When I'm feeling particularly belligerent, I replace screwyou with another, um, even less socially acceptable euphemism.
Incidentally, my real email goes to my own domain, where my primary account is a catchall. I make it a habit of using a different non-existent account for each legitimate but potentially suspect address request (usually [requester's name]@mydomain.com) so I can keep track of who's illicitly sharing my info.
All the pirates of M$ I've ever installed (and there have been many, though I don't use the stuff except when I have to) have had perfectly legitimate serials - just used over and over again. The only hitch is if someone's stupid enough to register a "shared" copy (don't share with these people).
While the rather extreme hardware-fingerprinting online-handshake to get a key measures they put in XP put a crimp in that style, I don't remember being asked for any tracking info as I downloaded, burned to CD, and installed 20-plus patches to fix Sasser, among other things, on a client's system.
I've been using Opera as my primary browser since about version 4. Besides "supporting the little guy" I get a much smaller footprint and better resource consumption than either Exploder (when forced to use windex) or any of the Mozilla variants.
Not to mention all of the stuff that comes in the nice tight package - tabbed browsing, popup blocking (including "block all but requested" - there are legitimate uses for popups, you know), mouse gestures, keyboard browsing, etc with no extra setup or packages required.
Then there's the stuff that's really making them money now - stuff like small-screen rendering, which makes smartphones and the like reasonably useful without requiring the entire contents of the web to be rewritten.
And yes, I like it so much I paid for it (several times by now), knowing that there are plenty of viable free alternatives. It's just that good.
"Basic" cable in my area (through Comcast) starts at $40-something. For about $35 I get about 25 Spanish language channels (my wife is Peruvian) and 40 English-language channels (including NASA) with locals from Dish Network. Packages start at $25-ish and you can get about everything under the sun for $75 or so. They offer a DVR setup, free with x-month contract last time I checked. HDTV is a *lot* more, but there seems to be very limited content available for now anyway...
Picture is awesome, about one artifact a month and no lost signals yet (even during a three-day ice storm).
Just be sure to read the fine print on any special offers first, they're generally decent but (like all good capitalist companies lately) do try to get hidden fees and commitments past you if you're not careful.
No, the device attached to the "Nasal Ranger's" nose is not the fabled smelloscope. It actually dilutes, rather than strengthens, the smell with filtered air by a factor of x; the assumption being that if the intrepid ranger can still smell it the stink is too strong. Obviously, rendering plants and the like stink. The question they're trying to answer is how much.
MapBlast has always produced easier-to-read maps and better quality directions, in my experience. Sadly, their availability waivered for a while there (presumably financial/business model difficulties), and at some point they got bought by... M$. But you can still type in mapblast.com, it just points to a mapping page on MSN, which, at least so far, retains most of the quality that I always appreciated.
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Incidentally, my real email goes to my own domain, where my primary account is a catchall. I make it a habit of using a different non-existent account for each legitimate but potentially suspect address request (usually [requester's name]@mydomain.com) so I can keep track of who's illicitly sharing my info.
All the pirates of M$ I've ever installed (and there have been many, though I don't use the stuff except when I have to) have had perfectly legitimate serials - just used over and over again. The only hitch is if someone's stupid enough to register a "shared" copy (don't share with these people). While the rather extreme hardware-fingerprinting online-handshake to get a key measures they put in XP put a crimp in that style, I don't remember being asked for any tracking info as I downloaded, burned to CD, and installed 20-plus patches to fix Sasser, among other things, on a client's system.
Not to mention all of the stuff that comes in the nice tight package - tabbed browsing, popup blocking (including "block all but requested" - there are legitimate uses for popups, you know), mouse gestures, keyboard browsing, etc with no extra setup or packages required.
Then there's the stuff that's really making them money now - stuff like small-screen rendering, which makes smartphones and the like reasonably useful without requiring the entire contents of the web to be rewritten.
And yes, I like it so much I paid for it (several times by now), knowing that there are plenty of viable free alternatives. It's just that good.
Take a look at the stuff at ScottEVest. If he's a gadget geek (aren't we all) he's gotta have one of these.
Picture is awesome, about one artifact a month and no lost signals yet (even during a three-day ice storm).
Just be sure to read the fine print on any special offers first, they're generally decent but (like all good capitalist companies lately) do try to get hidden fees and commitments past you if you're not careful.
No, the device attached to the "Nasal Ranger's" nose is not the fabled smelloscope. It actually dilutes, rather than strengthens, the smell with filtered air by a factor of x; the assumption being that if the intrepid ranger can still smell it the stink is too strong. Obviously, rendering plants and the like stink. The question they're trying to answer is how much.
MapBlast has always produced easier-to-read maps and better quality directions, in my experience. Sadly, their availability waivered for a while there (presumably financial/business model difficulties), and at some point they got bought by ... M$. But you can still type in mapblast.com, it just points to a mapping page on MSN, which, at least so far, retains most of the quality that I always appreciated.
I'll be stockpiling real hardware against the coming darkness.
Nuke Florida.
(Those who have read the article will understand)
Opera. Like it so much I paid for it. 'nuff said