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Windows 7 RTM Support Ending Soon
jones_supa writes with this news from Ars Technica: "Windows 7 users will have to install Service Pack 1 if they want to continue to receive security fixes and other support beyond April 9th. With the release of a Service Pack, Microsoft's policy is to support the old version for two years. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 was released on 22nd February, 2011, so the phasing out of support is happening more or less on schedule. In spite of a growing number of post-Service Pack 1 fixes and updates, Microsoft has shown no signs of shipping a second Service Pack. Should Service Pack 1 be the sole major update for Windows 7, it will continue to receive mainstream support — which encompasses both security updates, non-security bugfixes, and free phone support — until 13th January 2015. Extended support — security fixes and paid incidents only — will continue until 14th January 2020."
If you don't have service pack 1 installed you are an idiot anyway to run a non-updated system.
2015 - year of the linux desktop
Now, look, MS... I don't know what's in your mind lately, by I get better support from other operating systems.
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
For us non-Windows people, could somebody explain please how a Microsoft "Service Pack" update differs from the normal updates which we hear MS issues fairly regularly? Is it just a matter of size that makes it a "Service Pack"?
I think I can make it to the next bearable version of Windows, assuming they keep following the "every other version is crap" strategy. There's no way I'm every going to buy the mobile operating system they've released for my desktop.
I'm one of those "sympathisers" here who doesn't loathe Microsoft.
Hot damn though, anyone here who does install Win7 SP1 regularly (as I do) there's about 2 to 300mb of patches and at least..70 or so of the bastards, they take forever to install as well (disk thrash)
For goodness sakes, just release SP2 already you bastards.
There's still people who didn't update to SP1? Who would that be other than the few heavily paranoid people and the ones who pirated it?
Are they going to start telling us to RTFM?
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Cancels-Windows-7-Service-Pack-2-301719.shtml
Use dism.exe. It will let you capture freshly installed machine - even with installed applications - back into an install image, i.e. slipstreaming. From the install image it will work exectly like the original image, only it will have all of the installed service packs, updates and patches already installed.
Reading slashdot one-liner: (irm http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot).rdf.item | fl title,desc*
You mean they where releasing security updates for people running SP0 ?!?
Or blindly buy the next version.
Or wait for a newer, better version to be hyped.
Or keep up with service packs to extend the life of the product.
Like they do for Windows XP, which still hasn't properly reached "end of life" in the world yet. If you think nobody bought Vista, 7 or 8, then I'm sorry but you're mistaken. Doesn't mean that that's SENSIBLE, but that's what happens on all scales and in all markets.
The subject says it all. This is here because Slashdot does not allow blank bodies. Guess it's not twitter.
there will NOT be another... that would extend microsoft's support obligation for windows 7 and that's something they will NEVER allow.
microsoft absolutely does not want another 'winxp' with 12 years of life in it... even though that is *exactly* what the majority of its customers want.
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3466197&cid=42920999
* Get real...
APK
P.S.=> Know what "kills" you "Pro-*NIX" types online? FUD... pure "FUD" just like what you just spouted in fact!
... apk
When WinXP was at its life cycle, there was only Vista so nobody wanted to upgrade. There was a HUGE customer demand for Microsoft to continue support, and Microsoft listened. With Win8 being a poo pile and I expect Win9 will not be much better. Will Microsoft listen to to the customers again or will they cut their own throat?
A reason to not run Windows in moving vehicles...
So if I want to write and test code while riding the bus to and from work, what should I be using instead of Windows? Are MacBook Air and System76 the only options?
I recently installed Windows 7 on two machines. It took 5 hours on both machines to download, setup all patches. It restarted itself about 15 times. The Windows update process is ridiculous.
So when are they dropping support for Windows 8? With all the discussion about dropping support for 7 and XP, maybe I will go back to using Vista.
I dropped my RFTM support for Windows after XP (and went with Linux), after MS decided to rename things and provide a near useless search function, since it does not include the old names in the search with links to newly re-named things.
Linux might not be much better with the different init and configuration systems, but I am NOT going to paying in order to put up with that. It's especially not worth dropping a few thousand dollars to install Microsoft's OSs on all my systems if they're going to speed up the end of life cycle...
Then perhaps "the majority of its customers" should donate another $20,000 to finish ReactOS Foundation's current round of fundraising. ReactOS is a project to make an open-source binary-compatible clone of Windows XP.
It's a .0 release
I guess Microsoft learned that everyone is scared to try a .0 release so instead is trying something "cool" like RTM. sigh.
This has got to be the stupidest naming scheme ever.
Then again the whole windows versioning is silly, as it has more or less gone 3.0 3.1 NT 95 98 XP VISTA 7.RTM 8.RTM ... WTF
What is wrong with 8.0, 8 sp1 should be 8.1 etc. - keep it simple instead of trying to be windows hipsters
And yes, that is windows 7 calling, it wants it's jokes back...
The easiest thing Homeland Security can do is to force longer, deeper penetration of the latest security fixes for all consumer operating systems.
It's amazing to me how anybody could feel comfortable applying 300mb of fixes. What the hell is in there that fixes security?
