* Posts by Mage

9265 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Nov 2007

Fake History Alert: Sorry BBC, but Apple really did invent the iPhone

Mage Silver badge
Coat

Invention of iPhone

It wasn't even really an invention.

The BBC frequently "invents" tech history. They probably think MS and IBM created personal computing, when in fact they held it back for 10 years and destroyed innovating companies then.

The only significant part was the touch interface by Fingerworks.

I was reading a BBC news web article and it was wrong too. It missed out emphasising that the real reason for success in 2007 was the deals with operators, cheap high cap data packages, often bundled with iPhone from the Mobile Operator.

This is nonsense:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38550016

"Those were the days, by the way, when phones were for making calls but all that was about to change."

Actually if you had a corporate account, you had a phone already with email, Apps, ability to read MS Office docs, web browser and even real Fax send/receive maybe 5 or 6 years before the iPhone. Apart from an easier touch interface, the pre-existing phones had more features like copy/paste, voice control and recording calls.

The revolution was ordinary consumers being able to have a smart phone AND afford the data. The actual HW was commodity stuff. I had the dev system for the SC6400 Samsung ARM cpu used it.

Why did other phones use resistive + stylus instead of capacitive finger touch?

1) Apple Newton and Palm: Handwriting & annotation. Needs high resolution.

2) Dominance of MS CE interface (only usable with with a high resolution stylus.

The capacitive touch existed in the late 1980s, but "holy grail" was handwriting recognition, not gesture control, though Xerox and IIS both had worked on it and guestures were defined before the 1990s. So the UK guy didn't invent anything.

Also irrelevant.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38552241

Mines the one with a N9110 and later N9210 in the pocket. The first commercial smart phone was 1998 and crippled by high per MByte or per second (or both!) charging. Also in 2002, max speed was often 28K, but then in 2005 my landline was still 19.2K till I got Broadband, though I had 128K in 1990s in the city (ISDN) before I moved.

Google nukes ad-blocker AdNauseam, sweeps remains out of Chrome Web Store

Mage Silver badge

Re: Ad blockers on Android

Yes, uBlock and others work, I'd rather have noScript on Mobile. I don't quite understand why it's not available.

So I rarely use tablet for Internet, and never phone, TV & BD player not connected (I might add them to LAN and block mac at router). So limit myself to laptop.

Mage Silver badge

Re: Interesting why block this one?

Software that "clicks ads" is simply fraud and not really ad blocking at all, as obviously the script must be run to have a link to click.

My main motive in ad blocking, isn't to block ads as such, but 3rd party scripts which break privacy and are one of the most common malware vectors. Even BBC.com and CNN were serving adverts that served malware via their javascript.

Mage Silver badge

Ad blocking continues to hurt online publishers

Citation?

If I never click how is it hurting to go a step further and block ads?

Actually I don't that much care about static small images/text. I DO care about 3rd party scripts, 3rd party tracking, animated, video or audio adverts, or adverts that delay access to content (evil BBC.com news). All of those I will block. They may in any case be illegal.

I think Sony & Google have broken EU law. New TV, you can't install/tune it without agreeing to totally unacceptable Google Terms and Conditions.

It wouldn't surprise me if the Playstore is illegal in EU. Certainly it's immoral as are Google's popup multipage T&C or one sign in for all Google services (which are quite unrelated, such as Google Groups for programming support, You Tube, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Search, Translate).

Google are evil and arrogant.

Apple's CEO Tim Cook declines invitation to discuss EU tax ruling with Irish parliament

Mage Silver badge

Re: The times they are a' changin'

Maybe Tim Cook will get a visit from guys in a white van.

Or a B&D brochure in the post.

Slim pickings by the Biggest Loser: A year of fitness wearables

Mage Silver badge

Re: Sorry for your loss Alistair.

Indeed a bitter sweet article

I'm starting to feel very mortal. Maybe I need to write a book of instructions about my "junk".

Routes taken by UK prosecutors over supply of modified TV set-top boxes

Mage Silver badge

Re: Thanks for the heads up

There is nothing special about the boxes, they probably run Kodi.

It's probably subscription keys and /or special plugins that allows the copyright infringement. You can do the same on a laptop.

Mage Silver badge

technology might be adapted

"technology might be adapted and used for unlawful purposes should not necessarily mean the technology itself is unlawful."

