The biggest quality point he has is that the majority of computer users could care less which OS they are using, as long as they can point and click their programs into and out of existence, and easily install hardware that they purchase.
"Windows for Dummies" is one of the best selling dummies books for a good reason. Even windows doesn't always work the way people want it to.
If the Linux crowd wants to move the Linux OS into the mainstream, they are going to have to make it as easy and simple as possible. More so then windows perhaps. Add more help boxes, give a better manual then windows (There are companies in Japan with excellent manuals,) make it easy to install and remove software/hardware.
When these objectives are reached, I can guarantee you that more people will use Linux.
As well, provide an easy way for device drivers to be distributed for linux boxes. A big problem I have found with some of my friends that have switched to Linux is how difficult it is to find good drivers for some of their old peripherals.
Well, I guess Microsoft decided to give the Linux developers a checklist of things to implement or improve over the next few years in Linux. So, they can have a more "competitive edge" on MS.
Well, I miss the old construction games (albeit you can still find a few music construction ones on www.shockwave.com and a few other shocked sites.) I also miss the old adventure games where you really had to think and use logic to proceed. Unlike most of the modern games where you can fight and use other methods to continue on. The old King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, etc. series were great little games for encouraging creative thought.
I remember how frustrated I used to get when I would get caught trying to figure out how to complete that one last task. I miss those games, unfortunately a few bad apples killed the genre (KQ7or8 anyone). Perhaps some new gaming company will decide to revive it, and perhaps even make it better so you can have different endings, different ways to win and lose, a less linear lifeline, but still all of those great little realistic and funny puzzles.
I loved the nursery rhyme and folk story puzzles in King's Quest, and the great space jokes in Space Quest.
But, these build it yourself games I have found still exist online in a lot of shockwave sites, like www.shockwave.com. Just no one has bothered making a large scale version... yet.
Last names are now officially patented by me, also known as surnames. I declare the use of a last name to identify a person, his living relatives, phone number, or any other source to be exclusively my Intellectual property. Anyone who decides to use this method of identification will now have to pay me royalties based on an agreed upon rate. Use of a last name without my express permission is a violation of my intellectual property rights and will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Interesting form of vigilante justice I see. They go after and punish everyone that they deem as wrong. And perhaps they are right, but the reason for the justice system is not to punish everyone who commits something wrong, but to avoid punishing those who have no committed wrong.
I remember hearing a great man say that "it is better to let 30 men go free, then have one innocent man condemned for life."
Vigilante justice has the problem that while it catches more of the guilty, it punishes more of the innocent, as well if I remember correctly it is illegal in the states (could a lawyer check me on this?)
I understand the need for the MPAA and RIAA to solve these piracy problems, but becoming the prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner is not the way to go. When you are all four, you are guaranteed to false positives and punish those who don't deserve it.
I love macs, and If I could afford one I would buy one. But apparently the person who wrote this article knows very little about data analysis.
What we are seeing here is a correlation among a small select group. Not a cause and effect.
In psychology this is a common error. You see, a correlation just implies that having one might mean having the other. But it doesn't imply one causes the other, or even the two are related.
For example, you could look at the statistics in poor neighbourhoods and discover that they have lower education. Now, a person could say:\
1. They have lower education because they inherently that way (they are poor).
Another:
2. They are poor because they have lower education
And yet a third could say:
3. In these poor neighbourhoods are contaminates like Mercury, Lead, etc. These have been proved to lower IQ scores. They could have lower education because these affect their ability to learn.
Now just using the statistic that lower education in poor neighbourhoods is common leads to three possible reason.
Applying this to the macintosh and smart people issue also leads to possible explanations:
1. People who buy Apples are inherently smarter then the general populous.
2. Apples are better devices for learnign the web and expanding knowledge, therefore the people who own them would have more opportunity to learn.
3. Since more IBMs are owned then Apples, there is more of a chance of having the mean intelligence lower(or possibly higher) for IBMs then Apples. Therefore, this causes the apparent correlation between intelligence and Apples.
As you can see, all three apply. And there are likely many more explanations. Data Analysis is a confusing field, and this explains why so many myths are perpetrated through the populous. It's easy to believe someones explanation offhand for a correlation. It's hard to find out why the correlation exists.