1) Mandate absolute transparency and allow user to select downloading and installation only of security-critical code.
2) Force manufacturers not to add in anything else to those portions that are really security-critical.
3) Create a list of vulnerabilities that is updated daily, and grade operating systems against whether they have fixes for them. If they believe in obscurity they must still give a code-name for the vulnerability and security researchers must be told what they mean, show the code and allow them to vet how well the vulnerability was fixed. An automated scoreboard and forum could be developed that aggregates the results of this distributed attack on peevishness by companies like microsoft and oracle who leave huge numbers of fixes unpatched until a good PR moment.
4) Force manufacturers to continue providing fixes (security patches only) to all users. It is not reasonable to allow the majority of the market to become a time-bomb and individual businesses, private users are held hostage.
5) In the case of an open source / community developed distribution, provide the same guidelines and services as is done by Homeland Cybersecurity for commercial vendors, however forcing a community is impossible. Instead a community or a manufacturer (like RedHat) can at least be graded on its response and the availability in an open repository of the required fixes.
6) Do all this for applications, libraries and drivers, not just operating systems.
7) Do this for routers
8) Do this for websites.
9) Define security and the maintenance of security as a process requiring transparency by manufacturers in order to encourage users to adopt patches and make them easier to download.
10) Provide help, guidance and code to community distros and programming teams who can choose to use it, which will make it easier to more frequently issue security patches. It should be a lot easier for users (even on linux) to maintain an up to date system without worry of something breaking or being unable to back up settings, data, etc.
The responses of Microsoft and Oracle to the security realities confronting their customers is pathetic, medieval and takes advantage of general apathy and cluelessness. The result is a never-ending pool of machines vulnerable to every attack to appear in the wild.
This would remove a huge amount
haha. since windows xp will die april 2014 you'd better buy win 7 and transition over. that's what I've done for the machines in my household that need to run windows, no way I'm supporting that windows 8 crap at home.
I installed Windows XP in a virtual machine... SP1a, can't run windows update to download SP2 or SP3, had to use the INSECURE MSIE6 to find SP2's network install, installed that, still windows update wouldn't run, so I then searched for SP3.
After finding SP3 Windows Update would finally run. But here's the damn problem... You can't install MSIE8 on SP1, but MS's error page keep telling you to download MSIE8 when you're looking for SP2/SP3 ... BAD MICROSOFT. You can't get anywhere unless you use google or bing to find it.
This problem I presume will follow Vista and Windows 7 as well.
Microsoft do us all a favor, and put the SP1/SP2/SP3 link on the Windows update page when you end support for it instead of demanding the user update their web browser.
It's pretty clear you don't understand what a Windows Service Pack is and is not, despite you calling other people idiots in your ignorance. So allow me to attempt to correct your misconceptions.
Do you know how many security patches are in the average Windows SP?
Yes, all the ones that had previously been released for the given version of Windows up to the time of release of the Service Pack. Service Packs are not, nor ever have been, a sole source for the installation of security updates. They offer a convenient package for the cumulative set of prior released security updates, but they do not patch "new" vulnerabilities that have not been previously patched. That is, all the security patches they include are already available separately on Windows Update. For a period of time, two years for Windows, new security updates are made available for both the SP version and whatever came before it, so your security risk is largely imagined. The only issue here is the two year support period is coming to a close so patches will no longer be offered for the original Windows 7.
I'm sorry but anybody who has waited this long and not applied SP1 is indeed an idiot because every script kiddie on the planet uses those patches and SPs to reverse engineer new exploits specifically targeting fools that don't update the thing.
Dude, script kiddies don't wait for Service Packs. SPs do not patch previously unknown security issues. They merely include all the previously released security patches in a single update (among many other updates). Hackers wanting to reverse engineer a security update can do so as soon as it's released as part of the monthly MSFT patch cycle. Why wait for a Service Pack? And yes, I say hackers. Reverse engineering binaries and creating exploit code is generally outside the realm of script kiddies. If you keep up-to-date with monthly Windows updates you have all the security patches that the system with the Windows SP has. In fact, if the latter isn't keeping up-to-date with monthly patches you have more than the Windows SP system has.
So there really is no excuse......you can take a bare drive and have a fully loaded fully patched Win 7 system in less than an hour and a half
I'm going to tell you something that is going to surprise you. The two year support overlap for Windows patches isn't about you. Microsoft doesn't invest the no doubt significant additional resources of developing multiple versions of a given patch for different Service Pack releases so home users have a nice two years to update. The issue here is corporate customers who have anywhere from 10's to 10's of thousands of computers to update. Service Packs for modern releases of Windows include hundreds to thousands of updates, and quite often, new features. They can and do introduce breaking changes, and so there's no guarantee that software that used to work will continue to after a Service Pack (though in the overwhelming majority of cases it should). Systems need to be tested before deploying a SP, and for larger companies, two years isn't unreasonable. Deploying a major OS update to 10,000 computers in a sane way with minimal breakage is not trivial.
In future, please understand what you discuss before flaming others.
