There is a study, conducted by HP, but they won't even show the Munich team what's in it...
After reading Focus' report, Karl-Heinz Schneider, head of the Munich's municipal IT, immediately asked Microsoft to provide him with the study, however, Microsoft also refused to send it to him
Maybe the savings were based on the opportunity to buy from MS before their massive price hikes?
Citing momentum, Microsoft plans 400% price increase for Windows 8
Today Microsoft announced the suggested final pricing for its Windows 8 operating system: $199.99 for an upgrade Windows 8 Pro. Currently, you can move to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99. Thus, Microsoft plans a 500% increase in the price of the upgrade, starting on February first.
Microsoft is proud of how its operating system has performed thus far, at least publicly: “[w]e are seeing good momentum with Windows 8 today,” the company stated in its blog post announcing the pricing changes.
CU-RTC-Web is Microsoft's incompatible set of protocols.
At one stage, Skype was part of the working group developing aspects of the real standard, now Microsoft is actively fighting to block it.
For more than three years, Skype has worked to improve online audio through involvement in a project now called Opus [the audio codec for WebRTC). But perversely, Skype's new owner, Microsoft, is undermining Opus just as a Web standards effort is poised to carry it into the mainstream.
Microsoft tried to pay IBM off so they wouldn't compete. That suggests MS considered it a potentially viable competitor.
While OS/2 was arguably technically superior to Microsoft Windows 95, OS/2 sales were largely concentrated in networked computing used by corporate professionals. OS/2 failed to develop much penetration in the consumer and stand-alone desktop PC segments...
Microsoft made an offer in 1994 where IBM would receive the same terms as Compaq (the number one PC manufacturer at the time) for a license of Windows 95, if IBM ended development of OS/2 completely.
If both parties suppot the same codec they can use that.
And if both parties cannot support the same codec, they cannot communicate. Hence the opportunity for vendors like Microsoft to Balkanise
Microsoft has stated that "a successful standard cannot be tied to individual codecs, data formats or scenarios." Instead, CU-RTC-Web will support a number of "popular media formats and codecs as well as openness to future innovation."
They want to preserve the ability to lock their customers into a proprietary "media format and codec". Same leopard. Same spots.
I mean seriously, make them promise it will be open to all and if ever patented, an unrestricted license will be issued for commercial and private use including derivative uses (cams and other equipment) as long as it is a standard.
They can't.
At heart, the difference between Microsoft's "standard" and the real one is how to support video codecs. The World Wide Web Consortium and most other stakeholders want the specification to include an open, royalty free codec. Microsoft and Apple want to be able to use any codec, including patent-encumbered ones like H264. Any standard lacking an open codec would allow vendors to restrict interoperability (eg, with free implementations whose developers can't pay the licensing fees). There are other differences, but the codec issue is there the danger lies. https://plus.google.com/111991826926222544385/posts/MjQykqkJA4v
It's another attempt to Balkanise the browser market.
Speculators demand more transparency so they can jack the price of futures every time a breaker trips at a refinery.
RSS feeds like ASM's process safety incidents list are available and useful for keeping track of what's happening at refineries (of all types) around the world. That sort of transparency is valuable to far more people than just speculators.
Reporting to a public-facing list like this should be mandatory for all significant process industries. Transparency should be the norm, not the exception.
I have a Star N8000 (AU$130) which I've had for about a year now (Galaxy Note clone), and a JiaYu G3 (AU$230) just bought.
The Star runs Android 4.03 nicely, has been very robust (in a standard supplied cover) and performs well. I bought it for it's dual SIM capability which makes staying connected while travelling much easier and cheaper, but it's become my main phone because it's so versatile (even includes an analogue TV tuner).
The G3 is new, but so far it feels nicely made. It's very fast, has a brilliant display, two SIMs and runs Jelly Bean. I bought it to test, but my GF saw it when it arrived, so I haven't been able to do much testing... It's easily the slickest phone I have (limited) access to.