Mostly it isn't. Actually very often you can use tech illegally without modification:

Kitchen knives, copiers, computers, cars, JCB diggers.

Puny galaxy packs a big punch: A gazillion joules' worth of radio bursts

Mage Silver badge
Alien

Good News

It's far away.

I'd hate to be living in the same neighbourhood, except I'd be dead.

Robo-supercar hype biz Faraday Future has invented something – a new word for 'disrupt'

Mage Silver badge
Windows

De Lorean

I was around then.

Same delusions.

I asked the NIDA why they were getting money for something that was a pretty turkey.

Don't believe the 5G hype! £700m could make UK's 4G better than Albania's

Mage Silver badge
Thumb Up

Re: Professor or paid spokesman for BT?

100Mbps to a phone can't be achieved by ANY new standard.

Even bonded 3G or 4G CAN do it, but only if every other street light is a femto base station.

The xG standard is almost irrelevant. It's having smaller cells, very many more masts that gives extra speed.

Oh and having fixed users on fibre would maybe double speeds for those actually mobile

Then double speed again by having a single wholesale network (load balancing is impossible with spectrum split between companies)

Mage Silver badge
Boffin

He's right

It's boring.

But the real solution is better utilisation of 900 / 1800 / 2100 /2500 by very many more masts and thus smaller cells.

1800/ 2100 /2500 are massively underutilised.

You can't increase mast density (decrease cell size) so much on 900, much less on 800 and 700 is only useful for GSM voice, the cell sizes are too large and uncontrollable.

Smaller cells mean much higher speed (fewer users), lower latency and more reliable operation. The only "technology" needed is a single wholesale RAN with phones able to bond channels on different bands.

No new spectrum is needed.

5G as such delivers no extra speed at all. New spectrum above 2500 is progressively useless due to line of sight. New spectrum below 900MHz is progressively very poor capacity BECAUSE the range is more. Twice range is less than 1/4 speed. Progressively below 900 the cell range is affected by weather and as range grows in certain weather some areas stop working due to interference from far off masts on same channel.

That's why UHF TV (470MHz to 862MHz) was designed on reuse of 8MHz channnels for only 4 unique signals and fitting in a 5th was really awkward.

New Android-infecting malware brew hijacks devices. Why, you ask? Your router

Mage Silver badge
Facepalm

Oh no

Yet ANOTHER drive by router attack, the Gazzilioneth in the last 15 years because STUPIDLY routers work out of the box with out a mandatory new user name and non-dictionary password, easily guessed. Or the same on every box

Or based on the MAC.

Idiotic making it TOO simple to use the router. Even moronic Windows you have to create a new user and password to be able to connect to the internet.

It could equally javascript hidden in a image of an advert on a browser that does this. The problem is not the phone or Wifi but stupidity of defualt credentials to set Router parameters, especially DNS.

Bitcoin breaks US$1,000

Mage Silver badge
Facepalm

Irrelvant value

As it's tulips bubble /pyramid scheme and secondarily a vehicle for money laundering, of course it will keep going up till it implodes.

It's a totally impractical system for the mass market. Look at time now to process the block chain. Imagine if it had even a tiny fraction of IBAN transactions.

The idea of a non-government currency isn't entirely stupid. The actual implementation of Bitcoin is stupid.

‘Artificial Intelligence’ was 2016's fake news

Mage Silver badge

Re: If we're talking about actual AI, the number of jobs lost is zero

We have had automation since 1880s and pretty clever stuff by 1930s. You want to see old movies of almost entirely automated valve production (tubes in USA). Not computerised, but automated machines winding the grids, melting and sealing the button base etc.

Anything high volume and repetitive was automated nearly 80 years ago. The difference is than now (apart from ASICs) that production runs can be very small. The FPGA (a mass produced IC) for runs too small for custom chip.

3D printing isn't replacing mass production, and won't, it's making prototyping, mould making, concept work all faster and cheaper.

The last major industry to be much affected by automation was maybe newspaper production? I'm not sure. It's small changes now. It may impact publishing if a bookshop can do in house POD of one copy for $3, but the mass market would still be volume 25 cent per copy printing.

Mage Silver badge

Emperor has no clothes

Great to see a significant outlet state that the "AI" stuff, whatever it is (and in reality very little) isn't actually AI.

