Does Apple allow existing users to upgrade, possibly restarting their 2yr contract, or are they forced to hold to the terms of their previous contract with the old hardware? An AT&T spokesperson has confirmed to Ars Technica (see update at the end) that, for existing iPhone users, the new 2-year contract replaces the previous contract. From the update:
"We have received further confirmation from AT&T on these details. AT&T spokesperson Brad Mays told us that the May 27 deal applies to iPhones bought from both Apple Stores and AT&T, and that the new 2-year contract replaces your previous contract. So, if you recently signed a 2-year contract (as I did, in January), you don't have to commit to two more years for a total of four. You only have to sign a brand new 2-year contract. In my case, that would make my total contract time 2 years and 6 months or so."
The question is, can you walk into the store and get an iPhone for this price, without having to sign a 2 year contract.
Now that they've lowered the price, can I still walk into the Apple store and buy a new iPhone and walk out without signing a contract. I'm not sure if you're thinking about buying the iPhone without a contract and "just using the iPod" functions, but you cannot do this. You may be able to hack it, but Apple will probably make it a hassle. From Ars Technica's review of the original iPhone:
"The first thing you have to do once you take the iPhone out of its box is turn it on and activate it. No part of the iPhone's functionality--including that of the iPod--is accessible until the phone is activated through an AT&T plan (without hacking)."
Right! Such as presenting it with a photo of the owner. Lenovo's face recognition system for their notebooks supposedly cannot be fooled by high-resolution photos. Of course, this is coming from a Lenovo-run blog, so it may not be objective. From the blog article:
"Of course, a feature like face recognition invites play, and what better way to play than to try and fool the software.
First up was an 8 x 10 color glossy photograph of yours truly (with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back). No matter how I held the photograph, no matter whether the security settings were set high or at their lowest setting, no matter what angle I held the photo, I was not able to use it to log onto the system. The result was exactly what I had expected - that the software was smart enough to distinguish a face from a picture of a face."
The article also describes some techniques that facial recognition software uses, but doesn't say very much about what techniques Lenovo uses. Maybe it's secret.
"Depending on the software used, face recognition uses multiple techniques to identify a person's face. Some of the more advanced programs use texture mapping in which a person's skin texture is analyzed and matched. Most however, define nodal points on a person's face and then use software to mathematically represent those points. Things measured include distance between the eyes, width of the nose, length of the jaw line, or shape of the cheekbones. Together these concatenate a numerical code which is stored in a database for later retrieval.
One particular aspect of the software Lenovo uses is rather freaky. When you sit down in front of the camera, the system generates two white dots that follow your eyes. Of course, this is completely harmless and is nothing more than a few white pixels shown on screen."
Or using one of several well-known techniques to lift a fingerprint from somewhere (the computer itself?) and create a fake finger.
Why isn't this kind of "security" generally laughed at by the consumers?
Lenovo claims to have that covered too. Instead of the finger/thumb "press," Lenovo's system uses the finger "capacitive slide." From their FAQ:
Can fingerprint readers be fooled by hackers?
There are a number of known attacks against fingerprint readers. Some are rather intricate, such as building a fake finger out of something like ballistic gel or soft plastic. Currently, there are no known attacks against capacitive slide technology, which is what our Fingerprint Reader offerings are based on. The sensor manufacturers keep on top of these attacks and continually update their devices to resist them.
They also aren't well-known to your average "button guitar" player. Also, in case you didn't know, a REAL Guitar Hero is featured as an unlockable bonus track on Guitar Hero II.
"Yeah, but can he play Buckethead on 'Expert'?" --Stan Marsh, "Guitar Queer-o" episode
Also, for "real" guitar players who have a Comcast box, an early live Buckethead performance is available for free on-demand.
Microsoft Word 2007 is at most $230 (retail, non-upgrade) or $110 (upgrade) for non-volume business users ($193 and $90 at Amazon). Home users (up to three per household) can get Office 2007 Home & Student (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote) for at most $150 ($95 at Amazon).
I agree that many people will be just fine with cheaper (or free) alternatives for their OS and word processor, but exaggerating and bullshitting like O'Reilly or Michael Moore doesn't help make the point.