Like, I don't mind other companies that have tons of products and are making tons of money. Plus, they may have a somewhat stranglehold on industries. But I would have to say the only reason I dislike Microsoft is their apparent philosophy of don't produce good products, kill the competition, and use lawyers as much as possible to help both of the above.
If MS produced quality products, I wouldn't care much about their attempts at complete world domination. But, since they don't produce quality products because they don't have to with the monopoly they have. (Remember Bill Gate's quote from some book I read recently which said (approximately), "You don't want them to want your product, you want them to think they cannot survive without your product. Then you win." Or in rough translation, "Don't worry about creating good products, just manuever yourself into a position where they have no choice but to use your products."
Seems about right for MS lately. (Again, I really am not trying to bash Microsoft, just frustrated with what they have been doing.)
Man, I am so a IBM Thinkpad man, but this machine just makes me drool. If there is one thing Sony has got over everyone else, it's really, really nice designers.
Does anyone know if this is available in Canada yet? I know what my next laptop will be.
Well, from the sounds of it. This is a perfect attack on the open source movement.
While absolutely anyone will be able to program code for the Palladium system. Since anyone can have a licence. (I believe Microsoft would let this get by). Only the open source people wouldn't be able to handle the new licence everytime. Thus Microsoft maintains control in two ways.
1. The only main threat to MS's OS monopoly right now is Linux (and maybe a tad bit of Apple, which they own a seat on the board for.) This isn't a huge threat, but if it takes off, Windows loses it's viability. Then MS is screwed. With Palladium, only MS OSes(and MS supported OSes) will be able to handle the Palladium hardware, and the only competition that could potentially cause problems is blocked because it's unreal for it to be signed every single time.
2. If MS decides to spread their wings some more. They will have the ability to put loopholes into Palladium to make it harder for competitors to code. They have done this before with Windows, making changes that purposely are damaging to competitor software (I know, I have had to program around those changes.) I wouldn't be surprised if they used this to accomplish the same thing.
No matter what though, it does show an evil injenuity that I haven't seen from MS since the days of OS/2, and even all the way back to MS/DOS. I guess OS is having the effect of forcing these companies to compete. Since people have realized the software they pay for is as good as software people give away for free.:-)
If they are worried about people giving bandwidth away. Instead of chasing off potential customers. Why don't they just charge for bandwidth usage like a lot of them are anywaiz. That way, even if someone gives it away using wireless, they get their money and everyone is somewhat happy.
Plus, it doesn't give them the evil ogre look when they just try to make a profit. (At least not as much so.)
At the risk of losing some karma. I'l lsay I have to agree on that.
It's almost like Rome and their bread and circuses days. The population was antsy and didn't like the government. So instead of fixing the government, the emperor gave them "bread and circuses." At least this time, we're not killing anyone for real, and just killing them in a virtual environment.
Maybe, the next "Rome" will get it right and not have to kill anyone at all.
IBM thinks it's premature to vote on this without seeing the MS license terms.
It looks like IBM learned its lesson really well when dealing with Microsoft 20 years ago, and now are going to be really watching what agreements they sign.
As well, SGI's response is curious:
. SGI thinks if we can't deal with IP claims, we might as well all go home.
I wonder if they mean that they don't want to worry about the IP claim, and are trying to just ignore it. Or if they agree with it, and just want to leave it at that.
In the article it says that MS has always offered the ability for people to place their cards with their MS Passport service, but only a few percentage did because they didn't feel the system was secure enough.
Now, through some weird twist of business and fate MS has mucked up with Visa and miraculously their MS Passport is more secure? That doesn't quite make sense. People still won't place their card with their passport (unless forced) until MS passport is actually more secure. Whether or not Visa is smiling and nodding at MS.
I am just confused as to why this really matters. My visa will never be linked to my MS Passport, and I am certain a lot of other people's won't either.
Air is an insulator with incredibly high resistivity Pure Silicon is a semiconductor with reasonable resistivity
Now if we introduce air bubbles into Pure silicon or chicken feathers. We introduce resistivity. Which is the number one thing, we _don't_ want in an electrical circuit (especially a small one) because resistance = heat = melting wires.
Sure, electromagnetic _waves_ travel faster through air, but electrons don't travel at all through the air, that's why we aren't being electricuted on a daily basis.
I really think the writer of this article needs to hire a science advisor so he understands basic current electrics.