Don't look behind the curtain.

Ignore the fact that the Young Lady's Primer is relying on real time human curation and a real actress.

We used to call them "Expert Systems" in 1980s. It wasn't AI then either.

Folders return to Windows 10's Start Thing

Mage Silver badge

Re: Does anyone even use the Win 10 start mess?

I tried Classic Start Menu. It's not even polishing a turd.

Win 10 is STILL like Win2.0 and inferior to Win95, XP, Win7 (with no Aero) with it. Why bother when win7 is still supported and Linux Mint with Mate & Redmond theme is better?

Meet the Internet of big, lethal Things

Mage Silver badge

Re: Do you own it, or not?

I think EFF's position is extreme.

John Deere are wrong too.

However while I don't think companies should be compelled to supply source (unless it's entirely a FOSS), copyright law is inappropriate.

Also the DMCA shouldn't exist at all. It's plain wrong.

People do need to be able to run diagnostics (that should be available for free), for safety reasons!

Twas the week before Xmas ... not a creature was stirring – except Microsoft admitting its Windows 10 upgrade pop-up went 'too far'

Mage Silver badge

Re: VBA

VBA etc in Office is evil and a huge source of problems. Solutions without it are more robust, easier maintained and more secure.

VMware and other VM solutions run on Linux.

PC games are now a niche compared to phone/tablet and Console, esp. PS4.

Adobe is pricing themselves out of the market due to rental model except for rich corporates. They are no longer the only solution for photo/video, except for a small niche of professionals with well paid IT support.

Even MS is porting their SQL to Linux. I abandoned MS SQL in 2004.

Mage Silver badge
Flame

Win 10 & Classic Shell

Still garbage reminiscent of Win2.0

Less customisable than any Windows from 3.0 /NT3.1 onwards.

Ghastly. I really tried hard. Even 1999 Red hat Linux was better.

Mage Silver badge
Linux

Next OS

I've wiped XP, Win7 and Win 10 from multiple laptops for people in last few weeks. Replaced with Linux Mint, Mate + Redmond Theme, Firefox (Classic Theme & Noscript).

Two are setup up dual boot win 7 & Linux. One, the Win7 no longer used

Three new laptops ordered Lenovo with Win7 pro not Win10 since Oct (one now used only in Linux).

In last 21 years of installing Linux, Windows etc, I've never seen such a big switch to Linux as this year. IMO Linux Mint, Mate + Redmond Theme, Firefox (Classic Theme & Noscript), LibreOffice, Thunderbird email is now actually better and as usable as XP. It's more like Win9x / NT / 2K / XP experience than Vista/Win7/Win8/Win10 is. LibreOffice is as good as Office 2003, i.e. more usable than Ribbon!

Thunderbird, Firefox, FileZila, Calibre, Audacity, Eagle, Inkscape, Gimp (actually usable now PSP10 is a mess compared to PSP7 and Adobe is rental), Putty, Skype and many more on Windows and Linux now.

Is Sage and Outlook the only reason left to run Windows?

Most people only using Browser, basic Office features, Email, Skype anyway.

It's a big difference even to five years ago,

Mage Silver badge

Re: 'We want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective'

Or automatic issue of NFC debit cards by your bank (they are insecure, in reality no faster). Bank "But you'll lose features and security using the old card"

"What features? Also my old card doesn't let passing strangers read my banking details or take up to €20 without asking"

Mage Silver badge

Re: 'We want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective'

More Secure?

So why STILL by default almost every service on?

I can see no genuine real world improvement.

Making sure Autorun is off, that a VM client (the default in Win7's XPmode is atrocious) has no WAN and only one data only or no host directories, that a browser has Noscript or alternative, external firewall (use a 3G/4G dongle via WiFi with firewall or via router with firewall), firewall/router has no uPNP, all are more important than any MS security feature.

MS seem to be clueless.

Oh and WINE (a security flaw, I know) on Linux Mint + Mate (redmond theme) works with more of my old programs than Win7 or Win10 does and XP in VM with no network for test gear (/dev/ttyUSB0 mapped to COM1:) is a better user experience than Win10 or even Win7.

Office gone downhill since 2003.

MS has lost the plot on UX and GUI and privacy.

