We mostly don't worry about piracy here at my university what with volume licenses for pretty much all Microsoft software (I've checked many with keyfinders, the same keys are almost on all computers), and all the rest of the software used is free (GPL mostly). I hope someday all software we use will be free. I see no need to have Visual Studio 2005, Office 2003, or even Windows much at all (at least in the CS department, which has Macs and Windows boxes using gcc on an ssh server rather than running natively on the computers, whether it be Linux or something like MingW).
I have to admit. I used to love the feeling of getting some expensive software for free, especially when the NFO gave some intricate instructions to follow to get it working (cracking Flexnet with Maya for example). It was a thrill, and it becomes sort of an addiction. I still download stuff today, and I like the availability (torrents, usenet, etc).
I'm not saying piracy should be stopped as fast as possible. I'm saying that general computer users should soon realise on their own the benefits of not being locked into proprietary software, pirated or not. And if it's not pirated, it's even worse in my opinion. You are paying to be stuck; awful all in all.
I am glad CNet is doing this. We need 'trustable' sources (in view of the general public, CNet might be seen as a good source of tech news; not my opinion) to share information about free open source software. Usually CNet is reviewing proprietary software that sucks (how could they give Norton 2008 such a score? sounds like a buy-out).
Memory leaks, none here, and I use 2.0.0.7. What, did you stop using at 2.0.0.0 when those happened? Because I went back to 1.5 for quite some time before switching back to 2.0. It is very worth it to not be dependent upon a proprietary browser that runs on ONE operating system; now you are dependent on Microsoft to provide your "solutions". Good luck with that. Vista Ultimate is ONLY $350!
Completely agree. The Windows-world is full of users who would just pirate any commercial software they need (no matter what purpose). Many also end up trying to use at least one open source app at some point, but it in some way fails (eg GIMP has a weird window layout that is a little bit hard to get used to, and on Windows there's no built-in "force windows to stay on top" function). They get rid of it, go back to the commercial software (pirated), and decide to never use free and open source software again.
It is unfortunate. I think this is one of the more overlooked problems in trying to gain widespread adoption of open source alternatives, even if it is on Winblows.
I am in university, and the attitude from many first-year CS students I have spoken with is that "Linux sucks", even if they have only used PuTTY on their Winblows boxes to program their small C apps to the server with GCC. And they are all asking "Why not Visual Studio?", which they all have pirated of course. It is ridiculous. They do not believe me about the crappiness of proprietary software, and some even choose to use Vista just because it is the "latest".
nVidia does not provide laptop graphics drivers, they let the OEMs do this. HP and all the other OEMs generally only put Vista drivers on their site now if it sells with Vista installed. You can Google around. I've done about 5 XP "upgrades," and I got EVERY driver on each one so far. Sometimes you even have to force XP to use drivers when it says the driver is not recommended (mainly because the driver inf does not have the hardware ID in it).
To help you out, this website. http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ They modify the inf files with new hardware IDs every time nVidia makes a new driver set for desktop models. It will most likely work, none so far have failed for me.
For the people that got the "upgrades," they said it was totally worth it. Perhaps they needed a clean install of an OS in the first place, since OEMs still add all that crap to Vista (unbelievable isn't it?). But even so, they prefer XP anyway.
I do not see the problem with most options being in text files in/etc. To me, coming from Windows, this is 50 times better than having them stored in really strange places in a "registry." I'm very used to editing files in/etc, and even if GUI editors come out I probably will still prefer using a text editor most of the time.
When I had Kubuntu, the touchpad was extremely sensitive on my laptop. But in Gentoo, I was told to add this for my touchpad, and tapping works exactly the same as Windows, with no extra configuration after editing xorg.conf (even though I have the configurator).
