Microsoft paid, what, $400 million for Hotmail. Then they must have paid quite a bit to port the back end to Windows.
I was under the impression that Hotmail still used IIS web servers talking to the original Solaris backend. That was way back when they had only had it for a year or two though... Could be different now.
OK, googled it, found these: In 1998, the attempt to migrate to NT apparently failed. And in 2002, they appear to have tried again.
this pesky TV something adware which would not uninstall
OK, here you go, JD's quick guide to removing hardened spyware, such as TV-Media (tvm.exe). (This is mainly for stuff that the spyware removers can't delete, or that won't let AdAware and it's friends run.) This is even maybe a bit semi-on-topic, wow.
First, get HijackThis. If you're not very familiar with windows internals, run it on a couple clean systems to get a feel for what should be there.
If it isn't being blocked by some really nasty spyware, AdAware or one of those is a good first step to remove the easy stuff before you tackle the hard stuff.
Now, run HijackThis on the infected computer. It will take some practice to learn what is bad and what isn't, but some things will be obvious. In the case of TVM, there will be a startup item (O4 iirc) for tvm.exe, a URLSearchHook for tvmbho.dll, and a bunch of BHO entries for randomly named 'ms????.dll', and possibly a few more dlls in the system32 directory. (I havn't personally ever seen a valid BHO entry, but YMMV.) The important thing to do here is to make a list of files to delete in the next step. At this point you can check the suspicious entries and click 'fix', then re-scan the computer and see how many of them come back. In the case of TVM, several of them will, most notably being the tvm.exe startup item. Killing tvm.exe won't help with this, either.
Now, on to removing hard files. In this case, tvm.exe is hard because it loads with explorer so it's always 'in use'. A couple of the ms????.dll files are hard because they are in use and/or get replaced on reboot by tvm.exe if they're gone. There are three methods to remove these.
First, safe mode. This is easy, albeit time consuming waiting for reboots, but doesn't work for all files. (In TVM's case, it works.) Just reboot into safe mode and delete each file on your list, then use HijackThis to remove the registry entries.
Second method. Faster if you're a decent typist, works for files (like tvm.exe) that hide their process inside explorer.exe so you can't kill them. Open a command prompt and task manager. Use task manager to kill any visible tvm.exe (or whatever) tasks, then kill explorer.exe. Your shell goes away. Use the command prompt to delete the files, then run HijackThis and remove the registry entries. (You can re-run explorer from the prompt when you're done.)
Third method. Slow, complicated, but works for files that can't be deleted by either of the other two methods. This method also works remotely through most desktop-sharing type connections, unlike the other two. Once you've figured out where the files are being launched from (HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ru n in TVM's case), open regedit and go to that key. (NOTE: If you're using windows 2000, you'll need to use regedt32 instead of regedit, but the rest of the process is similar) Click on the key (The entire folder, not the individual entry) and choose permissions from the file menu (or right-click menu in XP). Now you need to deny access to everyone for that key. If you're not familiar with permissions, the exact steps are to click 'Add', type 'Everyone' as the name, hit 'OK', hit 'Advanced', highlight the 'Everyone' entry and hit 'Edit', then check the 'Deny' column next to 'Full Control', then OK out. Reboot. The files won't load (and neither will and of the other startup items in that registry key), so you can delete them and run HijackThis freely. When you're done, run the registry editor again, and in the permissions window for the key in question just click on your 'Everyone' entry and click 'Remove', then reboot one more time.
Not only is the predated (by a long shot) by the US Navy Sea Shadow program in the mid-80s (as pointed out by another poster), but also by the French 'La Fayette' stealth frigates (circa 1988). Modified versions of that ship are also in use by both Saudi Arabia and Taiwan.
I can see what could be rings... They don't match the ones the BBC drew in, though. Here are the ones I can make out, with the red highlights showing the areas I'm extrapolating from. They're not all that concentric... The two close together ones (3rd and 4th) might actually be just one that's farther off center... The outer two are actually clearest after looking at the image for a minute.