I thought MS was going to remove XP from all distribution channels June 30th, 2008
except for the low powered machines. in fact MSFT is trying to put artificial limits on these machines in terms of speed, ram, storage, etc so that they don't eat into the vista hardware The new end-of-life date for Windows XP Home sales (for low-cost PCs) "will be the later of either June 30, 2010, or one year after the general availability of the next version of Windows."
Since I expect Windows 7 to be released after June 2009, I'm expecting XP to be available for even longer (for low-cost PCs).
MS has started their decline, just like IBM did before them. Even if they recruit the greatest CEO in the world, all he can do is stabilize them and maybe get 3-5% annual growth. I'm no financial expert, but how are you defining "decline" and "annual growth?" Just looking at their income statements (annual data), Microsoft's revenue and income is still growing in excess of 3-5% annually:
Windows XP is now only available for UMPCs, and other low-spec machines that can't run Vista. Incorrect, but still modded up as "Informative." As others have pointed out, a special low-cost version of Windows XP has these hardware limits, specifically (for laptops):
10.2" screen
1GHz processors (doesn't apply to Atom or C7-M)
1GB memory
80GB storage
"Regular" versions of Windows XP are still available for high-end PCs, but they're getting difficult to find on "home or home office" PCs. It's still very easy to find XP on "business" PCs like Lenovo's ThinkPad/ThinkCentre PCs or on Dell's "Small & Medium Business" site.
Dell is a joke on their machine configurations too - even though they've got discounts on most everything right now, an XP laptop (well, the 1520 vs Vista's 1525) is limited in CPU speed so the comparison is:
$1076: Inspiron 1525 w Vista 1680x1050(15.4") 2.4GHz 3GB RAM 250GB HD 85Whr battery
or
$1091: Inspiron 1520 w XP Pro 1680x1050(15.4") 2.0GHz 2GB RAM 120GB HD (+Intel Wireless N card)
Upgrade the RAM and replace the battery and hard drive to have almost equivalent specs (plus an extra lower-capacity battery) +50 + 169 + 100 = +319 = $1,410!
So Vista is getting a $300 discount!
Dell's pricing is often perplexing to me, but note that the Inspiron 1525 (with Vista) price includes "Instant Savings...$389," but the Inspiron 1520 (with XP) has no limited-time deal this week. OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if the XP Inspirons never gets these deals.
Also, in case you missed it, the Inspiron 1525's (Vista) chassis has significant updates over the Inspiron 1520 (XP). The 1525 is slimmer (1.00"-1.48" vs 1.47"-1.65"), lighter (5.9 lbs vs 6.4 lbs), and adds a HDMI output. So even if we disregard any limited-time savings, the Vista Inspiron looks like a much better deal.
But more importantly, anyone still looking for Windows XP PCs should not be looking at "Home or Home Office" PCs like Dell Inspirons. They should be looking at "Business" PCs like the Dell Vostros (if looking for low-cost), which are very similar to the Inspirons (except they're black) but all models (including newer models) offer a choice of XP or Vista. Similarly, HP's business laptops (Presario) offer many models with XP while their "home or home office" laptops (Pavilion) only offer Vista. Most Lenovo ThinkPads offer XP while their 3000 series laptops are Vista-only.
Do they support traditional wifi (802.11a/b/g/n?)
No. They support Bluetooth for connections to a local PC, but all networking protocols are cellphone-style networks. The only possible exception is MDS, but I think that has to go over a cell tower, too. The anonymous cowardly replier before you said: "Some models do." From RIM's BlackBerry Wi-Fi info page:
So, was granpa's banana more slippery? 'Cos that would explain their widespread use as comic devices in the pre-television era.
Am I the only perv who initially thought "higher friction" was referring to a "ribbed for her pleasure" quality of Gros Michel bananas of the past, thus making it popular for dildo jokes? I'd forgotten about "step on a slippery banana peel" jokes.
Subject: Of course the system runs an embedded Linux OS
So the obvious question is, where do I get the source code?
Matt Lee of the Free Software Foundation asked essentially the same question on the day Roku's Netflix Player was launched (May 20). One Roku guy answered (on May 20): "Our GPL Source has not been posted yet, but it will be in the next small number of days." Another Roku guy answered: "We will post the source code just as soon as humanly possible. As you can imagine things are pretty busy around here..." (Don't read the whole forum thread. Your brain will shrink.)
AFAIK, the source code hasn't been posted yet. When it does get posted, "Netflix Player" will probably get its own tab here.