I agree with your entire post. More shocking is that there are websites devoted to solving these problems on Windows too; everyone wants to be a "Windows administrator." Ridiculous. I would say I know XP and 2000 like the back of my hand, including many points in the registry. The thing is, I HATE it. I do not know how I never realised its total crappiness until only this year. I always regarded it as crappy, but in my case it was useable 90% of the time because I have "mastered" not getting viruses or spyware, or installing crapware I guess.
I used to like Windows a lot before I started to really use Linux. (First Slackware (failed miserably), then Ubuntu (okay), then Kubuntu (better), then Gentoo (awesome after days of tweaking and setting up, not to mention compile time).
I worked at shop for a while too where of course all we did was Windows and sometimes Macs (all me). Shocking more than anything else is that everyone HAS to have MS Office and everything else MS, especially considering I have found Outlook to be a total piece that loves to crash, especially with big PSTs, besides the fact that its format is 100% proprietary (I have used Thunderbird for over a year now after switching from Outlook Express). People in general expect MS products to work constantly and never crash for some reason. When they do, they think all is well as long as they can reboot and it works again. This is what they have come to expect. Windows has many things to recover itself from disasters, not totally sure what Ubuntu has that does not require advanced user input. I know in my Gentoo, that to fix I'd have to use the live CD or use the recovery mode (in the GRUB menu). That is NOT for general users IMO.
Today, you probably cannot tell too many people or get many people to switch to Linux, especially Ubuntu, but you also cannot tell many people to switch to Mac. People see Mac as a very viable alternative (most do), but I do not see nearly as much free software or freeware as is in Windows or Linux. Where is there a good GUI ISO (CD-image) tool for Mac, or even Linux (Kiso does not do enough!)? Things like that are what really gripe me in Linux so far, but I probably will start developing my own utilities (using any libraries I can to start). This is unlike Windows, where finding libraries to use and getting them to work might take so much more work.
I hope KDE4 is a real step forward as far GUIs. So far it looks great, and I cannot wait to try the final (when it gets into Portage, January maybe?).
Actually, there were a lot of good comments, such as what this could mean for other companies too. For example, Apple obviously includes all these i apps with OS X, such as iTunes. And we all know how iTunes generally is known to only work with iPods (it does work with others, but Apple themselves will not tell people this). This ruling could mean that retail OS's from stores, and quite possibly OEM OS's (which are always modified by the manufacturer, such as the Dell crapware), have to be minimal, and that everything else is separate.
To be honest, I wish a law like this could be implemented. That way, no more crapware when I buy a new machine. Instead of having all this crapware installed, Dell and others could just put the software on the desktop in a folder with just setups. Then they could even put multiple types of software, such AVG and Avast, and let the user decide or even switch later. It would no longer be "wipe and reinstall" immediately upon reciving the machine to fully get rid of the crapware (after finding the drivers of course, which for XP is becoming a game lately). Essentially, it would now be, resize the Windows partition, and then use the rest for Linux, etc. Of course, I would still reinstall to get back XP nowadays.
If this means that Apple will have to unbundle a lot of its software in OS X in Europe, I could imagine them fighting that till they cannot any more. This is where MS and Apple can become friends again (but then of course MS would destroy them when they get the chance).
Regardless, Apple does NOT make it difficult to remove any of their software. You just simply move it to the wastebin and if you want it back you just put your relevant OS X CD in. In Windows, one of the ways is to make an nLite custom installation CD with it removed, and the other is to manually do it. Similar to removing IE (except 7 is a lot better at its standalone-ness now), you lose a lot of functionality either way, because these apps are "core" apps buried deep into the OS.
When Ubuntu ships with Dell, it comes with a complete set of useful software, but the fact is you can remove it, pretty simply, without breaking the system (hopefully). There are also many alternatives to almost every type of software (example KOffice vs OpenOffice). Does this mean that Dell cannot ship Ubuntu without stripping it of software like GIMP and Audacious, leaving the user to choose what to install? (Hopefully they can figure that out).
