CharlotteTheHarlot
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Windows XP FUD Apocalypse ...
Windows XP use keeps going up, Windows 8.1 stalls in February's OS data ( NeoWin 2014-03-01 )
Windows XP market share GROWS AGAIN, outstrips Win 8.1 surge. Death wow OS reclaims title as Redmond's fastest-growing ( UK Register 2014-03-05 )
It's becoming clear that Microsoft's attempts and pleas to get people and businesses to stop using XP won't be enough to reduce its worldwide percentage substantially by the support deadline of April 8th.
At the same time, Net Application's data shows yet another OS problem for Microsoft; lots of folks are simply not updating their Windows 8 PCs to the new, and free, Windows 8.1, despite its improvements and new features. The firm's February data shows that Windows 8.1 now has just 4.30 percent of the OS market share, compared to 3.92 percent in January. That's a very tiny rise for a update that is completely free for Windows 8 users.
Yeah but that's not all "that's becoming clear". It has now been 17 months since general release of Microsoft Tiles, and 19 months since RTM and early availability. Two entire waves of new hardware have come and gone, and the excuses still remain blaming the OEMs for not somehow putting enough lipstick on this pig to sell it. Microsoft has systematically removed all the competition for this dog, including competition from its very own Windows 7 and all other options. The sales channels are flooded with crap machines running Windows 8, which explains all those licenses they brag about, yet no-one really wants them. The Playskool operating system is hovering at just above 10% if the numbers are to be believed. That is truly pathetic for a monopolized operating system that has been forcefully pushed into the OEM channels. Meanwhile, the real constant is that Windows 7 is sticking around at just below 50% of total usage, and all classic Windows versions still holding 80+ %.
That little bugaboo in their methodology is again showing itself. Recall that they made a suspicious adjustment ( at the red line in the above image ) to shave almost 4% from Windows XP. At the same time it also affected "Windows NT" which if you follow along its marketshare data it is bouncing up and down. This month they have it gaining .11 % which makes no sense that I can understand, and added another .30 % to Windows XP which probably can be explained by people firing up their computers to grab the last round of official Windows Updates.
Naturally this data angers the fanboys, with one even offering the opinion: "... but what makes me angry is that their PCs will be used to attack ours. Morons." Talk about morons? If you believe that you must also believe your more secure Playskool operating system ain't all that secure after all, right? But the real truth is that when their Microsoft Tiles toy OS gets attacked, it will be primarily by Windows 7 computers, and eventually Windows 8 if it ever achieves any marketshare. That's the truth. The bad guys will be using ... wait for it ... whatever is used by the majority at the time. Currently that is Windows 7 as the endless parade of infected computers I see verifies. It's simple really, as more computers wind up in the hands of sheeple ( like these NeoKids ) who think they are safe as long as they use MSIE for all browsing, stay connected to Windows Update, and swallow all that propaganda and FUD, then there will always be lots of computers available to host zombie botnet code and carry out those evil deeds. The kids continue plugging along with MSIE and secured modern Windows yet still point their crooked little fingers at us veterans and experts who are the ones actually cleaning up the kids' messes. With all the sh!t flying around it's like changing diapers again.
Another obnoxious little bedwetter says: Maybe they can hire people to physically push the install DVD down Windows XP users' throat.. That's funny, I was just fantasizing how awesome it would be to visit a NeoWin picnic ( probably at the lunchroom at the nearest K-6 elemtary school ) and physically insert my foot up their assets.
Expect quite a few more of these Mensa level discussions at NeoWin. They are capitalizing on the love for classic Windows and hatred of Microsoft Tiles by running FUD article after FUD article. Here's more ...
Microsoft to start nagging Windows XP users about upgrading on March 8th ( NeoWin 2014-03-03 )
Microsoft Sending Pop-Up Notifications to Windows XP Users ( Tom's Hardware 2014-03-04 )
The notification is a direct push to those consumers who are still using the platform stating that it is time to abandon the decade old operating system. By utilizing Windows Update, any users who have this feature turned on will receive a desktop notification that the platform is about to become woefully unsecure (our words, not Microsofts).
By making the notification appear directly on the desktop, it will be quite hard for the consumer to plead ignorance that they were not aware that Windows XP would no longer be supported after April 8th. This direct push by Microsoft is a warning shot across the desktop for any user who is still relaying on an operating system that was designed for the technology of more than a decade ago.
Hard to tell what is crazier, that the MetroTards believe all the garbage they are spewing or that Microsoft actually believes Windows XP users are uninformed and require prompting.
Anyway, that message box would be much more truthful if it looked like this ...
Microsoft's free Windows XP transfer tool leaves you no excuses for not upgrading ( NeoWin 2014-03-03 )
Microsoft to remind Windows XP users of pending end-of-support date, offers free data migration tool ( TechSpot 2014-03-03 )
Microsoft Offers Windows XP Users Free Access to Data Migration Tool ( Maximum PC 2014-03-03 )
Microsoft's AmIRunningXP.com states the obvious, educates the consumer ( NeoWin 2014-03-03 )
Microsoft has partnered with Laplink to offer Windows XP users free access to the latter's PCmover Express, a data migration tool.
PCmover Express for Windows XP copies files, music, videos, email, and user profiles and settings from old PCs to a new one running Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. It's not an all-or-nothing affair, as users can customize exactly what they want to bring over to their new device, Microsoft says.
According to LeBlanc, the company has partnered with Laplink to create PCmover Express for Windows XP, a free data migration tool. This software will copy files and settings from a Windows XP PC to a new device running Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.
"This tool will copy your files, music, videos, email and user profiles and settings from your old PC to your new device, transferring across your home or work network, and even enables Windows XP users to customize exactly what they want to bring over to their new device," LeBlanc writes.
Boy have I got a bridge for sale. A user-settings migration tool that Microsoft has NEVER been able to get right, now co-developed by the company that made overpriced transfer software only slightly more useful than DOS Interlnk. Yeah, that's not gonna work. Anyone can transfer files and no doubt this thing will just find the easy stuff on the current desktop in Documents and Settings ( hope there ain't more accounts ). But user settings? That's code for just grabbing obvious HKCU entries in NTUSER, anyone can do that too. And installed programs? Fuget about it. The meat and potatoes is littered all throughout HKLM especially their secret keys and values. And this is the main reason Microsoft could never get this right, and probably the reason they are using Laplink so they have someone else to blame ( actually Microsoft's interest always ends as soon as you plunk down the cash for the next OS, if you lose programs and stuff why on Earth would they ever care? ).
