Nobody? Hell, it was standard in many corporate images, and I know many people who vastly preferred it. When I still used Windows, I used "Classic". My father still uses "Classic" on 7.
What surprises me more is that we didn't hear about this on slashdot or mainstream news. I think this should have been front page news. I didn't know, obviously, as I migrated to Linux, but I can imagine being infuriated when such a thing happens. Wonder what will happen when XP is EOL. They claimed to release an unlock patch, but I have my doubts now.
Windows 8 Pro has downgrade rights. Find a 7 Pro disk, use 8 Pro key and you're good. I haven't done this, but I know Pro has downgrade rights. (source)
When I had to drive an automatic for the first time, it is a small wonder that I didn't cause an accident. You're so used to push down the clutch hard (when braking) with your left foot that it's the equivalent of an emergency brake (given the brake pedal is doubly wide and contains the space where the clutch is.). Since you do that instinctively, it's very hard to avoid. The best was was to lock my left leg behind my right leg.
I got used to it after a few days, but still... it's a wonder nothing happened.
Recently I got myself a nice little rackmount for experiments at home. My own little computer lab, so to say. Now, at work we use Xen: basically Debian Dom0 with lots and lots of Debian DomU. I think we have exactly one Windows server in a DomU. It's a simple situation, really.
Given I read on serveral forums that KVM is "the preferred Linux virtualization technology", I'd thought: Well, why not use that instead. Now, I admit, I was too lazy to read the manpages, but from the How-To's I read, this is much closer to something like VirtualBox. There are serveral tools to create the VM, and you need to go through the whole installation process in a console. That's okay for a one-off installation. Sure, you can clone an existing image.
On Xen? Make an LVM partition (or if you have a SAN, use that... Basically: give it a block device), create a configuration file (manually, it's pretty human-readable), format it from the DomU, then run debootstrap on it, then modify a few files, and... start it up... done. No additional bootloaders needed, no console installation process: Just a filesystem with a Linux installation. Heck, I have scripted this. Works wonderfully.
I didn't manage to find a way to do it as easy as this on KVM. I'm sure it exists, and I've found some HowTo's hinting to it being able to be done. I'm sure I didn't look long enough and deep enough into it. It most certainly is my fault. However, I went back to Xen for my toy server, because it is so insanely simple to manage (from the command line, I don't need or want graphical interfaces for this).
I ran Linux on mine. I guess Windows would be better, as the Intel drivers for Atom aren't open source. With the ION it was just fine, due to the (closed source) NVidea drivers. They served me well, but due to space issues, I had to fall back on having all my gear in a backpack. The two Atom machines are now somewhere in a closet at my parents. I'll surely find a use for them someday...
Is this 330 coupled with an NVidia ION? Because, I have a Atom 330 with Ion chipset and an Atom 525 with the integrated Intel graphics. The 330 is much snappier as a desktop system than the 525, even though it should be less quick. Personally, I think the low-voltage low-end Celerons are a much better deal than anything Atom and I've been an Atom fan for a long time.
Retro? There is nothing retro about the current breed of Celeron processors (like the 887). To put that in perspective: those are full dual core CPU's that have about the performance of Core 2 Duo CPU's from around 4 years ago. Heck, they're Sandy and Ivy bridge based! Low power too! I'd wager to say they're based on the Core i3 cores. They truly are nothing to spit at.
Tablet / laptops. Dual use. Like the Lenova Yoga or HP Envy.
Let me ask you your opinion. Do you think those will become popular? Lenovo has advertisements running all over here, and I have never seen a signle one is actual consumers hands. Never. I do see plenty of normal laptops (Usually the 400-800&euro range, usually lacking full HD and going with crappy 1366x786), and plenty of tablets. The tablets are mostly cheaper Android, the occasional higher end Android (Samsung) and then iPads, iPads and iPads.
All those have in common that they are significantly under 1000€ for the device. That's what people want to pay for their toys. Herein lies the problem. The manufacturers want their products to be percieved as premium, in the over 1000€ range. This is simply not going to fly.
I know, andecdotal evidence, doesn't make true what I think. It's just my opinion. What is yours? Are they right with their gamble?
So, in my scenario: having the best option for a hybrid mixed environment is absolutely not worth if nobody wants that hybrid mixed environment.
It's a bit like Ultrabooks in that vein. They are horribly expensive, a nifty idea, but horribly expensive. The only ultrabooks I'd even consider buying now are not Ultrabooks, because they would be based on the AMD APU. Why? Because those are at least within reasonable priceranges. (Well, I don't need one, and given I already have too much computers, I'll probably not bother)
There is another perspective to this. It's a "no hassle, easy to budget price". I have a quite special plan, where everything works with options, but the base fee is 0€/month. Yet, for my wife I opted for the 45€/month plan (with included an iPhone 4S, for 49€ upfront). Why did I do this, as she is neither a telephone junkie or a big surfer?