Personally, I do not mind if MS included WMP in Windows, as long as removal was easy. Right now it is not. The ruling should be that bundled software can be included, but it has to removed easily and it must remove ALL traces of itself. We all know how "good" the Norton uninstaller works.
And for me too, except the other way around. I love the fact that I can download TV from other countries, shows that would never play in the US, at least not uncensored, especially shows like Little Britain. Censorship is one of the reasons we don't get certain UK shows in the US, besides the fact that the US stations have little interest in showing the sitcoms anyway.
Well, it would be awesome if just ONE of the Skype phones on the site supported Linux, such as the one I bought. I always have to go into Windows unfortunately to make a call.:/
No, they aren't. MS is not perfectly happy with people pirating its software, especially now, but that does not mean they do appreciate having their name out there.
I wish more people would "pirate" Linux (as in burning CDs for everyone to share), instead of embracing crapware, just because it is "technically" free to them.
AutoPatcher does not require you to be running a server constantly, especially one that is running Windows Server 2003 and some other normally optional services (IIS, etc). AutoPatcher can be run from a server, if anyone wishes, but in general it is made to run off CD (it even has an Autorun.inf file included). This is much easier for those with a smaller envinronment, and especially PC shops.
I used to use AutoPatcher, but slipstreaming in the end is faster, especially if you slipstream just every few months. And as far as the registry files in AutoPatcher, I extracted them all and have them available for use separately.
I do not know, but I do not expect that WSUS has all these registry options (some of which are not accessible by GUI), the ability add installers (where you just give the installer a silent switch), and 3rd-party programs such as Flash, Java, etc. Microsoft would never package Java with anything I suppose. Also, does WSUS have the 50 (as of now) or so optional updates?
Who cares. I hope Neowin dies. I hate that pro-Microsoft fanboy site; they even embrace Vista stating it is immature software and we should just deal with the way it is for now. It is worse than reading "PC" Magazine, which IMO should be called Windows Magazine.
There is another website out there I hate that is so pro-Microsoft it even says R.I.P Linux on their logo.
These people are not paid or anything to promote M$ crapware (especially as to place the words "R.I.P Linux" in their logo), yet they do. I really wonder why. Apparently there are people who want everything to be proprietary; idiots. I bet these people go to church too every Sunday and think they are going to go to some "heaven" just because of it. And they undermine science I bet too.
he added that Windows Update for pre-Vista versions of Windows can now be accessed using Firefox
I just browsed to Windows Update in Firefox on Windows and it still says that it requires Internet Explorer 5, which is not even true because on a clean install of Windows 2000, it refuses to work without first updating IE to 6.
Microsoft should send a correction statement, stating that the updates are downloadable using Firefox, even WGA ones, but Windows Update itself does not work in Firefox. I sure would enjoy the day that Windows Update does work on Firefox, but we all know that will never happen. Microsoft is too happy with their own proprietary methods of running scripts.
And I agree with everyone on WindizUpdate; I would much prefer to be forced to use IE to get updates off the official Windows Update than use some 3rd-party site with a browser plugin in Firefox.
I know AutoPatcher is a 3rd-party, but at least with that you can see the files and verify the source (by checksumming the download and the one off the MS downloads site).
Yeah, I do the same for my Windows, about once a year. I slipstream all updates post SP2 and a ton of customisations both in nLite and in the $OEM$ folder. This seems to work perfect, except that I cannot get.NET 2.0 or 3.0 to install during the Windows installation, both give strange errors. I use nLite Add-on Maker to add all other silent installs that install during the "Registering components" and in $OEM$ I add a few reg files not in nLite and I make it copy the I386 folder to C: and change the registry to reference that location instead of the CD for files.
The thing about AutoPatcher is that I think it was a great source for getting updates and a lot of registry patches you may not have known about. I would just take out the slipstreamable updates and then slipstream with nLite. Very helpful to have a website where at least a majority of updates can be downloaded. Plus, their custom installer of.NET 1.1 actually works during setup (I made a custom add-on for nLite with it).