With this tool being released later this week, and for free no less, there are no excuses left to still be running Windows XP after April 8th. When the tool is released, you'll be able to find it at at Windowsxp.com
Besides all the obvious benefits of upgrading to Windows 7 or 8 like IE11, modern file structures and performance enhancements, the biggest is the improvements to security.
That's Brad Sams naturally, making sh!t up as he goes along and serving Microsoft paid or unpaid at the same time. So what, pray tell, is modern file structures? And please, MSIE! How does anyone say that being able to use newer Internet Explorer versions is a reason to give Microsoft more money? What is that, pay for torture, like a dominatrix or something? It's funny because that "reason" to upgrade literally is based upon the premise of spending cash to use a newer MSIE, not to mention losing many other things in the process. And what about "improvements to security". Name one. Completely removeable MSIE? Nope. More manageable ACL's? Nope. OCX still in use? Yup. In fact, far more components are now phoning home than ever before. There is less resemblance now to a workstation than to a network client. The bright line between online and offline has been erased by design, and that magnifies the exposure to problems, i.e., less secure. There are innumerable points of entry now, I defy anyone to really count up all the autoruns, tasks and services. This "better security" is an indefensible position to support and those that parrot it are pure propagandists or ignorant fools. The only so-called security improvements come in the form of patches of theoretical exploits, buffer overflows, and the like. Is that worth paying Microsoft for? Nope. So Try again Brad, no-one with any intelligence is buying it, just your stable of NeoKids.
Xpocalypse Not: China May Get Windows XP Support Indefinitely ( Tom's Hardware 2014-03-03 )
UPDATE: In a statement to Computerworld, a Microsoft spokesperson clarified that while Microsoft would be working with Chinese anti-virus software makers to provide continued support to users of Windows XP, it would not be issuing security patches for Windows XP after April 8.
Another Microsoft 11th hour scramble, just like with the Laplink story. Something really lit a fire under their butts. I'm starting to think that they are worried about the older EULA's in effect for Win2k and WinXP that do not prohibit class action lawsuits. That may be the real motivation to getting everyone on "modern" operating systems. The corrupt new EULAs protects them, not the customer like they try to say. This makes it yet another self-serving charade, and a real nasty one at that. Lying to everybody to generate fear about computer security just to get you to agree to a new improved EULA. Only sheeple could fall for this trap.
This really is some kinda FUD parade going on here in all the Windows XP articles. It makes the media coverage of Y2K look tame by comparison. The question is, will they again turn on a dime later and say: "oops sorry, we overplayed this thing didn't we?"
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Foxconn is working with Google to replace workforce with robots ( TechSpot 2014-02-11 )
Adding robots into the equation would no doubt speed along the process and help save a lot of money on the employee front.
True enough, Foxconn currently has over a million workers and they have been under pressure lately over rising labor costs and workplace disputes. For these reasons, the company could serve as the perfect testing ground for Googles new robotics technology.
( Image: TechSpot )
So, first the companies in 'rich' places outsource jobs to 'poor' places since it was much cheaper to build things there. Then when those places become 'rich' and they run out of 'poor' places to exploit they outsource the jobs to robots. And very soon products will be produced and sold for great profit, however no people anywhere will be working so they won't be able to afford them. Sounds like a great plan.
Food for thought:
The "future" is that most work is being done automatically through robots and computers, humans get pocket money from the governments to spend on toys manufactured by bots.
I remember in the late 1950's and all through the 1960's ( and there are similar examples from the 1920's on ) how we became enamored of automation, waiting impatiently for some future time when we all had automated homes and robot slaves. This arrived with the World's Fair and the first wave of Science Fiction movies before the depression era tamped down expectations, and then revived as the people became prosperous again post-WWII. What I can't remember though is any talk or consideration of what we people would do in this utopia with all our free time besides sitting on the beach or having cocktail parties. Either people have got to work in some manner in order to finance all the steps of this journey and build the automation and the robots ( who eventually can build themselves? ), or else they must have envisioned a magic future where some crazy form of Communism sucks everyone down to a leveled common denominator. I think the same thought process is at work here again today, because they are going to run out of slaves at some point. China and India will have serious problems when their population is pulled up to and equals Western standards ( they will have our same problems ), but that problem really is this ... all that will be left relatively untouched and ripe for exploitation ( again ) is Africa! We can easily predict a time very soon where the Americas, Europe and Asia descend upon the continent and make slaves of them again to build our phones and tablets. For a real mind-bender, try to imagine what happens when they are all rich enough to afford the phones they are making. Who will be next in line to build our toys after that? There were some people warning of these things back when NAFTA and global free trade were all the rage and rushed through various governments. I guess it's safe to say that no-one has thought beyond their own little wants and needs.
Related Stories...
IBM says goodbye to x86 forever, sells server lines to Lenovo ( Ars Technica 2014-01-23 )
IBM's layoffs may include up to 25 percent of its hardware group ( Engadget 2014-03-01 )
RadioShack is Closing Down 1,100 "Underperforming" Retail Locations in the U.S. ( Maximum PC 2014-03-04 )
Staples Plans to Close 225 U.S. Stores by 2015 ( Maximum PC 2014-03-11 )
No surprise that Wall Street cheers and the news is greeted by lots of sheeple saying "great idea" for IBM and "good riddance" to Radio Shack, less so for Staples, and that is just fine as a personal opinion and all, but it leaves something unsaid. When the exodus to the third world and beyond is complete, and the step after that to robots is likewise, who will have any jobs to buy all this sh!t. We are truly seeing the birth of a Brave New World in our lifetimes, and it only is possible with a healthy dose of "Gimme Now" tunnel vision. And it was already predicted right down to the letter back in the 1990's free trade arguments.
Lenovo Comments on Strike at IBM Server Factory in China ( Maximum PC 2014-03-11 )
As far as Lenovo is concerned, it's up to IBM to deal with the matter.
"This acquisition still requires the approval of relevant government and regulatory authorities. Lenovo and IBM are two independent companies. Any integration between Lenovo and IBMs x86 server department will not be conducted until the deal is closed. The strike at the IBM server factory in Shenzhen is an internal matter for IBM," Lenovo said in a statement on its website.
