Actually, the OEM was the store involved, but it's 3 years later.
As for blaming Microsoft, yes actually I do.
I don't believe any of the OEMs should do, or be ALLOWED to do what they do. Many companies, Dell for instance, do exactly the same thing. Microsoft sets the policies which the OEM companies are allowed to image the disc.
My mothers computer had issues booting a week ago, trying to use the disc that came with the machine to resolve the problem resulted in the harddrive being formatted (no questions asked, nice, eh?), and then failed to actually install the OS as there seem to be disc errors.
Solution? Purchase a copy of XP Home (Upgrade). I wasn't happy about it, and I probably would have started yelling at the clerk in the store, but in the end they now have a copy of XP Home which can be used to install, or fix/repair an install.
The original disc was an OEM install disc and was configured for an unconditional install.
I am so sick of the bullshit on Windows platforms; nothing is as aggravating as realizing how many of the problems are intentional design decisions.
That as a solution solves a problem which shouldn't exist in the first place.
Leave my menu's alone. Give me easy to use toolbars and I will populate them with the functionality I want, but don't screw around with the menus.
As for newly installed programs being highlighted, again, that is a solution to a problem (chaos) that shouldn't exist. I'm not even going to say OS X does it better, because it doesn't. But the fact is the biggest problem with the Program menu in Windows is the need for publishers to use the Publishers name as the root folder for their crap.
I don't give a shit who publishes the program I want to install, I care about the utility of it, and it's name. Not the publisher. (I've been bitten by enough bugs in the past that I seldom change the path of a program I am installing, but really it shouldn't require I change it except in special circumstances. Lets create some default main folders based on functionality and then allow sub-orgnization from there...)
Does it always play the same tune, or does it vary depending on the amount of money dispensed?
Perhaps they are trying to obscure the amount of money dispensed by playing something over top of the sound as it counts your bills; quickly corrupted if it plays a different tune for different amounts.
Let me know when you figure out how to install an aftermarket stereo into my Mazda 6 without making everything look like shit, or not work, etc. (2006 Model year by the way).
Additives are often added to the fuel on the truck, before it leaves the yard. There may be a selection of 3 or 4 additives, or only one, depends on the requirements.
I use Google News a lot. It makes it very easy to find a news article I would not find otherwise; I get annoyed when Google News shows a site which, when i click on the Article doesn't let me view it because I need to be registered. My solution? Follow the next link as it will likely not have the registration requirement.
News sites are going to have to understand something, except for those sites I choose to go to on a daily basis the rest are secondary. I won't go to them unless there is a story of interest.
News sites which require some fee to be indexed will drop by the wayside as the smaller sites become more available. I stopped going to Forbes a while back because there page caused Java runtime to load in the browser I was using, it slowed the system to a crawl and it was generally possible to read the article elsewhere.
Except for a particular attachment someone may have to a specific site (be it Fox, CNN, Forbes, Toronto Star, whatever) all other articles are read on a whim. On the other hand, it is those articles which would create the opportunity for someone to see the site and realize it is worth a look on an on going basis.
Somehow I think the smarter sites will realize the trick is to get people to stay on their site (by choice) once they get there, rather than charge an indexing service.
Various instances of U.S. authorities illegally arresting, kidnapping and attempting to transfer people from one sovereign state to the U.S. have occurred in the past.
(Thankfully the odd American gets caught doing this in Canada and spends a couple years in jail for it, thereby limiting it to only the more desperate cases, or stupid people.)
With authorities willing and able to do this (they do get away with it often enough) for some of the lamest cases someone with a default judgement against them of several million dollars should rightfully be concerned. Any travel to; or across North America is illadvised.
I do not support what spamhaus does; Blackhole lists and the like are not a solution to the problem and tend to have significant collateral damage of parties who have little, or no control over any of the circumstances. I just think default judgements, particularly in cases where the question of jurisdiction do come up are entirely counter to the intended judicial system in most of the western world.