I see no reason now why anyone should use AutoPatcher though now. I got what I needed out of it, integrated with nLite and I really do not need it anymore. Nor do I even care to get every update so much anymore. I do not plan on making another slipstreamed disc until service pack 3 of XP, which M$ stated they plan for next year.
It is absolute crap that M$ does not just make SP3 when there are 50 security updates or more. Last time I did a clean install of SP2 it was 93 security updates. The computer shop I work at does not have a very fast connection, and I did use AutoPatcher for a while to help, but now when I do clean installs it is usually 3 optional updates and 1 or 2 security updates, so no big deal. I also think it is crap that M$ refuses to make something similar to AutoPatcher for users, for those who do not want/have Windows Server 2003 just to install updates. I could easily install 2K3 on some PC at work and set it up, but I really do not want to have to go through all that (it would probably take hours).
Right when I saw this article, I searched youtube-dl to see if anyone had already posted this. And I agree, who cares. I would much rather use free (as in speech) to rip FLVs, if I actually wanted to. That is not a new feature, yet it probably is marketed as that to the Winblows-world. GAH
From the forum:
Even the supposedly static Skype 1.4 requires the libsigc++-2.0-0c2a for which there is no 32-bit package in Ubuntu Feisty for AMD64. As recommended here I have tried to install the i386 package but only ended up with a broken aptitude (which requires the 64Bit libsigc-2.0.so.0). I have now spent a whole lot more time on getting Skype to run than I would have liked to so I am now abondoning my efforts.
Debian refused to make a non-pure 64-bit port of their distro. Therefore Ubuntu has as well. But I run Skype on Gentoo AMD64 without an issue.
I hate Ubuntu users now. They are ruining it for all of us, whining all day "I can't get this to work and this is supposed to be easy and I'm so stupid but I hate Windows because I just figured out everyone else does and how Microsoft is so evil so let me jump on this bandwagon."
Go back to Windows or Mac OS X, idiots. Actually just go back to Windows. Let us not have idiots using OS X either.
I would still much prefer to bring my laptop (all risks recognised). I can see how non-business passengers could use these, but I see no reason why business passengers would use these over their laptops. Laptops can plug in, and they have EVERYTHING a business passenger needs, rather than just some. And since it is StarOffice, not MS Office, business passengers will hate it. Plus, businesses would be worried about the data security anyway.
I have not flew as a business passenger just yet in my lifetime, and I would still bring my laptop even if they had these on the plane. I definitely plan on not using these until they make further improvements, like including the keyboard and mouse, adding OpenOffice and Firefox, and a good set of games. If I were running this, I would have the computers reset from network image before every take-off.
Lastly, why do they not have keyboard and mouse included? They could easily have very ergonomic touchpads/mouseballs and keyboards. I know this is not too costly for them. Nobody should have to bring a keyboard and mouse for the plane, especially when there is only one USB port (oh yeah add a hub is the solution? pathetic).
I agree, and I absolutely hate the Windows registry and I wish all programs would only use the registry for Windows details, not their settings. It is horribly set up and disorganised and can be easily broken rendering a system unbootable. The fact that Windows is running in what could be called "root" at all times makes the registry EXTREMELY vulnerable, which is why so many people always get stuck with reinstall as an option when the registry becomes corrupted (sometimes System Restore works).
I do not understand why.ini or.xml files would be so bad for storing information (does the registry perform better and who cares today about 1 second faster?). And if they need it encrypted for some reason, why not just obfuscate it or write the configuration file in binary with encryption? (this would be equally as bad as using the registry IMO).
Even today I find that most games use the registry for their settings, rather than configuration files in the Documents folder or the user's %homepath% (which would be much preferable).
