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User: rspress

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  1. Record Of Your Life? on Microsoft Gadget Keeps Record of Your Life · · Score: 1

    I thought Windows kept a record of everything about you and sends it to Redmond?

  2. Re:Amazing timing! on MS Word File Reveals Changes to SCO's Plans · · Score: 1

    From the sound of their double talk they must be involved with Microsoft! ;-)

  3. Putting the effort in the wrong place! on Losing Control of Your TV · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The MPAA should worry more about the loss of TV viewership than people making copies of their programs. The way it is going now no one will want to make copies of the programs.

    Which brings up another question! Are the people in Hollywood now so inbred that they can no longer determine what the public likes. There were so surprised by the loss of viewership that they question the figures provided by the Nielson rating company. They still have no idea why there are fewer viewers this year.

    Even the latest Star Trek series "Enterprise" is suffering under there heavy hands. They are losing viewers and keep retooling the show...making it worse every time they tweak it. Fixing it would be SO easy yet no one in Hollywood seems to know how to fix either problem!

    It is SO easy to fix I would work on a contingency basis, if they ratings don't go up, you don't pay me. Anyone out there in LALA land want to make the best invest you have made in years? ;-)

  4. Amazing timing! on MS Word File Reveals Changes to SCO's Plans · · Score: 2, Informative

    Funny how the SCO stuff started up about the same time as Gates & company started to target Linux.

    It is also humorous that the article points out another Microsoft flaw. Word has always had problems with keeping data in the file that no one wanted. It used to be a lot worse when Word docs included all data out to the end of the sector they were written to. I freaked out a couple of Windows users by posting information found in the .doc files the posted. A simple text editor was all that was need to pick out the information.

    I guess this "feature" is useful for some people who need to track changes but the final document should be "clean" of all other information that was previously in that file. Perhaps Microsoft should add a "clean for distribution" command to Office. If not people may start to think twice about using Word and its features to release information to anyone. Makes using Adobe PDF files for document distribution look very, very good!

  5. It has to be one of these things! on MSN Search Blocking Results For XFree86? · · Score: 1

    1. Microsoft is blocking other operating systems so that windows customers won't know anything else will work on their computers...Since they hate Macs....this is a good place to start.

    2. Their programmers are so stupid that this term will always produce a "porn code".

    3. Their content labeling algorithms don't work or were badly designed.

    4. You deserved this because you used MSN for your search in the first place...Google is king, baby!

    It has to be one of those four.....Windows zealots, which one will it be?

  6. Wish our town would catch up to the 18th century! on NYC Crosswalk Buttons are Inoperative · · Score: 1

    Wish our town would catch up to the 18th century! The light control system in out town is slightly ahead of what the flintstones had in Bedrock...but just barely! I actually met the guy who programmed the light system, he programmed it back in the eighties and it is still the same. I don't remember how many lines of code it was but it was a lot.

    So we can be sitting at red lights set for heavy traffic when the other direction has no cars for miles and they have a green light. When that car from miles away gets close to the intersection, the light turns red. However the traffic light system is not bad when compared to how they design the intersections and the approaches to the intersections. Our road engineer must have gotten his degree off the back of a matchbook cover and hates playing simcity because he always loses.

  7. Re:A Loaded Question on Microsoft's Platform Strategist Speaks On Linux · · Score: 1

    I take it you did not read the article?

    That was called a parody! Those were not direct quotes from the articles and neither were the replies. Not that the original was any better. Most of the questions were direct and the answers were evasive or structured to give no answer. When dealing with pricing the answers were the most evasive. The same with questions about Linux.

    Perhaps my parody was too close to the real thing.

  8. Is there a MS spokesman who can give..... on Microsoft's Platform Strategist Speaks On Linux · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is there a MS spokesman who can give as straight answer? I mean, he talks a lot but says very little. Does he know the words "Yes" or "No"?

    Magazine: "Is Windows over priced and is Linux a threat?"

    Taylor: "It is like a number 5 at McDonalds, you want it supersized and carrots are in season. If the bun has sesame seeds and they had coke and not pepsi do you get a sprite or just settle for the double decker taco with hot sauce"

    After reading the article I was not sure if I wanted to move my windows machine over to Linux or go out and get fast food!

    Remember always question someone who answers a question with a question.

  9. Re:Sampling on Eminem Sues Apple for Sampling his Samples · · Score: 1

    >No. They sample all the time, espescially in hip hop/rap, but >they clear it with the copyright holders.

    Hardly! Most of the early lawsuits of this type were aimed at hip/hop and rap artists who did not clear the music or ask permission. It took a few years for them to come into line with clearing all samples with the original artists or the copyright holders.

    Most of the groundwork for how samples are supposed to be cleared and what is fair use was because of these infringements. Most artists have learned these early lessons well. There are even businesses that clear the uses of samples with the original artists.

    If this music was not cleared it is not Apples fault but that of the ad agency that created the commercial, Chiat/Day.