Firewire disk mode is just that, the computer acts like an oversized enclosure and you have an opportunity to copy the disk. (Although I suppose you'll have to image it if it is done on anything other than a mac; as most people don't have the tools to read HFS+).
Doing a search on the Internet reveals crop guarantees at $167/acre when I did a search on Wheat. Now, I didn't very which year, etc. But I expect the document is 'current' (last five years or so).
$167/acre, with 1000 is $167,000 - costs = ?
While I don't know what farmers costs are, I saw numbers published a few years ago where the local farmers were complaining because they only made $45-55,000 Net Income.
I don't know about you, but where I live thats significantly above average net income.
You may not get rich being a farmer, but I don't think there are all that hard done by either.
As I mentioned in a post in a different article, I've had a painfully annoying run in with Window Activate while in the middle of a computer upgrade.
The short description, XP decided it needed to Activate (could NOT log in without activating it), but I hadn't finished installing drivers; forcing me to phone up their support instead of doing it online.
Then, because I had not yet installed the rest of the hardware (which; without the drivers installed were causing the machine to reboot, or bluescreen before windows even started). the Windows Activation bitched at me again when I was done. At least this time it gave me a 3 day window before it would deactivate; this gave me an opportunity to install the rest of the drivers, etc.
This second time it forced me to call Microsoft again, even though the network connection was now working fine, because the machine had changed too much, and been activated too many times.
Then it lead me to believe I could just use the automated method (the voice recognition is actually pretty good), but after reading a billion digits to the computer it decided I wasn't allowed to do it that way and passed me off to an operator.
And you think I want to trust WGA if I need a hot-fix to add security patches, etc?
The only people not having problems with Windows XP Activation and WGA are the damn pirates.
My cell phone supports AGPS, while I don't know the specifics about the implementation (Motorola RAZR v3c) I wish I could take advantage of the fact it can do it.
Instead the phone company makes it impossible to do anything with it. In my case they don't even offer services for it.
somedays I'd like the technology to serve me; instead of big brother...
Actually you misunderstood. The upgrade which was performed was equivalent to buying a new computer; and doing so with an Apple is easier. On a PC if it were truely a new computer we would have had to re-install all the applications. We were able to skip that step for the most part. On a Mac you can just link the new and the old computers together and have it move everything over. Even if the old mac is dead, but the harddrive is ok It's still easier to deal with. (In which case I'd throw the hd in an enclosure and hook it up via firewire or usb.). Free bonus if you can boot the new mac off the old drive when connected via firewire.
Technically he is probably using X-Plane on his upgraded (WinXP) computer right at this minute. He should be happy with its performance, etc.
But honestly if he didn't have as much money tied up in software for Windows as he does I would have readily pushed him to buy a Mac.
The key software he uses is available for the Mac and runs, in general, as well or better on the Mac than under XP. The only issue with him using a Mac is the performance in X-Plane is much better with a good video card and the iMacs aren't upgradable in that respect. Although they perform quite well anyway.
My dad listens to music, does some photo editing and plays a few games. The most important of which, X-Plane is dual platform anyway.
Don't want an AMD processor anyway, and as for the Haumpauge tuner? Don't need it, I can just plug the firewire cable onto my High-Def digital cable box and record that.
The net effect of my fathers computer upgrade was a new computer. I can tell you that moving from 1 Mac to another is far easier than the bullshit I went through yesterday.
As a user I think Macs kick-ass. As a developer I think they rock.
When was the last time my Mac bitched at me about upgrading hardware invalidating my license for the OS, or required some stupid activation process so I could log in.
Never.
I upgraded my fathers computer to a new Core 2 system on the weekend and went through so much pain getting his system working; once I resolved the initial hardware issue and was able to actually boot an OS Windows XP decided to tell me it wasn't activated and prevented me from continuing until I activated it. I hadn't even had a chance to install the network drivers so I was forced to make a phone call to activate it.
Then it decided it wasn't a legitimate copy of Windows XP. Seems the date & time were wrong and therefor the copy of windows couldn't possibly be authentic.