Slashdot Mirror
We mostly don't worry about piracy here at my university what with volume licenses for pretty much all Microsoft software (I've checked many with keyfinders, the same keys are almost on all computers), and all the rest of the software used is free (GPL mostly). I hope someday all software we use will be free. I see no need to have Visual Studio 2005, Office 2003, or even Windows much at all (at least in the CS department, which has Macs and Windows boxes using gcc on an ssh server rather than running natively on the computers, whether it be Linux or something like MingW).
I have to admit. I used to love the feeling of getting some expensive software for free, especially when the NFO gave some intricate instructions to follow to get it working (cracking Flexnet with Maya for example). It was a thrill, and it becomes sort of an addiction. I still download stuff today, and I like the availability (torrents, usenet, etc).
I'm not saying piracy should be stopped as fast as possible. I'm saying that general computer users should soon realise on their own the benefits of not being locked into proprietary software, pirated or not. And if it's not pirated, it's even worse in my opinion. You are paying to be stuck; awful all in all.
I am glad CNet is doing this. We need 'trustable' sources (in view of the general public, CNet might be seen as a good source of tech news; not my opinion) to share information about free open source software. Usually CNet is reviewing proprietary software that sucks (how could they give Norton 2008 such a score? sounds like a buy-out).
You sir, are a fool if you are serious.
Memory leaks, none here, and I use 2.0.0.7. What, did you stop using at 2.0.0.0 when those happened? Because I went back to 1.5 for quite some time before switching back to 2.0. It is very worth it to not be dependent upon a proprietary browser that runs on ONE operating system; now you are dependent on Microsoft to provide your "solutions". Good luck with that. Vista Ultimate is ONLY $350!
Completely agree. The Windows-world is full of users who would just pirate any commercial software they need (no matter what purpose). Many also end up trying to use at least one open source app at some point, but it in some way fails (eg GIMP has a weird window layout that is a little bit hard to get used to, and on Windows there's no built-in "force windows to stay on top" function). They get rid of it, go back to the commercial software (pirated), and decide to never use free and open source software again.
It is unfortunate. I think this is one of the more overlooked problems in trying to gain widespread adoption of open source alternatives, even if it is on Winblows.
I am in university, and the attitude from many first-year CS students I have spoken with is that "Linux sucks", even if they have only used PuTTY on their Winblows boxes to program their small C apps to the server with GCC. And they are all asking "Why not Visual Studio?", which they all have pirated of course. It is ridiculous. They do not believe me about the crappiness of proprietary software, and some even choose to use Vista just because it is the "latest".
Hopefully they'll run out of money with so much going towards bribery.
nVidia does not provide laptop graphics drivers, they let the OEMs do this. HP and all the other OEMs generally only put Vista drivers on their site now if it sells with Vista installed. You can Google around. I've done about 5 XP "upgrades," and I got EVERY driver on each one so far. Sometimes you even have to force XP to use drivers when it says the driver is not recommended (mainly because the driver inf does not have the hardware ID in it).
To help you out, this website. http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/
They modify the inf files with new hardware IDs every time nVidia makes a new driver set for desktop models. It will most likely work, none so far have failed for me.
For the people that got the "upgrades," they said it was totally worth it. Perhaps they needed a clean install of an OS in the first place, since OEMs still add all that crap to Vista (unbelievable isn't it?). But even so, they prefer XP anyway.
I found the statement 'Longtime fans of Windows' totally hilarious, because it's ridiculous.
Windows doesn't have fans. It has trolls who follow everything M$ says without question.
Uh...turn on ClearType in Windows, and see what happens.
I'm shocked to death when people don't use subpixel hinting on any OS. Apple is such that it forces you to do so!
Hack it up. Worked for me (I have hp dv5000).
http://www.richud.com/HP-Pavilion-104-Bios-Fix/
I do not see the problem with most options being in text files in /etc. To me, coming from Windows, this is 50 times better than having them stored in really strange places in a "registry." I'm very used to editing files in /etc, and even if GUI editors come out I probably will still prefer using a text editor most of the time.