Of course, the whole thing is probably an optical illusion, a la the face on mars, but I'd probably be grasping at straws too after a couple years of searching for (likely non-existent) patterns in satellite images:)
I don't know if they do it anymore, but when Bank of America first started their online banking service (several years ago), they let you enter your 9 digit ID. It was very obvious it was supposed to be (and it defaulted to) your SSN, but I went ahead and made up a random 9 digit number, which together with my 7 digit PIN, makes me feel reasonably secure about anyone getting into my account online. Not that there's any money in it anyways.
Now I just have to worry about someone with a SSN equal to my random number opening an account...
100 hours of non-rechargable battery life?? That's like two week's worth of use!
These are running shoes, not wandering around the office shoes. If you use your running shoes 50 hours a week... well, I won't say it because you could probably kick me into a pulp.
The technicians watch the screen closely as the hot fumes settle over the bomb, 2 blocks away. They're looking for any sign of fingerprints, ready to aim and snap a shot with the remote unit's secondary, high-res camera as soon as they show up. Faint areas start to stand out in a strange pattern... And soon they realize it's a word... "B"... "BO"... "BOO"... "BOOM"... "BOOM!"...
As the fumes adhere to the drop of oil on the small light sensor in the dot of the exlamation point, covering it in an opaque white coating, there's a faint click deep inside the bomb.
"Damnit, that robot was expensive!" the squad captain says to his lieutenant, as they huddle behind their van, debris raining down around them.
It did get slashdotted once back before you took over, remember, the ATA copy protection thing? And Russ submitted it himself. I don't remember if it held up under the load or not, though...
But what happens if the innovating companies go away? What happens if nobody bothers with R&D? Who will Linspire rip off then?
If the innovative companies go away, that won't stop the absolute flood of (mostly crap) applications that are constantly released. (Here's 132 media players, and 82 photo managers, and that's just one site.) There will pretty much always be one most-common app in a given space (winamp), sometimes there will be a less-common but more advanced app (iTunes). Copying either one of those items to Linux (XMMS, Lsongs) isn't terribly original, but it does help make it easier for people to transition to the platform. Of course, as others have pointed out, just having the app doesn't automatically mean that the integration is as good as other platforms (Lsongs doesn't look like it can burn CDs, for example), but it's still a start.
That's got to be the most perfect ad-to-article match ever. The interview contains these paragraphs:
"The root problem that the security industry has is... unscrupulous people selling to an uninformed market. The managers buying security products don't understand security at all, and so they trust the vendors to tell them what is best," Alder argued. "And somehow, conveniently, what is best has a great overlap with whatever that particular vendor happens to be selling."
...
"[Companies] have the latest and greatest firewall that nobody has ever bothered to configure, or a very expensive intrusion detection system (IDS) that nobody has the understanding to tune."
And the ad on the page says "Today's threats require a lot more than a firewall. This is a lot more than a firewall. Symantec Gateway Security 5400 series" (Ad here.)
That's about the most perfect example of what she's talking about anybody could have come up with...
Most spammers take great lengths to hide their identity, and are scared to even tell their family what they do for a living.
<<Cue violins>>
Man: Mom... I... I'm sorry. I can't hide it anymore. I... I'm a spammer.
Mom: I... was afraid of that. I mean, I suspected but... I just didn't want to find out. Didn't want to be sure. I had hoped... it would never come to this. I'm sorry.
<<She reaches into her handbag, pulls out a revolver>>
There is no purchase contract for most DVDs. You must shop at a truly bizarre store.
There is no explicit contract, true. But the DVD you purchase is protected by CSS. You cannot legally descramble CSS due to the DMCA. In order to do anything legally with the disc you need a player from a third party who has an agreement with the disc's publisher to allow their equipment (or software) to decode CSS. Having an unwritten requirement that only the publishers approved players will work sure sounds like an implied contract to me.
Incidentally, that requirement is where I see the comparison with the GPL, too. If you want to play a DVD, you have to have an approved player. If you want to redistribute GPL'd software, you have to GPL your changes. In both cases, there's an extra condition you have to agree to in order to use the data in a certain way that you otherwise cannot legally do, although the GPL is more explicit.