Win2K Pro was the best OS they ever released. With SP4 it is rock solid stable
I am typing this on an 8 year old Win2K Pro box that originally came with WinME(EEK!) and it has never let me down or given me a BSOD. That is why i am glad you can still get motherboards with Win2K drivers As a guy who values stability and reliability, I mourned when Intel stopped providing Windows 2000 drivers for their motherboards around the time the 3 series chipsets (G35, P35, etc) were released. I'm sure other motherboard makers can provide the stability I want, but the Intel brand gives me a (false?) sense of reliability.
BTW, I think I may have you "beat" on the Win2K Pro box I'm typing this on. The motherboard is from an abandoned HP Pavilion xe783 that originally had WinME installed. Intel 810 chipset, 900MHz Celeron (Pentium 3 based), ATI Radeon 9200 PCI card. I just can't justify replacing this box (which serves as my "primary" desktop) when it works so well and Win2K continues to get extended support. It looks like Windows 7 will be released before Win2K's extended support ends in mid-2010.
I think the original comment should have clarified that water and glycogen shouldn't count in weight loss measurements. I don't think a two-week 16-lb weight loss is possible without significant water and glycogen loss. Remember that 1 gram of glycogen binds 4 grams of water. If you deplete your glycogen stores (common in low-carb diets), you'll start pissing more to get rid of excess ketone bodies.
XPs days are numbered, so anybody buying one hoping for an MS Windows platform needs to know that they're already near the end of support. That depends on what the user needs from support. Windows XP will continue to get "Mainstream Support" until April 2009 and "Extended Support" until April 2014. Extended Support includes free security updates, MS Knowledge Base, and paid support options. I'd be very surprised if the current Eee PC version of Xandros will get security updates until 2014. Also, since Xandros is not a free-as-in-beer distro, it's unclear how long Asus will provide free updates to their customized version of Xandros.
Not that I'm disagreeing with what I think is your comment's main point. If it's designed for a version of Xandros that's customized for the Eee PC, then I'm sure that's a better choice than Windows. Also, I'm sure free-as-in-beer Ubuntu (also based on Debian) will work just fine in the future. I'm just saying that XP is not "near the end of support" for most users.
I agree! Among us Mac users, we don't have homosexuals like the PC users do.
Who modded this "Insightful"?!/. moderation is getting questionable... -bangs head- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? That would suck if he's a Mac user.;-)
I thought I never see the day that a thread like this gets modd'ed +Funny!
I'm going to Church because the end is near and Hell hath frozenth overth. Sheesh. What a drama queen! ;-)
People value their knees? Especially true for people who are overweight. The GP has lost 50 pounds for chrissakes. It's hard to walk, jog, or run for 6 miles a day if your frickin' knees/ankles/shins hurt.
As a former competitive runner, but current slow jogger, I think the GP's advice about "count distance, not time" is great advice. As a runner, I experienced stress-related injuries, burnout, and obsessed about perfect injury-preventing running shoes. I no longer have these problems as a slow jogger who doesn't use a stopwatch anymore.
The main problem I have with comparisons like yours, however, are that you don't take quality into account. HP laptops had more than three times the failure rate within the first year as Apple machines did (according to Consumer Reports). The most recent Consumer Reports reader survey (June 2008 issue), in which readers ranked Apple's tech support very high, ranked Apple notebooks last (or "most") when it comes to defects (although the other manufacturers were close). From CNET's article:
"When it comes to the number of problems that appear, Apple's record wasn't as stellar. The company was ranked last in the number of defects that cropped up in its notebooks between 2003 and 2007, although the margin of error in that survey meant that all the surveyed manufacturers essentially tied with defects found in between 20 percent and 23 percent of their notebooks."
From Dell: 13.3"
Alpine White
From Apple: 13" Macbook I don't think the MacBook (non-Pro) is in the same class as Dell's XPS. Just look at the tech specs of the 13.3" XPS:
rigid aluminum/plastic chassis
ExpressCard 54mm slot (only available on the MacBook Pro)
4 lbs (MacBook is 5 lbs)
8-in-1 memory card reader
HDMI out
Core 2 Duo options up to 2.6 GHz and 6 MB L2 cache (MacBook tops out at 2.4/3MB)
graphics option NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS
LED-backlit LCD option (only availabel on MacBook Pro and Air)
solid-state hard drive, 7200rpm, and 320 GB options
built-in mobile broadband options (EVDO, HSPDA)
when you consider the "entertainment"software that it provides that doesn't come with the Dell. That easily covers the $45 price difference. Only if you value iLife ($79 retail, upgrades aren't free) over what's free from Microsoft and Google.