"Rinse, Lather, & Repeat", ya ball-less weasel -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3466197&cid=42922155
* :)
APK
P.S.=> Unjustifiable downmods != VALID, dork (not directed @ those NOT pulling that horseshit of doing "hit & run" downmods rather than disputing my points AND DISPROVING THEM with valid facts on the topic OR my statements)...
... apk
Cool song and since you like stuff off the beaten path right back at ya..kickin tunes. This guy is good enough I bought a lot of his singles and now listen to them in my truck, be sure to check out "life in bullet time" "breaking down the borders" "Binary divide" and "The dead don't shuffle (they run)". Hell most of his stuff is completely different from each other and kickin!
Anyway glad I was able to help get the MSFT server thing straightened out, I was lucky enough to have a teacher that loved demonstrations and one of his first was a little "Why won't this PC hook to the Internet" test where it turned out he had simply unplugged the router. So many started tearing into Windows that nobody thought to ask such a basic question but that was the point, we geeks are so used to dealing with the big problems we rarely think about the little things that can cause just as many headaches.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Sorry about that when I "talk turkey" I forget sometimes to break it down. Win 7 SP1 does have "extras" if you want to call them that but many of those "extras" are security related, such as making Windows Firewall harder by putting in rules that cover corner cases users have run into since RTM was released. If you only apply the individual patches? You don't get these security enhancements so you are worse off than if you just used SP1.
And as you know with WSUS Offline even the smallest of SMBs can have all the advantages of WSUS without need for a WinServer so there really is no excuse not to have done testing in the 2 years MSFT has given and have SP1 rolled out by now. There really is a lot more security fixes in SP1 than in the single patches and if one were to have to hunt down all the KB articles to get all the fixes that aren't included in the single patches frankly they have just wasted more time than they would have testing and deploying SP1, so honestly it just don't make any sense not to. This isn't like XP SP2 and SP3 where there was risks of hang ups and software not playing nice afterwards, I have deployed more SP1 installs than I can count and haven't seen a single issue arise from deploying SP1. in fact checking the forums when it first came out i noticed the only ones having issues with deployment turned out to either be infected or even rooted and the malware was trying to actively stop deployment. But on a clean system SP1 is painless,there really isn't a point in staying on RTM.
Hell for shits and giggles when it came out I ran speed tests on both RTM and SP1 and I have to say that all the tests fell with margin for error, there really wasn't any difference worth noting so the guy saying "I don't need teh bloat!" is full of shit because there isn't any.
finally as for script kiddies? You are forgetting the "smart cow" dilemma in that all it takes is one guy to do the work and then the web spreads it like wildfire. So it doesn't take EVERY script kiddie doing this, it only takes ONE script kiddie having enough skills to do VERY basic reverse engineering and with all the tutorials online honestly it doesn't take a super genius to pull this off. Once the ONE GUY has done the work it will quickly spread through the boards and IRCs and suddenly they ALL have this attack vector in their toolkit. A good analogy is piracy, think little Johnny knows how to crack the latest SecuROM or TAGES? Nope but he knows where to get a crack by the guys that DO know how to crack those, so you end up with somebody with almost no skill able to do the same task as those that have skill thanks to the way things spread on the web. this is why DRM will never work, it only takes 1 out of 7 billion to figure it out before little Johnny can read an NFO and perform the same task.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
See subject-line above: Nitpicking on your detractors' parts? Hey - It's just (& you KNOW I've just GOTTA say it, as-is-per-my-usual "inimitable style", lol) "too, Too, TOO EASY - just '2ez'", as everyone's a critic, but not all are chefs!
Fact is - We all do what you did, including me (see below, since you ARE correct on that note in fact, lol), but...
This site IN PARTICULAR (with it's "show me state" attitude, rightfully so) taught me to WATCH what I say, & cover it with massive details (& the oft-demanded 'citation', lol).
At the very least? It's GOOD review, & makes you think some... always good imo! Makes you stronger, & yes, better in the end. Sort of like lifting weights or running, albeit, for the MIND!
Not all bad either, in GOOD debates (not off topic trolling crap) - even though the 'geeks' here are NOTORIOUS for nitpicking!
In the art & science of computing, a detailed & CHANGING constantly field, yes, there's room for it, if you don't do "CYB/CYA" with details... once more - hence the length of my posts.
I strive for excellence in all I do... not always making it, lol, or I'd be Bill Gates, you know? Anyhow...
(E.G.-> You've seen my EARLY hosts files debates, that went on for 100's of posts as an "example thereof")
ME, personally? I hate to lose, & I am NOT used to it... that came from sports + the shithole I grew up in!
(Every team I was ever on was a winner, lol, until my collegiate freshman + sophomore years as an NCAA starter for a later national champ in their division - & it taught me 1 thing - play to win/give it ALL you got, cuz no hard work, even debate, is EVER wasted, plus knowing your gave it your all, only makes you feel not so bad, that your opponent took a beating too, & will respect you MORE for it, provided they're not some "geek angst" riddled little geek/nerd, that is whose entire LIFE was getting their weasel ass kicked, lol, while you banged their woman in front of them!)
LMAO (sorry for that, I see what I suspect is a LOT of that around here in fact, not all folks (you're not one & I've 'had it out' with you too, but you are "A-OK" as far as I am concerned & NOT like that - in fact, judging you personally from what I've learned about you? FAR from it... EXCEPT YOU NEED THAT SHIRT IN NOTED IN EMAIL (last I say about that, joking around, lol)))...