/etc/X11/xorg.conf
By the way, add this
# touchpad
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "synaptics"
Identifier "TouchPad"
Option "SendCoreEvents"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection
When I had Kubuntu, the touchpad was extremely sensitive on my laptop. But in Gentoo, I was told to add this for my touchpad, and tapping works exactly the same as Windows, with no extra configuration after editing xorg.conf (even though I have the configurator).
I agree with your entire post. More shocking is that there are websites devoted to solving these problems on Windows too; everyone wants to be a "Windows administrator." Ridiculous. I would say I know XP and 2000 like the back of my hand, including many points in the registry. The thing is, I HATE it. I do not know how I never realised its total crappiness until only this year. I always regarded it as crappy, but in my case it was useable 90% of the time because I have "mastered" not getting viruses or spyware, or installing crapware I guess.
I used to like Windows a lot before I started to really use Linux. (First Slackware (failed miserably), then Ubuntu (okay), then Kubuntu (better), then Gentoo (awesome after days of tweaking and setting up, not to mention compile time).
I worked at shop for a while too where of course all we did was Windows and sometimes Macs (all me). Shocking more than anything else is that everyone HAS to have MS Office and everything else MS, especially considering I have found Outlook to be a total piece that loves to crash, especially with big PSTs, besides the fact that its format is 100% proprietary (I have used Thunderbird for over a year now after switching from Outlook Express). People in general expect MS products to work constantly and never crash for some reason. When they do, they think all is well as long as they can reboot and it works again. This is what they have come to expect. Windows has many things to recover itself from disasters, not totally sure what Ubuntu has that does not require advanced user input. I know in my Gentoo, that to fix I'd have to use the live CD or use the recovery mode (in the GRUB menu). That is NOT for general users IMO.
Today, you probably cannot tell too many people or get many people to switch to Linux, especially Ubuntu, but you also cannot tell many people to switch to Mac. People see Mac as a very viable alternative (most do), but I do not see nearly as much free software or freeware as is in Windows or Linux. Where is there a good GUI ISO (CD-image) tool for Mac, or even Linux (Kiso does not do enough!)? Things like that are what really gripe me in Linux so far, but I probably will start developing my own utilities (using any libraries I can to start). This is unlike Windows, where finding libraries to use and getting them to work might take so much more work.
I hope KDE4 is a real step forward as far GUIs. So far it looks great, and I cannot wait to try the final (when it gets into Portage, January maybe?).
Actually, there were a lot of good comments, such as what this could mean for other companies too. For example, Apple obviously includes all these i apps with OS X, such as iTunes. And we all know how iTunes generally is known to only work with iPods (it does work with others, but Apple themselves will not tell people this). This ruling could mean that retail OS's from stores, and quite possibly OEM OS's (which are always modified by the manufacturer, such as the Dell crapware), have to be minimal, and that everything else is separate.
To be honest, I wish a law like this could be implemented. That way, no more crapware when I buy a new machine. Instead of having all this crapware installed, Dell and others could just put the software on the desktop in a folder with just setups. Then they could even put multiple types of software, such AVG and Avast, and let the user decide or even switch later. It would no longer be "wipe and reinstall" immediately upon reciving the machine to fully get rid of the crapware (after finding the drivers of course, which for XP is becoming a game lately). Essentially, it would now be, resize the Windows partition, and then use the rest for Linux, etc. Of course, I would still reinstall to get back XP nowadays.
If this means that Apple will have to unbundle a lot of its software in OS X in Europe, I could imagine them fighting that till they cannot any more. This is where MS and Apple can become friends again (but then of course MS would destroy them when they get the chance).
Regardless, Apple does NOT make it difficult to remove any of their software. You just simply move it to the wastebin and if you want it back you just put your relevant OS X CD in. In Windows, one of the ways is to make an nLite custom installation CD with it removed, and the other is to manually do it. Similar to removing IE (except 7 is a lot better at its standalone-ness now), you lose a lot of functionality either way, because these apps are "core" apps buried deep into the OS.