Due to the hardware issues I had ran across trying to get the system setup I stripped it down to damn near nothing and installed things one at a time. At which point, an hour after I had got it up and running and passed the first authentication/illegal copy BS, I installed the rest of the memory and hooked up the other harddrive, and installed the soundcard. Then Windows decided it was upgraded too much and needed activation again. Atleast this time I had 3 days grace and could finish configuring the system. Unlike the first time where I wasn't even allowed to log in.
I tried the online activation at this point since I now had all the drivers installed and everything was working well. Online activation was refused as obviously the computer had been upgrade too much and I was in violation of the license; so then it required me to call the automated services again to get a new code.
At which point it refused to give me one as well and sent me to an actual live person.
The live person then asks me what changed, etc, and how many computers the os was installed on. The answer? 1. This is a retail Upgrade copy of Windows XP Pro. It is fully, and legally licensed; I would have had less hassle if the damn thing was a pirated copy!
Copying tape to tape, or DVD to DVD can be an issue if a player introduces macrovision, but you shouldn't have that problem if the video is as you described.
Unless there is something special about the VCR or DVD players in question that you haven't specified the fact is you should not have a problem playing the videos on other equipment. VCR's, particularly older ones can be temperamental if the tracking is off.
You should have absolutely no difficulties with the DVDs.
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Actually, the OEM was the store involved, but it's 3 years later.
As for blaming Microsoft, yes actually I do.
I don't believe any of the OEMs should do, or be ALLOWED to do what they do. Many companies, Dell for instance, do exactly the same thing. Microsoft sets the policies which the OEM companies are allowed to image the disc.
My mothers computer had issues booting a week ago, trying to use the disc that came with the machine to resolve the problem resulted in the harddrive being formatted (no questions asked, nice, eh?), and then failed to actually install the OS as there seem to be disc errors.
Solution? Purchase a copy of XP Home (Upgrade). I wasn't happy about it, and I probably would have started yelling at the clerk in the store, but in the end they now have a copy of XP Home which can be used to install, or fix/repair an install.
The original disc was an OEM install disc and was configured for an unconditional install.
I am so sick of the bullshit on Windows platforms; nothing is as aggravating as realizing how many of the problems are intentional design decisions.
No.
That as a solution solves a problem which shouldn't exist in the first place.
Leave my menu's alone. Give me easy to use toolbars and I will populate them with the functionality I want, but don't screw around with the menus.
As for newly installed programs being highlighted, again, that is a solution to a problem (chaos) that shouldn't exist. I'm not even going to say OS X does it better, because it doesn't. But the fact is the biggest problem with the Program menu in Windows is the need for publishers to use the Publishers name as the root folder for their crap.
I don't give a shit who publishes the program I want to install, I care about the utility of it, and it's name. Not the publisher.
(I've been bitten by enough bugs in the past that I seldom change the path of a program I am installing, but really it shouldn't require I change it except in special circumstances. Lets create some default main folders based on functionality and then allow sub-orgnization from there...)
Take a look at the design of the Mazda 6 before you say it's easy to do.
First, unless you like Bose, you have to rip out everything.
Second, you need to keep the car working, which isn't easy since half the climate controls go through the stereo link.
Third: the console design leaves little room for a hack-job.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it is do-able. But in some cars, and it seems to be more and more common, it is being made more and more difficult.
Does it always play the same tune, or does it vary depending on the amount of money dispensed?
Perhaps they are trying to obscure the amount of money dispensed by playing something over top of the sound as it counts your bills; quickly corrupted if it plays a different tune for different amounts.
That would be because it is "own" with an embeded face sticking it's tongue out. As in :P :pwn is likely more correct, but dropped usage.
Let me know when you figure out how to install an aftermarket stereo into my Mazda 6 without making everything look like shit, or not work, etc. (2006 Model year by the way).
Additives are often added to the fuel on the truck, before it leaves the yard. There may be a selection of 3 or 4 additives, or only one, depends on the requirements.