Still/again (to reinforce it) - This site taught me to be a MORE effective poster, making my point not only here, but also in the world of business when I had to make cases for programs & was a wageslave for decades in...
(There, especially where it's KORPORATE AMERIKA & in publicly held companies that are PURE PROFIT DRIVEN (hell with product quality etc.), then, you HAVE to present solid evidences that you can benefit YOUR paymaster benefactor, or you don't have the "Holy Dollar" streaming in anymore, & they WILL let you go as payroll IS the easiest cost to control, once you do not present utility to they anymore...).
Things, have a way of working out for the best!
Yes - Even when dealing with TROLLS (which I have here today with their "hit & run" downmod b.s. to *try* to "hide" my posts that show evidences vs. their "Pro-*NIX 'FUD'" - you know the deal perhaps better than I do in fact!).
Anyhow/anyways:
(I had to say it, on the 'too easy' stuff... lol, but not to you in the USUAL manner I do to trolls, lol...)
"Sorry about that when I "talk turkey" I forget sometimes to break it down." - by hairyfeet (841228) on Saturday February 16, @02:57PM (#42923313)
Hey man - No reason to apologize, since they'd just ATTEMPT vainly to "turn it against you" as trolls are 'wont to do' saying your posts are TOO long!
Trust me, I understand, & do it myself!
(Gotta give geeks 1 thing - they're decent @ debate, as they often do to me but usually as ac trol
LMAO - the BODIES of slain 'FUD SPREADING TROLLS' on /. that're "Pro-*NIX", lol...
* :)
Heh - I'll NEVER forget that idiot who accused me of being you & vice-a-versa, but couldn't dust us validly on technicals (*NIX vs. Windows as usual).
They have NO shame.
(Guess that comes with being a snivelling weasel (hope they read this & it pisses 'em off, lol - TRUTH usually does, but it makes you enemies @ times too, with wusses!)).
APK
P.S.=> I'ill check that link & tune(s) out, since I am always into new tunes lately! Glad you liked that one, it's decent!
Why am I more into tunes lately? Well, more free time nowadays, & ... there's "things I lost" on the way thru life, along with innocence...
Good things, in my personality alone I feel, with the nerdism of this material & field!
(Yes, lost a lot of bad ones too, most guys do with time of course, becoming more sensible).
It's a part of my younger days I lost, mainly by being career-oriented that I wish I didn't in fact!
(Which THANK GOD, for the past few years now @ least, I no longer have to be as 'driven' on, having gone into my own business as you have (via realestate holdings, freeing me up from "nerddom" & the constant + imo, unnecessary change))... apk
There's just something about that list which gives me the impression you're not a developer...
Let me give you an example of how absurd what you're asking is: I would be able to sue every website I use that isn't IE1 compatible.
Products become obsolete, this happens in all manufacturing businesses, eventually companies just stop supporting products because it's financially impossible to keep staff who have the knowledge to support them. Mere revisions of just a single product would over the course of a couple of decades, require you to keep on dozens of staff who spend most of their times twiddling their thumbs because so few people are using the older versions but they have to be employed in case issues come up.
You think OSS would be immune? Plenty of businesses and individuals have enough of a say in and control of a project for them to find themselves liable for these laws.
Your proposals would destroy large swathes of the software and hardware industry, software prices would skyrocket and require support subscriptions to use the, users would have their software made stupidly bloaty by legacy support and new features and software versions would be few and far between.
But hey, at least users will get pestered by even more applications telling them about even more updates and presenting them with choices and checkboxes that the vast majority won't understand an iota!
I'm not going to go to win7 or the disgusting win 8.
Thanx to Steam, I am now posting this in Ubuntu and downloading a new game.
I'm looking forward to learning all about Ubuntu :)
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
If only they would fix the annoying Windows Explorer bug that makes a folder jump to the bottom of the left pane when it is expanded... And this is the Windows version that media praised so much...
I actually LIKE doing it, since they're weasels (I dislike weasels, always have) that spread 1/2 truths & such. Their antics remind me of a particularly detestable pack of people out there (politicians). No, not all are that way (same with Penguins), but from what I see? Many are. I cannot STAND them, they're dirt, plain & simple.
Ugh, on a "side-note" (lol): Drinking BLACK COFFEE this a.m. (tried putting sugar into it, doesn't help much)... but, it's amazing what you can get used to, lol! You're doing it yourself (more on that later) with your music in fact...
Anyhow/anyways:
On Music: I don't play, & it's one of my life's regrets actually (was a good singer as a boy, all-county choir etc.), but got "side tracked" into other areas (was just how it was meant to be is all)...
Sometimes, I wish I didn't walk away from it (yes, I was involved as a youngster to my early teens) because many of my friends who love it as you do are in bands, & they say the SAME thing, how the crowd "lights them up" & they in turn, do the same to the crowd.
