So does this mean...

...That XBox is the more serious game console after all? ;-)

More words of wisdom!

I can see it now, Gates taking charge of the division and he'll give us new exciting and important insights...

"640Gb storage should be enough for every tablet". Hmm, I wonder where I heard that one before ;-)

Damage control at work

Cheap propaganda.

As much as I despise (honest) the whole rootkit approach I still give CarrierIQ the benefit of the doubt that they provided the software to the network operators and that's that. It could also explains their silence; its not uncommon that when delivering specific software requirements you're also under an obligation to keep your mouth shut about it.

And as fellow Reggers pointed out; we read another story as well.. Though don't be too hasty to point at Google here (IMO) because Android is an open platform. So I do see a possibility that carriers / operators worked their way "into" Android without the assist of Google.

Doesn't change the fact that I consider this (very) cheap propaganda. I would be /more/ impressed if Google started complaining to the carriers / operators who paid CarrierIQ to develop this rootkit for them and scold them for using it.

But that's not going to happen obviously.

Small companies should roll their own...

I represent a small company and one of the stuff I do for customers is hosting. All my servers use the Webmin control panel which I've become extremely fond of:

http://webmin.com/

Opensource, free of use, supports quite a share of environments and its very versatile. The best part is that it can grok manual set configuration schemes (to a certain extend) and fully support those. Wonderful stuff.

Naturally, because this is private traffic, all of my servers utilize encrypted connections (for webmin (control panel), usermin (webmail) as well as horde (idem)). I also like to sign some of my Word documents (not so much for privacy concerns but more to prevent (accidental) changes) as well as some VBA macro's (same reason).

Not only would such an environment be very costly (especially for a low/mid ranged firm) but one can also wonder what the added value is to get an 'official' certificate when all you're after is encryption.

SO my company simply uses a self-signed company certificate (long live openssl!) which is used to sign several of the certificates I mention above. New customers get a welcome letter as well as a copy of said root certificate with the request to install this on their main computer.

Naturally also explaining why we're doing this and carefully explaining that this isn't a requirement but it will make accessing our services a little more pleasant. Most of my customers are fully understanding and think its a very good setup. After all; all they need to do in Windows is click on the certificate and follow the things Windows is telling them.

And because the machine which issues said certificate isn't connected to the Internet in any way the chances of it getting overrun are slim. Heck; there isn't even much reason to try and overrun it because the only people using said certificate are our customers and support staff. Not a large crowd so to say...

Cheaper, (IMO:) more secure, easier for the customers and most of all: you achieve the same results which are very likely more reliable as well.

Epic and stupid failure

A lot of people consider this to be very funny but I think some authorities might want to double check on how the rules were applied and followed up here. Because I don't think its much fun if you're sleeping at home (perhaps with a new born?) and end up having to move with the whole family to a hotel because your house needs to be repaired.

The reason why I consider this an epic fail will show very clearly when you check up with Google maps on the scenery. It becomes horribly obvious that the crew has ignored the very basic rule of firing a weapon; don't aim the weapon in the direction of a residential area, no matter how far it is away.

Check the maps; a simple quarter turn would have made sure that this wouldn't have happened.

A bomb disposal range? I know they used that location many times, but what was the logic behind it? A bomb will be the center of an explosion thus the force of the explosion will divided over all sides; minimizing the risk that the shockwave will eventually find its way outside the perimeters.

Firing a weapon on the other hand is totally different; you send an object with a massive force behind it hurtling into one /single/ direction, thus no division of power.

Can't be that hard to conclude that the idea to fire a very potentially high powered weapon on a terrain made for bomb explosions isn't the best idea? Why not talk with the military and use firing ranges for this kind of stuff; a tank firing range for example?

I know its easy to talk after the facts, but since they claim to do things professionally I think we have every right to be critical here.

Children?

I always thought virgins in scampy bimbo outfits were considered a preferable sacrifice.

Watch out for flying chairs!

They might want to consider making an official warning sign for this... Otherwise people who get accidentally hit by said flying chairs might sue ;-)

MS Panhandling

C'mon, we know whats going on here...

This is the first step towards MS Panhandling. The big advantage here is that instead of running them over (see below) or otherwise killing them, this will allow Microsoft to simply turn these people off. Thus avoiding any negative publicity...

