The counter has reached 600 comments and it's going.. but it gets pretty repetitive after a few dozen..
- Either: "It still works on browser x on platform y!"
- Or: "It doesn't work on browser x on platform y, just like you said it wouldn't, but I still had to see it to believe it, and while I'm at it, I'll post my findings, who cares if it's fucking redundant!"
- Or: "Just change the user-agent string! Click 'Preferences'.. bla bla bla."
And now, some thoughts (which may also be redundant, but as you can see, I really didn't feel like reading 600 variations of the three above to see if someone else has posted this)...
This is an interesting move by Microsoft. msn.com got a new designed on the day that Windows XP got launched, and blocks popular browsers. They block Opera, Mozilla, Linux browsers but not older versions of Netscape. I'd throw a guess that they are still letting users of older Netscape in because these people aren't the group that is ever going to upgrade anyway (computer illiterates, hardware limitation, policy of whoever owns the computer in the first place). Interestingly, these people are also more likely to still have home.netscape.com (which incidently has link on their front page to an article or two about Windows XP) as their startup page. MSN says the browsers are blocked because they are not standards compliant. This is a very weak reasoning. If so, how come they are only blocking the few popular browsers and not (the less compliant) NS 4.7? And whose bloody fucking standards are they talking about? IE isn't even 100% w3c standards compliant, and the other browsers can display their page properly anyway (as some slashdotters [who have now been touted by me as being redundant, yes I too am inconsisent] claim), so they are being hypocritical.
MSN also used to have a "Online Contacts" ActiveX applet, which interacted with the MSN "Steal AOL/ICQ users through forceful repeated nagging advertising on our monopoly web-based mail service" Messenger to display your Messenger contact list on their front page. It's not there anymore. Is it gone because ActiveX isn't standards-compliant, and keeping it would make their standards-compliance-exclusivity, well, hypocritical?
Or is it, like someone have said, just a temporary page because they weren't able to complete in time the hacks that would make their site render "compatibly" in Opera/Mozilla? I downloaded the msn.com page and viewed it using the other browsers. In Opera 5.12, the layout looked almost right, in Mozilla 0.9.1, less right. Netscape 4.7 crashed, and I can't believe I have 4 browsers installed!
What can we do against it? I would suggest boycotting IE by blocking them when they visit us ("us" being anyone with a website). Of course this isn't a very viable option. For one thing, as it has been often and sadly claimed, the majority of internet users use IE. MSN blocking non-IE browsers will only reduce its viewership by a few people who don't upgrade. But if a major site, for example Slashdot, blocks IE, it risks losing a lot more, and that's not something any company is willing to risk - especially during this shaky economical time. But I would like to put forward the idea, that we should just gamble it. If they haven't done so, downloading and installing Mozilla will not be a big hassle to most Slashdot readers anyway (unless they're at work and have no right to do so, in which case maybe they should switch jobs.:) . And I'm willing to bet that most Slashdotters will do it, because this site is important to them. It is more important, certainly, than MSN. So maybe this site, and the only other large userbase, nerd-friendly site, I know; everything2.com should begin the boycott. These sites create a sense of attachment to its users, and they're not just going to walk away because they have to download a different browser. One of the effects of this "rule" is, if we already use Mozilla/Opera for our main browsing activities (slashdot and everything2), we're not going to just close it up and load IE to look at other sites, we are most likely going to stick with the same browser to view other sites. Unfortunately, another effect is that the sites are not likely to get any new readers, because if you saw a link to Slashdot and it was going to be your first time visiting it, and you click it in your IE window and you get "Use Mozilla or go away!", you're not going to bother downloading Mozilla to see what this one measly unheard-of-before site has to offer. If we were to expand the boycott, perhaps ask AOL to join the boycott and IE users will no longer be able to view CNN.com. The chances of this happening is, of course, highly unlikely. Other popular sites are mostly out of the question. Portals like Yahoo! would fear losing even more of their viewers to MSN.
Of course, it's silly to play these games and render the web even more unusable. Of course a lot of us dream of showing it to Microsoft (reminds me of the scene in Braveheart where the Scottish warriors lifted up their kilts to insult the English soldiers), so why not just risk it? And if it doesn't work, there's always admitting defeat, and stop the boycott, although you'd have to face the jeerings of those who didn't bother to do anything about Microsoft fucking up their internet in the first place.