I do enjoy it though, & MANY kinds (when it's good, it's good - just like beautiful women! Doesn't matter what race when they are beautiful, beauty IS beauty & it always comes thru, & imo @ least, is RARE... 1 in a 100!). Only the "end user/consumer" of it now though, but I do like it when it's good (purely relative term of course, beauty in the eye of the beholder & all that).
Music was a fairly large part of my life up until my mid to late 20's (then it was "all business"). It's one I lost, & as I stated, with other things that I realize I should NOT have lost (you get better with age, especially mentally up to a point imo, but... you "lose things" too, sometimes GOOD things). There's a LOT to be said of it, since cultures around the planet ALL esteem it highly!
Funny story on that, one I think you'll like (because of what it does to you personally & to crowds): True story too!
Some missionary in the 1950's iirc, went into Africa with his family. His kids brought Elvis albums with them & played them. The 'witch doctor' of the tribe (pretty sure it was he) came to their place & asked "Why are you trying to summon the demons?"
In a way, he was illustrating THAT which you speak of, & the power of music on the human psyche... if you think about it, it's pretty amazing. Odd how he put it by OUR terms, but the point's there, without question... & mirrors yours.
However I put it aside (I didn't even realize how much so, until recently), so it was time to *try* recover a lost fun thing I enjoyed immensely. Sometimes, getting "focused" on a particular area (was career for me) demands you lay other things down, & sometimes, without even realizing you did (happens gradually I figure is why).
Still - As "Lester Burnam" (of all people) said in the excellent film "American Beauty" - "It's never too late to get it all back", hence my giving it more time (since I have more free time than when I was a "full-time wageslave" for many decades working for others, stupidly imo, rather than myself).
In the blood, eh? Closest I got to the feeling you describe was playing sports in front of crowds - it is QUITE the "rush" when "the crowd goes wild" & you're the cause, lol!
(In fact, 1 of my PROUDEST moments in this life, "jockish" as this may sound, was scoring on this team & their players (many of whom I played against in highschool & attended elementary to middleschool/juniorhigh with) -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dp-Sa94vCM the 1983 National Champion @ Division I, Syracuse University, & runner-up in 1984 as well (& tons of championships since)).
You've "got blisters on your fingers"!
(I remember that line from a Beatles' song)...
Correct me IF I am wrong, but, doesn't that mean you haven't been playing in a LONG time?
The reason I ask, is my nephe
You & "yours" troll have NO shame. "Impersonating" me now too? Puh-leese - keep showing us, and more importantly, YOURSELF, just what you really are (a worm).
APK
P.S.=> It's no small wonder you do so, minus using your "registered 'luser'" account being used (which I know you have) - It simply shows you even know what you're doing is totally reprehensible since you won't put your own name to it & I know it, YOU KNOW IT, but more importantly so would anyone else reading here with 1/2 a brain also!
(Man - It would suck to live a life such as yours, in being reduced to what I call being a "not man")...
... apk
Downmodding my post that only tells how it really is proves my point...
* :)
(How worms like whoever's doing this LIVE with themselves is beyond my capacity to understand since that "type" is reducing themselves to the lowest of the low, & even "impersonating" me here -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3466197&cid=42927155 )
(Not only that, but... you also "project" your own "issues" there, lol, with telling us what you enjoy the flavor of in doing so, lol!)
APK
P.S.=> It's your life though troll, whoever you are. Your type always "does themselves in" eventually though, only a matter of time - I've lived life long enough & have seen it enough times to only take pity on your type since I know the outcome thru seeing it backfire on your ilk TOO many times...
... apk
With yet another unjustifiable downmod of a post of mine that only tells the truth - the reality here, & that of your own existence in fact (being reduced to being a "not man", lol).
* :)
APK
P.S.=> Makes me laugh really, knowing there's worms of trolling ilk like whoever downmodded my posts "hit & run" style with NO justifiable backing on the topic to disprove my points: Proving they are clearly, unassailable!
Your bogus activities here proves the point I was making via your reprehensible actions (including trolling me by AC, which shows anyone reading JUST what you really are, & you yourself know it, since you do it by AC as well as your bogus downmods (which indicate clearly you DO have a "registered 'luser'" account as well that you will NOT use since that would tie your b.s. to you moreso)!
... apk
With yet another unjustifiable downmod of a post of mine that only tells the truth - the reality here, & that of your own existence in fact (being reduced to being a "not man", lol).
* :)
APK
P.S.=> Makes me laugh really, knowing there's worms of trolling ilk like whoever downmodded my posts "hit & run" style with NO justifiable backing on the topic to disprove my points: Proving they are clearly, unassailable!
Your bogus activities here clearly proves the point I was making via your reprehensible actions (including trolling me by AC, which shows anyone reading JUST what you really are, & you yourself know it, since you do it by AC as well as your bogus downmods (which indicate clearly you DO have a "registered 'luser'" account as well that you will NOT use since that would tie your b.s. to you moreso)!
... apk
With yet another unjustifiable downmod of a post of mine that only tells the truth yet again: That's of the reality here, & that of your own existence in fact (being reduced to being a "not man", lol).
* :)
See my subject-line above: Keep blowing those mod points, so you can't do it again to others (or myself in better posts) later on... you'll "run dry", sooner or later, & then I'll just post under those posts of mine you downmod, & drag them back into view nullifying your effete efforts, easily.