I have no doubt that the Galaxy SIII and iPhone are well made, but in Australia they're triple the price of my phones and less versatile.
This has not changed the underlying nature of Skype’s peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture, in which supernodes simply allow users to find one another (calls do not pass through supernodes)
Disingenuous. "They DO not pass through supernodes" is not the same as "They CAN not pass through supernodes."
Microsoft had at that time already obtained a patent describing recording agents that can be placed in a multitude of devices, including routers. There is also the note of a recording agent software that represents “a software module that logically and/or physically sits between the call server and the network.” According to Microsoft, the agent will have access “to each communication sent to and from the call server,” which clearly refers to the general infrastructure of a VoIP service and network.
“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a Microsoft patent application that reaches back to December 2009 and describes ‘recording agents’ to legally intercept VoIP phone calls. The ‘Legal Intercept‘ patent application is one of Microsoft’s more elaborate and detailed patent papers, which is comprehensive enough to make you think twice about the use of VoIP audio and video communications. The document provides Microsoft’s idea about the nature, positioning and feature set of recording agents that silently record the communication between two or more parties.”
While we don't know the full details of how Skype handles its key exchange, what is clear is that Skype is in a position to impersonate its customers, or, should it be forced, to give a government agency the ability to impersonate its customers. As Skype acts as the gatekeeper of conversations, and the only entity providing any authentication of callers, users have no way of knowing if they're directly communicating with a friend they frequently chat with, or if their connection is being intercepted using a man in the middle attack, made possible due to the disclosure of cryptographic keys by Skype to the government.
You know, that very article itself also completely counters that point.
No, the article mentions that a spokesperson from Skype completely evades countering that point.
"Skype takes all necessary steps to prevent/defeat nefarious attempts to subvert the Skype experience. Skype takes its users’ safety and security seriously and we work tirelessly to ensure each individual has the best possible experience."
Perhaps you should read prepared statements more carefully and be a little less credulous.
aliens came down, anal probed you and made you forget.
(Un)fortunately this time the anal probing is just part of the regular Microsoft customer experience.
Microsoft is re-engineering these supernodes to make it easier for law enforcement to monitor calls by allowing the supernodes to not only make the introduction but to actually route the voice data of the calls as well. In this way, the actual voice data would pass through the monitored servers and the call is no longer secure. It is essentially a man-in-the-middle attack, and it is made all the easier because Microsoft -– who owns Skype and knows the keys used for the service’s encryption -– is helping.
Earlier this month, we saw that the iPad market share had dropped to just 50.4%, so it may seem odd that it would take another 6-10 months before Apple finally slips under 50% of the tablet market, but Sameer Singh, analyst for Tech-Thoughts, says that the recent drop was something of an aberration, and Apple iPad market share will surge before dropping below 50 by mid-2013 will surge again before falling back.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll stick to my Compaq Concerto thanks.
There is a study, conducted by HP, but they won't even show the Munich team what's in it...
After reading Focus' report, Karl-Heinz Schneider, head of the Munich's municipal IT, immediately asked Microsoft to provide him with the study, however, Microsoft also refused to send it to him
Maybe the savings were based on the opportunity to buy from MS before their massive price hikes?
Citing momentum, Microsoft plans 400% price increase for Windows 8
Today Microsoft announced the suggested final pricing for its Windows 8 operating system: $199.99 for an upgrade Windows 8 Pro. Currently, you can move to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99. Thus, Microsoft plans a 500% increase in the price of the upgrade, starting on February first.
Microsoft is proud of how its operating system has performed thus far, at least publicly: “[w]e are seeing good momentum with Windows 8 today,” the company stated in its blog post announcing the pricing changes.
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2013/01/18/citing-momentum-microsoft-plans-500-price-increase-for-windows-8/
WebRTC is the (proposed) standard from W3C.
CU-RTC-Web is Microsoft's incompatible set of protocols.