On the other hand, I wonder if Microsoft has thought out this plan very well. MSN is "yet another portal" anyway, that would not have a lot of viewers if it were not set as the home page on every install/upgrade of Internet Explorer (which, because it was embedded in the monopoly OS, has a monopoly of users) and the default redirect-after-logout page of Hotmail (the most used (the monopoly in) web-based email). It's obvious they are very interested in standardizing everybody to IE and (they hope) Windows XP, in preparation for.NET . I can't believe anyone will still want to do business with them! Especially if their idea is a subscription based service that worsens your bottom line! At home, I use Windows 2000 and Internet Explorer because I got used to them (NS 4.7 got crummier while IE got better), I use Office and Outlook 2000, but I really have paid very little for them, I pirated them and I'm willing to admit it. They are quite excellent products, but this fucked up marketing strategy is going to kill Microsoft; if I were running a business and have to use legal software, no way I'm going to waste my money on their stuff, especially if every Melissa, ILoveYou, JLo, Kournikova, SirCam (they're mostly user education problems, but at least if the secretary opens that love letter attachment in Linux, nothing horrible will happen), Code Red and Nimda is going to cost me even some more money, especially during these times when money is tight! (This gives me an idea for an ad for open-source, but who in the open-source can afford it, IBM maybe?, an ad that goes "Its unstable, 2 lines of code is enough to root it, it sends your files to other people, and you have to pay monthly subscription to have it!").
Someone just have to really make Microsoft's customers aware of its track record, and let Microsoft continue slitting its own throat, until they wise up, fix their holes and start playing fairly.
Today, Microsoft even spammed Hotmail accounts (my account, at least) trying to make people buy Windows XP..
eXPerience Windows XP
The Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system unlocks the power of your PC to let you eXPerience photos, music, video, and entertainment like never before. But you don't have to take our word for it -- you can experience it for yourself by taking the Windows XP tour. Click here to buy now.
Looks like they're desperate trying to make it sell, it will probably get a few gullible Hotmail users though. I've seen Windows XP, and I'm staying with my Windows 2000 (yeah, still evil, at least it doesn't waste screen space with ugly rounded windows), thanks.
That's a cool idea, but how powerful of a processor/how much memory would be needed to encrypt pictures on a small device like that? And what if I prefer to return the camera to a different branch of the store? They could use a standardized private key, but that weakens the security, how hard would it be for a geek to get a job at one of the stores, and, while no one's looking, copy the private key and put it on the net ?
Of course if the private key is embedded in the program that is used to process the photos, and the program is secured so that it can only be executed on a certified computer (dongle?), things will get a bit harder. Solution: copy the program and disassemble the key out of it?
There was a "Super Pursuit Mode", upon which activation the car starts morphing and wings and stuff come out, including two flame-spitting turbo engines. It was a bit like the car in Men in Black when K wanted to go through the NY Tunnel, fully unbelievable even for a 10 year old I was when I watched the series.
But I like the idea of the Knight Rider/Tough Car personality in the souped-up Supra, the cops might not, but the cops don't like anything that goes faster than 65 Mph, especially if it then starts bragging about it.
Re:Google Image search strikes again
on
Bert Is Evil
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· Score: 0
The examples of photos you gave are clearly fake and meaning to insult, wouldn't that make bin Laden's supporters more angry against the US? But your idea of embarassing pictures of him with drugs/booze/women, if taken seriously, might make a great enough propaganda device. Sure it would be dishonest, but imagine if the US government and Hollywood teamed up to doctor up photos and put them up on the net. Put them on a realistic enough website (maybe with an Arabic country domain name?) and write "Scandal" in Arabic all over it, and bin Laden supporters might end up fooled enough into thinking that bin Laden is actually a womanizing boozer, and rethink their support of him.
But that's probably too much pipe dream, this fuckhead killed 5000 people and other fuckheads are protesting in his favor. Nuke them all!
But these supporters also use Google? Isn't the internet a western technological invention, and by their "Islamic" (notice the quotes!) doctrine, is an evil device? I hate hypocrites.
* Total fatalities for 1996 include 2 fatalities of unknown person type.
What the hell are "unknown person types"? The body so badly damaged that it was no longer recognizable (morbid thought), animals?