    It is ironic that a person who makes use of other peoples music, rather than make his own, gets mad when the shoe is on the other foot.

  10. Re:Overt vs Covert on The World's Safest Operating System · · Score: 1

    My OS X machine has never been "owned"! I wish I could say the same for my Windows machine. Both are behind a firewall but only the PC has been hit.

  11. Could be a little more down to earth. on Keyless Entries Fail In Las Vegas On Friday · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Being an amateur radio operator and at one time a repeater owner I know that all kinds of radio frequency problems can happen. My repeater only transmitted one someone was using it but when a small little transistor started to self oscillate it transmitted by itself. Since it bypassed the control there was not auto shut off. Worse yet my normal narrow 7Khz signal was now running 100mhz in each direction! Since my transmitter was in the 146Mhz range it was now blotting out other transmitters and devices from 46Mhz to 246Mhz.

    It blotted out Fire, police, business, TV and worse yet, military frequencies! A friend who works at mountain top sites for Motorola found the problem from a nearby mountain via a 50 thousand dollar service monitor and noticed that it was centered on my frequency! I found him on my doorstep when I arrived home. It was powered down and a resister network on the transistors stopped it from ever happening again.

    The point is I could have been fined BIG dollars for this little problem and would have if I reported it. Cities are dense with radio signals from all kinds of sources and any one of those can malfunction. If no one can traces this down I doubt the offending person or equipment will come forward. Unless this was a test of a military EMP bomb in the desert test range I doubt it was the military since it only effect a narrow range of devices. The narrow range of problems almost eliminates the EMP bomb as well.

  12. Before Midi and better than hamsters! on Hamster-controlled MIDI · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I had (still have) a Sequential Circuits Pro One Synth. There was no midi then but it did have control voltage inputs for Gate(note on/off) and Pitch.

    Having a really sporting girlfriend at the time. A bit of wire, a nine volt battery and some Reynolds wrap and we were wired for sound. The synth was set for a pad/drone sound and she was one part of the circuit and I was the other.

    The changing resistances between our bodies made some both pretty cool and pretty funny sounds. We both enjoyed but the wires did cramp our style a little.

  13. Re:Did you read the document? on EU Rejects Microsoft Settlement Proposal · · Score: 1

    Again it was not "overly broad". Stac sued and one because Microsoft infringed on this patent.

    http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1= PT O1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm &r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4,701,745.WKU.&OS=PN/4,701,745&RS =PN/4,701,745

    The patent application states that there are many data compression techniques and then it sets forth on a very specific technique. This is what Microsoft used.

    The document at:

    http://www.vaxxine.com/lawyers/articles/stac.htm l

    stated that Microsoft wanted Stac to license its technology Microsoft for free. When this did not happen the strong arm tactics began.

    Microsoft counter sued that Stac used an "Undocumented" API in DOS and it won its case....as did Stac. If you read the patent I don't think you will find it broad at it but very specific about their methods of compression.

  14. Re:Did you read the document? on EU Rejects Microsoft Settlement Proposal · · Score: 1

    Yes, the whole thing....did you?

  15. Re:Its fine until it happens to you. on EU Rejects Microsoft Settlement Proposal · · Score: 1

    >Where will Mr. Joe Public go? Do you really think people will >settle for crap when at a small price more they can have a good >product? No, they will pay for the quality.

    Well people use Windows so there goes your argument! ;-)

    Actually writing web pages should be standards based and should display the same on all platforms and browsers if the standards are followed. IE still has problems with this and I too use mozilla on the PC.

    I really don't have a problem with IE as such. The problem lies within MS. They have a tendency to roll over anyone and break whatever rules are needed to OWN what they are going after. Their deal with Sun is a good example. More and more web pages are being made with MS creation tools and served via MS servers...some of these pages will not work with anything other than IE on the Windows platform. Since MS has stopped developing IE that can be downloaded and installed it will only be part of the next OS and you will have to pay for that.

    What everyone predicted MS would do with IE has come to pass.

  16. Re:That's bovine manure on EU Rejects Microsoft Settlement Proposal · · Score: 1

    Not so sure of that. There other disc compression utilities around at the time for both PC and Mac that did not infringe on the Stac patent. It seems MS did want stacker in the OS but without paying Stac a cent for it.

    Check here:

    http://www.vaxxine.com/lawyers/articles/stac.htm l

  17. Its fine until it happens to you. on EU Rejects Microsoft Settlement Proposal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hear people complaining that Netscape and other products died because of the free market. Well they are partially right. Netscape was a pay for product. Along comes Microsoft and releases a free product that at the time was inferior to Netscape (still is IMHO) and gives it away free and then bundles it with their OS.

    This may be fine for some people until Microsoft large feet step on you. Stacker was a good example, Stacker was making money hand over fist until MS released "their" version as a part of DOS. Stacker was no longer needed and sales dropped dramatically. Turns out that MS used Stackers own code and were too lazy to even change part of it to keep Stacker from finding out. Thanks to its deep pockets MS dodged the bullet and paid them off...Stacker died.