Simple: She now has no worries, if she fancies a youtube on the road or buys music on iTunes, she can do it on the bus or on the train. That without me fearing horrendous data fees (With my plan, if I'm not careful, is exactly what would happen to my cellphone). She doesn't need to knoow what a wireless network is, she just always has Internet. It reduces (technical) complexity for her. Same thing for calling: she can call whoever, whenever, wherever she pleases. She doesn't do often, but I will never have to say "Girl, you overdid it a bit on the phone", which will cause an argument for something that is totally avoidable.
This is also why she has an overpowered quad core i7 27" iMac with 16GB RAM. It cost a shitload, but I know she can now handle her own computing and is unlikely ever going to reach the limits of the machine. Less worries for me.
You can call me "dumb", but believe me, this is well thought out.
My wife has a Mini D. 4.9l/100km (49,0 mpg according to Google) when I drive it 5.5l (42.7 mpg according to Google) when she drives it. Don't know what it is listed to be able to do. My Audi TT (13 years old, and 256000km on the counter), manages to do 8.5l/100km (27,7mpg) on a regular base. Only highway, I sometimes manage to let the average drop below 8 l/100km.
My mom is a Ubuntu user since the 8.04 days. Currently running 12.04. I barely ever have any support calls. That said, I only live 10km from her, so I can pass by when needed. I still have ssh on her machine, though. Main uses are: email, surfing (light, mostly e-banking) and using F-Spot (Yes, I know it doesn't come with Ubuntu any more, but she was used to that and it's still in the repos).
Paid subscribers can opt out to have the asterisk shown... Just saying... However, believe it or not, this time I was just lucky. It was just published when I loaded the page. I have a very associative memory. Depending on when a certain topic comes up, related things pop up in my head. It's a curse. However, a google (to get the link: keywords used "wallmart pregnant father"... You see, I even had the shopping chain wrong, but Google corrected me), three cut 'n pastes (the comment from the summary, the link and the title of the linked article) and a small comment of myself... Not much more than 30 seconds of work.
Because some users would tell it never to bother them again and the updates won't install. (Assuming users that never shut down and put their machines to sleep, which was the idea since Vista... didn't really pan out that way) But, yeah, that is stupid... forcing a reboot.
Perhaps it should just nag occasionally: "Hey, I need a reboot... click here whenever you want, mmmkay?".
I don't know, I could give you a technical explanation about the reasons why it needs a reboot, but I cannot tell you what the designers of the system thought when forcing the reboot.
True, if you do it pro-actively then it will stop Windows from installing updates. If it started nagging you, Windows installed the updates as far as it could. What you wish, Windows cannot do. This is evidenced by the fact that it installs updates on shutdown (and on startup, sometimes). I think, but I'm not 100% certain, this has to do with the way the NTFS filesystem works. It has much stronger locking policies. You notice that when you want to delete a file and it won't let you, and you have no idea why. On Linux, you can replace and delete files that are used. What happens is that a new file with a different inode is created, and the references to it (in directories, etc), are modified. The original inode, though is locked and keeps being active as long as a program has a lock on it. That's why Linux (Unix in general) can update files in active use.
It also can produce strange results that you delete a multi-gigabyte file and no disk space seems to be released. (The deleted file is still in use by a program, but not referenced in directories any more)
Yes. While I stopped using Windows years ago, I know that when it does that, you just go to services and stop the update service. Don't disable it, just stop it. It will stop nagging you to reboot, even when it's already nagging(!). When you reboot (on your terms), everything will be back to normal.
So, in your case, with the overnight job: stop the service for that night.
most consumers don't give a damn about updates ("updates? I make updates? Must be some automatic stuff.")
They might have turned it off for some reason, if it actually was automatic. Just last week, cleaned up a "Metropolitan Police Virus" (a certain local variant) from the computer of an acquaintance. I normally don't check whether automatic updates are on but Windows 7 kept telling me there were updates to be installed. I checked in the Action Centre, and there were over 1GB of patches to be installed. The "installation history" showed that it never ever had installed any patch.
Then I found out that Windows Update was set to "notify me only". They couldn't tell me why they set it that way. Anyway, I turned it back on, and told them to leave the machine on overnight. This was Windows 7 without any service packs.
So, yes... Point #2 is true and a big bad problem.