Re:Customers prefer numbers to letters
on
AthlonXP Released
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· Score: 0
WinXP SE (Special Edition/Second Edition?), WinXP SSE (Super Special Edition?/Streaming SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) Extensions?:), WinXP ME? WinXP RSSE (Really Super Special Edition), WinXP Le Royale with Cheese? WinXP NT (New Technology:P ), WinXP XP?
Re:Nothing to see here, folks...move along
on
GPS Drawings
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· Score: 0
Wow, just like those spy movies where you attach a really really small device with a magnet to your target car, and you follow it with a small laptop that always has the map of the area you are in.:)
It'll probably come in 2050, that's the year it's available in Sim City anyway.:).. now what's the name of the prof that (is going to) invent(ed) it...
Along with the "+" sign error, the article mentions that email helped spread the Nimda virus. As we all know the only thing helping Nimda spread is Microsoft's security hole. Hmmm... some journalist didn't check his information.
But the idea of some of these proxy servers (well at least WebWasher, the one I use and know) is also to speed up browsing by not downloading the advert images, which take up bandwidth. What if the proxy sends the HTTP request but then cuts the connection, ignoring whatever the ad server wanted to send to it.. but will the bounced packets create extra traffic around routers, I don't know TCP/IP that well..
Yeah, tell em! I'll go build my own internet with blackjack! And hookers! In fact, forget the lunar lander. And the blackjack. Aaah screw the whole thing!
Yes, I wonder how sophisticated Mozilla can be. What if I created an onload/unload function that instead of calling to window.open() sets a timer to call another function, that would then do a window.open(). I don't know how they've implemented it, but they better figure out that if a function was called because of an onload/unload event, it shouldn't be able to successfully do a window.open() .
Groovy thing, but the sysadmins for the porn^H^H^H^H advertiser sites will probably figure out some workaround...
Slashdot Mirror
"One of your girlfriends"? How many do you have? Pfft you're just trying to make us jealous, bragging about "one of your girlfriends"... :)
First, a rant about slashdot...
:) . And I'm willing to bet that most Slashdotters will do it, because this site is important to them. It is more important, certainly, than MSN. So maybe this site, and the only other large userbase, nerd-friendly site, I know; everything2.com should begin the boycott. These sites create a sense of attachment to its users, and they're not just going to walk away because they have to download a different browser. One of the effects of this "rule" is, if we already use Mozilla/Opera for our main browsing activities (slashdot and everything2), we're not going to just close it up and load IE to look at other sites, we are most likely going to stick with the same browser to view other sites. Unfortunately, another effect is that the sites are not likely to get any new readers, because if you saw a link to Slashdot and it was going to be your first time visiting it, and you click it in your IE window and you get "Use Mozilla or go away!", you're not going to bother downloading Mozilla to see what this one measly unheard-of-before site has to offer. If we were to expand the boycott, perhaps ask AOL to join the boycott and IE users will no longer be able to view CNN.com. The chances of this happening is, of course, highly unlikely. Other popular sites are mostly out of the question. Portals like Yahoo! would fear losing even more of their viewers to MSN.
.NET . I can't believe anyone will still want to do business with them! Especially if their idea is a subscription based service that worsens your bottom line! At home, I use Windows 2000 and Internet Explorer because I got used to them (NS 4.7 got crummier while IE got better), I use Office and Outlook 2000, but I really have paid very little for them, I pirated them and I'm willing to admit it. They are quite excellent products, but this fucked up marketing strategy is going to kill Microsoft; if I were running a business and have to use legal software, no way I'm going to waste my money on their stuff, especially if every Melissa, ILoveYou, JLo, Kournikova, SirCam (they're mostly user education problems, but at least if the secretary opens that love letter attachment in Linux, nothing horrible will happen), Code Red and Nimda is going to cost me even some more money, especially during these times when money is tight! (This gives me an idea for an ad for open-source, but who in the open-source can afford it, IBM maybe?, an ad that goes "Its unstable, 2 lines of code is enough to root it, it sends your files to other people, and you have to pay monthly subscription to have it!").
The counter has reached 600 comments and it's going.. but it gets pretty repetitive after a few dozen..
- Either: "It still works on browser x on platform y!"
- Or: "It doesn't work on browser x on platform y, just like you said it wouldn't, but I still had to see it to believe it, and while I'm at it, I'll post my findings, who cares if it's fucking redundant!"