You have forgotten fair use. For example, the Supreme Court ruled that it is part of fair use for me to timeshift a television program.
I'm picking your comment to respond to among all the responders that are crying 'fair use' and pointing out the difference between a contract and a license (ie the GPL), but the same answers apply to all of them.
First, regarding fair use. Fair use is not a right. Fair use is not an entitlement. Allow me to quote US Title 17, section 107:
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism... [list of fair uses]...
is not an infringement of copyright. [Emphasis added]
Read that again. And again. And over and over until you finally understand that what it says is that fair use is not an infrinement of copytight. It doesn't give you the unalienable right to timeshift. It doesn't grant you unlimited power to convert things into whatever format you want. All it says is that those things (and things later ruled to be protected, such as timeshifting) are not illegal. If the content provider uses some technological measure to prevent you from doing any of those things, that's perfectly legal. They just can't sue you or have you arrested for doing them.
Now, maybe fair use should be a protected right, but it isn't. And pretending it is doesn't help.
You also said:
My GPL software is protected from being co-opted by commercial abusers by copyright law, not by technical measures. If it ever came down to me suing for copyright infringement, the truth is guaranteed to come out through discovery. There is no technical measure necessary or possible to protect my rights.
Well, those DVDs are protected by copyright law, too. But they're also protected by stupid DMCA-sanctioned technological measures. If you felt like creating some super DMCA protected GPL-DRM that went through and added GPL notices to every file in a project as soon as the linker saw your file, go for it. Just don't expect anybody to actually use it. Unfortunately, it's a bit late to use start touting DMCA protections as a reason to not buy DVDs.
Slashdot Mirror
I almost want to see that just to see how in the world they play out space battles, particularly the last one...
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/team_ameri ca/
OK, googled it, found these: In 1998, the attempt to migrate to NT apparently failed. And in 2002, they appear to have tried again.
Anybody know if it worked?
First, get HijackThis. If you're not very familiar with windows internals, run it on a couple clean systems to get a feel for what should be there.
If it isn't being blocked by some really nasty spyware, AdAware or one of those is a good first step to remove the easy stuff before you tackle the hard stuff.
Now, run HijackThis on the infected computer. It will take some practice to learn what is bad and what isn't, but some things will be obvious. In the case of TVM, there will be a startup item (O4 iirc) for tvm.exe, a URLSearchHook for tvmbho.dll, and a bunch of BHO entries for randomly named 'ms????.dll', and possibly a few more dlls in the system32 directory. (I havn't personally ever seen a valid BHO entry, but YMMV.) The important thing to do here is to make a list of files to delete in the next step. At this point you can check the suspicious entries and click 'fix', then re-scan the computer and see how many of them come back. In the case of TVM, several of them will, most notably being the tvm.exe startup item. Killing tvm.exe won't help with this, either.
Now, on to removing hard files. In this case, tvm.exe is hard because it loads with explorer so it's always 'in use'. A couple of the ms????.dll files are hard because they are in use and/or get replaced on reboot by tvm.exe if they're gone. There are three methods to remove these.
First, safe mode. This is easy, albeit time consuming waiting for reboots, but doesn't work for all files. (In TVM's case, it works.) Just reboot into safe mode and delete each file on your list, then use HijackThis to remove the registry entries.
Second method. Faster if you're a decent typist, works for files (like tvm.exe) that hide their process inside explorer.exe so you can't kill them. Open a command prompt and task manager. Use task manager to kill any visible tvm.exe (or whatever) tasks, then kill explorer.exe. Your shell goes away. Use the command prompt to delete the files, then run HijackThis and remove the registry entries. (You can re-run explorer from the prompt when you're done.)
