"Is anyone else here thinking of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"?"
No, I was thinking more of Runaway (1984), an old Michael Crichton film starring Tom Selleck. The bad guy had a gun that recorded the IR signature of the target when it fired. The bullets would then track you round corners etc. - even through crowds.
I remember it as a pretty fun film to watch - esp. the small spider robots with the poison syringes...
"In one embodiment, the present invention provides an event recording system that has an event-capture module, an editing module, and a media recording module."
That's a recording studio.
It just happens to be at the event, and the timeline is compressed to enable them to sell copies by the time the concert ends. There is no invention there at all, just a bunch of blue-arsed audio-engineering flies. As for prior art:
recording a live concert off the radio
recording a live concert off the TV
any artist who has recorded a live album (although this obviously has the time issue)
church services (we record ours to disk and master to CD when the service ends)
any broadcast corporation that archives live programmes. That's all recorded to tape, ready to syndicate to other stations instantly.
any of those 'cut an album in an hour' compos
In short, this is a crazy patent - they've simply patented doing something people have been doing for ages, but doing it slightly faster.
Apple most certainly didn't. It was Xerox who put all the hard work into figuring out how to make it work. Early versions were modified copier engines, but later, the laser printers that came with Xerox's Star office system were commercially available, reliable boxes.
I'm seeing so many stories on here about Apple innoavting this, and Apple innovating that. Not true. Most of Apple's Mac-era development - bitmapped display, mouse, WIMP OS - was derived from Xerox's PARC work due to a visit there in the early 1980s. I suggest you read this about the Star, and possibly source a copy of Dealers of Lightning for some factual history lessons in technology.
Hats off to Xerox PARC, the only people in recent history who can truly be called innovators.
Slightly off topic, but I remember hearing about the Apple TiBook 17" having a keyboard which glowed different colours for various alerts.
Has anyone ever come across any programmables keyboards or USB devices which change colour? Something like the Mathmos Aduki would be cool if you could use it as a pervasive computing device. Do they exist, did I dream about them, or am I going to have to build my own?
While I think the graphics end of games is pretty much set on it's trajectory, I think it goes hand in hand with the environment the game/film/rendered media is set in. As soon as you introduce movement, you introduce physics.
I've always wondered if this is going to yield some kind of environment processor - kind of like a GPU, but one that solely handles physics - physics of liquids, solid, gases, and their interactions. Sure it's nice to write your own, but there's got to be so much overlap between engines it makes sense to model the world properly on hardware. Why not?
I mean, pretty pictures are all very well, but I want to see things dent, explode, flop down stairs/over balconies etc...
Eadweard Muybridge had 'films' of walking nude women and trotting horses sorted in 1878 - in fact, he was the guy that helped Leland Stanford win a bet proving that a horse momentarily has all its hooves off the ground when it runs. I vaguely remember an interactive CD-ROM from the early 90's with this stuff on.
Edisons Kinetoscope was demonstrated in 1891 - a good 13 years later. That said, at the time there was a lot of parallel development going on. It's also hard to quantify what exactly cinema was defined as back then. People were coming at it from all sorts of angles - photography, illustration, zoetropes, etc etc.
Actually, for something truly amazing (but slightly offtopic), have a look at Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii's photos of Russia at the trun of the 19th century. This guy was a bit before his time. He took 3 still images of his subject using black and white film and red, green and blue filters. Then he'd project all three images onto a screen to show people... colour photographs! The site has some absolutely stunning images. Worth a look.
I'm running build 4053 and I've not had many problems with it at all. The only chugging I've had which has really annoyed me was caused by the build running the Desktop Sidebar with a memory hole. Turning this off by default sorted that problem and now it runs pretty sweetly.
Hardware is a Dell 2400, 512MB RAM and a 2.4 Celeron.
That said, I'd agree, it does have a long way to go - and it will be interesting to see how the whole project pans out in the long run (no pun intended).
My error, I typed too fast - what I have is Longhorn milestone 6 build 4053, so it's technically an Alpha release, not a beta. (Incidentally, 4053 is the build from the original NT code tree, not from the start of Longhorn development.)