At the same time, Lenovo is putting pressure on IBM to resolve the manner due to the fact that it views those workers as a "great asset and key" to the company's long term success. To help ease concerns on the part of striking workers, Lenovo vowed not to reduce their wages or benefits.
That last one there is getting into ironic territory now. IBM has been playing games here in the USA for many years. They have continually hired overseas and fired in America all the while denying outsourcing ( and there are people that buy it ). They also operate under sweetheart tax abatement deals they negotiated. Thank Wall Street for this since all they care about is revenue, growth and dividends ( and they apply this suicidal formula to all listed companies ). So now IBM has to face the 3rd world employees who want to be paid like those in the west ( well, the ones that are still being paid ). Well there's always Africa. Full circle.
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On other news, The Guardian just jumped over the fence.
I had some doubts that they were completely nuts after the physical grinding down of laptop chips, but they just published a story which besides being very tall, makes them undoubtedly conspiracy theory members, if you are missing some FUD, here it is:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/20/edward-snowden-files-nsa-gchq-luke-harding
Interesting article. Much of it actually is very believeable, especially the part where the 'clumsy' American spook is checking him out. The question really is whether or not the author ever figured out that the clumsy spook was keeping him occupied while others did black bag jobs on him. Probably not, judging by his own demeanor which I would describe as rank amateur. The part about the computer leaves out several details like what operating system he is using, though he mentions Open Office. Had he said Windows, particulalry something recent, I would tend to believe the part about deleting the text because it likely had remote assistance enabled, or some spook designed variation planted on there because that sounds exactly like someone 'assisting' him.
Here's what immediately jumped out to me in that article ...
Our conversation took place not in Alan's office but in an anonymous sideroom at the Guardian's King's Cross HQ. Was Rusbridger's office bugged? Nobody knew.
[...]
I was part of a small team that examined Snowden's documents in a secure fourth-floor room overlooking Regent's Canal. Security was tight.
[...]
In July I flew to Rio de Janeiro to interview Glenn Greenwald, the then Guardian columnist to whom Snowden entrusted his files. The trip was pleasant. My hotel overlooked Copacabana beach; from the rooftop I could watch the surf and Rio's rich walking their dogs. Greenwald suggested we meet along the coast in the Royal Tulip hotel. We sat in the lobby. To our left a man with his back to us played with his iPhone; another individual lurked nearby. We shifted locations, twice. Eventually we hid in the business centre.
Jeez. I love how he almost pinpoints the room inside the four walls of the building ( I doubt he is smart enough to be offering disinformation there ). Whatever the spooks didn't know before is now known to them. Locating the blueprints is a simple matter and even moreso than our own spooks, their British pets will have no problem and no icky Constitutional roadblocks stopping them from doing whatever they want in there. Maybe they should check out Patriot Games for a glimpse of how easy it is to bug a room, and then perhaps realize the massive improvements expected in the 20+ years since.
Then he describes un-necessarily the South American base of Greenwald ( again, this author does not sound like he is intentionally trying to throw them off ). Far too many details. Hasn't he seen those World War II posters about 'Loose Lips, Sink Ships' and similar?
Unless he is being extremely clever in his article, Greenwald would do well to tighten his operation drastically and stay away from authors like this one. He should not be dealing with amateurs treating such a trip to Rio so cavalierly, almost like a vacation. They should know now better than anyone on Earth that these people mean business. It sure does not sound like the author yet understands that IMHO.
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Once again, apologies in advance to anyone who already posted any of these, and for yet another massive comment dump. Almost two straight weeks of work and other committments. Scanning through the thread I see several of these have already been hit by Jorge, TELVM, bpalone, Agorima, LostInSpace2012 Good work guys.
: I don't have time to add credit inline so I thought I'd mention it here. This should be a record for me with at least 20 posts in a row saved from just a little over two weeks. I blame Microsoft ;-)Welcome back, Charlotte.
I was getting worried that something untoward might have happened during one of those endless snow shoveling sessions. (From sometimes scary experience, I know that it's very heavy work.)Sounds like you really got hammered. We got about 6 inches on top of everything that was already on the ground, but that's like nothing compared to what fell on you.
No problem here with inflicting the masssive data dump on us, it'll keep us busy for a while.
--JorgeA
As JorgeA mentioned earlier ... Welcome back! ... never realize how much you miss posts from various members until it actually happens. I figured it has to be the weather as you said as much earlier but the thought did cross my mind that maybe the "spooks" were nearby surrounding the property and all communication was cut off.
I guess when most of us think of spooks we picture them dressed in black, or at least I do ... easily seen in the snow but maybe they also dress in white every so often to blend in with the snow pack !
...
Thanks guys! Sure has been one helluva winter. After those four days where it went above freezing it went right back to zero F every night. It's friggin cold and the almost two feet of snow still on the ground is so frozen it will probably make it right through April. It's like white granite. And that's just the snow that fell, not the piles which are substantial and going nowhere fast. Just on the normal suburb streets are 6, 8, 10 foot snowbanks. Around the malls and stores are even more epic sized mountains. For the past bunch of years it has normally been the first few days of April when we break out the lawnmowers to pick up all the brush and leaves, cut and bag them for the first bi-monthly dropoff around April 15. Unless something changes radically by then ( and the long term forecast shows no such thing ), I expect the snow to be around until maybe May. At least this latest storm seems to be staying South of us, not even a flake thus far. Awesome
:I understand we have over 60 inches this season, an alleged record though I seriously doubt that since I can remember many other worse years. But it is hard to quantify this since they are being so secretive with the data sources. Doing some research tells me that they seem to be referring to records starting only 20 to 30 years ago. WTF! They have managed to hide or destroy over a hundred years of records in an effort to promote their climate agenda which begins after the cold and snowey 1960's and 1970's ended.
@anyone ... if you know any tricks or magic to grab the historical records for specific locations ( CSV format usually ) out of the bureaucratic scoundrels at NWS ( National Weather Service, which is part of NOAA ) then PLEASE LET ME KNOW. We own this d@mn data, we taxpayers paid for it. Yet all the stupid google hits wind up at some 3rd party site charging money.
UPDATE: most of my reply above was written almost two weeks ago, end of February. It is now March 14. We have had several days of melting finally, maybe 3 or 4, but there is still almost a foot of snow on the ground and the big piles have barely been dented. Last night another inch of snow and ice but at least we didn't get the expected four inches they predicted. It's cold again though, real cold. Ah winter.
