Posts by JC

@ Dangerous Stauble's Act

I'm entirely in favor of a dangerous dog act. There's simply no justification to own an animal bred or trained for attack. While dogs may still continue to bite children, you entirely ignore that there is a difference in frequency overall, a difference in frequency of unprovoked bites, a difference in the severity of a dog biting once or twice defensively and one actively looking to harm or disable a person.

Perhaps the owner of the animal had no intent, but then it was unreasonable to own it. If you have no intent to fire a gun, do you load it with bullets and point it? If you fire the gun but didn't aim at anyone in particular, but you are in a crowded area and someone gets hit, aren't you a bit to blame and isn't it fair to say the gun should be taken away from someone who would do this?

An individual's rights have to be tempered by the rights of others to a bit of safety. I do not feel this safety from bodily harm is equivalent to safety from hacking a computer in the vast majority of cases so in the meantime I will take comfort in knowing I am a lot less likely to be attacked by a dog.

But For All The Wrong Reasons

Someone types something other than a URL in their browser pane and where do they end up? Bing.

Which is the only search service that's been paying cash back on product purchases that have nothing to do with MS? Bing.

Not so sure "popular" is the right word.

They needed to study this?

Doing things that make us happy, makes us happy? Who would've thunk it?

@ Try Actually Licensing Your OS

There's this thing called math. Roughly 142 million people live in Russia. A few might not run windows, but several are likely to own more than one system running windows so let's call it one license for each of the 15%.

That's 21.3 million.

Nevermind that the number with legit licenses is bound to be far higher than 15% because a legit license comes with most OEM PCs, most people do not build their own. Granted, many of these people will want the current OS, or at least think they do until they have to deal with the mess that Vista is on a daily basis.

WHAT Did You Expect?

MS was known to do these kinds of things with their updates, if you have no problem using your system do not update it except for very specific patches that you understand to be required for your particular use of a system.

IOW, if you use firefox, do not install every IE patch that comes down the pike. If you aren't interested in DotNet functionality in your browser, don't install any DotNet patch until you're using something else requiring that DotNet level.

I do agree though, MS had no business altering 3rd party software in any way without specific user agreement, it is not enough that it be in a EULA because they release so many patches we'd be reading for days, the value of our time already exceeding the cost of the OS.

I don't think it was malicious though, only arrogant and another sign they have an interest in keeping web technology MS-centric, they want the world to develop DotNet and Silverlight instead of open tech, the same as they wanted the world to develop anything for IE or windows in general.

We let them do it. Just look at all the 'nix snobs that only suggest others run linux, but they don't provide the grass level peep support people had when windows was gaining momentum. With n00b windows users, if John Doe asked in a forum, "How do I see how much free space my hard drive has in Windows", someone would tell him. With n00b 'nix users, if John Doe asked the same question he'd get chastised or at best told something in geek-speak instead of plain and THOROUGH help.

In the Linux community there is this idea that new users are supposed to muck their way through getting a system up and running correctly instead of realize Linux is of no use if it doesn't start out running correctly so the user can remain productive while slowly learning more about the OS their machine runs.

To put it another way, do something basic like install Ubuntu on a laptop. Oops, no networking, seems a wrapper is needed for certain very popular network chips. Now what? System is a paperweight as you have to have a 2nd one to find a solution, but people only say "use a wrapper", they don't go through every single step nor is it automated.

Computers are supposed to do our work for us, not make us learn yet another discipline so we can devolve backwards to doing things manually.

I went on this rant to show the inherent problem, there is a balance needed between what the OS and Apps developers and peer support do for us, and what intervention we want control over. Linux does too little, Windows too much.

Noscript Still A Good Measure

There are some easy choices that allow noscript to remain fairly effective. Even if you allowed a script from a trusted site because it was obvious the functionality of the site was missing without it, once you were redirected to the other site you have no reason to allow scripting there, no reason to allow scripting from another 3rd party site, nor a reason to install rogue anti-virus software from a popup window.

Remember It's MS

Bing is obviously the sound an old cash register makes when it opens so a cashier can take payment. Highly appropriate considering MS' decision to try and pay people to use Live Search via their CashBack program, that it irks them to no end that it isn't the other way around yet and that even Yahoo isn't willing to help for a fair buyout price.

So what's new?

ebay being the equivalent of a bazaar, you just need to remain mindful of what kinds of items are likely to be counterfeit, and whether it being counterfeit could be a problem per your use of the product. Flash cards and USB drives in particular aren't something you'd want to buy on ebay, an ebay seller cannot much if at all undercut a major supplier for such things, particular since memory density keeps rising so old stock costs more, not less per GB.