The reason I have it is - as someone else rightly pointed out - because I have an MSDN subscription (I have had for C~5 years now). I signed up a while back to do pre-release testing of various MS stuff: Everett, XP SP2, Whidbey, Yukon (MS SQL 2005) and Longhorn. I must admit it's kind of a buzz to try out stuff before it's available and I'm lucky enough to have the hardware and the impetus (I freelance and advise clients of upcoming software/hardware trends) to actually do it. As far as I know, it's not publicly available for download.
Just for the record, what I've seen so far has impressed me a great deal. There are some very neat things in there - probably too much to mention here, but you can check it out at Paul Thurrott's Site if you're interested.
Short answer: it won't shut out interoperability with Linux because then it would also shut out interoperability with older versions of Windows.
I have a beta copy of Longhorn running here on a desktop. WinFS is running on the My Documents portion of the drive, and I can still share this as normal over the network without problems from both other Windows boxes and my Redhat box. Incidentally, at one point WinFS was slated to only run under My Documents, so I was actually more surprised to see that a full OS-wide implementation of it was still on the cards. Suffice to say that my experience of its current implementation has been very good - it definitely is an improvement over current filing systems, especially regarding search operations.
If you want more info on it, there's a Windows Media file here which goes into some detail about WinFS, how it works and its pros and cons.
Thing is, Windows Mediaplayer isn't a DRM whore. Sure, it's capable of DRM functions - much like Quicktime, Real and any media format worth it's salt nowadays. And that DRM isn't there for the consumers, it's there to make large corporation use their media player over others because of it's 'secure' features.
In fact, you strip away the Windows/Apple/Real logos and put the players and capabilities side by side, and they're pretty much like for like. Oh, except for Real's sucky spy/adware...
Slightly off topic I guess (as neither are hardened devices), but there are a couple of imminent bits of kit you might want to look at:
First up is the Flipstart by one of Paul Allen's spin-off companies. I haven't seen any physical models around at all, but it looks interesting - a full XP PC based around a Transmeta chip, with a very nice (on paper) 1024 x 600 screen, and an innovative external LCD display for notifications and MP3 controls. I'd really like this to see the light of day.
Second up is the OQO, which has been in vapour for a while, but hardware has been previewed at recent tech shows. Spec-wise it's similar to the Flipstart, being powered by a Transmeta, but has an innovative slide down keyboard arrangement.
Both look pretty interesting and will probably suit your needs to a degree, although as a first generation tablet PC user, I can say that the Transmeta chip isn't up to running a lot of apps at the same time that require a lot of horsepower. That's not to say it can't run apps, it just takes a while to fire up. Once it's running - say Photoshop - it's fine.
On a sidenote, I used a GSM card in my tablet for a while and it was awesome. Coupled with a Bluetooth card and the TC1000's built-in Wifi, it made the tablet incredibly versatile. I doubt that I'd move back to a standard laptop for size/weight/battery life reasons, so my next consideration is probably going to be a more powerful tablet, probably a TC1100. Although for ruggedised PC fans, HP are about to release the TC3000.
as they are already developing for low end hardware - tomorrow's low end hardware.
The net result of spending thousands on making your game engine run on machines that are old when you release it is a totally false economy. Games development needs to take into account the future and scale upwards, not downwards. I want my software to run better in the future, not better in the past!
I suppose the only point at which this might be useful is when portable and phone hardware is capable of running what we'd consider decent desktop games now. Is this likely to happen?
I find my parents are willing to learn about new technology a whole lot more than we give them credit for.
My mum uses a PC with the obligatory Norton Antivirus, AdAware, Google Toolbar, Windows Updates set up to install automatically and a hardware firewall. She uses Outlook 2003 for mail, along with the rest of Office for the charity work she does in her spare time (she's retired).
Does this bother me? Not really. A willingness to learn has made it really easy to get across the main points of using a computer responsibly, and that's the key to it. Email usage, web browsing, Office macros - and she's never had a problem, and has also made a point of educating friends of hers.
So that's my tip for decent computing for parents - spread the knowledge. The more people actually understand what they're using, the better it is for everyone.
To be honest, Microsoft don't produce much vaporware at all (maybe too many realwares?). Off the top of my head I can't think of a product release that's not happened except maybe the NT/9x code merging a version late with XP.
Remember that these people aren't getting nothing. That $$$ is licensing costs for products for a year or so. Okay, so the guy in the article doesn't get his brand new SQL 2004, but he got SQL 2000 fully licensed for a year.