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Big Data and Big Telecomm ...
Comcast agrees to buy Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion ( TechSpot 2014-02-13 )
Comcast to Obtain Time Warner Cable for $45.2 Billion ( Maximum PC 2014-02-13 )
Comcast Says Time Warner Merger Will Mean Faster Internet ( Tom's Hardware 2014-02-13 )
The top two U.S. cable service providers, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, announced on Thursday a merger (or friendly takeover) worth $45.2 billion.
[...]
Reuters reports that the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal may face "close scrutiny" from U.S. antitrust regulators because of the deal's potential to reshape the country's broadband and pay TV markets. The resulting company stemming from this deal would have a footprint stretching from New York City to Los Angeles. The company would also be in 19 of the 20 largest U.S. TV markets.
[...]
What does this deal mean for subscribers? Comcast argues that customers will benefit from "technological innovations, including a superior video experience, higher broadband speeds, and the fastest in-home Wi-Fi." For businesses, the new company will be able to offer advanced services like "high-performance point-to-point and multi-point Ethernet services and cloud-based managed services to enterprises."
More innovation? What an incredible load of crap. And "close scrutiny"? Even more crap. Some commenters actually disagree, here's an enabler ...
This is not a "monopoly" in the regulatory sense. They do not currently overlap in their service areas so there is no effective decrease in competition
There is certainly a sucker born every minute. And this sucker should just ask himself why "they do not currently overlap" and engage in competition? It's enabler thinking like this that guarantees there can never even be any competition because after all these mergers there will never be enough individual companies left to overlap one another in the first place.
This will be approved as part of a back-end deal with the government to allow more invasive spying. Systems will be in place under the guise of "insuring internet fairness" because this will be the warranted and logical cry from the public. While those systems will certainly be able to measure bitrate, throttling and the like, they will primarily be used for tracking.
Yep, there's that too. Who can possibly doubt this theory now after all the Snowden leaks. See the whole comment thread at Maximum PC for a back and forth between mindless enablers and more sensible commenters.Not surprisingly there is a similar situation happening in the mobile market. First some older news that sets up the context, that being what a little competition can accomplish ...
AT&T's new Sponsored Data could be a huge win or huge catastrophe ( NeoWin 2014-01-07 )
Sprint's new 'Framily Plan' offers deep discounts for you and your friends ( TechSpot 2014-01-08 )
Sprint retires 'One Up' early upgrade plan, pitches 'Framily Plan' as alternative ( NeoWin 2014-01-13 )
Uncarrier 4.0: T-Mobile will pay you up to $650 per line to switch from competitor ( NeoWin 2014-01-08 )
T-Mobile will pay up to $650 per line for you to switch to their network ( TechSpot 2014-01-09 )
AT&T's new Mobile Share Value plans could save you a lot of money ( TechSpot 2014-02-03 )
AT&T subsidiary Aio Wireless revamps no-contract rate plans ( TechSpot 2014-02-04 )
T-Mobile expands International Talk & Text plan to include mobile numbers ( TechSpot 2014-02-20 )
Followed by similarly hopeful mumblings from regulators ...
Sprint may reconsider T-Mobile merger following strong opposition from regulators ( TechSpot 2014-02-11 )
Sprint's potential merger with smaller rival T-Mobile has hit a major roadblock after strong opposition from antitrust regulators. According to The Wall Street Journal, Sprint entourage, which included CEO Dan Hesse and Softbank Chairman Masayoshi Son, met with the FCC and the Department Of Justice last week, but was surprised by the level of opposition the deal is expected to face.
[...]
The Department of Justice already warned Sprint that the deal would face "intense scrutiny" and numerous regulatory difficulties. But if Sprint and T-Mobile still decide to move ahead with the deal, it could result in a repeat of the actions taken in 2011, when T-Mobile's merger with AT&T was blocked.
But we've heard this many times before. A whole lot of discussion and then magically the roadblocks get lifted, mergers proceed and the competition evaporates. I don't believe for a hot minute that the government cares about competition ( these companies lobby them for favored positions WITHOUT threat of competition ) nor do they even want lots of ISP's or carriers because that just means more work for the spooks in their quest to access every single byte of data traveling between
citizensterrorists.AT&T and IBM partner to launch smart city sensors throughout the US in 2014 ( TechSpot 2014-02-19 )
There has been talk in the past regarding smart cities and ubiquitous sensors, and now IBM and AT&T are joining forces with plans to create a massive city system linking cameras, traffic technology, and other forms of realtime city data that will feed information to cars and citizens, among other things.
Both companies will analyze Big data and realtime utility stats from cities while integrating local social media and traffic reports as well other real-time city information in order to offer better data to citizens and city planners.
Oh nothing to possibly worry about here.
AT&T was probably the first thoroughly compromised private company in the century old government vs citizen wars, providing at the very least metadata for every phone call ever made, and lots of whispers that it was much more than that. Big Blue has been whispered to be the storage provider for them as well as most of Big Government since the 1950's. When IBM was nearly broken up itself more rumors flew about what they had to agree to in order to remain in one piece. Frankly any mention of the two in the same sentence has always been worrisome for the private citizen. And now we get it right out in the open, both of them doing for the government what was long suspected. Orwell be d@mned.0 -
Even More Security ...
Sophisticated malware dubbed 'The Mask' went undetected for the past seven years ( TechSpot 2014-02-11 )
( Image: TechSpot - they have the best pictures! )
Security researchers recently unearthed a spying tool that managed to go undetected for the past seven years. Dubbed The Mask by those at Kaspersky Lab, the malware zeroed in on a wide range of high-profile targets for the better part of a decade using techniques and code more sophisticated than anything previously found in the wild.
Experts at Kaspersky say the malware specifically went after government agencies, diplomatic offices and embassies, research organizations and activists as well as those in the gas, oil and energy markets. It employed a combination of malware, rootkit methods and even a bootkit to remain undetected over the years.
Oh there's no mystery where this one came from, broadly speaking, is there?