At one stage, Skype was part of the working group developing aspects of the real standard, now Microsoft is actively fighting to block it.
For more than three years, Skype has worked to improve online audio through involvement in a project now called Opus [the audio codec for WebRTC). But perversely, Skype's new owner, Microsoft, is undermining Opus just as a Web standards effort is poised to carry it into the mainstream.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57494622-93/how-corporate-bickering-hobbled-better-web-audio/
Microsoft tried to pay IBM off so they wouldn't compete. That suggests MS considered it a potentially viable competitor.
While OS/2 was arguably technically superior to Microsoft Windows 95, OS/2 sales were largely concentrated in networked computing used by corporate professionals. OS/2 failed to develop much penetration in the consumer and stand-alone desktop PC segments...
Microsoft made an offer in 1994 where IBM would receive the same terms as Compaq (the number one PC manufacturer at the time) for a license of Windows 95, if IBM ended development of OS/2 completely.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2
name ONE viable alternative to Windows 95 at the time. There was none.
OS/2
Pfft. Who you gonna trust instead? Sony? Apple?
Mozilla, FSF.
If both parties suppot the same codec they can use that.
And if both parties cannot support the same codec, they cannot communicate. Hence the opportunity for vendors like Microsoft to Balkanise
Microsoft has stated that "a successful standard cannot be tied to individual codecs, data formats or scenarios." Instead, CU-RTC-Web will support a number of "popular media formats and codecs as well as openness to future innovation."
They want to preserve the ability to lock their customers into a proprietary "media format and codec". Same leopard. Same spots.
I mean seriously, make them promise it will be open to all and if ever patented, an unrestricted license will be issued for commercial and private use including derivative uses (cams and other equipment) as long as it is a standard.
They can't.
At heart, the difference between Microsoft's "standard" and the real one is how to support video codecs. The World Wide Web Consortium and most other stakeholders want the specification to include an open, royalty free codec. Microsoft and Apple want to be able to use any codec, including patent-encumbered ones like H264. Any standard lacking an open codec would allow vendors to restrict interoperability (eg, with free implementations whose developers can't pay the licensing fees). There are other differences, but the codec issue is there the danger lies. https://plus.google.com/111991826926222544385/posts/MjQykqkJA4v
It's another attempt to Balkanise the browser market.
What a sorry excuse of a program from a business which should know better...
It works fine. You just have to use it with Microsoft's patented "Blaze for Sure" natural disasters.
Shortly before the malpractice lawsuit.
It's Android, so Hulu will work fine. Unfortunately, I'm in Australia, so Hulu won't work fine for me no matter what I use.
even if this is useful as just a web browser, this is going to be a market changer.
They've been on the market for a while. I have half a dozen of them, given others to family and friends as Skype terminals.
http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=android+usb+pc&catId=0&manual=y
A lot of SMEs in parts of Asia have started using them as basic office PCs as well. I'd say Dell is trying to get on this wave before it peaks.
They did.
Rubbish. They released some meaningless sampling figures, that's all.
They're still not making enough raw data available for independent assessment.
First, fly to Brazil and obtain a butterfly...
Speculators demand more transparency so they can jack the price of futures every time a breaker trips at a refinery.
RSS feeds like ASM's process safety incidents list are available and useful for keeping track of what's happening at refineries (of all types) around the world. That sort of transparency is valuable to far more people than just speculators.
Reporting to a public-facing list like this should be mandatory for all significant process industries. Transparency should be the norm, not the exception.
A lot of heat is lost deep inside.
Well yes, that's an astute observation about an invitation to gay sex, but shouldn't you be bringing this thread back on topic?
They're cheap enough.
I have a Star N8000 (AU$130) which I've had for about a year now (Galaxy Note clone), and a JiaYu G3 (AU$230) just bought.
The Star runs Android 4.03 nicely, has been very robust (in a standard supplied cover) and performs well. I bought it for it's dual SIM capability which makes staying connected while travelling much easier and cheaper, but it's become my main phone because it's so versatile (even includes an analogue TV tuner).