You also have to always take a description of "new" with a grain of salt. Could mean looks new, could mean didn't keep using it after it was tried out, could mean manufacturer reject, later deemed defective, formerly new product returned by customer for refund, unused but sat on a shelf aging when it has a finite lifespan (batteries, capacitors, printer ink cartridges, etc), or the most pathetic excuse of all ... "I didn't use it and claim I don't know of anyone using it and it doesn't look old so it must be new." "Oh, nevermind that the box was opened and some parts are missing, I never claimed you'd get anything other than what was pictured regardless of what always come with the new full product."

Keeping these things in mind, there are still a few good values to be had on ebay. Leave negative feedback any time you encounter a situation you wish you knew about before making the purchase, and be sure to read the feedback other customers have left.

Scaled.com Website Homepage Now Links Tests

... as titled

@ Fraser

If TPB had started responding to takedown notices, which they were deliberately not equipped to handle, there would be a prompt storm of takedown notices that they definitely weren't able to handle if they'd wanted to. That's not excusing or condemning them, it is what it is and if it didn't exist someone else would fill their shoes.

It does all seem a bit childish though, if they cost the law firm a few bucks before they shut the account or whatever else is necessary it is not as though the firm won't have other work to make up the difference, it is good for a chuckle and that's about all.

@ WTF?! Morons! & LOL

Connections to MS' server were sporadic and slow. Getting a torrent was maxing out the internet connection. Apparently you don't realize how well P2P works when you have a large swarm.

@ LOL, I really didn't care what was hokey, who runs a beta for more than a glimpse at the OS anyway? If it installs and runs the network monitoring would've caught any bot-like activity and neutered it. For the few hours "trial" it was better to just get it quick, it's not like there was any substantial risk, no new MS OS would ever be granted access to stored data, the local network, or anything else of consequence regardless of whether it came from MS or 3rd party <cough>WHS</cough>. The situation is the same, the relevant issues are not present if someone is diligent in their awareness of what is going on with the system (or as another person smartly suggested, that's what checksums are for, to verify integrity).

@ Sticks and stones...

There's nothing bizarre about breaking extortion laws, getting caught at it, and winding up in the slammer. It doesn't have much to do with IT except the fellow's former job placement and the means with which a threat of damage would be carried out.

@ Lamboy

Actually no, a hard drive could consume 200W and be more reliable than today's are, it would simply have to be engineered to do so with reliability in mind, instead of penny-pinching budgetization. "Green" is no more than a marketing term when they find a way to do something cheaper, or with relatively minor expense.

There is no reason to think failure rate differs, if they don't replace the parts (subcomponents) that fail at higher rates. That's kinda why I made the comment in the first place.

Relax Fellows

The charging system is modular, it's really quite irrelevant if there are two plugs. Note there are often more than one seat color, engine, and myriad other options on a car. The thing of primary importance is that within a region using the same charging standard, plugs on all vehicles in that region are the same.

Hey Adobe!

We're already blocking Flash on PCs, how much do you plan on subsidizing our TVs to get us to put up with Flash on them?

What did you expect?

They already had world domination, it's not as though they need to find a compelling reason to make people choose their OS when it comes on most computers sold.

This isn't marketing, it's more like a friendly reminder that they are holding practically all the cards.

Yawn

What was he supposed to say, they're going to give up trying to keep people from getting product for free?

It's a PR release, they still don't know WTF they need to do to regain same profits they've enjoyed for years, largely because there isn't anything they can do now that the information sharing age is in full effect except trim their fat and try to find some artists we're willing to pay $1 /track for online.

Give It Time

Maybe in a year or two we'll see pics of the perps on Google Streetview, blurred faces and all. You have to wonder though, if these fiber optic links were so important why did they only secure them with a manhole cover needing a special tool instead of a proper lock? Weather concerns?

Extremely Clever

Those clever pirates, moving their servers one by one to the museum where nobody will think to check whether they're still tracking torrents.

Wrong Name

At least give our alien overloads truth in advertising and call it Potted Meat.

@ Pay Per Click

Dave you've overlooked the momentum Google has, who do you think is the middleman for these article, blog, social site ads? They may reach critical mass eventually but in doing so they become the only game in town for anyone with a large advertising budget so they secure at least a sustainable profit model at wherever they end up when the advertising market settles.