Well I have no doubt. Stuxnet, Flame, and several others, and it shows that in our government protectors we have unleashed a monster who is willing to cross any bridge at anytime. I'm certainly not against them crippling Iranian centrifuges ( such actions were already covered by Constitutional national defense authority and required no crazy post-9/11 legislation ), but exactly what are the chances that they will stop there? Here's a very interesting fact, one definition of "Mask" at Wikipedia is: MI5 operation (19341937) that decrypted Comintern radio communications. Linksys Routers Targeted by Mysterious New Worm ( Tom's Hardware 2014-02-14 )
Linksys Routers Getting Infected by "TheMoon" Worm ( Tom's Hardware 2014-02-14 )
"TheMoon" Worm Infecting Linksys Routers ( Maximum PC 2014-02-16 )
Kickstarter hacked, user info stolen ( NeoWin 2014-02-16 )
So far, only Linksys' "E" product line, which includes the E900, E2000, E3200 and E4200 models, has been shown to be affected. Devices that have upgraded to the latest firmware, 2.0.06, should be safe, but some earlier models whose support has expired, such as the E1000, can't get that upgrade.
The worm works by remotely calling a router's Home Network Administration Protocol, or HNAP. It then uses a known vulnerability in the router's Common Gateway Interface (CGI) script to gain administrative control.
[...]
Update: Linksys has issued a statement about the breach: "The exploit to bypass the admin authentication used by the worm only works when the Remote Management Access feature is enabled. Linksys ships these products with the Remote Management Access feature turned off by default." The company also promises a firmware update to prevent the worm gaining access to its routers even when the feature is enabled, and says they'll post the update to their website in the next few weeks.
And yet another example of how remote management features, especially when left in the hands of sheeple will bite you in the butt. What happened? Someone published a theoretical exploit to HNAP and someone else implemented it. Done. Wise people leave these things OFF ( normally the default in the router firmware anyway ) and it cannot occur. Remote Administration and universal Plug and Play should be off until you actually really need it. And it needs to be turned off again when done. This goes both for Windows, and any other device connected to it.
I've been starting to notice something though. On lots of routers lately the trend is to use an application for the install, rather than manually adjusting the firmware through the web interface. This is killing the entire purpose! It makes them run an application, usually on a CD, naturally it leaves traces such as an automatic update checker. It enables uPnP. It creates weak passphrases and does not lock down the network. The stupidication of sheeple devices has reached all points of the computerverse now - including the very hardware that you purchase to protect you. Humanity is doomed. And the sheeple are destined to be the first to go.
Asus routers exploited, connected drives easily accessed ( TechSpot 2014-02-17 )
Asus Finally Rolls Out a Firmware Fix for Major Router Vulnerability. It took Asus eight months ... ( Maximum PC 2014-02-18 )
Hackers have exploited an eight-month-old flaw in Asus routers, giving anyone access to data stored on drives connected directly through the USB port on the back. Some affected users have found text files on their connected drives informing them they've been hacked, with instructions on how to protect themselves.
"This is an automated message being sent out to everyone effected [sic]. Your Asus router (and your documents) can be accessed by anyone in the world with an Internet connection," the message reads. Finding this message on their connected drive has alarmed some users, who believed that the drive was only accessible through their local network.
[...]
The hacker group in question posted nearly 13,000 IP addresses of people with vulnerable Asus routers two weeks ago, along with a torrent containing 10,000 complete or partial file lists detailing data on connected drives.
Affected Asus router models include the RT-AC66R, RT-AC66U, RT-N66R, RT-N66U, RT-AC56U, RT-N56R, RT-N56U, RT-N14U, RT-N16, and RT-N16R. Luckily, firmware updates for the routers that patch the exploit have been available since last week, however many potentially vulnerable users are yet to install the patch.
In July of last year, Lovett posted additional details about the security flaw.
"The vulnerability is that on many, if not on almost all N66U units that have enabled https Web service access via the AiCloud feature, [they] are vulnerable to un-authenticated directory traversal and full sensitive file disclosure," Lovett explained. "Any of the AiCloud options 'Cloud Disk,' 'Smart Access,' and 'Smart Sync' (need another verification on this one) appear to enable this vulnerability."
Oh lookee here, remote administration again. That's just swell. Thank you for turning security devices into children's toys.
I have a question for the ages ... Who do we blame more, developers of devices designed for retards or the retarded retards that demand them?
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Security and Big Government ...
Snowden reveals how GCHQ used "dirty tricks" on their targets ( NeoWin 2014-02-08 )
Eric King, a professor of IT Law at the London School Of Economics claimed it was "remarkable" that the cyber protection unit in Britain had such a right to invade targets in an aggressive manner. He went on to say how "Hacking is one of the most invasive methods of surveillance" hinting even GCHQ didn't have the right.
Intelligence officials stood up for the actions that caused such controversy, and stated that the actions were an appropriate response to the illegal acts. One official furthered his point by claiming that British spies were "slightly ahead" of U.S spies when using aggression against targets. The PowerPoint documents also reveal viruses that GCHQ used on suspects, deleting all their emails, encrypting files and making the screen shake as well as preventing the user from logging on.
A bit dated this article, but enlightening to those still too stubborn to grasp the scale of the spook saga. How about that bold part, a hilarious euphemism for saying the UK spooks are even more criminal than our own.
Bitcoin regulation to "come this year" says New York financial services superintendent ( NeoWin 2014-02-12 )
The financial services superintendent for New York, Benjamin Lawsky, has detailed plans to regulate the use of the digital crypto-currency Bitcoin by the end of this year. Speaking at a currency conference in Washington D.C. yesterday, he said
"Our objective is to provide appropriate guardrails to protect consumers and root out money laundering - without stifling beneficial innovation."
Oh yeah sure. As the government is busy making its move to capture every communication, tame the Internet and thwart any possibility of privacy for the sole purpose of protecting itself from its angry and motivated serfs, of course Bitcoin and all other non-governmental currencies will need to be crushed. As we saw recently, Apple has already cleaned Bitcoin wallets out of its store. Interesting thought from a NeoKid ...
Great, now the FED will get involved and just start creating bitcoins out of thin air like it does with dollars.....
Followed up by the usual inside-the-box sheeple thinking ...
that's actually one thing nobody can do, and probably what scares them. You cannot create any amount of a certain cryptocurrency out of thin air as you have to abide by the block creation rules, and the very same network supporting the transactions is creating blocks at the same time you are and validating/invalidating any transaction or block you create.
Really? What if the they decided to turn all their supercomputers to mining coins? They could easily flood the market and even max out the limit very quickly. Ironically at the moment they seem to be making them more valuable by taking many of them out of play with all the recent confiscations. It's starting to like like the only sensible future will be one that has a new Internet WITHOUT government presence, and new currencies WITHOUT any government involvement. This will require more free citizens and less sheeple though.