If the browser isn't ANSI compliant, then I don't program for it. I program following ANSI and ISO standards to an absolute tee. Unfortunately, sometimes the browsers can't handle those standards though (Netscape for example). IE has been quite good at matching the standards, and Mozilla and Opera have done reasonably good as well.
For all of the programmers out there who either program meticulously to match NS and IE, or just program using IE's little tricks. A simple solution that will likely please all of your customers. Just program using the standards and a textpad, no more WYSIWYG (Frontpage), or silly IE tricks. In the end everyone wins.
Kinda strange how E-bay is transforming the internet economy. They are the only company that has realized that when dealing with the consumers on the internet, you have to let them choose their own prices, or you have to let them have very low prices.
By getting paypal, it sets E-bay up to handle all of their transactions reasonably smoothly (I haven't had problems, but I do hope that the problems other people have had are being resolved.) As well, it might open up the opportunity for E-bay to start selling even more select items, and basically control the simplest internet money transaction service that will be used by most small companies.
(I hate to use analogies from games, but this is a good one.) In the game Civ:CTP, there is a world bank wonder, through which all transactions made in the world are processed. It is a terrific idea if it can be made secure and easy to use. E-bay right now, since it owns such a large auction site, and now one of the better internet payment companies, has the potential to be this internet world bank. By allowing any company to process payments through a simple central server with a few administration and hardware fees.
For a bunch of reasons, I find junk mail far more enjoyable then spam.
1. Junk mail costs the sender totally, I don't spend a cent. While spam costs me download time, bandwidth, and a bunch more.
2. Junk mail is tactile. When it's good, it's nice to read through a brochure or flyer. when it's bad, it's nice to feel and hear the sound of it hit the recycling bin. E-mail is just annoying all around.
3. I enjoy receiving junk mail, it means someone actually is willing to spend money to reach me. I hate receiving spam, it means someone has stolen my e-mail from somewhere and is charging me for their advertising.
4. Junk mail comes with coupons which are sometimes useful. At the very most, you'll have to print out the coupons received through e-mail, or only buy through online sites.
5. Junk mail arrives once a day at a set time. Not every 5 minutes annoying me endlessly at work while I am waiting for slightly more important e-mails.
So naturally given the option, you can see why I would prefer Junk mail via post over spam e-mail. E-mail should be reserved for correspondances and important communications that need to be received and responded to quickly. Snail mail can be used for the rest of the junk. (Plus, with all of the virii out there I get enough crap without needing to worry about junk mail.
The number one thing everyone in the computer sales industry loves is the fact that people have to upgrade on a regular basis.
If Palladium comes through, I guarantee you that I won't upgrade beyond the chips that don't have this DRM tech on it. My computer is my device to control, not anyone elses.
I assume many other people out there would agree with me on this issue. Thus, MS is going have a very large failure to market unless they give a good reason other then "We'll be a good Big Brother".
An interesting thought came to me as to why I hate spam so much. It isn't just because there is too much spam, or it is annoying, or etc..
It's because they never, ever have sold a product that doesn't look like a scam, or porn to me. Every single spam I have gotten in my 7+ years on the internet has been for penis enlargers, aphrodisiacs, etc. It's like the snake-oil dealers of old have found a new home on the internet.
If I got coupons to the stores I frequent (or are in my area), or just adverts for legitimate, registered, good companies about products I might consider. It wouldn't bother me as much. But it's the fact that the spam I receive is pure, unadulterated, useless crap which explains why I hate spam so much, and don't feel too bad about junk mail I receive by post.
Well, the most obvious problem with the way the EULA is worded. It means that if I use any other program to listen to music or watch movies and it doesn't have MS's security installed on it, then they have the right to delete the program.
Way to go Bill, you figured out how to totally kill Real, Winamp and any other Non-MS media player.
Slashdot Mirror
The biggest quality point he has is that the majority of computer users could care less which OS they are using, as long as they can point and click their programs into and out of existence, and easily install hardware that they purchase.
"Windows for Dummies" is one of the best selling dummies books for a good reason. Even windows doesn't always work the way people want it to.
If the Linux crowd wants to move the Linux OS into the mainstream, they are going to have to make it as easy and simple as possible. More so then windows perhaps. Add more help boxes, give a better manual then windows (There are companies in Japan with excellent manuals,) make it easy to install and remove software/hardware.