iPhoto and.Mac Web Gallery: Windows Live Photo Gallery/SkyDrive/Spaces, Picasa + Web Albums
There seem to be three separate and distinct issues being conflated here:
1. India has laws that make it a crime to post "vulgar content"
2. Google provided information to Indian police in conformance with the law
3. Indian police are alleged to have badly mistreated a suspect
Be outraged about #1 and #3 if you wish, but I see no malfeasance inherent in Google's actions #2.
I'm outraged about Google offering "social networking" and discussion forums in India if Google knows users posting "vulgar content" will be abused. It's not like these services are crucial parts of Google's business. Why can't Google just offer their services that won't result in human rights abuses (e.g. search, advertising, the vast majority of Google's services).
Not everyone lives where you live. You need to follow the laws of the locality you are doing business in, when inside of those localities. It is not google's place to determine what laws are "just" and "unjust". However, it IS Google's place to decide which services to offer in a locality. The local laws should factor into this decision.
By your logic, someone from Amsterdam should be allowed to setup a shop next door to you selling illegal drugs (in the US) and it should be OK... because after all, where they live it's legal. The GP didn't say it was okay for Google to offer this trouble-making service at all in India. Google should just stay out of services that they know will result in human rights abuses (like social networking). Google can still ethically do business in India because the vast majority of Google services (like search) will not result in Indians getting abused. Just subtract a few problem services like social networking, discussion forums, etc.
And lets not forget how Microsoft's Office products are constantly screwing with file formats to make the later versions incompatible with earlier versions. Once again, this is NOT done to make it easier for paying customers. It's merely leverage to get those customer paying again and again. You and some moderators seem to forget Microsoft's free converters and "compatibility packs" for earlier versions of Office that allow them to read newer Office file formats.
Office File Converter Pack - "This download provides file converters and image filters for Microsoft Office programs, from Office 97 to Office 2003. These additional converters and filters are for older or seldom used documents or image formats."
Those two downloads are the #2 and #3 "Popular Downloads" on Downloads Home Page of Microsoft Office Online.
People should DO sports, not watch them. It's interesting that the multi-billion sports industry grew at the same rate as obesity. Right on! People should DO sex, not watch porn. It's interesting that the multi-billion dollar porn industry grew at the same rate as Slashdot accounts.
The company I work for has had trouble with toughbooks because people think they are alot more rugged than they really are. Employees have a real false sense of security with them. With the big macho 'Rugged Notebook' they expect it to be able to take abuse. What has happened in out experience is they still break when dropped from four feet onto pavement, and with a 'Rugged Notebook' they are more likely to be dropped because of the false sense of security. You didn't make clear what level of "ruggedness" your company's Toughbooks were classified as. The current Toughbook line has 3 levels of "ruggedness": (1) fully-rugged, (2) semi-rugged, and (3) business-rugged. Only the fully-rugged Toughbooks can withstand the kind of abuse you (and TFA) were talking about (at least 3-foot drops). The other Toughbooks are only certified for 1-foot drops and are not the kind used outdoors by soldiers.
Slashdot Mirror
- "Of course, a feature like face recognition invites play, and what better way to play than to try and fool the software.
The article also describes some techniques that facial recognition software uses, but doesn't say very much about what techniques Lenovo uses. Maybe it's secret.First up was an 8 x 10 color glossy photograph of yours truly (with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back). No matter how I held the photograph, no matter whether the security settings were set high or at their lowest setting, no matter what angle I held the photo, I was not able to use it to log onto the system. The result was exactly what I had expected - that the software was smart enough to distinguish a face from a picture of a face."
- "Depending on the software used, face recognition uses multiple techniques to identify a person's face. Some of the more advanced programs use texture mapping in which a person's skin texture is analyzed and matched. Most however, define nodal points on a person's face and then use software to mathematically represent those points. Things measured include distance between the eyes, width of the nose, length of the jaw line, or shape of the cheekbones. Together these concatenate a numerical code which is stored in a database for later retrieval.