That brings up another point, do we even know how many Bitcoins are already in their control? For example ...
Hackers steal more than 4,000 Bitcoins from Silk Road 2.0 ( TechSpot 2014-02-14 )
Why would anyone automatically assume that these are independent hackers? Why not government employed hackers?
EU calls for less US controlled internet with web globalization proposal ( TechSpot 2014-02-12 )
Following news of NSA surveillance operations along with years worth of concern regarding US control over the internet, the EU has set forth new proposals calling for globalization of the net.
[...]
"The next two years will be critical in redrawing the global map of Internet governance," European Commission VP Neelie Kroes said. "Europe must contribute to a credible way forward for global internet governance. Europe must play a strong role in defining what the net of the future looks like."
Classic carrot and stick. Less USA control but with 'global internet governance'. Government bureaucrats will never pass on an opportunity to sink their greedy hooks into something, they never let a crisis go to waste. While we are rightly criticizing the infiltration of spooks into every facet of technology and turning these items against the free citizens, along come self-serving bureaucrats circling like sharks in bloddy waters. People must be on high alert and keep their guard up. Governments are fully capable of conspiring together ( e.g., USA and UK using each other to dodge each respective laws ) and manipulating the people with scare tactics to gain support for their own laws.
Dutch telco KPN strikes deal with Silent Circle to offer encrypted communications ( TechSpot 2014-02-20 )
Dutch telecommunications giant KPN has struck a deal with encryption firm Silent Circle to offer a peer-to-peer platform for secure communications. The move will let KPN's customers make secure voice and video calls as well as encrypted text messaging and file transfers.
[...]
Silent Circle's services don't store metadata, and the encryption keys are managed on the user's device, outside of KPN or Silent Circle's infrastructure. Also, keys are automatically destroyed after a communication session, making it impossible to decrypt the data. This means that users don't need to fear phone taps by telcos. Of course, the service only works when both parties have the encryption application installed.
Well at least it's not all bad news out there. Recall that both Silent Circle and Lavabit shut themselves down rather than pander to government pressure and have since then developed The Dark Mail Alliance ( from an earlier post: "Silent Circle was founded by encryption pioneer Phil Zimmermann and former Navy SEAL Mike Janke, who had approached Zimmermann about forming a company that could provide secure communications that could not be monitored by any government. Zimmermann himself was at the center of the mid-1990s "crypto wars," when the U.S. government regarded secure encryption as a threat to national security." ) This announcement is dated February 20. So it appears the good guys are still on the job.
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Security continued, Microsoft Edition ...
Operation SnowMan: DeputyDog Actor Compromises US Veterans of Foreign Wars Website ( FireEye 2014-02-13 )
New IE10 zero-day exploit found; could be targeting U.S. military ( NeoWin 2014-02-14 )
Microsoft may have released new Internet Explorer security patches earlier this week, but now the company has confirmed that a new zero-day exploit in IE10 has been found and is apparently being used by an unknown group to target members of the U.S. military.
[...]
Visitors to the site with IE10 loaded another page created by the group in the background, which runs a Flash-based object that completes the rest of the attack. This issue is just with IE10; users who upgrade to the current IE11 browser are not affected by this exploit.
Yep, use MSIE at your own risk. It should be noted that the active-duty military users are visiting a non-government site ( VFW ). The code that was inserted at the website exploits Windows API calls on the presumably "protected" military computers. This is from the FireEye site ...
After compromising the VFW website, the attackers added an iframe into the beginning of the websites HTML code that loads the attackers page in the background. The attackers HTML/JavaScript page runs a Flash object, which orchestrates the remainder of the exploit. The exploit includes calling back to the IE 10 vulnerability trigger, which is embedded in the JavaScript. Specifically, visitors to the VFW website were silently redirected through an iframe to the exploit at www.[REDACTED].com/Data/img/img.html.
[...]
The exploit targets IE 10 with Adobe Flash. It aborts exploitation if the user is browsing with a different version of IE or has installed Microsofts Experience Mitigation Toolkit (EMET). So installing EMET or updating to IE 11 prevents this exploit from functioning.
[...]
The attacker uses the Microsoft.XMLDOM ActiveX control to load a one-line XML string containing a file path to the EMET DLL. Then the exploit code parses the error resulting from the XML load order to determine whether the load failed because the EMET DLL is not present. The exploit proceeds only if this check determines that the EMET DLL is not present.
So a great question is how these nitwit sysadmins are dumb enough to allow use of MSIE in the first place, and be doing it without an administrated firewall? Oh wait, I know this ( holds up hands ). Microsoft has sold Windows and MSIE to the military bean counters portraying it as secured! And what allegedly secure operating system are they using? NeoWin does not say. The security site does not say. Well I can tell you it was most likely Windows 8 as the military were early adopters. Their budget knows no limits so at the very least they are on very up-to-date hardware that shipped with at least Windows 7, this is guaranteed. MSIE version 10 at present is used mostly on Windows 8 ( its one year old and needed to be updated to on Windows 7 ) so this is almost a certainty in my opinion. So much for all that Windows XP FUD.
Note that not a single NeoKid has figured this out yet, yet all the facts are right in front of them. Let's just cut to the chase here, they use FUD to get you to buy another version of Windows and/or a new computer, that's it. And the FUD includes a whole lotta lies. LIES. Their new placebo operating system is not safer, it is just more compromised by spooks. Their new MSIE is not safer, it still allows the biggest target imaginable, OCX. Fanboys, Softies, Astroturfers, MicroZealots and MetroTards that spout this crap are reprehensible and borderline criminal. And we taxpayers got to foot the bill for those new computers and placebo operating systems. If only we could tar and feather these crooks.
UPDATE: not one, but two fixes are now available ( until the next exploit ) for Flash and MSIE respectively ...
Adobe issues second emergency patch for Flash Player this month ( TechSpot 2014-02-20 )
Serious Flash vulnerability fixed by Adobe within hours ( NeoWin 2014-02-21 )
Adobe has released a critical security update for its Flash Player plug-in for Windows, Mac and Linux the second in less than three weeks. The update addresses a zero-day exploit first uncovered by security firm FireEye a week ago that targeted visitors of at least three nonprofit websites.
[...]