The G3 is new, but so far it feels nicely made. It's very fast, has a brilliant display, two SIMs and runs Jelly Bean. I bought it to test, but my GF saw it when it arrived, so I haven't been able to do much testing... It's easily the slickest phone I have (limited) access to.
I have no doubt that the Galaxy SIII and iPhone are well made, but in Australia they're triple the price of my phones and less versatile.
This has not changed the underlying nature of Skype’s peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture, in which supernodes simply allow users to find one another (calls do not pass through supernodes)
Disingenuous. "They DO not pass through supernodes" is not the same as "They CAN not pass through supernodes."
Microsoft had at that time already obtained a patent describing recording agents that can be placed in a multitude of devices, including routers. There is also the note of a recording agent software that represents “a software module that logically and/or physically sits between the call server and the network.” According to Microsoft, the agent will have access “to each communication sent to and from the call server,” which clearly refers to the general infrastructure of a VoIP service and network.
“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a Microsoft patent application that reaches back to December 2009 and describes ‘recording agents’ to legally intercept VoIP phone calls. The ‘Legal Intercept‘ patent application is one of Microsoft’s more elaborate and detailed patent papers, which is comprehensive enough to make you think twice about the use of VoIP audio and video communications. The document provides Microsoft’s idea about the nature, positioning and feature set of recording agents that silently record the communication between two or more parties.”
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20110153809.PGNR.&OS=DN/20110153809RS=DN/20110153809
The only conclusion you can make is that:
While we don't know the full details of how Skype handles its key exchange, what is clear is that Skype is in a position to impersonate its customers, or, should it be forced, to give a government agency the ability to impersonate its customers. As Skype acts as the gatekeeper of conversations, and the only entity providing any authentication of callers, users have no way of knowing if they're directly communicating with a friend they frequently chat with, or if their connection is being intercepted using a man in the middle attack, made possible due to the disclosure of cryptographic keys by Skype to the government.
http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2012/07/the-known-unknows-of-skype-interception.html?m=1
You know, that very article itself also completely counters that point.
No, the article mentions that a spokesperson from Skype completely evades countering that point.
"Skype takes all necessary steps to prevent/defeat nefarious attempts to subvert the Skype experience. Skype takes its users’ safety and security seriously and we work tirelessly to ensure each individual has the best possible experience."
Perhaps you should read prepared statements more carefully and be a little less credulous.
aliens came down, anal probed you and made you forget.
(Un)fortunately this time the anal probing is just part of the regular Microsoft customer experience.
Microsoft is re-engineering these supernodes to make it easier for law enforcement to monitor calls by allowing the supernodes to not only make the introduction but to actually route the voice data of the calls as well. In this way, the actual voice data would pass through the monitored servers and the call is no longer secure. It is essentially a man-in-the-middle attack, and it is made all the easier because Microsoft -– who owns Skype and knows the keys used for the service’s encryption -– is helping.
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/132935-microsoft-tweaking-skype-to-facilitate-wiretapping
Maybe for another few months.
Earlier this month, we saw that the iPad market share had dropped to just 50.4%, so it may seem odd that it would take another 6-10 months before Apple finally slips under 50% of the tablet market, but Sameer Singh, analyst for Tech-Thoughts, says that the recent drop was something of an aberration, and Apple iPad market share will surge before dropping below 50 by mid-2013 will surge again before falling back.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/iPad-market-share-will-surge-before-dropping-below-50-by-mid-2013_id36694
Australia went metric in 1970, and I can still order a pint in most pubs today (though middys and schooners are more Aussie).
To make cute little "ping" sounds against the armour of the Abrams bearing down on them?
I read the bit about 'chair' and wondered what good a simple, inanimate object is going to be against a bunch of overpaid lawyers.
Ask Mark Lukovsky
Since 1979.