Microsoft Panhandling, an idea stirring from the Windows 95 era:

"The idea came to me the other day when a homeless man asked me for money,"recalls Gates. "I suddenly realized that we were missing a golden opportunity. Here was a chance to make a profit without any initial monetary investment. Naturally, this man then became my competition, so I had my limo driver run over him several times."

Microsoft Panhandling will be automatically installed with Windows 95. At random intervals, a dialog box pops up, asking the user if they could spare any change so that Microsoft has enough money to get a hot meal. ("This is a little lie," admits software engineer Adam Miller, "since our diet consists of Coke and Twinkies, but what panhandler doesn't embellish a little?") The user can click Yes, in which case a random amount of change between $.05 and $142.50 is transferred from the user's bank account to Microsoft's. The user can also respond No, in which case the program politely tells the user to have a nice day. The "No" button has not yet been implemented.

"We're experiencing a little trouble programming the No button," Bernard Liu says, "but we should definitely have it up and running within the next couple of years. Or at least by the time Windows 2014 comes out. Maybe."

Gates says this is just the start of an entire line of products. "Be on the lookout for products like Microsoft Mugging, which either takes $50 or erases your hard drive, and Microsoft Squeegee Guy, which will clean up your Windows for a dollar." (When Microsoft Squeegee Guy ships, Windows 95 will no longer automatically refresh your windows.)

But there are competitors on the horizon. Sun Microsystems and Oracle Corporation are introducing panhandling products of their own.

"Gates is a few tacos short of a combination platter, if you get my drift," says Oracle Head Honcho and 3rd degree black belt Larry Ellison. "I mean, in the future, we won't need laptop computers asking you for change. You'll have an entire network of machines asking you for money." Gates responded with, "I know what you are, but what am I?" General pandemonium then ensued.

I take no credit for this Panhandling joke, I merely found it online, like many others most likely.

My stance on these kinds of stories?

There's simply much more to Nature than mankind will ever understand, or might I be so bold to say that I think it may even border to /willing/ to understand.

Guess its a bit of a rant but still.. Too many people seem to think that we're way "above" nature (think medical science, AI, etc.) and in my opinion they couldn't be more wrong. Because you may think to know it all but when Gaia (or Mother Nature I suppose, I like Gaia better) feels like unleashing a totally unpredicted hurricane then it remains to be seen how well all those insights serve you. You'll probably be running for your live, just like a fox or deer does when there's a forest fire going on. And suddenly there doesn't seem to be so much difference after all.

IMO studies and stories like these somewhat fall into this same category. We think to know it all; to have finally unlocked the mysteries. But then something else will come smack us over the head. How surprising indeed.

Which doesn't mean that I don't believe this story, as a matter of a fact I do. There have been much more sightings like these; right up to stories telling of a whole forest populace suddenly massing to another location. Prey and predators alike, as equals, thus leaving the observing people totally baffled. Only to be followed by a massive natural onslaught (mostly earthquakes).

Problem is; a lot of people are totally unwilling to believe such stories, only when articles like these surface do those people start to wonder about certain aspects. Which I think is pretty sad.

Alas... I'd advice those people who are now all of a sudden seriously considering to get a few frogs as new pets; don't bother. Even Ms. Kitty can have this gift; when she all of a sudden flees the litter box and goes out of the house, to the surprise of the whole family. Only to be suddenly followed by several tremors which begin to erupt. Don't take my word for it; ask around in Japan and you'll get plenty of stories like these.

My simplistic stance of the matter is simple; don't ever underestimate the forces of nature. We're not the supreme beings as some of us think we are; when it fits Gaia then you're gone. Just like that. Either by a natural catastrophe or a mere cardiac arrest. Nature can be just as cruel as it is beautiful at times.

And no; I'm by far an "enviromentalist". I do not believe in "green electrical power' (windmills, solar panels,etc) nor do I oppose nuclear power sources. As much as I respect "nature" as a whole (if you can actually consider it an "entity" of some sorts) I also think we shouldn't try to treat it like a vulnerable baby. Never underestimate the ability to adapt.