Look at their competition, a fledgling yahoo and the company trying to buy them, a company who has been paying people to use their search service.

@ Dave

Dell isn't in the business of selling PSU at retail, and tests true PSU capacity from it's suppliers. Therefore, what you're getting with a Dell PSU rated for 350W tends to be one that's actually capable of it, and the whole integrated system also tested to be lower consumption which makes sense as you wouldn't expect a quad core box with a 3650 in it to reach 275W peak, let alone 350W.

Typical power requirements cited by video card manufacturers are to shift the burden and expense of instable equipment to the owner, how easily they can tell someone to throw more money at a problem because there are so many PSU out there that don't live up to their ratings.

On the other hand, a modern system with a 4870 or 90 video card in it ought to have higher than 350W PSU powering it, but if/when the day comes that Dell integrated (term loosely used, not meaning soldered onto the mainboard) these 4890 into systems they will provide a beefy enough PSU to at least handle the one installed card even if it cannot support Crossfire.

What's The Fuss?

Vista costs more, runs slower, brings nothing to the table they need. It'd be dense to switch and therefore makes perfect sense to rein in the puppets that feel compelled to switch over because the latest isn't necessarily the greatest. Less is more.

@ Antidisestablishmentarianist

Yes, only an iLoon would pay so much for a USB dongle that DOESN'T do much of the encoding leaving the host system still highly occupied, instead of reusing the old parts you have left over after using that money to upgrade or start a new build.

This device is simply madness. Might as well totally soft encode on a quad core system. Que it up at low priority level and forget about it, a hardware encoder isn't all that good if it's not doing all the hardware encoding.

@ Robert Taylor

With more flexibility, you have more chances to make your own mistakes.

Kit without the windows tax is inherently less expensive, what you do with that kit is your decision, informed people know you can run new systems using less power and have it cheaper, it is not a choice of shiney new WHS versus some old box.

Oh, and you are deluded. my 30W single-drive fileserver is modern, but even my gaming rig doesn't use close to 350W so get your facts straight.

he's right

Terrorists and other criminals will definitely use google earth, it will help them plan and execute their plots. It might even give some that are too lazy or dumb to do it another way, the motivation they need to do something they wouldn't have otherwise.

The counterargument is true as well, someone sufficiently motivated and organized can get the info they need another way. The question is the same as always, how much do we limit our modern conveniences so they won't be used against us? I for one would find the loss of Google earth saddening, but bearable because it hasn't been around in so much glory for very long, we're still reasonably accustomed to doing things other ways. Take away my car or gun on the other hand and it's a day late for that.

@ HD Capable

You're missing the point, even if it had enough pixels at 12" screen size to display HD res., you'd not be able to discriminate that much detail at that pixel pitch.

What is instead important, is that it have the hardware accelerated ability to run HD video resolutions realtime, then resampled to native screen resolution, so you're not re-encoding everything to a lower resolution just to get it to play on your netbook-performance-level ultraportable.

Don't Buy The Hype

When using a more powerful processor, ALSO capable of low powered sleep states, you eliminate the redundancy of having to power all those mainboards.

It's not terribly hard to come up with dual core mobile laptop CPUs that have 4X the performance and use less than 3X the power because they're using only the one chipset and other support parts per board. Similarly, if you have a higher proportion of 12V current, you can make use of optimized 12V-only PSU for that rail increasing efficiency over the all-in-one ATX counterparts that have to balance several disproportionately loaded rails.

What's the real story here? MS interest in several times as many server licenses.

@ Ricky H

That solution will result in the slowdown, if it were present at all previously, at the point of 80% of the 75% sized partition (even sooner than not doing it).

@Wolf

You're essentially arguing in favor of Vista for the sake of? Apparently your whole argument revolves around using Vista instead of picking the right OS for the tasks, and the machine the OS would be installed upon.

It's somewhat of a joke to run Vista on 1GB memory, just the background processes, a few Explorer windows open, plus IE, and you suddenly have insufficient memory to do something fairly basic like scanning a document at good resolution. That would make no sense today with DDR2 memory selling for $10USD/GB.

As for the drive space, quite a few netbooks use solid state storage, and more definitely will in the future because it's becoming less expensive, uses less power, is more reliable, and allows for a significantly smaller form factor. The main limitation is then capacity, what sense is there in having an OS take up more space than would be necessary to support the features the user needs? Remember, the OS is a means towards the end, not the goal in itself.