My father used to own an Dell Inspiron 8000 with that resolution. He hung on to it well into 2009 *because* of that resolution. Up until 1920x1080 and the "retina" displays came out, I never saw a higher resolution in laptops. The "standard" resolution of 1366x768 is a pure shame, in 2000, 1024x768 was standard and that aspect ratio is arguably better.
I sure hope, that at least "FullHD" becomes the new "standard". For now, it still seems to be the "premium" resolution for PCs (I paid extra to get it on my current laptop).
Really, it's painful and a sad sad state of affairs.
My MS Rep said I only could get those... And I have the software assurance + open value contract. It has been repeated serveral times, "only upgrades". It pisses me off, because I don't see much of monetary savings. The only thing it helps me is that I can image stuff... which is a boon for me, but my boss already told me by now that my time isn't that valuable and that if we have to pay the OEM versions anyway, we might as well use them.
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Nobody? Hell, it was standard in many corporate images, and I know many people who vastly preferred it. When I still used Windows, I used "Classic". My father still uses "Classic" on 7.
What surprises me more is that we didn't hear about this on slashdot or mainstream news. I think this should have been front page news. I didn't know, obviously, as I migrated to Linux, but I can imagine being infuriated when such a thing happens. Wonder what will happen when XP is EOL. They claimed to release an unlock patch, but I have my doubts now.
Windows 8 Pro has downgrade rights. Find a 7 Pro disk, use 8 Pro key and you're good. I haven't done this, but I know Pro has downgrade rights. (source)
I got used to it after a few days, but still... it's a wonder nothing happened.
Yes, I admitted that. Are there any howto's you can point to?
Recently I got myself a nice little rackmount for experiments at home. My own little computer lab, so to say. Now, at work we use Xen: basically Debian Dom0 with lots and lots of Debian DomU. I think we have exactly one Windows server in a DomU. It's a simple situation, really.
Given I read on serveral forums that KVM is "the preferred Linux virtualization technology", I'd thought: Well, why not use that instead. Now, I admit, I was too lazy to read the manpages, but from the How-To's I read, this is much closer to something like VirtualBox. There are serveral tools to create the VM, and you need to go through the whole installation process in a console. That's okay for a one-off installation. Sure, you can clone an existing image.
On Xen? Make an LVM partition (or if you have a SAN, use that... Basically: give it a block device), create a configuration file (manually, it's pretty human-readable), format it from the DomU, then run debootstrap on it, then modify a few files, and... start it up... done. No additional bootloaders needed, no console installation process: Just a filesystem with a Linux installation. Heck, I have scripted this. Works wonderfully.
I didn't manage to find a way to do it as easy as this on KVM. I'm sure it exists, and I've found some HowTo's hinting to it being able to be done. I'm sure I didn't look long enough and deep enough into it. It most certainly is my fault. However, I went back to Xen for my toy server, because it is so insanely simple to manage (from the command line, I don't need or want graphical interfaces for this).
I ran Linux on mine. I guess Windows would be better, as the Intel drivers for Atom aren't open source. With the ION it was just fine, due to the (closed source) NVidea drivers. They served me well, but due to space issues, I had to fall back on having all my gear in a backpack. The two Atom machines are now somewhere in a closet at my parents. I'll surely find a use for them someday...
Is this 330 coupled with an NVidia ION? Because, I have a Atom 330 with Ion chipset and an Atom 525 with the integrated Intel graphics. The 330 is much snappier as a desktop system than the 525, even though it should be less quick. Personally, I think the low-voltage low-end Celerons are a much better deal than anything Atom and I've been an Atom fan for a long time.
Retro? There is nothing retro about the current breed of Celeron processors (like the 887). To put that in perspective: those are full dual core CPU's that have about the performance of Core 2 Duo CPU's from around 4 years ago. Heck, they're Sandy and Ivy bridge based! Low power too! I'd wager to say they're based on the Core i3 cores. They truly are nothing to spit at.
Let me ask you your opinion. Do you think those will become popular? Lenovo has advertisements running all over here, and I have never seen a signle one is actual consumers hands. Never. I do see plenty of normal laptops (Usually the 400-800&euro range, usually lacking full HD and going with crappy 1366x786), and plenty of tablets. The tablets are mostly cheaper Android, the occasional higher end Android (Samsung) and then iPads, iPads and iPads.
All those have in common that they are significantly under 1000€ for the device. That's what people want to pay for their toys. Herein lies the problem. The manufacturers want their products to be percieved as premium, in the over 1000€ range. This is simply not going to fly.
I know, andecdotal evidence, doesn't make true what I think. It's just my opinion. What is yours? Are they right with their gamble?
So, in my scenario: having the best option for a hybrid mixed environment is absolutely not worth if nobody wants that hybrid mixed environment.