This brings up another point - subscribing for a year. Now when was the last time major software was up for a yearly product upgrade? Never? So you see, these are people hawking for their upgrades now - getting their new software just before their license agreement runs out. But the funny thing here is, MS SA licensing doesn't work like that. If he'd got SQL Server 2004 in his current licensing agreement, he'd have to continue that agreement to carry on running the software. The point of Software Assurance is that it spreads your cash over time (and MS's income I guess) - you do end up paying less overall, except when there isn't a product release, it looks incredibly bad in your budget. So it's a stupid argument to moan about this really - kinda like moaning because Norton didn't give me any antivirus updates one month. Does that mean I should pay 1/12 less for the software? I think not.
Try this. I've followed these instructions to remove the plugins and it speeded Acrobat up no end, with no noticable loss in functionality - well functionality I use anyway.:o)
for a laugh, which for some reason bought back a bucketload of Slashdot stuff (!?). Conspiracy against xfree86? No, it's just a really bad search engine.
This is true.
Turn the argument on its head and view it as a lightweight all-in-one desktop and it starts to make sense - albeit a bad implementation in this instance.
It makes sense to IT departments who have to lug these things off to install/fix/upgrade them.
It makes sense to people who need all the computing power they can get, and move between offices on a weekly basis, rather than 'road warriors' who work from the front seat of their car.
Put simply - there's a market for all-in-one mobile computing devices - not a huge one, but it exists. Laptops are fine, but there are always trade-offs in performance for you to get that mobility. Ironically though, this is where the Acer falls down; there are better performance mobile components out there that will do this job better. So while the concept is right, the component mix is a little behind the times and I for one would prefer something like a Dell Inspiron 9100 to get the job done. It's not the Calista Flockhart of mobility, but it's not the 900lb gorilla either.
"There are about 800 new viruses a month. And the unglamorous bit of our work is often the other 798."
Anti-virus vendors that consider a mass outbreak of a worm to be 'glamorous', compared to the 'unglamorous' stuff that doesn't get as much publicity? It might sound daft, but consider that they (should) put the same amount of work into each and every virus - i.e. preventing it - there shouldn't really be an issue with how glamorous something bad is.
Analyse it, deal with it, out the door, next virus is how it should be. I'd hate to think how they'd deal with biological virus outbreaks...
I'd wager that their domestic software industry will do well, but their domestic industry as a whole will not.
Why?
Ok, limiting software that people can use limits people's choices (obvious), but it also removes the ability for people to choose the absolute, best software they need to do their job. Consequently, you'd have to make some purchasing decisions which might actually affect the ability of your company to do work. Imagine how a video post production house trying to get by without AfterEffects, Flame, 3D Max, Maya - you get the picture.
The only way they could possibly circumvent this is by loading their machines up with 70% worth of crap they don't want - hey ho, I think I've found the solution!!
Here in the UK, an instant message would be sent via AIM or MS Messenger. Phone to phone messaging is called text messaging. It's real name is SMS - simple message services - but no-one calls it that anymore.
I'd be much more impressed if someone was fired via an instant message:
Bob has signed in Bob says: Morning Alex Alex says: Hi Bob Bob says: You're fired. Bob has left the conversation
To making VoIP the broadband killer app.
Basically, being able to have a broadband connection without needing a phone line lowers the price of using VoIP to the extent that you can make a noticeable saving (assuming you can contact thsoe you need to via some VoIP service). This will possibly see applications like Skype taking off that little bit quicker.
In theory, it makes sense for Google to prioritise pages that adhere to W3C standards.
Over-generalising here, it means you get a lot of professional sites rather than little Timmy's Frontpage creation, however, being a large corporation doesn't guarantee you a decently constructed site, and is no guarantee of it being W3C compliant.
But then, Google probably sees this as a possible 80:20 rule - with the majority of W3C compliant sites probably offering something useful to index,and index well, so they get priority over a page of junk that may or may not contain useful information.
"...and from an antivirus perspective, Windows Security Center can tell me if I have virus software installed, if it's on, and if it's up to date..."
That's all it is - a console designed to bring all security features together in Windows, including any installed AV software. It is not bundled AV software, just a firewall and a console that aggregates all your settings and preferences into one location.
Slashdot Mirror
"Is anyone else here thinking of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"?"
No, I was thinking more of Runaway (1984), an old Michael Crichton film starring Tom Selleck. The bad guy had a gun that recorded the IR signature of the target when it fired. The bullets would then track you round corners etc. - even through crowds.
