Microsoft bemoans the cost of software piracy, but each time Microsoft has implemented technology to reduce piracy, it has doubled the price of the better protected software.
Do you have proof? Did you pay for windows before XP. Win ME upgrade was $150 (CAD) and Windows XP Upgrade is $150 (CAD) and has dropped to $140 now. I don't see a doubling.
Microsoft adds features to its software that puts competitors out of business, then removes those features and sells them as add-ons or upgraded versions.
Again, example would be nice. Like what products. I don't think MS Bob put anyone out of business. Media Player and IE are still free. And they are what the anti-trust suit was about.
Microsoft claims that it's not predatory or monopolistic, while using its overwhelmingly dominant position in the OS market to drive out competitors to its application and development tools marketplaces.
I'll give you that one. Borland C++ was way better, but harder after you learned VC++ first.
I could give more specifics, but I'm under non-disclosure.
Really, you didn't even get specific about the ones you mentioned.
I think the parent hit it on the head. However, I would like to add to it. So do comments below like MacOS X running on limited hardware
Microsoft has the market cornered. It is their business practices that most people don't like. For example. Embedding IE into the OS so that it cannot be removed (Windows 98 and newer,) as well of the slow adoption of new ideas. How long was IE 6.0 out before we got an update. And the update is basically Firefox with ActiveX.
Office is just cluttered. Too many things most people don't use. They even made menus hide parts that don't get used so people can find what they do use faster. The problem is, then people don't learn about the other features, or when you're looking for a feature you know about it takes longer to find. A simple setting in options for "Basic", "Intermediate", and "Advanced" layout would allow people that want basic use (my Mother) to find what they want quickly, but I change a setting and get the Advanced user interface when I use her PC, then I can put it back just the way she's used to.
Now for the pros' and cons of Windows (and this will summarize most other products as well.)
Pros
Standardized for driver and software development
Relatively easy to use
Large market share so changing jobs/companies is usually easier because you're familiar with it
Cons
Usually more worried about release dates then stability.
Browser (and ActiveX) integration into the OS makes it vulnerable to spyware/viruses/malware
Security issues are way too common
Cost is way too high for the product
Lack of features most users want
All said, it's the monopolizing that most people don't like about Microsoft. They're greedy bastards that raise hype about half finished products and can't deliver (WinFS anyone?) Like the filesystem of the future.
If you set up dual boot, you may as well just give them a smaller hard drive they won't switch over when familiar windows is on it.
So after installing Linux on their PC's put windows back on it so they can use outlook express.
Remember, for the geek/nerd/basement dweller, Linux is fine. But I STILL don't think it's ready for mainstream. Take for example my Print/Scan/Copier. I put in a CD in windows and it works. To make it work in Linux it took me over an hour of playing, and I still couldn't scan.
so after installing Linux open the console and enter
dd if=\dev\zero of=\dev\hda
And re-install Windows so they can use it.
Also think, if they have ANY questions/problems and the like then they'll be calling you for support. And they'll have questions like "Why won't MSN Messenger install?" and "Why won't Incredimail go on my computer?" And then when you explain it won't go on then they'll say "but I like all the smilies, they're cute!"
The vaugeness is actually due to not remembering the name, it's in hespler section of cambridge, IIRC they're on holiday in drive. But I don't recall the name or address, never been there, but I've seen the advertisements.
Use intel Pentium 4's. They get hot enough to keep the rest of the electronics warm.;)
But seriously. Seal them off in a little cabinet. and keep that cabinet warmer. At least, say +5 celsius, that's about 40F so that conedsation doesn't form on the electronics and short it out.
Remember, electronics run on smoke, when the smoke gets out they stop working.
Lets cover some U3 Pro's and cons (I have a U3 USB Drive from Geek Squad)
Pro - Portable Apps, including firefox and thunderbird so your cookies aren't left behind when you do online banking at a public computer.
Con - Only works on WinXP
Pro - password protect your data so that confidential information is not easily accessable.
Con - a script could continue to try passwords from a list in an attempt to login.
Basically, the password protection stops the U3 drive from showing the volume. But multiple attempts to login do not result in time delays, or lockouts. Basically a script could keep the autorun going and sending different words or key presses until it gains access. Brute force kind of behaviour.