When Ubuntu ships with Dell, it comes with a complete set of useful software, but the fact is you can remove it, pretty simply, without breaking the system (hopefully). There are also many alternatives to almost every type of software (example KOffice vs OpenOffice). Does this mean that Dell cannot ship Ubuntu without stripping it of software like GIMP and Audacious, leaving the user to choose what to install? (Hopefully they can figure that out).
Personally, I do not mind if MS included WMP in Windows, as long as removal was easy. Right now it is not. The ruling should be that bundled software can be included, but it has to removed easily and it must remove ALL traces of itself. We all know how "good" the Norton uninstaller works.
And for me too, except the other way around. I love the fact that I can download TV from other countries, shows that would never play in the US, at least not uncensored, especially shows like Little Britain. Censorship is one of the reasons we don't get certain UK shows in the US, besides the fact that the US stations have little interest in showing the sitcoms anyway.
Well, it would be awesome if just ONE of the Skype phones on the site supported Linux, such as the one I bought. I always have to go into Windows unfortunately to make a call. :/
No, they aren't. MS is not perfectly happy with people pirating its software, especially now, but that does not mean they do appreciate having their name out there.
I wish more people would "pirate" Linux (as in burning CDs for everyone to share), instead of embracing crapware, just because it is "technically" free to them.
AutoPatcher does not require you to be running a server constantly, especially one that is running Windows Server 2003 and some other normally optional services (IIS, etc). AutoPatcher can be run from a server, if anyone wishes, but in general it is made to run off CD (it even has an Autorun.inf file included). This is much easier for those with a smaller envinronment, and especially PC shops.
I used to use AutoPatcher, but slipstreaming in the end is faster, especially if you slipstream just every few months. And as far as the registry files in AutoPatcher, I extracted them all and have them available for use separately.
I do not know, but I do not expect that WSUS has all these registry options (some of which are not accessible by GUI), the ability add installers (where you just give the installer a silent switch), and 3rd-party programs such as Flash, Java, etc. Microsoft would never package Java with anything I suppose. Also, does WSUS have the 50 (as of now) or so optional updates?
Who cares. I hope Neowin dies. I hate that pro-Microsoft fanboy site; they even embrace Vista stating it is immature software and we should just deal with the way it is for now. It is worse than reading "PC" Magazine, which IMO should be called Windows Magazine.
There is another website out there I hate that is so pro-Microsoft it even says R.I.P Linux on their logo.
These people are not paid or anything to promote M$ crapware (especially as to place the words "R.I.P Linux" in their logo), yet they do. I really wonder why. Apparently there are people who want everything to be proprietary; idiots. I bet these people go to church too every Sunday and think they are going to go to some "heaven" just because of it. And they undermine science I bet too.
I just browsed to Windows Update in Firefox on Windows and it still says that it requires Internet Explorer 5, which is not even true because on a clean install of Windows 2000, it refuses to work without first updating IE to 6.
Microsoft should send a correction statement, stating that the updates are downloadable using Firefox, even WGA ones, but Windows Update itself does not work in Firefox. I sure would enjoy the day that Windows Update does work on Firefox, but we all know that will never happen. Microsoft is too happy with their own proprietary methods of running scripts.
And I agree with everyone on WindizUpdate; I would much prefer to be forced to use IE to get updates off the official Windows Update than use some 3rd-party site with a browser plugin in Firefox.
I know AutoPatcher is a 3rd-party, but at least with that you can see the files and verify the source (by checksumming the download and the one off the MS downloads site).
Yeah, I do the same for my Windows, about once a year. I slipstream all updates post SP2 and a ton of customisations both in nLite and in the $OEM$ folder. This seems to work perfect, except that I cannot get .NET 2.0 or 3.0 to install during the Windows installation, both give strange errors. I use nLite Add-on Maker to add all other silent installs that install during the "Registering components" and in $OEM$ I add a few reg files not in nLite and I make it copy the I386 folder to C: and change the registry to reference that location instead of the CD for files.