When these objectives are reached, I can guarantee you that more people will use Linux.
As well, provide an easy way for device drivers to be distributed for linux boxes. A big problem I have found with some of my friends that have switched to Linux is how difficult it is to find good drivers for some of their old peripherals.
Well, I guess Microsoft decided to give the Linux developers a checklist of things to implement or improve over the next few years in Linux. So, they can have a more "competitive edge" on MS.
:-)
Thank you Microsoft.
:-) That would be excellent news, do you remember where you read about it?
Wow... All of the memories come rolling back. Boy, I missed those games. :-)
:-)
We need someone to write some new storylines too.
Well, I miss the old construction games (albeit you can still find a few music construction ones on www.shockwave.com and a few other shocked sites.) I also miss the old adventure games where you really had to think and use logic to proceed. Unlike most of the modern games where you can fight and use other methods to continue on. The old King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, etc. series were great little games for encouraging creative thought.
I remember how frustrated I used to get when I would get caught trying to figure out how to complete that one last task. I miss those games, unfortunately a few bad apples killed the genre (KQ7or8 anyone). Perhaps some new gaming company will decide to revive it, and perhaps even make it better so you can have different endings, different ways to win and lose, a less linear lifeline, but still all of those great little realistic and funny puzzles.
I loved the nursery rhyme and folk story puzzles in King's Quest, and the great space jokes in Space Quest.
But, these build it yourself games I have found still exist online in a lot of shockwave sites, like www.shockwave.com. Just no one has bothered making a large scale version... yet.
Last names are now officially patented by me, also known as surnames. I declare the use of a last name to identify a person, his living relatives, phone number, or any other source to be exclusively my Intellectual property. Anyone who decides to use this method of identification will now have to pay me royalties based on an agreed upon rate. Use of a last name without my express permission is a violation of my intellectual property rights and will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
:-)
(J/k, in case you couldn't tell.
Interesting form of vigilante justice I see. They go after and punish everyone that they deem as wrong. And perhaps they are right, but the reason for the justice system is not to punish everyone who commits something wrong, but to avoid punishing those who have no committed wrong.
I remember hearing a great man say that "it is better to let 30 men go free, then have one innocent man condemned for life."
Vigilante justice has the problem that while it catches more of the guilty, it punishes more of the innocent, as well if I remember correctly it is illegal in the states (could a lawyer check me on this?)
I understand the need for the MPAA and RIAA to solve these piracy problems, but becoming the prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner is not the way to go. When you are all four, you are guaranteed to false positives and punish those who don't deserve it.
I love macs, and If I could afford one I would buy one. But apparently the person who wrote this article knows very little about data analysis.
What we are seeing here is a correlation among a small select group. Not a cause and effect.
In psychology this is a common error. You see, a correlation just implies that having one might mean having the other. But it doesn't imply one causes the other, or even the two are related.
For example, you could look at the statistics in poor neighbourhoods and discover that they have lower education. Now, a person could say:\
1. They have lower education because they inherently that way (they are poor).
Another:
2. They are poor because they have lower education
And yet a third could say:
3. In these poor neighbourhoods are contaminates like Mercury, Lead, etc. These have been proved to lower IQ scores. They could have lower education because these affect their ability to learn.
Now just using the statistic that lower education in poor neighbourhoods is common leads to three possible reason.
Applying this to the macintosh and smart people issue also leads to possible explanations:
1. People who buy Apples are inherently smarter then the general populous.
2. Apples are better devices for learnign the web and expanding knowledge, therefore the people who own them would have more opportunity to learn.
3. Since more IBMs are owned then Apples, there is more of a chance of having the mean intelligence lower(or possibly higher) for IBMs then Apples. Therefore, this causes the apparent correlation between intelligence and Apples.
As you can see, all three apply. And there are likely many more explanations. Data Analysis is a confusing field, and this explains why so many myths are perpetrated through the populous. It's easy to believe someones explanation offhand for a correlation. It's hard to find out why the correlation exists.
Some food for thought,
But don't they just make it way to easy lately.
Like, I don't mind other companies that have tons of products and are making tons of money. Plus, they may have a somewhat stranglehold on industries. But I would have to say the only reason I dislike Microsoft is their apparent philosophy of don't produce good products, kill the competition, and use lawyers as much as possible to help both of the above.