But the drive will say "insert a disk into drive X:" if the password is not entered.
So, not bad, never tried hacking it, but it could potentially be brute forced.
There's a place in town here (Cambridge Ontario Canada) That does fairly well (open for a year now) They use memberships for people that want to play regularly to make most of their rent. They also have food/drink there (pop and chips kind of stuff) and gamer and geek T-Shirts as well (similar to Think Geek).
The WiFi is cool, secure it though so you can control who's on it better.
There's another one in London Ontario that has a "Internet Cafe" in the front, so people can check email and surf the web. Then the back room is the gamer room. Combine the front Internet cafe style with a bit of a real cafe (watch out for the licensing if you're selling food/drink you make there) with a few tables at it so people can grab a coffee and do a quick email check on their own laptop/PDA while there would be a neat idea as well.
Best advice is to look at the area and ask what is needed. Maybe hang out near the local EB Games for a day or two and ask people as they're leaving/entering if they'd fill out a 5 question survey about it. You may be able to avoid the mistakes the other places made.
Actually, the McAfee issue is on all PC's. With McAfee 2005/2006 if the firewall is installed you HAVE to uninstall from safe mode because it won't unload the firewall. This is true with Dell, eMachines, Gateway, and clones. I've seen this on alot of systems, not just Dell PC's.
Much like most of the time when you try to uninstall Norton to reisntall/upgrade it the next install fails because it doesn't uninstall properly. It's strictly because of bad programing. And why are you having them install Avast? I thought the point of antivirus software was to prevent viruses. Avast let 3 Viruses on a system in 1.5 hours, and meanwhile thought that windows was a virus.
Anyway, more homework before ranting next time please.
lets see what makes the service so great for the customer now.
30 days free phone support you pay for shipping in the 2nd half of the warranty period (for iPods) and after paying for the phone support after 30 days you have to still go online to get the RMA processed.
how is this good support?
HP has 24/7 telephone support for the full 1 year of your warranty and no shipping charges to the customer. this includes the HP/Apple iPods.
I think a great model is 3D Buzz is a great model.
I've been a member there for a while for mapping in UT and learning to texture, map, and more. They offer more then just support forums. The makers of the site do tutorials (mostly video) and offer them for download. Some are paid, some are free.
Also back when I was doing my co-op for programming (they used VB) the Visual basic Programmers Journal by DevX released a 101 programming tips. Little routines that did specific things, like auto complete for drop down boxes and the like. I found that to be invaluable.
So to summarize.
CVS is one way to go, and seriously consider it if you're going to be working on group projects.
However, for just storing snippets (like connecting to mySQL) you can use a software program that's designed for one person like. I personally used iCodeLibrary for quite a while in college and found it helped quite a bit. If I recall it allows you to add new languages as well, since it was mainly designed for Visual Studio.NET adding languages like PHP would be needed.
It was easy to use, but now projects are group jobs so a CVS is needed for us. It's a free program and available from http://www.imetasoft.com/iCodeLibrary/ I hope this helps.
Here's all it takes to make a good Media Centre, running Windows MCE nicely. Please note, prices and spelling are canadian. (Hence Centre)
AMD Athalon64 3000 (or so) ~$400 nVidia nForce 4 Motheboard ~80-150 nVidia nvTV (can't remember the price) nVidia GeForce 6200 ~$90 512MB RAM (1GB Recommended) $70/512 80GB SATA Hard drive. $80 - DO NOT RAID! MCE don't seem like it.
After recording send stuff accross the network to backup the videos or store on a USB drive. Failing that Burn to DVD using nero 7. It can convert the MCE videos into DVD format for play in any dvd player.
Grand total, around $750 + software. And works quite well.
Slashdot Mirror
But it's in the EULA, you did read that right? No, well the EULA still makes it legal. :(
I'm more concerned about why it's not regulated. Check out this little tidbit of information about facebook. http://www.albumoftheday.com/facebook/
Scared me away from it.
Actually it was either....
Ten Digit
111-1111111
Eleven Digit
1112-1111111
Worked with ANY microsoft product that was asking for a 10 or 11 digit product code. Worked for VS, Office 97, etc...
Well, considering the OLPC specs it will run on a AMD Geode 433MHz processor, it MIGHT run ok on a 166.