.NET 1.1 actually works during setup (I made a custom add-on for nLite with it).
The thing about AutoPatcher is that I think it was a great source for getting updates and a lot of registry patches you may not have known about. I would just take out the slipstreamable updates and then slipstream with nLite. Very helpful to have a website where at least a majority of updates can be downloaded. Plus, their custom installer of
I see no reason now why anyone should use AutoPatcher though now. I got what I needed out of it, integrated with nLite and I really do not need it anymore. Nor do I even care to get every update so much anymore. I do not plan on making another slipstreamed disc until service pack 3 of XP, which M$ stated they plan for next year.
It is absolute crap that M$ does not just make SP3 when there are 50 security updates or more. Last time I did a clean install of SP2 it was 93 security updates. The computer shop I work at does not have a very fast connection, and I did use AutoPatcher for a while to help, but now when I do clean installs it is usually 3 optional updates and 1 or 2 security updates, so no big deal. I also think it is crap that M$ refuses to make something similar to AutoPatcher for users, for those who do not want/have Windows Server 2003 just to install updates. I could easily install 2K3 on some PC at work and set it up, but I really do not want to have to go through all that (it would probably take hours).
Right when I saw this article, I searched youtube-dl to see if anyone had already posted this. And I agree, who cares. I would much rather use free (as in speech) to rip FLVs, if I actually wanted to. That is not a new feature, yet it probably is marketed as that to the Winblows-world. GAH
I immediately thought the same thing. Damnit I wanted to be the first person to post this!
Debian refused to make a non-pure 64-bit port of their distro. Therefore Ubuntu has as well. But I run Skype on Gentoo AMD64 without an issue. I hate Ubuntu users now. They are ruining it for all of us, whining all day "I can't get this to work and this is supposed to be easy and I'm so stupid but I hate Windows because I just figured out everyone else does and how Microsoft is so evil so let me jump on this bandwagon." Go back to Windows or Mac OS X, idiots. Actually just go back to Windows. Let us not have idiots using OS X either.
I would still much prefer to bring my laptop (all risks recognised). I can see how non-business passengers could use these, but I see no reason why business passengers would use these over their laptops. Laptops can plug in, and they have EVERYTHING a business passenger needs, rather than just some. And since it is StarOffice, not MS Office, business passengers will hate it. Plus, businesses would be worried about the data security anyway.
I have not flew as a business passenger just yet in my lifetime, and I would still bring my laptop even if they had these on the plane. I definitely plan on not using these until they make further improvements, like including the keyboard and mouse, adding OpenOffice and Firefox, and a good set of games. If I were running this, I would have the computers reset from network image before every take-off.
Lastly, why do they not have keyboard and mouse included? They could easily have very ergonomic touchpads/mouseballs and keyboards. I know this is not too costly for them. Nobody should have to bring a keyboard and mouse for the plane, especially when there is only one USB port (oh yeah add a hub is the solution? pathetic).
And I bet Wine developers do not see a problem with using OpenOffice or KOffice or even just gedit or Kate. Better yet, nano. No, better yet, ed.
I agree, and I absolutely hate the Windows registry and I wish all programs would only use the registry for Windows details, not their settings. It is horribly set up and disorganised and can be easily broken rendering a system unbootable. The fact that Windows is running in what could be called "root" at all times makes the registry EXTREMELY vulnerable, which is why so many people always get stuck with reinstall as an option when the registry becomes corrupted (sometimes System Restore works).
.ini or .xml files would be so bad for storing information (does the registry perform better and who cares today about 1 second faster?). And if they need it encrypted for some reason, why not just obfuscate it or write the configuration file in binary with encryption? (this would be equally as bad as using the registry IMO).
I do not understand why
Even today I find that most games use the registry for their settings, rather than configuration files in the Documents folder or the user's %homepath% (which would be much preferable).