All those "filthy" automobiles with their CO2 outlets are actually feeding our plants and trees and making photosynthesis possible as well. Don't ever forget that tidbit. If you really don't believe this (why should you?) take a look at the German "Rurhgebiet". In the middle of a dozen Autobahn intersections in a /massive/ industrial plant area; what do you find? The most beautiful forests you've ever seen with the most fantastic flora. Right in the middle of several highway crossings ("Autobahn intersections"; where there is no speed limitation).

Anyway, enough (partly offtopic) rambling on my part :-)

Don't ever underestimate the power of Nature. That's my take on this.

On my Samsung Jet....

"Hello.... if you're looking for our Windows Phone demo, your device or webbrowser isn't supported at this time."

Another missed opportunity. I mean; how likely is it that people on Android or iPhone would switch when compared to people who are currently using an older phone ?

Instead of targeting people who are already using a modern phone, target the ones who are most likely to consider a purchase in the (possible) near future.

That's called, you know, marketing.

Good timing?

I like Windows 7 and I also enjoy working with Office 2010 and quite frankly I don't see them topping this success anytime soon.

Still, I think that is one big benefit of using MS software; they also don't drop support for their stuff on a whim. People like me can continue using their environments for many more years to come, no matter how many new versions of Windows will ship.

Its also the one thing which I think MS has the advantage in comparison with Linux / Open source software. Very often you don't have a choice /but/ to upgrade if you wish keep receiving (security) updates.

NSFW ?!

Nekkid playmobil; surely that should qualify as NSFW? What a shocking sight indeed....

It doesn't even multitask...

Sorry for 2 posts in one thread (not my habit) but...

So I have a TechNet subscription which I use for work and myself, and every once in a while I simply visit the website to check up on news and new developments. Today I came across the "Windows Phone 7.5 Guide for IT Professionals". This is freely available, see here:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27743&ocid=nlc-n-nl-loc--Technetnieuwsbrief&WT.mc_id=nlc-n-nl-loc--Technetnieuwsbrief

From the 'Enterprise security and policy management': "In addition, Windows Phone does not allow apps to run in the background at any given time, which prevents hidden apps or spyware apps from preying on users. The moment a user switches to a different app on Windows Phone, the previously used app is put into a dormant state and its application state preserved.".

While that's all good and well for security, it makes usability for common (non-office) users totally worthless!

I'm sitting in the bus or train to go $somewhere and I get bored.. I pull out my headphones, plug 'm into my Samsung Jet and listen to some music. But since I took this ride a dozen times now I don't feel like looking at the scenery today; so I simply pull up the task manager, go back to the start screen and from there fire up the internet browser. Now I can read up on the news or my e-mail while enjoying some nice music.

If you can't even do /that/ on this phone then I don't see this being anything closely interesting for the average public. Sure; it maybe good for business users, but this is no where close to "having fun".

If you think that is bad...

From that same document:

"Some phones are equipped with an internal storage slot for SD memory cards. In most cases, the slot is difficult to access and hidden in the phone chassis. When an SD card is present, the Windows Phone file system spans the internal memory of the phone and the SD card. As a protective measure, removing the SD card will reset the phone and wipe all user data remaining on the internal phone memory unless the same SD card is re-inserted. Inserting a different SD card will wipe the phone and reinitialize it using the new card."

THAT is going to be FUN whenever you can't afford a big SD card /yet/ and thus decide on sticking with a smaller one for the time being!

How can it get worse than this? Well, simple:

"In addition, Windows Phone implements a standard SD card lock mechanism to lock the card using a unique 128-bit key that pairs the SD card to the phone. Access to the SD card is prevented by the SD card controller unless the correct 128-bit password is supplied, which makes it extremely difficult to access data on an orphaned SD card."

In the scenario I described above (which wasn't a joke) I used a dongle to access my SD card using a card reader thus I could manually copy the data from it to the new card (which was by then sitting in my phone).

Or what about using your SD card as a means of backup ?

Honestly; I can see this being a very good thing for businesses. But for the average consumer market? No way that this is going to catch on, impossible.

It doesn't 'network'

The problem with this phone is that the looks are great (fast, shiney, etc.) but leaves much to desire. For example the simple issue of being able to use your own music / tunes as a ringtone (in other words: using an mp3 as ringtone). The original Win7 release did not support this, that's simply very poor with the current standards.