I remember it as a pretty fun film to watch - esp. the small spider robots with the poison syringes...
"In one embodiment, the present invention provides an event recording system that has an event-capture module, an editing module, and a media recording module."
That's a recording studio.
It just happens to be at the event, and the timeline is compressed to enable them to sell copies by the time the concert ends. There is no invention there at all, just a bunch of blue-arsed audio-engineering flies. As for prior art:
- recording a live concert off the radio
- recording a live concert off the TV
- any artist who has recorded a live album (although this obviously has the time issue)
- church services (we record ours to disk and master to CD when the service ends)
- any broadcast corporation that archives live programmes. That's all recorded to tape, ready to syndicate to other stations instantly.
- any of those 'cut an album in an hour' compos
In short, this is a crazy patent - they've simply patented doing something people have been doing for ages, but doing it slightly faster.Apple most certainly didn't. It was Xerox who put all the hard work into figuring out how to make it work. Early versions were modified copier engines, but later, the laser printers that came with Xerox's Star office system were commercially available, reliable boxes.
I'm seeing so many stories on here about Apple innoavting this, and Apple innovating that. Not true. Most of Apple's Mac-era development - bitmapped display, mouse, WIMP OS - was derived from Xerox's PARC work due to a visit there in the early 1980s. I suggest you read this about the Star, and possibly source a copy of Dealers of Lightning for some factual history lessons in technology.
Hats off to Xerox PARC, the only people in recent history who can truly be called innovators.
Slightly off topic, but I remember hearing about the Apple TiBook 17" having a keyboard which glowed different colours for various alerts.
Has anyone ever come across any programmables keyboards or USB devices which change colour? Something like the Mathmos Aduki would be cool if you could use it as a pervasive computing device. Do they exist, did I dream about them, or am I going to have to build my own?
While I think the graphics end of games is pretty much set on it's trajectory, I think it goes hand in hand with the environment the game/film/rendered media is set in. As soon as you introduce movement, you introduce physics.
I've always wondered if this is going to yield some kind of environment processor - kind of like a GPU, but one that solely handles physics - physics of liquids, solid, gases, and their interactions. Sure it's nice to write your own, but there's got to be so much overlap between engines it makes sense to model the world properly on hardware. Why not?
I mean, pretty pictures are all very well, but I want to see things dent, explode, flop down stairs/over balconies etc...
Eadweard Muybridge had 'films' of walking nude women and trotting horses sorted in 1878 - in fact, he was the guy that helped Leland Stanford win a bet proving that a horse momentarily has all its hooves off the ground when it runs. I vaguely remember an interactive CD-ROM from the early 90's with this stuff on.
Edisons Kinetoscope was demonstrated in 1891 - a good 13 years later. That said, at the time there was a lot of parallel development going on. It's also hard to quantify what exactly cinema was defined as back then. People were coming at it from all sorts of angles - photography, illustration, zoetropes, etc etc.
Actually, for something truly amazing (but slightly offtopic), have a look at Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii's photos of Russia at the trun of the 19th century. This guy was a bit before his time. He took 3 still images of his subject using black and white film and red, green and blue filters. Then he'd project all three images onto a screen to show people... colour photographs! The site has some absolutely stunning images. Worth a look.
What build were you running?
I'm running build 4053 and I've not had many problems with it at all. The only chugging I've had which has really annoyed me was caused by the build running the Desktop Sidebar with a memory hole. Turning this off by default sorted that problem and now it runs pretty sweetly.
Hardware is a Dell 2400, 512MB RAM and a 2.4 Celeron.
That said, I'd agree, it does have a long way to go - and it will be interesting to see how the whole project pans out in the long run (no pun intended).
My error, I typed too fast - what I have is Longhorn milestone 6 build 4053, so it's technically an Alpha release, not a beta. (Incidentally, 4053 is the build from the original NT code tree, not from the start of Longhorn development.)
The reason I have it is - as someone else rightly pointed out - because I have an MSDN subscription (I have had for C~5 years now). I signed up a while back to do pre-release testing of various MS stuff: Everett, XP SP2, Whidbey, Yukon (MS SQL 2005) and Longhorn. I must admit it's kind of a buzz to try out stuff before it's available and I'm lucky enough to have the hardware and the impetus (I freelance and advise clients of upcoming software/hardware trends) to actually do it. As far as I know, it's not publicly available for download.
