why don't you put up a page where we all can see where the issues are and how MS screws customers over?
Never underestimate the relief of true separation of Religion and State.
"Why not try doing something called research, asshole? I can find this information in seconds using Google!
Obviously you're a clueless newbie who hasn't the slightest idea blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah"
Fresh. And re-installed fresh several times trying various theories.
Check your event viewer, and check the System and Application logs to see which service failed.
Done and done and done many times. No failed services. Nothing useful in logs.
If it's a non-critical one, disable it,
I disabled every service that I possibly could. Disabled every driver (leave it to MS to bury that layers deeper). Removed all non-essential cards. Ran video in VGA with generic MS VGA driver. Before you ask, motherboard on HQL approved list, works fine with NT.
or lookup a solution at http://www.eventid.net or http://support.microsoft.com
Spent hours/days there. Tits on a bull. Scoured web for days for tips. Found some. None worked.
I gave up (6 months ago) - it's not worth the effort any more. I have to switch machines to do my Win2k dev work. Life is too short to waste more time on it. Ever the optimist, I was going to try SP3, but not under MS EULA terms. Thanks taking the time, though.
It occurred to me after the post that my wording was misleading. I should have said:
I work on 3rd party kernel-mode driver development for the MS world (or something like that). But hey, I'll bet you felt better for a few minutes. Believe me, you think it's ugly at the top - it's uglier down below. I share your angst.
Actually no-one ever broke the corperate website which was running on linux/apache.
Just wait until you get an IT job and the sales people say they have to have this sales/mis app - and it only runs on IIS/mssql. Then your boss says they need it. Trust me - you'll be purchasing it.
On the plus side when they did notice it was hacked the company who installed it came and fixed it. I never had to touch it.
Another thing about Windows is that the user profile file (NTuser.dat for WinNT) progressively expands over time, which causes a degradation of performance, as this file is continuously accessed by the OS. Eventually after a couple of years the PC becomes so slow, that you are asking your boss for a new PC. Could it be that MS left this bug in their OS, becuase it's in their interest to make users upgrade?
Is the award implying women aren't half as nosey as men? This is blatant sexism thinking. Women are just as much of intrsion to privacy as guys, and they never get represented!!!
NOTE: I am a 10 year unix admin and I haven't rebooted my win2k workstation in about 4 months and I run about 15 IE windows, 6 SSH for Windows sessions, Exceed, a Voice Mail messaging software that hooks into our corporate voice mail, Simplechat, Screenthemes, Excel, Powerpoint, Word and Access. Oh don't forget Filemaker. Been 4 months since I last rebooted, best I can remember. Oh and I forgot to say, I pull it out of the dock a couple times a week bring it home and VPN in...all without rebooting. Oh and hibernate if I am out of dock to save on power.
I reboot my linux workstation more than I do my win2k workstation. Give that one a little thought.
There it is. "Open Source Hardware" by the "Bangalore Seven" Simputer Trust.
Is that why Opera is able to periodically hijack my mouse and cause me to have to do a 8 minute reboot cycle while wiggling the little critter to keep the processor moving along? Is an application supposed to be able to stop all processing via the mouse driver on a stable OS?
The article isn't trolling, I have problems with 2K's stability all of the time. I certainly wouldn't use the word "incredibly" anywhere near "stable" when referencing W2K, except as follows:
Anyone who thinks Win2K is stable, is incredibly naive.
Obviously, you are comparing to Microsoft's other fine products.