Or using one of several well-known techniques to lift a fingerprint from somewhere (the computer itself?) and create a fake finger.One particular aspect of the software Lenovo uses is rather freaky. When you sit down in front of the camera, the system generates two white dots that follow your eyes. Of course, this is completely harmless and is nothing more than a few white pixels shown on screen."
Why isn't this kind of "security" generally laughed at by the consumers?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA4Xx5Noxyo http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/05/16/gummi_bears_defeat_fingerprint_sensors/
Lenovo claims to have that covered too. Instead of the finger/thumb "press," Lenovo's system uses the finger "capacitive slide." From their FAQ:There are a number of known attacks against fingerprint readers. Some are rather intricate, such as building a fake finger out of something like ballistic gel or soft plastic. Currently, there are no known attacks against capacitive slide technology, which is what our Fingerprint Reader offerings are based on. The sensor manufacturers keep on top of these attacks and continually update their devices to resist them.
-Vai
-Petrucci
-Malmsteen
-Gilbert
-Johnson
These are the REAL Guitar Heroes.
They also aren't well-known to your average "button guitar" player. Also, in case you didn't know, a REAL Guitar Hero is featured as an unlockable bonus track on Guitar Hero II ."Yeah, but can he play Buckethead on 'Expert'?" --Stan Marsh, "Guitar Queer-o" episode
Also, for "real" guitar players who have a Comcast box, an early live Buckethead performance is available for free on-demand.
It's true.
Because, at best, it's a huge exaggeration. At worst, it's untrue or a lie.Even the most expensive retail version of Windows for PCs (Vista Ultimate) at non-upgrade pricing is at most $320 (directly from Microsoft) and available for as low as $220. The retail version of Vista Home Premium (non-upgrade) is $200-$260. Upgrade and OEM versions are even cheaper.
Microsoft Word 2007 is at most $230 (retail, non-upgrade) or $110 (upgrade) for non-volume business users ($193 and $90 at Amazon). Home users (up to three per household) can get Office 2007 Home & Student (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote) for at most $150 ($95 at Amazon).
I agree that many people will be just fine with cheaper (or free) alternatives for their OS and word processor, but exaggerating and bullshitting like O'Reilly or Michael Moore doesn't help make the point.
Since I expect Windows 7 to be released after June 2009, I'm expecting XP to be available for even longer (for low-cost PCs).
2002: $28.365 billion
2003: $32.187 billion
2004: $36.835 billion
2005: $39.788 billion
2006: $44.282 billion
2007: $51.122 billion
2002: $5.355 billion
2003: $7.531 billion
2004: $8.168 billion
2005: $12.254 billion
2006: $12.599 billion
2007: $14.065 billion
- 10.2" screen
- 1GHz processors (doesn't apply to Atom or C7-M)
- 1GB memory
- 80GB storage
"Regular" versions of Windows XP are still available for high-end PCs, but they're getting difficult to find on "home or home office" PCs. It's still very easy to find XP on "business" PCs like Lenovo's ThinkPad/ThinkCentre PCs or on Dell's "Small & Medium Business" site.$1076: Inspiron 1525 w Vista 1680x1050(15.4") 2.4GHz 3GB RAM 250GB HD 85Whr battery
or
$1091: Inspiron 1520 w XP Pro 1680x1050(15.4") 2.0GHz 2GB RAM 120GB HD (+Intel Wireless N card)
Upgrade the RAM and replace the battery and hard drive to have almost equivalent specs (plus an extra lower-capacity battery) +50 + 169 + 100 = +319 = $1,410! So Vista is getting a $300 discount!
Dell's pricing is often perplexing to me, but note that the Inspiron 1525 (with Vista) price includes "Instant Savings...$389," but the Inspiron 1520 (with XP) has no limited-time deal this week. OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if the XP Inspirons never gets these deals.Also, in case you missed it, the Inspiron 1525's (Vista) chassis has significant updates over the Inspiron 1520 (XP). The 1525 is slimmer (1.00"-1.48" vs 1.47"-1.65"), lighter (5.9 lbs vs 6.4 lbs), and adds a HDMI output. So even if we disregard any limited-time savings, the Vista Inspiron looks like a much better deal.