Mage Silver badge

Re: Microsoft has been getting it wrong with user interfaces

Win7 is a fix of Vista.

MS themselves now admit Aero was a mistake.

For years they tried to put Windows GUI on small Gadgets. Then after Zune / Phone 6.5 tried to to put the Zune inspired GUI on everything.

So in 35 years they got the GUI shell almost right (Explorer File manager should have had a two window mode and Win7 adaptive non-customisable panel is nasty).

Win10 is like Win2.0 on Hercules or CGA, but with less GUI customisation. I can't believe how unusable it is compared to Win3.x, Win9x, NT3.x, NT4.0, Win2K, XP, Win7 (with classic theme).

First workable Windows 3.1, first stable decent WFWG 3.11 with all the 32bit parts. First real GUI 32bit Windows, decently supported, NT3.5

Low points / junk= Win1.x Win2.x Win3.0, WinME, Vista, Win8.x Win10

Win2K was an unfinished rushed out version of XP, but not too bad.

USB deliberately withheld from NT4.0 (I had and tested MS USB for NT4.0 and it was fine).

NT4.0 less stable than NT3.51, which did have the win95 style explorer as tech preview, which was better than NT4.0 release.

MS experts at making money.

Idiotic at everything else.

Mage Silver badge

Re: M$ Long History

The GUI of '95 was good. The rest of it was garbage compared to their own NT3.5 and less stable than a properly installed WFWG3.11

For over 20 years I've heard that the HW spec was too high for NT vs 95, maybe in 1993 it was, but not in 1995. In reality win95 needed as much RAM as NT to have Excel, Word, TCP/IP and Browser at the same time without paging massively.

Mage Silver badge
Mushroom

for a lot of the year I think we got it right,

Well, that's a delusion.

Virgin America mid-flight panic after moron sets phone Wi-Fi hotspot to 'Samsung Galaxy Note 7'

Mage Silver badge

Re: Hotspots

Off topic really...

But WHY do people have WiFi sharing / hotspot functionality turned on by default, esp in an aircraft. It's daft, wasting battery (on portable things) and an extra vulnerability.

I see an iPad appear regularly here at my home office. Why is that on by default? Idiotic Vendor programming and daft users?

Spotty battery life costs Apple's MacBook Pro its gold-star rating

Mage Silver badge

Price

It's about x2 overpriced. So how can it be "recommended"? Nice screens.

Also a product sector that Apple has no commitment to.

ANY test of anything with Lithium tech rechargables needs to be cycled about 20 times to get an idea of both running time and eventual battery life. You'd need a decent number of samples too. One isn't enough.

How Google.org stole the Christmas Spirit

Mage Silver badge
Headmaster

Chromebooks

Laptops and Tablets are secondary to good Educators.

Chromebooks are about the least useful sort of computer, as they are more limited than any other kind.

Exactly how does a Chromebook help education compared to smaller class sizes and better teachers? While computers can be a useful resource, in most cases primary and secondary pupils learn less if there is an emphasis on tablets/laptops. Apple iPads are daft too. Study after study with no connection to Apple, MS, Amazon, Google etc proves it.

What a waste.

Mage Silver badge

Re: Just a google bash?

Google deserve a bash, but in fairness here I'd be very suspicious of "DonorsChoose".

Christmas Eve ERP migration derailed by silly spreadsheet sort

Mage Silver badge
Flame

Win95

Still mostly 16bit, just all the 32bit extensions in WFWG3.11 rolled up. Real 32bit NT was two years old. Properly configured Win For Workgroups had poor "Program Manager", but had 32bit disk driver, same 32bit TCP/IP, Video For Windows/ Multimedia, Win32s to run NT programs.Win95 was less stable than properly installed WFWG 3.11 with all extras. Rubbish compared to NT3.5

Plus: The new desktop instead of Program Manager.

Minuses:

* Explorer File Mangler, single window and buggy.

* Autrorun added, even though already proven bad on Amiga

* Fake Win APIs added so mostly 16 bit Office 95 wouldn't run on Win3.x, even with Win32s, which meant that that NT 3.5 couldn't run Office 95, they had to release NT3.51

* No named pipe creation (just like Win3.x)

* Barely more than WFWG 3.11 with new shell.

* No process isolation

* No Security. The Log-in only affected what LOCAL Network resources you could connect to!