I caught you speeding yesterday.
I caught you speeding the day before.
I'm giving you a ticket today because you must have been speed since you did in the past.
Thankfully that type of logic isn't actually considered evidence.
I use Google News a lot. It makes it very easy to find a news article I would not find otherwise; I get annoyed when Google News shows a site which, when i click on the Article doesn't let me view it because I need to be registered. My solution? Follow the next link as it will likely not have the registration requirement.
News sites are going to have to understand something, except for those sites I choose to go to on a daily basis the rest are secondary. I won't go to them unless there is a story of interest.
News sites which require some fee to be indexed will drop by the wayside as the smaller sites become more available. I stopped going to Forbes a while back because there page caused Java runtime to load in the browser I was using, it slowed the system to a crawl and it was generally possible to read the article elsewhere.
Except for a particular attachment someone may have to a specific site (be it Fox, CNN, Forbes, Toronto Star, whatever) all other articles are read on a whim. On the other hand, it is those articles which would create the opportunity for someone to see the site and realize it is worth a look on an on going basis.
Somehow I think the smarter sites will realize the trick is to get people to stay on their site (by choice) once they get there, rather than charge an indexing service.
You expect someone who ran Windows98 until recently to switch to Linux?
They wouldn't know how to download it.
Shhh, quiet, or somebody will tell him about the 100's of megs of updates I then immediatly downloaded to my MacBook Pro when I bought it.
Various instances of U.S. authorities illegally arresting, kidnapping and attempting to transfer people from one sovereign state to the U.S. have occurred in the past.
(Thankfully the odd American gets caught doing this in Canada and spends a couple years in jail for it, thereby limiting it to only the more desperate cases, or stupid people.)
With authorities willing and able to do this (they do get away with it often enough) for some of the lamest cases someone with a default judgement against them of several million dollars should rightfully be concerned. Any travel to; or across North America is illadvised.
I do not support what spamhaus does; Blackhole lists and the like are not a solution to the problem and tend to have significant collateral damage of parties who have little, or no control over any of the circumstances. I just think default judgements, particularly in cases where the question of jurisdiction do come up are entirely counter to the intended judicial system in most of the western world.
The Linux PC in the corner... duh!
Firewire disk mode is just that, the computer acts like an oversized enclosure and you have an opportunity to copy the disk. (Although I suppose you'll have to image it if it is done on anything other than a mac; as most people don't have the tools to read HFS+).
If it's just the display that's dead there is no problem.
Firewire mode is a key combination during boot up.
If something more significant goes, like, oh, the USB ports then you might be a little worse off.
That would be an iDell.
JPEG2000 has both lossless and lossy modes.
Did I miss something in the article indicating which they were using?
Doing a search on the Internet reveals crop guarantees at $167/acre when I did a search on Wheat. Now, I didn't very which year, etc. But I expect the document is 'current' (last five years or so).
$167/acre, with 1000 is $167,000 - costs = ?
While I don't know what farmers costs are, I saw numbers published a few years ago where the local farmers were complaining because they only made $45-55,000 Net Income.
I don't know about you, but where I live thats significantly above average net income.
You may not get rich being a farmer, but I don't think there are all that hard done by either.
As I mentioned in a post in a different article, I've had a painfully annoying run in with Window Activate while in the middle of a computer upgrade.
The short description, XP decided it needed to Activate (could NOT log in without activating it), but I hadn't finished installing drivers; forcing me to phone up their support instead of doing it online.
Then, because I had not yet installed the rest of the hardware (which; without the drivers installed were causing the machine to reboot, or bluescreen before windows even started). the Windows Activation bitched at me again when I was done. At least this time it gave me a 3 day window before it would deactivate; this gave me an opportunity to install the rest of the drivers, etc.
This second time it forced me to call Microsoft again, even though the network connection was now working fine, because the machine had changed too much, and been activated too many times.