Would be worth a try. Especially with the live CD, no time wasted installing.
It's worth noting the Geode processor was designed for pocket PC type use. So the 433MHz is also powering graphics.
I wasn't aware that Epic made any of those games. Naive me, I thought that was Bungee, Looking Glass Studios, and Bethesda Sofworks respectively.
Although I know that "Thief: Deadly Shadows" was built on the Unreal Engine. But it wasn't made by Epic.
I think iTunes uses Mac servers. While Microsoft is using *nix
Do you have proof? Did you pay for windows before XP. Win ME upgrade was $150 (CAD) and Windows XP Upgrade is $150 (CAD) and has dropped to $140 now. I don't see a doubling.
Again, example would be nice. Like what products. I don't think MS Bob put anyone out of business. Media Player and IE are still free. And they are what the anti-trust suit was about.
I'll give you that one. Borland C++ was way better, but harder after you learned VC++ first.
Really, you didn't even get specific about the ones you mentioned.
I think the parent hit it on the head. However, I would like to add to it. So do comments below like MacOS X running on limited hardware
Microsoft has the market cornered. It is their business practices that most people don't like. For example. Embedding IE into the OS so that it cannot be removed (Windows 98 and newer,) as well of the slow adoption of new ideas. How long was IE 6.0 out before we got an update. And the update is basically Firefox with ActiveX.
Office is just cluttered. Too many things most people don't use. They even made menus hide parts that don't get used so people can find what they do use faster. The problem is, then people don't learn about the other features, or when you're looking for a feature you know about it takes longer to find. A simple setting in options for "Basic", "Intermediate", and "Advanced" layout would allow people that want basic use (my Mother) to find what they want quickly, but I change a setting and get the Advanced user interface when I use her PC, then I can put it back just the way she's used to.
Now for the pros' and cons of Windows (and this will summarize most other products as well.)
Pros
Cons
All said, it's the monopolizing that most people don't like about Microsoft. They're greedy bastards that raise hype about half finished products and can't deliver (WinFS anyone?) Like the filesystem of the future.
So after installing Linux on their PC's put windows back on it so they can use outlook express.
Remember, for the geek/nerd/basement dweller, Linux is fine. But I STILL don't think it's ready for mainstream. Take for example my Print/Scan/Copier. I put in a CD in windows and it works. To make it work in Linux it took me over an hour of playing, and I still couldn't scan.
so after installing Linux open the console and enterAnd re-install Windows so they can use it. Also think, if they have ANY questions/problems and the like then they'll be calling you for support. And they'll have questions like "Why won't MSN Messenger install?" and "Why won't Incredimail go on my computer?" And then when you explain it won't go on then they'll say "but I like all the smilies, they're cute!"
"(oh - and anyone else having the quicktime plugin for ff crash ff when trying to play these?)"
Yep, guess it was only designed for Safari.
"...enemy capable of destroying the earth..."
You mean they're going to encounter the vogons?
But still, Save Sg-1
Lets thank them by getting their contracts renewed.
Sign the petition To save SG-1
The vaugeness is actually due to not remembering the name, it's in hespler section of cambridge, IIRC they're on holiday in drive. But I don't recall the name or address, never been there, but I've seen the advertisements.
Use intel Pentium 4's. They get hot enough to keep the rest of the electronics warm. ;)
But seriously. Seal them off in a little cabinet. and keep that cabinet warmer. At least, say +5 celsius, that's about 40F so that conedsation doesn't form on the electronics and short it out.
Remember, electronics run on smoke, when the smoke gets out they stop working.
Lets cover some U3 Pro's and cons (I have a U3 USB Drive from Geek Squad)
Pro - Portable Apps, including firefox and thunderbird so your cookies aren't left behind when you do online banking at a public computer.
Con - Only works on WinXP
Pro - password protect your data so that confidential information is not easily accessable.
Con - a script could continue to try passwords from a list in an attempt to login.
Basically, the password protection stops the U3 drive from showing the volume. But multiple attempts to login do not result in time delays, or lockouts. Basically a script could keep the autorun going and sending different words or key presses until it gains access. Brute force kind of behaviour.
But the drive will say "insert a disk into drive X:" if the password is not entered.