- Or: "Just change the user-agent string! Click 'Preferences'.. bla bla bla."
And now, some thoughts (which may also be redundant, but as you can see, I really didn't feel like reading 600 variations of the three above to see if someone else has posted this)...
This is an interesting move by Microsoft. msn.com got a new designed on the day that Windows XP got launched, and blocks popular browsers. They block Opera, Mozilla, Linux browsers but not older versions of Netscape. I'd throw a guess that they are still letting users of older Netscape in because these people aren't the group that is ever going to upgrade anyway (computer illiterates, hardware limitation, policy of whoever owns the computer in the first place). Interestingly, these people are also more likely to still have home.netscape.com (which incidently has link on their front page to an article or two about Windows XP) as their startup page. MSN says the browsers are blocked because they are not standards compliant. This is a very weak reasoning. If so, how come they are only blocking the few popular browsers and not (the less compliant) NS 4.7? And whose bloody fucking standards are they talking about? IE isn't even 100% w3c standards compliant, and the other browsers can display their page properly anyway (as some slashdotters [who have now been touted by me as being redundant, yes I too am inconsisent] claim), so they are being hypocritical.
MSN also used to have a "Online Contacts" ActiveX applet, which interacted with the MSN "Steal AOL/ICQ users through forceful repeated nagging advertising on our monopoly web-based mail service" Messenger to display your Messenger contact list on their front page. It's not there anymore. Is it gone because ActiveX isn't standards-compliant, and keeping it would make their standards-compliance-exclusivity, well, hypocritical?
Or is it, like someone have said, just a temporary page because they weren't able to complete in time the hacks that would make their site render "compatibly" in Opera/Mozilla? I downloaded the msn.com page and viewed it using the other browsers. In Opera 5.12, the layout looked almost right, in Mozilla 0.9.1, less right. Netscape 4.7 crashed, and I can't believe I have 4 browsers installed!
What can we do against it? I would suggest boycotting IE by blocking them when they visit us ("us" being anyone with a website). Of course this isn't a very viable option. For one thing, as it has been often and sadly claimed, the majority of internet users use IE. MSN blocking non-IE browsers will only reduce its viewership by a few people who don't upgrade. But if a major site, for example Slashdot, blocks IE, it risks losing a lot more, and that's not something any company is willing to risk - especially during this shaky economical time. But I would like to put forward the idea, that we should just gamble it. If they haven't done so, downloading and installing Mozilla will not be a big hassle to most Slashdot readers anyway (unless they're at work and have no right to do so, in which case maybe they should switch jobs.
Of course, it's silly to play these games and render the web even more unusable. Of course a lot of us dream of showing it to Microsoft (reminds me of the scene in Braveheart where the Scottish warriors lifted up their kilts to insult the English soldiers), so why not just risk it? And if it doesn't work, there's always admitting defeat, and stop the boycott, although you'd have to face the jeerings of those who didn't bother to do anything about Microsoft fucking up their internet in the first place.
On the other hand, I wonder if Microsoft has thought out this plan very well. MSN is "yet another portal" anyway, that would not have a lot of viewers if it were not set as the home page on every install/upgrade of Internet Explorer (which, because it was embedded in the monopoly OS, has a monopoly of users) and the default redirect-after-logout page of Hotmail (the most used (the monopoly in) web-based email). It's obvious they are very interested in standardizing everybody to IE and (they hope) Windows XP, in preparation for
Someone just have to really make Microsoft's customers aware of its track record, and let Microsoft continue slitting its own throat, until they wise up, fix their holes and start playing fairly.
Today, Microsoft even spammed Hotmail accounts (my account, at least) trying to make people buy Windows XP..
eXPerience Windows XP
The Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system unlocks the power of your PC to let you eXPerience photos, music, video, and entertainment like never before. But you don't have to take our word for it -- you can experience it for yourself by taking the Windows XP tour. Click here to buy now.
Looks like they're desperate trying to make it sell, it will probably get a few gullible Hotmail users though. I've seen Windows XP, and I'm staying with my Windows 2000 (yeah, still evil, at least it doesn't waste screen space with ugly rounded windows), thanks.
That's a cool idea, but how powerful of a processor/how much memory would be needed to encrypt pictures on a small device like that? And what if I prefer to return the camera to a different branch of the store? They could use a standardized private key, but that weakens the security, how hard would it be for a geek to get a job at one of the stores, and, while no one's looking, copy the private key and put it on the net ?