APK
P.S.=> Makes me laugh really, knowing there's worms of trolling ilk like whoever downmodded my posts "hit & run" style with NO justifiable backing on the topic to disprove my points: Proving they are clearly, unassailable!
Your bogus activities here proves the point I was making via your reprehensible actions (including trolling me by AC, which shows anyone reading JUST what you really are, & you yourself know it, since you do it by AC as well as your bogus downmods (which indicate clearly you DO have a "registered 'luser'" account as well that you will NOT use since that would tie your b.s. to you moreso)!
... apk
You get really accurate after a few years (I used to be able to go around my back, holding it left or right handed & pass it right into a guy's stick that way, or make shots like that too). You just learn to is all. My grandma, God rest her soul, used to come watch me play in college & said "How do you catch that ball moving so fast in those little 'spoons'" (lol, literal, but apt enough).
Ah, anyhow/anyways:
I could ask YOU the same on how you learned to play bass (lol, I've *tried* to play guitar... I just make noise, lol! It's fun though - hours go by doing it, feels like a few minutes!).
On getting "blasted" in the nuts in baseball (lol): Saw that happen to a friend of mine in highschool while he was still in little league - pitcher caught in square in the balls, & lol, his mom came running out to the plate to check him... was hilarious (he's a major league umpire now though - guess it didn't turn him off, & he put up with that pain, just like you do with blisters on your fingers, or I did with busted legs & such).
Yea, I hear you on "it's never too late to get it all back" (Lester Burnam, "American Beauty"), but... I have what I need, @ least by now @ this point in my existence, in computers for both entertainment/enjoyment, AND, learning + making a living from them IF needed too (thank goodness I find it fun, MOSTLY, even when I get frustrated @ times - did the other day with a piece of python code in fact, & my roomie heard me bitching about it - but, when you SOLVE a hassle? There's a great deal of satisfaction in it too!).
E.G.-> My roommate is into games. He shows me them. I used to be. I truly DO KNOW what happens when you like something... you will pour time into it. I know myself (to an extent, like anybody else I figure) & I'd go "headlong/all out" into it, IF I got back into them is all... I'd do the same with a musical instrument, I am SURE of it, & that's what "spooks me" (not really, but I spread myself out pretty 'thin' @ times is all, & doing that "cuts into" everything else - only 24 hours in a day & all that is all).
You know - I've heard tell of that with AC/DC (not with KK Downing of JP though), on Angus Young... still made GOOD STUFF though - @ least I liked it (in my youth, lol, sometimes a "misguided" youth).
(Thus, I suppose that the old adage "it is not scale, but SKILL, that matters" goes everywhere, even tunes! Doesn't have to be astoundingly 'complex' to be GOOD, in other words...)
I don't think I asked my nephew on the blisters any specifics, but, that's what I got from his telling me that (as well as others who play guitar vs. bass)... lol, didn't like the sound of it, but I liked the sounds they made.
I hear you on "nobody is perfect"... there's always someone bigger, faster, stronger in sports, & they *may* catch you on an 'off-day' too, & get the better of you... shit happens.
There's no 'greatest' actor, musician, athlete, or computer person either... just DIFFERENTLY better in specific areas (any of those things, some of the better things human beings actually do that do good things (music I've found, 'inspires' & as the African witch doctor said I wrote about, it "brings out the spirits/demons", lol, for lack of a better expression, but it fits bigtime).
RUSH!
Funny you mention THAT - I am sure then, that you've heard the tune "Priest of the Temple" right? Guess what: THAT is what got me into computer programming!
That's right!
"Our great computers, fill the hallowed halls" & "We've taken care of everything, the words you hear - the songs you sing, the pictures that give pleasure to your eye!"
(Sounds like modern PC-based computing & being online to me in a way!)
I was taught piano in lessons as a boy (hated it, wasn't 'into it' & I *think* that THAT is the MOST IMPORTANT THING - you have to love what you do, or you are wasting your time & won't put your heart into it). You say it's easy, perhaps it is for you...
Practice helps, & develops/builds upon/refines what God gives you (& 1 of the things I really "bum out to" in this life is seeing someone with God given talent just toss it away & never develop it, but... to each his own). You have a point.
LOL, you truly ARE "the ball-busting bass player" (lol) with your baseball hits... IF I saw you coming to the plate, I'd be SURE I wore a 'cup' @ least, lol... if not suddenly be "ill" & they could sub in the next dude you'd castrate! ROTFLMAO...
Never could hit a baseball worth a damn here... decent fielder & what-not, but hitting eluded me (hence my dropping it for Lacrosse instead, & it was easier to get aid if you played in my area, best in the nation, for collegiate sports is all... a matter of practicality)
IN fact, give you an example of WHY I dropped football too:
My Dad was big on this, being practical + working with what you have, & SMART about it. I also was a 1st string starter for a consistently championship winning highschool team as a defensive back too, but by my junior year I dropped it (the team sucked that year, lol, I got lucky)!