But my main gripe is that this critter doesn't really connect. Not in the sense I'd expect from a Windows phone.

Although I hardly use it these days I have a Toshiba Portege PDA / phone which runs a copy of Windows Mobile 6 (iirc, the classic "start menu on a phone" thingie). It came with a file explorer which I heavily utilized. Picture my surprise to learn that it fully supported Windows networking!

Simply adding "\\magi" made it check the shares on my server. I could even utilize a small video application ('MTV') to access video contents from such a share. AVI files which would hardly fit on the internal memory itself, but it played easily!

In other words; with a Windows phone I expect to be able to access my Windows computers like I do with my current phone; I plug it in using a cable and can then use it as an USB mass storage. Photo's, sounds (mp3) or sometimes even office documents if I have to (and don't have an USB stick around).

That simply task is not possible with this phone. Accessing your local Windows network? Forget about it.

Why would I want a "Windows Phone" when it can't even do so much as access my Windows computer ? I don't want to sync contacts from hotmail; I know better than to keep my customer contact information online. No; I want the phone to grab 'm straight from Outlook, like I'm doing myself using a VBA macro in Word. If I can do it, why can't this critter ?

Sure; I'm pretty confident that it will rock keeping all your social media updates present and when you do have contact information stored into it it'll probably look nice.

I simply prefer functionality over nice. And having to upload all your data to an online storage merely to get your phone to access it is not something I classify as a functional solution.

This proves one thing to me...

That this Carrier IQ company is something I'd never wish to do business with (which probably doesn't mean that much anyway considering that I'm from Europe).

Seriously... They simply proven every suspicion about them to be quite feasible and the best part is that they did it all by themselves. In my opinion a totally untrustworthy company and thus also dangerous considering the aspect of said root kit.

Why I say this ? Simple... First its trying to show muscles in order to suppress the truth. Apparently they were worried about their reputation (and rightfully so!). So they start to threaten the kid. Questionable tactics but all perfectly fine within the confines of the law; let a Judge decide if its slander or not.

But now that they're backing off one has to seriously wonder here... It would seem as if they are not so sure of their case after all. I consider that very peculiar considering their first action; all muscles to silence the kid (protecting face) and then nothing. Anyone could have predicted that this backing down move would be even /worse/ for their reputation. After all; no one is impressed with hollow threats these days.

Which brings up another theory... Most likely they know to be in the wrong, and the last thing you want to happen then is getting this fact thrown back in your face by a judge.

I hope this guy continues making his findings available to the public and that more media will catch on to this.

Cheap propaganda

Sure, now that the man has died some nay-sayers gather up and finally see the opportunity to give the world a piece of their mind on how things /really/ were. According to them of course.

I don't say its bad to criticize the stuff Mr. Jobs has done or question his motives on some of his decisions. But to start personal attacks like these is pretty cheap in my book, especially since he can no longer talk back.

Where were these criticasters when Mr. Jobs was still alive? Probably too afraid to openly criticize him because oh my.. Maybe Mr. Jobs would have banned them from all known Apple stores on the planet.

Give it a rest already and move on to things which currently matter.

Says a Windows user who's happily using non-Apple hardware or software and also has some very critical and biased opinions on the Apple company itself.

Solving "problems" again eh?

They saw the start menu piling up on many home computers and thus found the ultimate solution: getting rid of the start menu entirely. Problem solved!

But now they saw several people complaining about having to drag the new menu screen back and forth. Thus came the next ultimate solution: get rid of all the input devices, no more need for scrolling with the mouse anymore. Problem solved!

Could be good news; when the Windows 8 sales become disappointing maybe they'll find a new ultimate solution: getting rid of Windows 8 :-) Problem solved!

Not that hard to achieve anyway...

We can pretend this to be a huge achievement but we all know the truth...

Due to the constant negative comments regarding Windows 8 they probably decided to take out all the "Using Windows has become even more fun now" nonsense from the install process and are now baffled at the new speeds.

Just team up!

...With Arc Attack!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdrqdW4Miao

Mixed feelings...