* Poisoned development of NT4.0, Win2K, XP and led to Vista.

* Led to Win ME, the Win98SE was best version.

* Only later OEM Version b had USB

* Encouraged bad practices on Program Application development.

* Direct X, nothing more than a Kludge to port DOS games with direct access to Graphics HW, leading to stupidity of Graphics and Printer Drivers in Kernel in NT4.0.

* Held back deployment of NT in business for about 7 years.

* As damaging to progress of Security & decent OS adoption as DOS was in 1980/1981.

Win95 should ONLY have been on a games console. Instead something intended only for home users was mis-sold to most small bushiness and many larger ones.

In reality to run Excel, Web Browser, Word and TCP/IP, without paging, you needed as much RAM as NT 3.5x anyway.

Oh, and a Shell only version of Explorer desktop / Explorer File manager as "Tech preview" worked fine on NT3.51. Instead they broke NT4.0 by kernel changes and Direct X (and it still couldn't run most Win9x games anyway, so they broke it without achieving anything for business users).

It's been downhill since 1995 for MS, accelerating in 2002/2004 with Vista development. Too late, Aero is officially a mistake. Vista = NT 6.0, Win9x on Ecstasy.

Win7 is really Win 6.x

Win 2000, XP and Win 2003 are NT 5.x

Win 8 and Win 10 are pointless.

MS already had a decent 32bit OS for over two years when they released Win95.

Heck, they even had their own versions of UNIX(Xenix in 1987?) and MS OS/2+LanManager (1989 after ending IBM deal).

All they needed was to put the new shell on NT3.5 and have a game console with Win95. Idiots.

Peace comes to troubled embedded-Linux-for-routers community

Mage Silver badge

Well

I think it's good news.

Chinese boffins: We're testing an 'impossible' EM Drive IN SPAAAACE

Mage Silver badge

Re: Many Bothans died to bring us this plot device

Newton was an Alchemist.

Mage Silver badge

Historically,

The USA is the biggest commercial exploiter of others IP (copies of Copyright items, patenting items that are patented or prior art, using others registered designs or prior art etc), since 18th C.

They STILL don't pay royalty on performance rights on USA Radio.

Ripped off Dickens and Tolkien.

USA spies also provide designs to USA industry.

China has stolen IP. However they also innovate more than USA.

Most USA "innovation" isn't even innovation.

Amateur radio fans drop the ham-mer on HRD's license key 'blacklist'

Mage Silver badge

Re: Shackbox

However Linux Mint will run all the stuff in Shackbox and has likely better support.

Works well with Mate Desktop and Redmond Theme. WINE for some old Ham applications with no Linux equivalents. Also I have XP with no WAN /Internet in a Virtual machine on Linux, which is the recommended method by MS (it's what XP Mode on Win7 / 8 /10 is!).

Mage Silver badge

Re: Tell that to Microsoft.

I did, ages ago.

"Genuine Advantage" is as meaningful a phrase as various dictators having "Democratic" in the country name.

Mage Silver badge

Also

Rig / logging software of ANY kind that requires an internet connection is a failure. Not fit for purpose.

Most of the time Amateur Radio is just a bit of fun. But when there is a major disaster, traditionally it works maybe within hours or minutes, even if Government takes a week (see USA Katrina disaster and consider how much more important it is in less developed world).

The ONLY software I want connecting to the Internet is stuff that actually USES the internet, such as VOIP, IRC, IM, eMail, file transfer, web browsing etc.

Microsoft, Adobe etc are now evil with their so called Cloud Subscriptions for things that ought to work without Internet. It's (a) a rip-off, (b) an extra failure mode.

Internet based licence dongles should be illegal. Supply a USB dongle if you are not content to use normal licence key software, but licence validation via internet is evil.

Mage Silver badge

HRD told us some

HRD told us some of those users could have written their assessments after requesting a refund and deactivating their software, thus their licenses will appear revoked.

Appear revoked?

Ha!

And how would anyone other than the purchaser or HRD know if a licence is revoked?

I'll believe the purchasers as to when the key was revoked.

Sayonara North America: Insurance guy got your back when Office 365 doesn't?

Mage Silver badge
Windows

Insurance

PC World and Argos try to sell you insurance with every sale (it's not actually insurance and overpriced and may be issues covered by SOGA). It ought to be illegal.