But more importantly, anyone still looking for Windows XP PCs should not be looking at "Home or Home Office" PCs like Dell Inspirons. They should be looking at "Business" PCs like the Dell Vostros (if looking for low-cost), which are very similar to the Inspirons (except they're black) but all models (including newer models) offer a choice of XP or Vista. Similarly, HP's business laptops (Presario) offer many models with XP while their "home or home office" laptops (Pavilion) only offer Vista. Most Lenovo ThinkPads offer XP while their 3000 series laptops are Vista-only.
So, was granpa's banana more slippery? 'Cos that would explain their widespread use as comic devices in the pre-television era.
Am I the only perv who initially thought "higher friction" was referring to a "ribbed for her pleasure" quality of Gros Michel bananas of the past, thus making it popular for dildo jokes? I'd forgotten about "step on a slippery banana peel" jokes.I'm so ashamed.
So the obvious question is, where do I get the source code?
Matt Lee of the Free Software Foundation asked essentially the same question on the day Roku's Netflix Player was launched (May 20). One Roku guy answered (on May 20): "Our GPL Source has not been posted yet, but it will be in the next small number of days." Another Roku guy answered: "We will post the source code just as soon as humanly possible. As you can imagine things are pretty busy around here..." (Don't read the whole forum thread. Your brain will shrink.)AFAIK, the source code hasn't been posted yet. When it does get posted, "Netflix Player" will probably get its own tab here.
BTW, I think I may have you "beat" on the Win2K Pro box I'm typing this on. The motherboard is from an abandoned HP Pavilion xe783 that originally had WinME installed. Intel 810 chipset, 900MHz Celeron (Pentium 3 based), ATI Radeon 9200 PCI card. I just can't justify replacing this box (which serves as my "primary" desktop) when it works so well and Win2K continues to get extended support. It looks like Windows 7 will be released before Win2K's extended support ends in mid-2010.
Losing around 16 pound in two weeks is easy.
I think the original comment should have clarified that water and glycogen shouldn't count in weight loss measurements. I don't think a two-week 16-lb weight loss is possible without significant water and glycogen loss. Remember that 1 gram of glycogen binds 4 grams of water. If you deplete your glycogen stores (common in low-carb diets), you'll start pissing more to get rid of excess ketone bodies.Not that I'm disagreeing with what I think is your comment's main point. If it's designed for a version of Xandros that's customized for the Eee PC, then I'm sure that's a better choice than Windows. Also, I'm sure free-as-in-beer Ubuntu (also based on Debian) will work just fine in the future. I'm just saying that XP is not "near the end of support" for most users.
I'm going to Church because the end is near and Hell hath frozenth overth. Sheesh. What a drama queen!
As a former competitive runner, but current slow jogger, I think the GP's advice about "count distance, not time" is great advice. As a runner, I experienced stress-related injuries, burnout, and obsessed about perfect injury-preventing running shoes. I no longer have these problems as a slow jogger who doesn't use a stopwatch anymore.
- rigid aluminum/plastic chassis
- ExpressCard 54mm slot (only available on the MacBook Pro)
- 4 lbs (MacBook is 5 lbs)
- 8-in-1 memory card reader
- HDMI out
- Core 2 Duo options up to 2.6 GHz and 6 MB L2 cache (MacBook tops out at 2.4/3MB)
- graphics option NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS
- LED-backlit LCD option (only availabel on MacBook Pro and Air)
- solid-state hard drive, 7200rpm, and 320 GB options
- built-in mobile broadband options (EVDO, HSPDA)
when you consider the "entertainment"software that it provides that doesn't come with the Dell. That easily covers the $45 price difference. Only if you value iLife ($79 retail, upgrades aren't free) over what's free from Microsoft and Google.1. India has laws that make it a crime to post "vulgar content"
2. Google provided information to Indian police in conformance with the law
3. Indian police are alleged to have badly mistreated a suspect
Be outraged about #1 and #3 if you wish, but I see no malfeasance inherent in Google's actions #2.
I'm outraged about Google offering "social networking" and discussion forums in India if Google knows users posting "vulgar content" will be abused. It's not like these services are crucial parts of Google's business. Why can't Google just offer their services that won't result in human rights abuses (e.g. search, advertising, the vast majority of Google's services).- Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats - "By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able to open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007."
- Office File Converter Pack - "This download provides file converters and image filters for Microsoft Office programs, from Office 97 to Office 2003. These additional converters and filters are for older or seldom used documents or image formats."
Those two downloads are the #2 and #3 "Popular Downloads" on Downloads Home Page of Microsoft Office Online.