I'll 'admit': I'm an Office 2010 user and I really enjoy the things I can do with it. A big influence is the fact that I use Office for my own company, thus I need a good infrastructure which helps me get stuff done, but just so you know I'm still biased (I also love to do some VBA design in my 'spare' time for example).

Gates has a point IMO but its not as black/white as he portraits things here. I've been a heavy WordPerfect user as well, mostly WP5.1. And quite frankly in many aspects that "simple" DOS program way out powered the early versions of Word back then when it came to functionality.

The big issue however was that Word allowed people to use the program without having to follow a study up front to get to learn all the keyboard shortcuts (WP had /many/ of those). That was an advantage. Another big issue was that Office often sold together with Windows.

And that is a very important aspect which should not be ignored either. Back then the whole IT market was way too difficult for our small-minded (errr, I meant busy) politicians to follow or understand so the anti-monopoly rulings as we have now were no way in sight back then.

MS didn't gain the upper hand by merely producing a superior product.

And the issue of when the US starts paying back their huge debt has yet to be determined.

Sounds like a sneer, I know, but the reason I mention this is because when the next financial crisis hits most people will already have long forgotten stories like these about multimillion projects and only wonder "how has it ever come this far?".

At least this is all good for something...

I really feel like having Lasagna or Spaghetti this evening :-)

Microsoft needs to get their advertising act together

Microsoft has made some dramatic steps forward when looking at their business solutions. For both the low/mid range as well as the enterprises. Still, its the low/mid range which I'm interested in since that's my category. I can now utilize solutions for a reasonable price which several years ago would have been nearly unreachable for me.

I don't think its the technology anymore. With their 2010 Office suite they have made some tremendous progress, and I'm not talking about the interface but the technical aspects of what you can do with it. Even a computer illiterate can now easily save their document online thus allowing others to access it (without risking to accidentally sharing it with the world).

Yet Microsoft seems incapable of selling their goods. As the author states: "What is Sharepoint, what can you do with it?". Its a very fair question, one which Microsoft usually can only answer with: "Here's our demo version, try it out yourself!" (not with all of their products, but many have a demo available these days) OR they'll bury you with a load of marketing phrases which sound "cool" but are totally meaningless.

Take a look at their Outlook product page; it starts with a link to get video training! "Lesson 1, Master the basics of email". Can you see it? "Oh, if sending an e-mail requires a study of some sort then Outlook definitely isn't for me, too complex" (my opinion a few months ago).

Same applies to SharePoint, as rightfully noticed by the author. Good article IMO!

by the way; who said that El Reg was negative (per definition) towards Microsoft again? ;-)

I think the author ignores some facts...

For starters; MS already has its own social network, its called 'Windows Live', I actually enjoy using it through Live Messenger and my Hotmail account (and SkyDrive, virtual Office apps, etc.), see http://live.com/. Obviously this also gives me access to stuff like TechNet and such, but that's a whole different ballgame.

Still, the confusion is understandable: just looking at the Live.com website will give you a bad impression. After all; it doesn't advertise itself as a social network, but only as a regular registration which gives you access to (I quote:) "Hotmail, Messenger, Xbox Live and other Microsoft services". I guess that's also the part I like, the network is somewhat "smaller" while still providing everything you'd expect. I can upload stuff (pictures, documents, audio), I can share stuff with others (myself, (some) friends or the whole world), I can post updates to what I'm doing, my friends can look at these updates and comment on them. Etc..

Second aspect to consider is that the "one ring to rule them all" idea wouldn't be a bad idea I suppose, but this is also not something new to Microsoft either.

For example; I've recently starting using MS Outlook 2010 for my e-mail and one of its specific features is the "Outlook Social Connector plugin". This does a quick check on any open e-mail message and retrieves as much related information as it can find. Locally as well as online (if I let it). This software has ties into live.com, facebook, linkedln, and so on.

So basically I receive an e-mail, can call up the "social connector" window and get lots of relevant info. From a list of previous e-mails (which is sometimes /extremely/ useful) to possible links to any social media. If I'm logged onto certain social media myself I can immediately see any of his public information if that's available.

So the title of the post is misleading, its not as if Microsoft has "suddenly" discovered social media. They've been a player for quite some time now.