Be very worried when the so called Cloud vendors (Computer time rental) try to sell you insurance too.

Evolved DNSChanger malware slings evil ads at PCs, hijacks routers

Mage Silver badge

Windows?

Without properly setup NoScript, and properly configured Router, your OS and browser might be irrelevant.

Mage Silver badge

Re: DNS or DHCP?

if router has default settings, then a script on webpage can change the DNS setting of the Router (usually your ISP) to a malicious DNS.

The LAN DHCP clients use the Router for DNS, by default, which is sensible.

Secure the router: Disable uPNP, change User name and password to decent ones you write down.

Note that the WiFi ID and passphrase are different, and ALSO should be changed from default. Don't use TKIP but WPA2.

Mage Silver badge
Big Brother

Re: Best protection ?

Do not use Google's DNS.

Privacy issues.

Your PCs should be using the Router/Gateway/firewall as DNS and it should either use your ISP or something trustworthy. Trustworthy includes not having your IP and all your requests logged.

Mage Silver badge
FAIL

Noscript and whitelisting

Noscript can be more useful than AV software.

Also routers, when plugged in should serve ONLY the web admin login, with instructions and warnings about drive by DNS poison and have to have login user & pass changed.

Also uPNP should be illegal on a router.

Why don't people secure their IoT gadgets? 'It's not my problem'

Mage Silver badge

Why,need an internet-connected toothbrush?

So that when phone / skype / door bell rings, the bot can announce "based on past performance, the person you seek will be available in $time_left minutes", allegedly true story.

Mage Silver badge
Flame

IoT

Ability to have it automatically updated is actually another vulnerability vector.

Irrelevant to the article, but the SMPSU dramatically reduces the life & reliability of gadgets that once had no electronics or only a linear PSU, or decent capacitors. Traditional electricity meters last for ever, the Irish Electricity people (ESB) are having to replace 17,000 Electronics based meters. They over charge before failing. The maker knew there was a failing capacitor, but said nothing till asked.

Your 50,000 hrs IoT LED lamps may die at 1,000 to 5,000 hours due to PSU failure, delivering people from its IoT DDos or whatever.

Tube based fluorescent lamps used to occasionally need tube or starter replaced. Now they use a Radio Interference producing SMPSU as electronic ballast instead of a last forever iron cored choke that gave no RFI.

We are going backwards. Function and Reliability sacrificed to "pretty" and "cost reduction".

Most gadgets and new software now will not make life easier, but frustrate you.

Ham-fisted: Chap's radio app killed remotely after posting bad review

Mage Silver badge

Re: Replace it with open source NOW

Also boycott "D-star"? Nasty codec that's expensive and proprietary.

Mage Silver badge

Re: A canary by any other name?

And integrated logging. That's the useful bit if you do competitions and awards etc.

Mage Silver badge

Re: @Mage Block Skype ads

Search block skype advert settings

it's basically:

1) Splt windows, then close stupid "home" screen or it doesn't go away

2) Using MS Internet settings in Control Panel (or via IE) block two sites. Add two websites to the list of restricted addresses: apps.skype.com and g.msn.com

3) Edit the Skype Users appdata roaming: C:\users\[your user name]\App Data\Roaming\Skype\[your Skype username]. You should see a config.xml file in this directory. Right-click it and choose Edit, then find the line that says <AdvertPlaceholder> Change value to 0.

Enjoy :)

Mage Silver badge

Re: Crapware

Win 10 deleted the Lenovo Win7 recovery.

Mage Silver badge
Pirate

Re: Crapware

Yes, the last version I tried was rubbish. The Simon Brown era versions (free) were fine. Also SW like this needs to support ancient versions of windows (perhaps for old laptop ONLY used as a screen for the radio and not connected to the internet.

You see this with lots of Software that is bought out, gets poorer quality and more expensive.

Paint Shop Pro: JASC to Corel. I went back to V7, the Version 10 is a mess and incompatible with Win7. I'm gradually changing to The Gimp.

Sun stuff to Oracle. The Java download debacle etc.

Skype: To eBay then Microsoft. (P.S. you CAN block the adverts and get rid of home screen)

Probably loads of other examples.

Paying for upgrades? Win7 should have been free for Vista users. Why does Win10 delete Win7 after 10 days?