Third method. Slow, complicated, but works for files that can't be deleted by either of the other two methods. This method also works remotely through most desktop-sharing type connections, unlike the other two. Once you've figured out where the files are being launched from (HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ru n in TVM's case), open regedit and go to that key. (NOTE: If you're using windows 2000, you'll need to use regedt32 instead of regedit, but the rest of the process is similar) Click on the key (The entire folder, not the individual entry) and choose permissions from the file menu (or right-click menu in XP). Now you need to deny access to everyone for that key. If you're not familiar with permissions, the exact steps are to click 'Add', type 'Everyone' as the name, hit 'OK', hit 'Advanced', highlight the 'Everyone' entry and hit 'Edit', then check the 'Deny' column next to 'Full Control', then OK out. Reboot. The files won't load (and neither will and of the other startup items in that registry key), so you can delete them and run HijackThis freely. When you're done, run the registry editor again, and in the permissions window for the key in question just click on your 'Everyone' entry and click 'Remove', then reboot one more time.
Hope that helps, and good luck.
Not only is the predated (by a long shot) by the US Navy Sea Shadow program in the mid-80s (as pointed out by another poster), but also by the French 'La Fayette' stealth frigates (circa 1988). Modified versions of that ship are also in use by both Saudi Arabia and Taiwan.
Of course, the whole thing is probably an optical illusion, a la the face on mars, but I'd probably be grasping at straws too after a couple years of searching for (likely non-existent) patterns in satellite images :)
Now I just have to worry about someone with a SSN equal to my random number opening an account...
Running your own slashdot mirror?? Pure genius!
The only female name I can come up with from that is RUT, as in Ruth. Other than that, I guess she could be named Stu...
Why the hell would that many people go to a website that's nothing but a bunch of question marks? (The humorless need not reply.)
As the fumes adhere to the drop of oil on the small light sensor in the dot of the exlamation point, covering it in an opaque white coating, there's a faint click deep inside the bomb.
"Damnit, that robot was expensive!" the squad captain says to his lieutenant, as they huddle behind their van, debris raining down around them.
It did get slashdotted once back before you took over, remember, the ATA copy protection thing? And Russ submitted it himself. I don't remember if it held up under the load or not, though...
That's about the most perfect example of what she's talking about anybody could have come up with...
Best. Sig. Ever.
Man: Mom... I... I'm sorry. I can't hide it anymore. I... I'm a spammer.
Mom: I... was afraid of that. I mean, I suspected but... I just didn't want to find out. Didn't want to be sure. I had hoped... it would never come to this. I'm sorry.
<<She reaches into her handbag, pulls out a revolver>>
Man: Mom! No! NO!
<<BANG>>
The true beauty of slashdot: Serious discourse between people named Moofie and AssCork.
For some reason he fails to use any HTML, HEAD, or BODY tags in his pages. I suspect ignorance, not malice. As usual.
Incidentally, that requirement is where I see the comparison with the GPL, too. If you want to play a DVD, you have to have an approved player. If you want to redistribute GPL'd software, you have to GPL your changes. In both cases, there's an extra condition you have to agree to in order to use the data in a certain way that you otherwise cannot legally do, although the GPL is more explicit.
First, regarding fair use. Fair use is not a right. Fair use is not an entitlement. Allow me to quote US Title 17, section 107:
Read that again. And again. And over and over until you finally understand that what it says is that fair use is not an infrinement of copytight. It doesn't give you the unalienable right to timeshift. It doesn't grant you unlimited power to convert things into whatever format you want. All it says is that those things (and things later ruled to be protected, such as timeshifting) are not illegal. If the content provider uses some technological measure to prevent you from doing any of those things, that's perfectly legal. They just can't sue you or have you arrested for doing them.Now, maybe fair use should be a protected right, but it isn't. And pretending it is doesn't help.
You also said:
Well, those DVDs are protected by copyright law, too. But they're also protected by stupid DMCA-sanctioned technological measures. If you felt like creating some super DMCA protected GPL-DRM that went through and added GPL notices to every file in a project as soon as the linker saw your file, go for it. Just don't expect anybody to actually use it. Unfortunately, it's a bit late to use start touting DMCA protections as a reason to not buy DVDs.