If you want to show them some cross-platform multimedia... Blender is the way to go. There are tons of web sites with Blender galleries and tutorials; one of the best is Blendermania.
Actually, OEMs will automatically pre-register your copy of Windows XP and/or Office XP with Microsoft. Now, the question is which OEM are you talking about? I'm sure the Mom & Pop down the street computer shop probably won't pre-register unless Microsoft forces the issue and threatens them with legal action. On the other the OEM's that are in bed with Microsoft (Dell, Compaq, etc.) will definitely pre-register.
However... a lot of this really doesn't matter because the big OEM's (Dell, Compaq, HP, etc.) don't give you a copy of your OS media these days. Now you only get a recovery CD that restores your system to the original factory condition. Microsoft completely snuck that under the radar and no one ever said anything.
It may be a pain to return your software... but you can't return a restore CD. Why would Microsoft want a copy of a restore CD that is only good for your computer? So, I guess you won't be able to ask for a refund on Windows because you won't actually have a copy of Windows.
I hope I'm not trolling here, but has anyone pointed out some of the services like IDrive, XDrive, or one of the other web-based storage solutions. I work for a major university that has their own IDrive site that is administered and backed up by IDrive and it is absolutely wonderful! If you're a totally Windows shop, XDrive is good because you can install their software and the student/faculty/staff's remote storage will be mapped as the X: Drive on the system. The best thing about this... no media to carry around, you don't have to worry about backups (like with network storage you host), and everyone can access it from any computer including their home computers.
Microsoft claims to have all of these game makers drooling over the XBox to make games, but have ANY of them posted a press release yet confirming what MS is saying? If so, I haven't seen one. If Microsoft is seriously making a gaming console, they should have a working prototype somewhere! Any idiot in a marketing department with one drop of common sense would have had big Bill up on stage with that prototype even if it could only run test patterns with various polygons and texture shading just to show off the sheer speed of the system compared to whatever else is available. They need to get consumers drooling over this thing so much that they're willing to put off buying any other console just to be the first person on their street with an XBox. Right now they're just blowing smoke with numbers and a few pictures that could have easily been drawn in Photoshop for all I know. There is still absolutely NO SOLID PROOF that this thing exists.
The Road Runner cable modems here in Georgia were great for a while, but soon they started playing tricks with their routers. I'm not an expert when it comes to routing TCP/IP, but here's what I understand: blocking ports is easy (duh... that's what a firewall does), but there is also some way of giving bandwidth precedence as well.
I knew people that used to tele-commute from home because they could get just at much work done telnetting in from their house as they could working in the office. Then RR worked their voodoo on the routing and telnet got so slow that the servers would time them out before they could even log in. It seems the best bandwitdh is coming in... and it is mainly the web ports. Going back upstream is usually only about 100K if you're lucky. Downloading is still extremely fast, but anything back upstream is very limited.
The explanation that was given to the people that I work with was that certain RR customers were operating "illegal servers" in violation of the service contract. Instead of eliminating problem users and/or bandwidth hogs, they just set up the system so that all upstream traffic would be limited to certain speeds and rarely used services (such as FTP and telnet) would also have their bandwidth limited. Okay, my parents my not ever telnet or even know what FTP stands for, but what about someone like me? I guess I'll have to get a business DSL connection just to get decent service.
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If you want to show them some cross-platform multimedia... Blender is the way to go. There are tons of web sites with Blender galleries and tutorials; one of the best is Blendermania.
Actually, OEMs will automatically pre-register your copy of Windows XP and/or Office XP with Microsoft. Now, the question is which OEM are you talking about? I'm sure the Mom & Pop down the street computer shop probably won't pre-register unless Microsoft forces the issue and threatens them with legal action. On the other the OEM's that are in bed with Microsoft (Dell, Compaq, etc.) will definitely pre-register.
However... a lot of this really doesn't matter because the big OEM's (Dell, Compaq, HP, etc.) don't give you a copy of your OS media these days. Now you only get a recovery CD that restores your system to the original factory condition. Microsoft completely snuck that under the radar and no one ever said anything.
It may be a pain to return your software... but you can't return a restore CD. Why would Microsoft want a copy of a restore CD that is only good for your computer? So, I guess you won't be able to ask for a refund on Windows because you won't actually have a copy of Windows.
I hope I'm not trolling here, but has anyone pointed out some of the services like IDrive, XDrive, or one of the other web-based storage solutions. I work for a major university that has their own IDrive site that is administered and backed up by IDrive and it is absolutely wonderful! If you're a totally Windows shop, XDrive is good because you can install their software and the student/faculty/staff's remote storage will be mapped as the X: Drive on the system. The best thing about this... no media to carry around, you don't have to worry about backups (like with network storage you host), and everyone can access it from any computer including their home computers.
Microsoft claims to have all of these game makers drooling over the XBox to make games, but have ANY of them posted a press release yet confirming what MS is saying? If so, I haven't seen one. If Microsoft is seriously making a gaming console, they should have a working prototype somewhere! Any idiot in a marketing department with one drop of common sense would have had big Bill up on stage with that prototype even if it could only run test patterns with various polygons and texture shading just to show off the sheer speed of the system compared to whatever else is available. They need to get consumers drooling over this thing so much that they're willing to put off buying any other console just to be the first person on their street with an XBox. Right now they're just blowing smoke with numbers and a few pictures that could have easily been drawn in Photoshop for all I know. There is still absolutely NO SOLID PROOF that this thing exists.
The Road Runner cable modems here in Georgia were great for a while, but soon they started playing tricks with their routers. I'm not an expert when it comes to routing TCP/IP, but here's what I understand: blocking ports is easy (duh... that's what a firewall does), but there is also some way of giving bandwidth precedence as well.
I knew people that used to tele-commute from home because they could get just at much work done telnetting in from their house as they could working in the office. Then RR worked their voodoo on the routing and telnet got so slow that the servers would time them out before they could even log in. It seems the best bandwitdh is coming in... and it is mainly the web ports. Going back upstream is usually only about 100K if you're lucky. Downloading is still extremely fast, but anything back upstream is very limited.
The explanation that was given to the people that I work with was that certain RR customers were operating "illegal servers" in violation of the service contract. Instead of eliminating problem users and/or bandwidth hogs, they just set up the system so that all upstream traffic would be limited to certain speeds and rarely used services (such as FTP and telnet) would also have their bandwidth limited. Okay, my parents my not ever telnet or even know what FTP stands for, but what about someone like me? I guess I'll have to get a business DSL connection just to get decent service.
Well... it does! With that bevel added with round corners, it looks like they painted up a chiclet!
Whoa... check out line 18 of their HTML source!!! They're using a gif!
<td valign="TOP"><img src="./images/titles/j2klinks.gif"><br>