Adobe said Flash Player 12.0.0.44 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh, version 11.2.202.336 and earlier versions for Linux, AIR 4.0.0.1390 and earlier versions for Android, AIR 3.9.0.1390 SDK and earlier versions and AIR 3.9.0.1390 SDK & Compiler and earlier versions are all affected.
The new version of Flash Player for Windows and Mac is 12.0.0.70 while the newest for Linux is 11.2.202.341. Naturally, youll want to download and apply the patch ASAP.
Microsoft issues 'Fix it' patch for IE9 and IE10 zero-day exploit ( NeoWin 2014-02-19 )
Last week, Microsoft confirmed that a zero-day exploit had been discovered in Internet Explorer 10 that was being used in at least one cyber attack out in the wild. Today, the company issued a formal security warning about the exploit and confirmed that it also was found in IE9 as well.
[...]
The exploit was first discovered and published by the FireEye security firm, which added that it was used by the mystery hackers to compromise the website of the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars. Microsoft has now released a quick "Fix It" patch that will close the exploit in both IE9 and IE10. Older versions of the browser are not affected by this problem.
Read the bold part. So much for that "newer, more secure" mantra I guess.
Microsoft awards another $100,000 bounty for finding a Windows 8.1 exploit ( NeoWin 2014-02-16 )
Well since Microsoft so intertwined MSIE into Windows, and ActiveX is a building block of both, they should be going bankrupt paying out rewards for the endless exploits this strategy has created. The fact that you cannot remove MSIE ( unchecking it from Add/Remove only restores the RTM version ), the fact that it is the default OOTB, the fact that with the missing Start Button it becomes the thing n00bs click on, the fact that tons of software programs actually hardcode to Iexplore.exe for help and countless other stupid reasons to access the Internet, all in all the thing qualifies as the most dangerous virus ever written and it comes pre-installed in the operating system. If Microsoft had any sense the thing would be killed today and a secured basic HTTP application would be used for typing URL's in the search/run boxes and only to connect to a website to get an alternate browser. It's so bad now that it far dwarfs the original Netscape fiasco of including the browser anti-competitively ( a non-issue IMHO ). The real issue is that it is the virus pipeline, the malware facilitator baked-in to every operating system called Windows and presents the most incredibly large target for the bad guys. Talk about an 800 pound gorilla.
Microsoft asks people to "Do1Thing" for Safer Internet Day 2014 ( NeoWin 2014-02-11 )
In order to mark Safer Internet Day 2014, taking place today (11th February), Microsoft is urging everybody to "Do1Thing" to stay safer and protect themselves online. They would then like people to incorporate that thing into their daily digital lives to protect themselves against a specific digital threat for life.
Well if it was April 1st, I would re-write that paragraph to say: "Microsoft is urging everybody to "Do1Thing" to stay safer and protect themselves online by installing an alternative web browser and avoiding MSIE at all costs." The problem is, that would hardly be sarcasm now would it?
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Cloud and Security Stuff ...
Microsoft launches OneDrive, complete with new features ( TechSpot 2014-02-19 )
Another 3 GB of free storage is available for anyone who enables the automatic camera uploads feature of the OneDrive mobile app.
WTF?! That sure sounds awfully creepy.
Microsoft's survey reveals how you store your sensitive files, why you should go cloud ( NeoWin 2014-02-19 )
Logan told us that 69 percent of the people in the survey indicated they would rather lose the device than any of the photos and important files stored on that device. He says that shows the importance of cloud storage services like OneDrive and that they hope to make people more aware they can safely store copies of their important files on Microsoft's service.
Pretty content-less article overall, mostly about another Microsoft sponsored survey, which coincidentally favorable to their Big Data services. Interestingly, the reaction of the NeoKids is quite unusual with practically no fanboy support of Big MicroBrother, at least this time. They actually make some good points for once, questioning why anyone would trust them or anyone with important data.
CloudFlare Hit By A 400Gbps DDoS Attack ( Tom's Hardware 2014-02-14 )
CloudFlare, a US website protection provider, reported a massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack hitting their systems on Monday.
According to itnews, the attack is the largest DDoS attack recorded so far. Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of CloudFlare, said the attack flooded the company with over 400Gbps of traffic at one point; that's 100Gbps more than the largest recorded attack in March of 2013. It's unknown how many of CloudFlare's clients have been affected by the attack at this time.
The cloud is your friend.
Syrian Electronic Army hits Forbes site; claims to have taken user accounts ( NeoWin 2014-02-15 )
Forbes hacked by Syrian Electronic Army, one million user accounts compromised ( TechSpot 2014-02-17 )
Forbes Falls Prey to Hacker Attack, 1 Million Email Addresses Compromised ( Maximum PC 2014-02-17 )
The hacker group known as the Syrian Electronic Army, which has been targeting Microsoft for the past several weeks, has now turned its attention to other online outlets. Today, the SEA went after the Forbes website, but this time, instead of just defacing pages, it claims to have taken 1 million user names and passwords from the site.
The cloud is your friend.
Kickstarter hacked, customer information compromised ( TechSpot 2014-02-15 )
Kickstarter hacked, you should probably change your password ( PC Gamer 2014-02-16 )
Kickstarter Apologizes for Security Breach, Advises Changing Your Password ( Maximum PC 2014-02-17 )
Hackers did manage to gain access to usernames, e-mail addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers and encrypted passwords, however. Actual passwords were not revealed although it is possible for someone with enough computing power to use brute force to crack encrypted passwords, especially those that are weak or obvious.
The cloud is your friend.
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Miscellaneous ...
Bill Gates Talks Condoms, Computers, and Other Topics in Reddit AMA ( Maximum PC 2014-02-10 )
The Best of Bill Gates' Reddit AMA ( Tom's Hardware 2014-02-10 )
Hello Reddit Im Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Microsoft founder. Ask me anything. ( Reddit AMA 2014-02-10 )
Bill Gates reveals what he will be doing at Microsoft in his new role ( NeoWin 2014-02-10 )
Bill Gates combats some myths about himself in cute animated video clip ( NeoWin 2014-02-10 )
Bill Gates hits up Reddit to talk about Microsoft, Samuel L. Jackson and jumping chairs ( NeoWin 2014-02-11 )
And another Reddit thread, this time with billg himself. Unfortunately he says absolutely nothing of consequence really, proving that he really doesn't have any involvement or interest in the detailed nitty gritty of the products from the company he created. His involvement is most likely just for the sake of appearances for Wall Street. So very sad IMHO.