My Dad said "Look - to be in the NFL, you'd have a LOT more competition & face facts: You do not weigh 220++lbs. (was about 170 @ the time but AM that weight now, got old & fat, lol), you just aren't as fast as they are"!
Even though I was regularly assigned to cover guys who DID go to the NFL like Scott Schwedes - who was only 165lbs. soaking wet @ that time & made it, it's a matter of splitting hairs & split seconds each level you go up, college to pro etc. (his dad was part of the 1959 SU championship collegiate team, fast as hell (part of a GREAT film no less in "the Express" from 2011 iirc, & see it IF you like football & human excellence - about the late Ernie Davis, & it is INSPIRING man!)).
Well, so was his son - beat all the black guys consistently, tough for white guys, since facts generally are black guys are FAST, comes with genetics, & he did it all over the county & state... was amazing. When he ran by, you could bop him over by catching his shoelace, lol, he was small but trick was - catching him. I swear, when he ran you could hear a "swoooshh" when he blew by you, he was THAT friggin fast.
E.G.-> At his highschool BIG BETS would be put down by all watching to see who would win sprints, he or Jim Drake, a black kid who was the sprint champion of the state in NY no less... Schwedes did the same in the NFL, outracing Mark "SUPER" Duper (Dan Marino's #1 target in fact iirc) in bets)).
LOL, on hitting a baseball though - Well, I've heard the "infamous they" say it's the MOST difficult thing in sports, & I agree (was for me), but... oddly, I see catching lax passes as much the same, but never could hit a baseball for shit, lol!
The GREAT Jim Brown (fantastic football player of the 50's & 60's in case you aren't aware of him) said it best, even though he was an All-American in college many times, set records & what-not (pro too same deal) & All-Pro etc. in the NFL whose yardage records as a running back, said it best on the sport I grew to truly love:
"I'd play football on Sundays, but Lacrosse the rest of the week"
He liked it a LOT better than Football in other words, & was BETTER @ IT (believe-it-or-not) too...
I heard Chief Oren Lyons, chief of the Onondaga Nation tribe near here, & an educated man, SU grad (member of the SU championship team with Mr. Brown noted above) state he was better than anyone (pretty much) @ it as well. It figures though!
On a "side note" on edit: His son Rex (grandson maybe? Not sure) was a GREAT player too, & played for West Genesee highschool (most wins & rated #1 of alltime in the nation & where i learned to play but parents got divorced & I went with mom to another district, good, all state honorable mention team in 1982, but not like WG was)... he plays in a band called "The Ripcords" & they are GOOD
Going to do the SAME to you now, in a bit of advice - you *may* not like it though, since I know you're stretched out as thin as the rest of us are, there being only 24 hrs. in a day, & you have a business to run + customers to service (& domestic duties, whatever those may be that are probably widely varying in your off-time, that suck up even more etc./et al):
YOU ought to try that app of yours... that's right, I said it: Why? Well, 1st of all, I know you have basic grounding in coding (& again - as Lester Burnam said in "American Beauty" once more, "It's never too late, to get it ALL back..." & you can... especially since "you've been there/done that". Perhaps w/ diff. tools, but principles ARE PRINCIPLES, & don't widely vary, language-to-language, hence why for example, the FINE course datastructures can be implemented in many languages that support all of its concepts - doesn't MATTER what language you do it in, it holds true (& I've seen it taught with Pascal, C/C++, & even JAVA)).
Why? Going to "let you in on a little secret" & one I alluded to before - there IS NO "GREATEST" coder (or musician, athlete, scientist, etc.), only harder more focused workers who believe in a dream or idea, & make it HAPPEN, themselves (& wanna do a job RIGHT? DO it, yourself!).
(And, man, it is ALL work... & no hard work, even if/when you FAIL, is wasted... it can be the foundation of OTHER great things!).
You've got the grounding & hardware know-how (very current & fresh too)... once you "hit the ground running" if you can find time? That KIND of foundation will lead to other things, so fast, you'll have to write them down (or lose them) & hope you have time to pursue them all.
Know who shows me this lately in coding? Nir Sofer of NIRSOFT... kid's a MACHINE - constantly @ it. I've done 30 or so wares online in freeware/shareware & did well on a few (ending up in commercially sold code etc., doing well @ esteemed trade shows & respected mags etc.). He dusts me. It is, truly, something to see... & I almost guarantee you we haven't see the best out of him yet. He's only starting, just getting in. He'll do more. Could I write up his apps? Yes, probably every one. DO I want to?? Heck no. His do the job on many levels, more than adequately in fact. No point in reinventing his wheels. They roll.
Just some "inspiration/food 4 thought" because it's YOU with the desire, grounding in music, & yes, the equipment and finally, the love of it too!
(Besides - I'll also assume that you're NOT above something as 'mundane' as making a buck too, right? RIGHT!)
Were I to judge? Yes - you'd be PERFECT to go @ it, & time isn't an issue (unless you KNOW others are pursuing it also, & that money is your end-goal only, but I do NOT think it is in your case, solely) - you *might* end up doing it BETTER too, since you love it (& their motivations may only be money - not good enough, trust me).
&
I also *think* you'll find, that since you love music obviously, that applying yourself to this will bring it ALL back to you, & then some, as well as make you a nice buck!