If MS produced quality products, I wouldn't care much about their attempts at complete world domination. But, since they don't produce quality products because they don't have to with the monopoly they have. (Remember Bill Gate's quote from some book I read recently which said (approximately), "You don't want them to want your product, you want them to think they cannot survive without your product. Then you win." Or in rough translation, "Don't worry about creating good products, just manuever yourself into a position where they have no choice but to use your products."
Seems about right for MS lately. (Again, I really am not trying to bash Microsoft, just frustrated with what they have been doing.)
Ahh...
;-)
Man, I am so a IBM Thinkpad man, but this machine just makes me drool. If there is one thing Sony has got over everyone else, it's really, really nice designers.
Does anyone know if this is available in Canada yet? I know what my next laptop will be.
(R U Listening IBM?)
Well, from the sounds of it. This is a perfect attack on the open source movement.
:-)
While absolutely anyone will be able to program code for the Palladium system. Since anyone can have a licence. (I believe Microsoft would let this get by). Only the open source people wouldn't be able to handle the new licence everytime. Thus Microsoft maintains control in two ways.
1. The only main threat to MS's OS monopoly right now is Linux (and maybe a tad bit of Apple, which they own a seat on the board for.) This isn't a huge threat, but if it takes off, Windows loses it's viability. Then MS is screwed. With Palladium, only MS OSes(and MS supported OSes) will be able to handle the Palladium hardware, and the only competition that could potentially cause problems is blocked because it's unreal for it to be signed every single time.
2. If MS decides to spread their wings some more. They will have the ability to put loopholes into Palladium to make it harder for competitors to code. They have done this before with Windows, making changes that purposely are damaging to competitor software (I know, I have had to program around those changes.) I wouldn't be surprised if they used this to accomplish the same thing.
No matter what though, it does show an evil injenuity that I haven't seen from MS since the days of OS/2, and even all the way back to MS/DOS. I guess OS is having the effect of forcing these companies to compete. Since people have realized the software they pay for is as good as software people give away for free.
Wow!
.....Kelly John Rose.....
That's absolutely insane. What were they doing with their connection? downloading the web?
If they are worried about people giving bandwidth away. Instead of chasing off potential customers. Why don't they just charge for bandwidth usage like a lot of them are anywaiz. That way, even if someone gives it away using wireless, they get their money and everyone is somewhat happy.
Plus, it doesn't give them the evil ogre look when they just try to make a profit. (At least not as much so.)
At the risk of losing some karma. I'l lsay I have to agree on that.
It's almost like Rome and their bread and circuses days. The population was antsy and didn't like the government. So instead of fixing the government, the emperor gave them "bread and circuses." At least this time, we're not killing anyone for real, and just killing them in a virtual environment.
Maybe, the next "Rome" will get it right and not have to kill anyone at all.
I like this quote from the minutes:
:-)
IBM thinks it's premature to vote on this without seeing the MS license terms.
It looks like IBM learned its lesson really well when dealing with Microsoft 20 years ago, and now are going to be really watching what agreements they sign.
As well, SGI's response is curious:
. SGI thinks if we can't deal with IP claims, we might as well all go home.
I wonder if they mean that they don't want to worry about the IP claim, and are trying to just ignore it. Or if they agree with it, and just want to leave it at that.
Good meeting though, nontheless.
In the article it says that MS has always offered the ability for people to place their cards with their MS Passport service, but only a few percentage did because they didn't feel the system was secure enough.
Now, through some weird twist of business and fate MS has mucked up with Visa and miraculously their MS Passport is more secure? That doesn't quite make sense. People still won't place their card with their passport (unless forced) until MS passport is actually more secure. Whether or not Visa is smiling and nodding at MS.
I am just confused as to why this really matters. My visa will never be linked to my MS Passport, and I am certain a lot of other people's won't either.
Okay, ordinarily electrons don't travel through the air. The resistance is usually too high. :-)
Okay.... let's go over this clearly.
Source for info on what Air and Silicon is: MIT
Air is an insulator with incredibly high resistivity
Pure Silicon is a semiconductor with reasonable resistivity
Now if we introduce air bubbles into Pure silicon or chicken feathers. We introduce resistivity. Which is the number one thing, we _don't_ want in an electrical circuit (especially a small one) because resistance = heat = melting wires.