It's a bit like Ultrabooks in that vein. They are horribly expensive, a nifty idea, but horribly expensive. The only ultrabooks I'd even consider buying now are not Ultrabooks, because they would be based on the AMD APU. Why? Because those are at least within reasonable priceranges. (Well, I don't need one, and given I already have too much computers, I'll probably not bother)
Simple: She now has no worries, if she fancies a youtube on the road or buys music on iTunes, she can do it on the bus or on the train. That without me fearing horrendous data fees (With my plan, if I'm not careful, is exactly what would happen to my cellphone). She doesn't need to knoow what a wireless network is, she just always has Internet. It reduces (technical) complexity for her. Same thing for calling: she can call whoever, whenever, wherever she pleases. She doesn't do often, but I will never have to say "Girl, you overdid it a bit on the phone", which will cause an argument for something that is totally avoidable.
This is also why she has an overpowered quad core i7 27" iMac with 16GB RAM. It cost a shitload, but I know she can now handle her own computing and is unlikely ever going to reach the limits of the machine. Less worries for me.
You can call me "dumb", but believe me, this is well thought out.
Yes, very common in companies. Actually, I wouldn't buy laptops that lack them for the company I work for.
All in all, I'm pretty content...
Look up Apples two year warranty obligations under EU law. They really, really, really don't like it and make the customer believe it's only one year.
My mom is a Ubuntu user since the 8.04 days. Currently running 12.04. I barely ever have any support calls. That said, I only live 10km from her, so I can pass by when needed. I still have ssh on her machine, though. Main uses are: email, surfing (light, mostly e-banking) and using F-Spot (Yes, I know it doesn't come with Ubuntu any more, but she was used to that and it's still in the repos).
Hmmm, interesting.... Apparently, you can't hide the asterisk. I was convinced you could. Perhaps it changed in the past. Oh, well...
Paid subscribers can opt out to have the asterisk shown... Just saying... However, believe it or not, this time I was just lucky. It was just published when I loaded the page. I have a very associative memory. Depending on when a certain topic comes up, related things pop up in my head. It's a curse. However, a google (to get the link: keywords used "wallmart pregnant father"... You see, I even had the shopping chain wrong, but Google corrected me), three cut 'n pastes (the comment from the summary, the link and the title of the linked article) and a small comment of myself... Not much more than 30 seconds of work.
How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did.
All in all, that technology isn't all that surprising to me....
Perhaps it should just nag occasionally: "Hey, I need a reboot... click here whenever you want, mmmkay?".
I don't know, I could give you a technical explanation about the reasons why it needs a reboot, but I cannot tell you what the designers of the system thought when forcing the reboot.
True, if you do it pro-actively then it will stop Windows from installing updates. If it started nagging you, Windows installed the updates as far as it could. What you wish, Windows cannot do. This is evidenced by the fact that it installs updates on shutdown (and on startup, sometimes). I think, but I'm not 100% certain, this has to do with the way the NTFS filesystem works. It has much stronger locking policies. You notice that when you want to delete a file and it won't let you, and you have no idea why. On Linux, you can replace and delete files that are used. What happens is that a new file with a different inode is created, and the references to it (in directories, etc), are modified. The original inode, though is locked and keeps being active as long as a program has a lock on it. That's why Linux (Unix in general) can update files in active use.
It also can produce strange results that you delete a multi-gigabyte file and no disk space seems to be released. (The deleted file is still in use by a program, but not referenced in directories any more)
So, in your case, with the overnight job: stop the service for that night.
They might have turned it off for some reason, if it actually was automatic. Just last week, cleaned up a "Metropolitan Police Virus" (a certain local variant) from the computer of an acquaintance. I normally don't check whether automatic updates are on but Windows 7 kept telling me there were updates to be installed. I checked in the Action Centre, and there were over 1GB of patches to be installed. The "installation history" showed that it never ever had installed any patch.
Then I found out that Windows Update was set to "notify me only". They couldn't tell me why they set it that way. Anyway, I turned it back on, and told them to leave the machine on overnight. This was Windows 7 without any service packs.
So, yes... Point #2 is true and a big bad problem.
I sure hope, that at least "FullHD" becomes the new "standard". For now, it still seems to be the "premium" resolution for PCs (I paid extra to get it on my current laptop).
Really, it's painful and a sad sad state of affairs.
Next year. April 2014.
My MS Rep said I only could get those... And I have the software assurance + open value contract. It has been repeated serveral times, "only upgrades". It pisses me off, because I don't see much of monetary savings. The only thing it helps me is that I can image stuff... which is a boon for me, but my boss already told me by now that my time isn't that valuable and that if we have to pay the OEM versions anyway, we might as well use them.