Just for the record, what I've seen so far has impressed me a great deal. There are some very neat things in there - probably too much to mention here, but you can check it out at Paul Thurrott's Site if you're interested.
Yes, now I know, Red Herring is a mag, not a person... thanks to the smartarse on the terminal next to me for pointing this out...
Short answer: it won't shut out interoperability with Linux because then it would also shut out interoperability with older versions of Windows.
I have a beta copy of Longhorn running here on a desktop. WinFS is running on the My Documents portion of the drive, and I can still share this as normal over the network without problems from both other Windows boxes and my Redhat box. Incidentally, at one point WinFS was slated to only run under My Documents, so I was actually more surprised to see that a full OS-wide implementation of it was still on the cards. Suffice to say that my experience of its current implementation has been very good - it definitely is an improvement over current filing systems, especially regarding search operations.
If you want more info on it, there's a Windows Media file here which goes into some detail about WinFS, how it works and its pros and cons.
Thing is, Windows Mediaplayer isn't a DRM whore. Sure, it's capable of DRM functions - much like Quicktime, Real and any media format worth it's salt nowadays. And that DRM isn't there for the consumers, it's there to make large corporation use their media player over others because of it's 'secure' features.
In fact, you strip away the Windows/Apple/Real logos and put the players and capabilities side by side, and they're pretty much like for like. Oh, except for Real's sucky spy/adware...
Slightly off topic I guess (as neither are hardened devices), but there are a couple of imminent bits of kit you might want to look at:
First up is the Flipstart by one of Paul Allen's spin-off companies. I haven't seen any physical models around at all, but it looks interesting - a full XP PC based around a Transmeta chip, with a very nice (on paper) 1024 x 600 screen, and an innovative external LCD display for notifications and MP3 controls. I'd really like this to see the light of day.
Second up is the OQO, which has been in vapour for a while, but hardware has been previewed at recent tech shows. Spec-wise it's similar to the Flipstart, being powered by a Transmeta, but has an innovative slide down keyboard arrangement.
Both look pretty interesting and will probably suit your needs to a degree, although as a first generation tablet PC user, I can say that the Transmeta chip isn't up to running a lot of apps at the same time that require a lot of horsepower. That's not to say it can't run apps, it just takes a while to fire up. Once it's running - say Photoshop - it's fine.
On a sidenote, I used a GSM card in my tablet for a while and it was awesome. Coupled with a Bluetooth card and the TC1000's built-in Wifi, it made the tablet incredibly versatile. I doubt that I'd move back to a standard laptop for size/weight/battery life reasons, so my next consideration is probably going to be a more powerful tablet, probably a TC1100. Although for ruggedised PC fans, HP are about to release the TC3000.
as they are already developing for low end hardware - tomorrow's low end hardware.
The net result of spending thousands on making your game engine run on machines that are old when you release it is a totally false economy. Games development needs to take into account the future and scale upwards, not downwards. I want my software to run better in the future, not better in the past!
I suppose the only point at which this might be useful is when portable and phone hardware is capable of running what we'd consider decent desktop games now. Is this likely to happen?
I find my parents are willing to learn about new technology a whole lot more than we give them credit for.
My mum uses a PC with the obligatory Norton Antivirus, AdAware, Google Toolbar, Windows Updates set up to install automatically and a hardware firewall. She uses Outlook 2003 for mail, along with the rest of Office for the charity work she does in her spare time (she's retired).
Does this bother me? Not really. A willingness to learn has made it really easy to get across the main points of using a computer responsibly, and that's the key to it. Email usage, web browsing, Office macros - and she's never had a problem, and has also made a point of educating friends of hers.
So that's my tip for decent computing for parents - spread the knowledge. The more people actually understand what they're using, the better it is for everyone.
To be honest, Microsoft don't produce much vaporware at all (maybe too many realwares?). Off the top of my head I can't think of a product release that's not happened except maybe the NT/9x code merging a version late with XP.
Remember that these people aren't getting nothing. That $$$ is licensing costs for products for a year or so. Okay, so the guy in the article doesn't get his brand new SQL 2004, but he got SQL 2000 fully licensed for a year.