Sure, electromagnetic _waves_ travel faster through air, but electrons don't travel at all through the air, that's why we aren't being electricuted on a daily basis.
I really think the writer of this article needs to hire a science advisor so he understands basic current electrics.
I just follow this simple rule.
If the browser isn't ANSI compliant, then I don't program for it. I program following ANSI and ISO standards to an absolute tee. Unfortunately, sometimes the browsers can't handle those standards though (Netscape for example). IE has been quite good at matching the standards, and Mozilla and Opera have done reasonably good as well.
For all of the programmers out there who either program meticulously to match NS and IE, or just program using IE's little tricks. A simple solution that will likely please all of your customers. Just program using the standards and a textpad, no more WYSIWYG (Frontpage), or silly IE tricks. In the end everyone wins.
Kinda strange how E-bay is transforming the internet economy. They are the only company that has realized that when dealing with the consumers on the internet, you have to let them choose their own prices, or you have to let them have very low prices.
:-)
By getting paypal, it sets E-bay up to handle all of their transactions reasonably smoothly (I haven't had problems, but I do hope that the problems other people have had are being resolved.) As well, it might open up the opportunity for E-bay to start selling even more select items, and basically control the simplest internet money transaction service that will be used by most small companies.
(I hate to use analogies from games, but this is a good one.) In the game Civ:CTP, there is a world bank wonder, through which all transactions made in the world are processed. It is a terrific idea if it can be made secure and easy to use. E-bay right now, since it owns such a large auction site, and now one of the better internet payment companies, has the potential to be this internet world bank. By allowing any company to process payments through a simple central server with a few administration and hardware fees.
Just some interesting ramblings.
an alcoholics anonymous booth at a beer convention?
Or do you think MS is going to actually give in to Linux?
For a bunch of reasons, I find junk mail far more enjoyable then spam.
1. Junk mail costs the sender totally, I don't spend a cent. While spam costs me download time, bandwidth, and a bunch more.
2. Junk mail is tactile. When it's good, it's nice to read through a brochure or flyer. when it's bad, it's nice to feel and hear the sound of it hit the recycling bin. E-mail is just annoying all around.
3. I enjoy receiving junk mail, it means someone actually is willing to spend money to reach me. I hate receiving spam, it means someone has stolen my e-mail from somewhere and is charging me for their advertising.
4. Junk mail comes with coupons which are sometimes useful. At the very most, you'll have to print out the coupons received through e-mail, or only buy through online sites.
5. Junk mail arrives once a day at a set time. Not every 5 minutes annoying me endlessly at work while I am waiting for slightly more important e-mails.
So naturally given the option, you can see why I would prefer Junk mail via post over spam e-mail. E-mail should be reserved for correspondances and important communications that need to be received and responded to quickly. Snail mail can be used for the rest of the junk. (Plus, with all of the virii out there I get enough crap without needing to worry about junk mail.
The number one thing everyone in the computer sales industry loves is the fact that people have to upgrade on a regular basis.
If Palladium comes through, I guarantee you that I won't upgrade beyond the chips that don't have this DRM tech on it. My computer is my device to control, not anyone elses.
I assume many other people out there would agree with me on this issue. Thus, MS is going have a very large failure to market unless they give a good reason other then "We'll be a good Big Brother".
IMO of course.
An interesting thought came to me as to why I hate spam so much. It isn't just because there is too much spam, or it is annoying, or etc..
It's because they never, ever have sold a product that doesn't look like a scam, or porn to me. Every single spam I have gotten in my 7+ years on the internet has been for penis enlargers, aphrodisiacs, etc. It's like the snake-oil dealers of old have found a new home on the internet.
If I got coupons to the stores I frequent (or are in my area), or just adverts for legitimate, registered, good companies about products I might consider. It wouldn't bother me as much. But it's the fact that the spam I receive is pure, unadulterated, useless crap which explains why I hate spam so much, and don't feel too bad about junk mail I receive by post.
Just my thoughts on the issue.
Well, the most obvious problem with the way the EULA is worded. It means that if I use any other program to listen to music or watch movies and it doesn't have MS's security installed on it, then they have the right to delete the program.
Way to go Bill, you figured out how to totally kill Real, Winamp and any other Non-MS media player.