Of course if the private key is embedded in the program that is used to process the photos, and the program is secured so that it can only be executed on a certified computer (dongle?), things will get a bit harder. Solution: copy the program and disassemble the key out of it?
There was a "Super Pursuit Mode", upon which activation the car starts morphing and wings and stuff come out, including two flame-spitting turbo engines. It was a bit like the car in Men in Black when K wanted to go through the NY Tunnel, fully unbelievable even for a 10 year old I was when I watched the series.
But I like the idea of the Knight Rider/Tough Car personality in the souped-up Supra, the cops might not, but the cops don't like anything that goes faster than 65 Mph, especially if it then starts bragging about it.
The Audi TT.. and a fine car it is.
The examples of photos you gave are clearly fake and meaning to insult, wouldn't that make bin Laden's supporters more angry against the US? But your idea of embarassing pictures of him with drugs/booze/women, if taken seriously, might make a great enough propaganda device. Sure it would be dishonest, but imagine if the US government and Hollywood teamed up to doctor up photos and put them up on the net. Put them on a realistic enough website (maybe with an Arabic country domain name?) and write "Scandal" in Arabic all over it, and bin Laden supporters might end up fooled enough into thinking that bin Laden is actually a womanizing boozer, and rethink their support of him.
But that's probably too much pipe dream, this fuckhead killed 5000 people and other fuckheads are protesting in his favor. Nuke them all!
But these supporters also use Google? Isn't the internet a western technological invention, and by their "Islamic" (notice the quotes!) doctrine, is an evil device? I hate hypocrites.
WinXP SE (Special Edition/Second Edition?), WinXP SSE (Super Special Edition?/Streaming SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) Extensions? :), WinXP ME? WinXP RSSE (Really Super Special Edition), WinXP Le Royale with Cheese? WinXP NT (New Technology :P ), WinXP XP?
Wow, just like those spy movies where you attach a really really small device with a magnet to your target car, and you follow it with a small laptop that always has the map of the area you are in. :)
Snopes has a link to an MSNBC/Newsweek article that says that's what Dubya said.
Two things...
No cracking the files! DMCA!
Encrypted big-ass files coming into the US from halfway across the world? I don't think the guys at NSA/Echelon are going to enjoy that.
If a million monkeys type out the source code to MS Office, Microsoft can't sue.
They'll sue for theft of business method!
It's Philips, not Panasonic.
Counting until 20 seconds pass...
Sexist, elitist... pffft...
BUT, when you mean "the majority of 15 year old girls", I don't think I can disagree much.
Care to explain your nickname/sig? Great movie, I saw it once, and I just got my hands on it again, haven't had the time to watch it though.
It'll probably come in 2050, that's the year it's available in Sim City anyway. :) .. now what's the name of the prof that (is going to) invent(ed) it...
Along with the "+" sign error, the article mentions that email helped spread the Nimda virus. As we all know the only thing helping Nimda spread is Microsoft's security hole. Hmmm... some journalist didn't check his information.
But the idea of some of these proxy servers (well at least WebWasher, the one I use and know) is also to speed up browsing by not downloading the advert images, which take up bandwidth. What if the proxy sends the HTTP request but then cuts the connection, ignoring whatever the ad server wanted to send to it.. but will the bounced packets create extra traffic around routers, I don't know TCP/IP that well..
oops, g/lunar lander/internet =)
:)
And also, I hope it needs not be said who I'm quoting.
Yeah, tell em! I'll go build my own internet with blackjack! And hookers! In fact, forget the lunar lander. And the blackjack. Aaah screw the whole thing!
Yes, I wonder how sophisticated Mozilla can be. What if I created an onload/unload function that instead of calling to window.open() sets a timer to call another function, that would then do a window.open(). I don't know how they've implemented it, but they better figure out that if a function was called because of an onload/unload event, it shouldn't be able to successfully do a window.open() .
Groovy thing, but the sysadmins for the porn^H^H^H^H advertiser sites will probably figure out some workaround...
The problem with is that it's a character, and it's height and width can never be as small as 1x1.
but that would be braindead.. read
the comment above for the correct (w3c compliant!) answer
what's mb? millibit? mB? milliByte? It's Mbs and MBs!!! Dammit!
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