    If you ran a bakery and I opened one next to you and gave everything away for free you would pitch a fit and try to have me closed down. If I copied your best seller by letting you do the ground work and then gave it away for free you would sue me. The customers could care less they get it for free but when your money is on the line it is a different story.

    I hope the EU sticks to its guns. MS has had this coming for a while and it is nice to see that they can't buy their way out of every problem they make.

  18. Re:It may have been true at one time! on Mac v. Microsoft TCO · · Score: 1

    Oh, I know! I remember how much my first 128K Mac was! It was more expensive than almost the top of the line machines and if you factor in that those were 1984 dollars a dualie G5 2gig machine would be cheaper. I also remember paying 600 bucks for a 16K Apple II+ RAM card!

    Still despite some clunkers in the product line a few years back many of those machines can still run problem free. I had the "raster shift" problem with my 800Mhz Superdrive eMac 6 weeks after buying it new and it had to be repair. Thankfully I have one of the best Mac repair places in the state 50 miles away. It has never been back for that problem. Recently the superdrive was replaced after it quit burning discs.

    On the PC side I can't even begin to list the problems I have had. I learned many years ago to spend extra and buy quality brand name parts for the PC...it is worth it in the long run. I have had to reformat the drive 5 times in one year. Many of the drive utilities that the PC has like Nortons and others were responsible for these mishaps and I have noticed that Windows is just fine at letting some drive errors happen and lets them continue. Power supplies are another issue. Last time around I got the biggest supply I could and since it was cheaper to do so a spiffy new case with a clear side. Nice lights inside and a cool color changing light in front. The reason I like the case is not the light but the fact that it is like the G5 case. Many, many holes and lots of places for fans. This new case runs much cooler than my last with fewer fans.

    I like the case so much I am thinking about purchasing another and moving my old MacIIvx to it slapping in a 9gig drive and running linux on it. Might also build an oak case for the vx..not sure yet. Want to do a cool case mod..still shopping around for ideas. Might even try and put a Mac and PC in the same case! I have lots of parts and drives around!

  19. It may have been true at one time! on Mac v. Microsoft TCO · · Score: 1

    Macs used to be built like a brick and almost never broke down. This is not quite the case anymore. To drive costs down Apple has used normal and not above average parts in its recent computers. I have a 10 year old Mac that still runs like a top (it has not been used for a while and is due for a case mod!).

    Still having used both Macs and PCs since the day they came out I can say for a fact, even now, that a PC will always have more problems than a Mac. The reason is that the PCs have even narrower profit margins and use even cheaper, no name parts. Even though I build my own PCs I still usually have to replace the power supply every year. Also Windows built in disc repair utilities leave much to be desired. So the time spent maintaining the PC over the Mac is much, much greater.

  20. My patent is on the way. on Microsoft Receives XML Patent · · Score: 1

    It is a method to display video from a computer or other device on a CRT or LCD screen for the purpose of viewing.

    Actually it would be nice if MS did something other than using XML for Office. The only time it get errors from web based databases is when they are running a MS based DB server.

    The MS spokesperson was quick to deny but when have you ever seen MS not use something to quash a competitor?

  21. Re:Love the poem... on Microsoft Sits on Security Flaw for Six Months · · Score: 1

    Not by much ;-)

  22. How about..... on MyDoom.C Making Its Way Across The Net · · Score: 3, Funny

    How about MyWindows.xp?

    Actually Microsoft should be advertising the fact that it is the best OS on the planet for virus development and deployment. It would look good on the Windows vs Linux propaganda.

  23. Re:Lets hope that the result is progress on Google v. Microsoft · · Score: 1

    Yes, Microsoft rarely has the best product. Microsoft is competition in any area the purse not because they know how to sell but because of deep pockets.

    Since Microsoft will copy another companies product and then undersell that company either by making no profit on the product or by selling it at a loss does not mean they have the ability to sell above anyone else.

    Their tactic is to drive the competition out of business than fill that void. It has worked for them well in the past but with losers such as the Xbox and MSN bleeding money and the competition still very healthy MS is hardly above anyone else.

    Of course MS will make sure that their search engine will be the only one built in to IE and most people will use what is provided for them...a fact not lost on MS. If MS did get split up in the anti-trust suit we would see a different MS today...one that would have to compete on equal footing with its competitors...something Microsoft has never been good at.

  24. Now MS has amnesty Internation after them! on A Look at Microsoft's Regulatory Problems · · Score: 1

    http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,69 03,1136045,00.html

  25. Too Bad! on Star Trek: Enterprise in Danger of Being Cancelled · · Score: 1

    The show has a lot of potential but everyone of the directors, writers, producers are clueless as how to develop the show. Fixing it would be SO simple and draw in as many viewers as TNG. It is the same problem the networks had with the fall season...they had no clue as to the problem. They still don't.

    If any network figures it out, and it is not hard to do, they will own the ratings. The problem is, these people have been in Hollywood too long.