That, or your oldest who is thinking of pursuing C++... best one he could, can do ANYTHING, & is as universal/ubiquitous as COBOL is in business (but far, Far, FAR more versatile).
Anyhow - I also don't have the equipment here, or the time (and honestly, the desire/inclination for it... OR buying up the stuff to interface with... hell, I don't even KNOW if there are prebuilt interfaces to the equipment in code, which saves TONS of time, giving you "legos" to work with to snap together to do it faster, that are PROVEN (very important)...without which you burn time, make mistakes, & more!).
Plus - I have "other things on the stove" right now that I am concentrating on mostly as well - I just want to see how far they'll go & where I can take them, for the hell of it!
(Thus - so, allow me an illusion/dream, lol, even
I mentioned this @ the termination of my last post -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVuq7L9IEr8
SEE IT!
* It's 'YOUR PAPER BAG' by analogy... especially on YOUR idea!
(AND, it's truly just waiting for YOU TO PLAY WITH IT (in the programmatic idea you have to BETTER what YOU love))...
DO consider it - in every "revolution" there's that one man, that starts it. Can be, you.
APK
P.S.=> That's me, or what I value & believe in, in a nutshell so hopefully, using it, I can inspire YOU to "take your paper bag & run with it" - hope you do GREAT things with it, & it does an "Abres Los Ojos" on you, waking you up to the fact you've got the foundations to do it & just need to "get it all back again" (ala Lester Burnam from that same GREAT film, finest art there is, as it dramatizes the game of life itself & yes, inspires), yourself, to do the job, right with YOUR baby/idea - don't give it away man, run with it...
... apk
Declare allows usage of DLL's made in higher speed languages like C/C++/Delphi (some "FYI" for you, on the note of making VB as fast as C++ essentially)... Then, it's just a matter of passing parameters (some optional) to a function is all. Not a "big trick", considering you do that in VB anyhow with direct Win32 API calls (not the 'big trick' a lot of folks make it out to be, it's actually simple, trust me) which you use declares on in VB6 & below anyhow (since the API isn't already directly 'built in' like it is in MSVC++ &/or Delphi via .h or .pas files respectively). I was surprised it never was actually. All it would take is a .bas file with them in it pretty much, & later VB6 incorporated the "AddressOf" function to do "callbacks" (which is waiting & blocking a function UNTIL the API libs pass back the return data @ a particular address space area, in essence/pretty much).
IT IS A LOT LESS COMPLEX THAN IT SOUNDS TOO! They made it so, or nobody could do it.
At that point? VB is FAST, fast as an API allows (be it Win32 API from MS, or the API the OEM for the equipment produced to talk to & fro from a lib/dll is all)... hence, my stating "interface"... Application Programming INTERFACE = API acronym!
So, your skills WOULD do the job (& using other languages coming from a VB background isn't some "huge leap" either man, trust me on that (except for learning to use pointers DIRECTLY, & that's not a "huge leap" of learning either). Being "rusty" is a fear on your part... I understand that, I do... but, it's like RIDING A BIKE - you'll be shaky for a bit, but you'll "get it" again, trust me).
This is a matter of HOW BAD you want it though, & the free time you have to work on it (to me, I like it MOSTLY, when I have the time that is). It's a lot like how I perceived playing guitar or games - HOURS go by, that seem like minutes, but the satisfaction of making a "working machine" is excellent... can't put it any other way. That's ME though, perhaps not others.
This is WHY I noted interfaces - many times, electronic instruments that poll or manipulate signal ALREADY HAVE such a lib/dll package for them, FROM THE "OEM", & also provide say, .bas for VB, .h for C/C++, or .pas files for Delphi to go at them programmatically... cables & such is the next part, to hook to the PC (it's how modern cash registers work in a way, pins on a wire pushing/polling signal to the drawer for instance).
What's TOUGH is doing Assembly directly, coming out of a VB style (or higher level language/HLL background), but, it isn't "unlearnable" - wouldn't recommend it though. You'd "burn time" writing something in ASM that could be done in a FRACTION OF THE TIME in say, C/C++/Delphi &, yes even VB (& when you "need speed", do what I stated above). You speak of "close to the metal" - that IS as CLOSE AS YOU GET (it really teaches you HOW computers work too, using registers, directly is why).
Again - The reason I noted "interfaces" for hardware, was this: MOST hardware makers who intend to have hardware that produces outputs to meter have these - so you can "poll the signals", off of say, pins on a cable (or ports)... that's how it works - it's ALL "signal" in simplest terms, when you 'break it all down'... nothing "genius" once those tools are around.
IF THEY'RE NOT THOUGH? You had BEST be an EE (electrical engineer) & that's where I have NO BACKGROUND (can't, wanted to, but color blind - set stuff on fire in electronics lab, got into trouble for it, but teacher told principal I was great student & interested (got A's on tests, loved the theory, like how resistance works & is implemented to limit charge in equipment via charge & 'forcefields' in a way, on a circuit). They put me on a "lantern test" & that was it - told me I had NO FUTURE in it, so computers it was (thanks to RUSH, again, lol, & 2112 album "Priests of the Temp