So, not bad, never tried hacking it, but it could potentially be brute forced.
There's a place in town here (Cambridge Ontario Canada) That does fairly well (open for a year now) They use memberships for people that want to play regularly to make most of their rent. They also have food/drink there (pop and chips kind of stuff) and gamer and geek T-Shirts as well (similar to Think Geek). The WiFi is cool, secure it though so you can control who's on it better. There's another one in London Ontario that has a "Internet Cafe" in the front, so people can check email and surf the web. Then the back room is the gamer room. Combine the front Internet cafe style with a bit of a real cafe (watch out for the licensing if you're selling food/drink you make there) with a few tables at it so people can grab a coffee and do a quick email check on their own laptop/PDA while there would be a neat idea as well. Best advice is to look at the area and ask what is needed. Maybe hang out near the local EB Games for a day or two and ask people as they're leaving/entering if they'd fill out a 5 question survey about it. You may be able to avoid the mistakes the other places made.
Actually, the McAfee issue is on all PC's. With McAfee 2005/2006 if the firewall is installed you HAVE to uninstall from safe mode because it won't unload the firewall. This is true with Dell, eMachines, Gateway, and clones. I've seen this on alot of systems, not just Dell PC's.
Much like most of the time when you try to uninstall Norton to reisntall/upgrade it the next install fails because it doesn't uninstall properly. It's strictly because of bad programing. And why are you having them install Avast? I thought the point of antivirus software was to prevent viruses. Avast let 3 Viruses on a system in 1.5 hours, and meanwhile thought that windows was a virus.
Anyway, more homework before ranting next time please.
lets see what makes the service so great for the customer now.
30 days free phone support
you pay for shipping in the 2nd half of the warranty period (for iPods)
and after paying for the phone support after 30 days you have to still go online to get the RMA processed.
how is this good support?
HP has 24/7 telephone support for the full 1 year of your warranty and no shipping charges to the customer.
this includes the HP/Apple iPods.
I've been a member there for a while for mapping in UT and learning to texture, map, and more. They offer more then just support forums. The makers of the site do tutorials (mostly video) and offer them for download. Some are paid, some are free.
Also back when I was doing my co-op for programming (they used VB) the Visual basic Programmers Journal by DevX released a 101 programming tips. Little routines that did specific things, like auto complete for drop down boxes and the like. I found that to be invaluable. So to summarize.
- Community forums
- Tutorials - both from members and you guys.
- Tips and tricks - Maybe done like a code database
It's a start and you can build from there.The smart and poor - 2%
The smart and rich - 3%
The dumb and poor - 80%
The dumb and rich - 15%
Simple, use smoothwall. It blocks alot of worm propogation attempts, and if they have some old Pentium 1's or better kicking around your set.
Pay a bit for the enterprise license if needed. Then you can setup automatic updates so it recognizes new worms.
CVS is one way to go, and seriously consider it if you're going to be working on group projects.
.NET adding languages like PHP would be needed.
However, for just storing snippets (like connecting to mySQL) you can use a software program that's designed for one person like. I personally used iCodeLibrary for quite a while in college and found it helped quite a bit. If I recall it allows you to add new languages as well, since it was mainly designed for Visual Studio
It was easy to use, but now projects are group jobs so a CVS is needed for us. It's a free program and available from http://www.imetasoft.com/iCodeLibrary/ I hope this helps.
Here's all it takes to make a good Media Centre, running Windows MCE nicely. Please note, prices and spelling are canadian. (Hence Centre)
AMD Athalon64 3000 (or so) ~$400
nVidia nForce 4 Motheboard ~80-150
nVidia nvTV (can't remember the price)
nVidia GeForce 6200 ~$90
512MB RAM (1GB Recommended) $70/512
80GB SATA Hard drive. $80 - DO NOT RAID! MCE don't seem like it.
After recording send stuff accross the network to backup the videos or store on a USB drive. Failing that Burn to DVD using nero 7. It can convert the MCE videos into DVD format for play in any dvd player.
Grand total, around $750 + software. And works quite well.
Try Gentoo for the Windows user. 4 Days to compile and install. 2 Minutes for WinXP. Lets meet in the middle and use suse/fedora/mandriva, whatever.
Maybe a bride from russia so he can get laid. He obviosly needs a life.