This brings up another point - subscribing for a year. Now when was the last time major software was up for a yearly product upgrade? Never? So you see, these are people hawking for their upgrades now - getting their new software just before their license agreement runs out. But the funny thing here is, MS SA licensing doesn't work like that. If he'd got SQL Server 2004 in his current licensing agreement, he'd have to continue that agreement to carry on running the software. The point of Software Assurance is that it spreads your cash over time (and MS's income I guess) - you do end up paying less overall, except when there isn't a product release, it looks incredibly bad in your budget. So it's a stupid argument to moan about this really - kinda like moaning because Norton didn't give me any antivirus updates one month. Does that mean I should pay 1/12 less for the software? I think not.
Try this. I've followed these instructions to remove the plugins and it speeded Acrobat up no end, with no noticable loss in functionality - well functionality I use anyway. :o)
HTH
I got the adult content warning and tried:
xfree86 bullshit its adult content...
for a laugh, which for some reason bought back a bucketload of Slashdot stuff (!?). Conspiracy against xfree86? No, it's just a really bad search engine.
This is true. Turn the argument on its head and view it as a lightweight all-in-one desktop and it starts to make sense - albeit a bad implementation in this instance.
It makes sense to IT departments who have to lug these things off to install/fix/upgrade them.
It makes sense to people who need all the computing power they can get, and move between offices on a weekly basis, rather than 'road warriors' who work from the front seat of their car.
Put simply - there's a market for all-in-one mobile computing devices - not a huge one, but it exists. Laptops are fine, but there are always trade-offs in performance for you to get that mobility. Ironically though, this is where the Acer falls down; there are better performance mobile components out there that will do this job better. So while the concept is right, the component mix is a little behind the times and I for one would prefer something like a Dell Inspiron 9100 to get the job done. It's not the Calista Flockhart of mobility, but it's not the 900lb gorilla either.
"There are about 800 new viruses a month. And the unglamorous bit of our work is often the other 798."
Anti-virus vendors that consider a mass outbreak of a worm to be 'glamorous', compared to the 'unglamorous' stuff that doesn't get as much publicity? It might sound daft, but consider that they (should) put the same amount of work into each and every virus - i.e. preventing it - there shouldn't really be an issue with how glamorous something bad is.
Analyse it, deal with it, out the door, next virus is how it should be. I'd hate to think how they'd deal with biological virus outbreaks...
I'd wager that their domestic software industry will do well, but their domestic industry as a whole will not.
Why?
Ok, limiting software that people can use limits people's choices (obvious), but it also removes the ability for people to choose the absolute, best software they need to do their job. Consequently, you'd have to make some purchasing decisions which might actually affect the ability of your company to do work. Imagine how a video post production house trying to get by without AfterEffects, Flame, 3D Max, Maya - you get the picture.
The only way they could possibly circumvent this is by loading their machines up with 70% worth of crap they don't want - hey ho, I think I've found the solution!!
Here in the UK, an instant message would be sent via AIM or MS Messenger. Phone to phone messaging is called text messaging. It's real name is SMS - simple message services - but no-one calls it that anymore.
I'd be much more impressed if someone was fired via an instant message:
Bob has signed in
Bob says: Morning Alex
Alex says: Hi Bob
Bob says: You're fired.
Bob has left the conversation
Looks a bit like my old Mazda when I got it back from the car pound...
To making VoIP the broadband killer app. Basically, being able to have a broadband connection without needing a phone line lowers the price of using VoIP to the extent that you can make a noticeable saving (assuming you can contact thsoe you need to via some VoIP service). This will possibly see applications like Skype taking off that little bit quicker.
In theory, it makes sense for Google to prioritise pages that adhere to W3C standards.
,and index well, so they get priority over a page of junk that may or may not contain useful information.
Over-generalising here, it means you get a lot of professional sites rather than little Timmy's Frontpage creation, however, being a large corporation doesn't guarantee you a decently constructed site, and is no guarantee of it being W3C compliant.
But then, Google probably sees this as a possible 80:20 rule - with the majority of W3C compliant sites probably offering something useful to index
The article linked to in the story is wrong and makes this argument slightly invalid.
Have a read of the keynote transcript.
"...and from an antivirus perspective, Windows Security Center can tell me if I have virus software installed, if it's on, and if it's up to date..."
That's all it is - a console designed to bring all security features together in Windows, including any installed AV software. It is not bundled AV software, just a firewall and a console that aggregates all your settings and preferences into one location.