Then it lead me to believe I could just use the automated method (the voice recognition is actually pretty good), but after reading a billion digits to the computer it decided I wasn't allowed to do it that way and passed me off to an operator.
And you think I want to trust WGA if I need a hot-fix to add security patches, etc?
The only people not having problems with Windows XP Activation and WGA are the damn pirates.
My cell phone supports AGPS, while I don't know the specifics about the implementation (Motorola RAZR v3c) I wish I could take advantage of the fact it can do it.
Instead the phone company makes it impossible to do anything with it. In my case they don't even offer services for it.
somedays I'd like the technology to serve me; instead of big brother...
Any where (general location) is the farm located?
Actually you misunderstood. The upgrade which was performed was equivalent to buying a new computer; and doing so with an Apple is easier. On a PC if it were truely a new computer we would have had to re-install all the applications. We were able to skip that step for the most part. On a Mac you can just link the new and the old computers together and have it move everything over. Even if the old mac is dead, but the harddrive is ok It's still easier to deal with. (In which case I'd throw the hd in an enclosure and hook it up via firewire or usb.). Free bonus if you can boot the new mac off the old drive when connected via firewire.
Technically he is probably using X-Plane on his upgraded (WinXP) computer right at this minute. He should be happy with its performance, etc.
But honestly if he didn't have as much money tied up in software for Windows as he does I would have readily pushed him to buy a Mac.
The key software he uses is available for the Mac and runs, in general, as well or better on the Mac than under XP. The only issue with him using a Mac is the performance in X-Plane is much better with a good video card and the iMacs aren't upgradable in that respect. Although they perform quite well anyway.
My dad listens to music, does some photo editing and plays a few games. The most important of which, X-Plane is dual platform anyway.
Don't want an AMD processor anyway, and as for the Haumpauge tuner? Don't need it, I can just plug the firewire cable onto my High-Def digital cable box and record that.
The net effect of my fathers computer upgrade was a new computer. I can tell you that moving from 1 Mac to another is far easier than the bullshit I went through yesterday.
As a user I think Macs kick-ass. As a developer I think they rock.
Really; I can't lose.
When was the last time my Mac bitched at me about upgrading hardware invalidating my license for the OS, or required some stupid activation process so I could log in.
Never.
I upgraded my fathers computer to a new Core 2 system on the weekend and went through so much pain getting his system working; once I resolved the initial hardware issue and was able to actually boot an OS Windows XP decided to tell me it wasn't activated and prevented me from continuing until I activated it. I hadn't even had a chance to install the network drivers so I was forced to make a phone call to activate it.
Then it decided it wasn't a legitimate copy of Windows XP. Seems the date & time were wrong and therefor the copy of windows couldn't possibly be authentic.
Due to the hardware issues I had ran across trying to get the system setup I stripped it down to damn near nothing and installed things one at a time. At which point, an hour after I had got it up and running and passed the first authentication/illegal copy BS, I installed the rest of the memory and hooked up the other harddrive, and installed the soundcard. Then Windows decided it was upgraded too much and needed activation again. Atleast this time I had 3 days grace and could finish configuring the system. Unlike the first time where I wasn't even allowed to log in.
I tried the online activation at this point since I now had all the drivers installed and everything was working well. Online activation was refused as obviously the computer had been upgrade too much and I was in violation of the license; so then it required me to call the automated services again to get a new code.
At which point it refused to give me one as well and sent me to an actual live person.
The live person then asks me what changed, etc, and how many computers the os was installed on. The answer? 1. This is a retail Upgrade copy of Windows XP Pro. It is fully, and legally licensed; I would have had less hassle if the damn thing was a pirated copy!
Copying tape to tape, or DVD to DVD can be an issue if a player introduces macrovision, but you shouldn't have that problem if the video is as you described.
Unless there is something special about the VCR or DVD players in question that you haven't specified the fact is you should not have a problem playing the videos on other equipment. VCR's, particularly older ones can be temperamental if the tracking is off.
You should have absolutely no difficulties with the DVDs.