Jobs: We're looking for writers! ( NeoWin 2014-02-17 )
What are our expectations and/or requirements?
- Be active: To be a full time News Reporter at Neowin we require no less than four articles a week, but the more the better. We pay our writers per original article depending on the comments/hits. This won't replace your full time job, but is an easy way to earn extra cash for a new gadget.
- We expect all articles to be originally written, we have strict guidelines for approvals. You must be proficient in English and grammar. We understand no one is perfect, but we do have high standards in order for a post to be approved on the main page.
- You need to be able to bite your tongue when negative criticism occurs. It happens from time to time, but remember you represent Neowin on and off this site.
- Although not mandatory, living near a convention/tech hotspot would be a plus.
- The minimum age for applicants is now 18 years old. This requirement comes from our legal department (Neowin is a Limited Liability Company registered in the U.S.)
Well I would suggest Ed MicroBott. Don't bother calling Thurrott though seeing how he his pendulum is currently swinging in the direction of sanity, at least for the moment.
Foxconn is working with Google to replace workforce with robots ( TechSpot 2014-02-11 )
Adding robots into the equation would no doubt speed along the process and help save a lot of money on the employee front.
True enough, Foxconn currently has over a million workers and they have been under pressure lately over rising labor costs and workplace disputes. For these reasons, the company could serve as the perfect testing ground for Googles new robotics technology.
( Image: TechSpot )
So, first the companies in 'rich' places outsource jobs to 'poor' places since it was much cheaper to build things there. Then when those places become 'rich' and they run out of 'poor' places to exploit they outsource the jobs to robots. And very soon products will be produced and sold for great profit, however no people anywhere will be working so they won't be able to afford them. Sounds like a great plan.
Flappy Bird removed from Google Play Store, iOS App Store ( NeoWin 2014-02-09 )
So now it's gotten even more ridiculous. In his interview to Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/la...t-was-an-addictive-product/) Nguyen confirms he didn't remove the game due to legal threats from Nintendo, and the creator of 2011's Piou Piou (a game FB seems to be a clone of, besides of course many older games) also said he never threatened to sue.
No, his grandiose claim is that the real reason he removed the game is because people had become addicted to it, and apparently he now wants to "save" them and their sanity from his own game. Seriously, that has to be without doubt the biggest load of BS I've ever heard.
Final important bit for all those claiming he did this because his new-found fortune attracted criminals:
"But also, Nguyen isn't a martyr. He's not picking up his toys and going home, nor has he walked away from a fortune per se. Flappy Bird already netted him a hefty amount of cash to be sure, and already installed copies are likely still bringing in loads of revenue daily."
Can't wait until the truth comes out. Something is very odd here.
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Xbox still can't catch a break ...
PlayStation 4 outsold Xbox One by nearly double last month ( TechSpot 2014-02-14 )
PS4 Outsold the Xbox One by Almost Double Last Month ( Tom's Hardware 2014-02-14 )
Sony exceeds forecasts selling 5.3M Playstation 4 consoles ( TechSpot 2014-02-18 )
Sony is off to a solid start in 2014 as January sales of the PlayStation 4 were nearly double those of Microsofts next generation Xbox One according to the latest report from research firm NPD Group. Its unclear exactly how many consoles were sold during the month, however.
Conversely, Microsoft took the top spot in terms of overall game sales but its worth pointing out that this includes Xbox One and Xbox 360 sales. Narrowed down to include Xbox One games only, Sony topped Microsoft in all of the bestselling games except for Call of Duty: Ghosts and Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
What obviously happened is that both companies flooded their sales channels as would be expected, resulting in large but close numbers in the holiday period, but now the replenishment phase begins. Sony recently said they are sold out everywhere all over the world and are shipping more to meet demand. One can safely guess that the story is different for Xbone. How will NeoWin spin this one I wonder? Oh wait, here it is (was) ...
Microsoft touts January Gaming Sales, doesnt quantify Xbox One figures ( NeoWin 2014-02-13 ) <------ NOTE: ORIGINAL ARTICLE TITLE
PlayStation 4 trounces Xbox One in January US sales (Update) ( NeoWin 2014-02-1? ) <------ NOTE: NEW ARTICLE TITLE
Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's corporate vice president of marketing and strategy for Xbox, published a blog post on Xbox Wire noting the Xbox line sold the most games of all console lines with 2.27 million units sold, including both Xbox 360 and Xbox One titles. That figure accounted for 47 percent of the total console software sales. Mehdi didn't clarify Xbox One's software figures, however, only writing that "U.S. consumers [have purchased] an average of 2.7 games per console since launch." Also absent from the post were any hardware figures for either Xbox console.
Poor Yusuf. What a tough job that must be. Interesting that the article got a new title. NeoWin has very sloppy journalism in both the author writing sense, and in the technical sense of journaling changes like in a file system or a Wiki so the only explanation we get to see is this ...
Update: Sony has confirmed it sold significantly more PlayStation 4 units than the Xbox One, according to gaming journalist Geoff Keighley.
per @LuckyLongworth: PS4 was #1 in sales for next gen consoles in January, nearly doubling the nearest next gen competitor. Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) February 13, 2014
That's unfortunate for any commenters that chimed in under the old title.
The new title has launched a completely new line of controversy in the comments now. Be sure to check out the battle over the use of the word "trounce". In another example of an alternate universe, there is the spectacle of a MicroZealot NeoKid attacking the NeoWin author ( a bit of a fanboy himself ) for using that word to incite trouble, and then the author accusing the NeoKid of flaming. Lots of entertainment to be had.But wait, the numbers game continues ...
Just how many Xbox One consoles did Microsoft sell in the US in January 2014? ( NeoWin 2014-02-20 )
Last week, Microsoft decided not to reveal the exact number of Xbox One consoles it sold in the U.S. in January 2014, something the company did announce for both November and December 2013. However, Microsoft might have offered up enough clues in its press release to allow anyone to come up with the January sales number, if they also know where to look for historical information.
[...]
Finally, if you subtract 1,817,132 (the confirmed total number of Xbox One consoles sold in November and December) from 1,946,500, you get 129,368, which should be the amount of Xbox One consoles sold in the U.S. in January 2014, based on NPD's historical numbers and Microsoft's own "2.29 times" declaration.
It's all over but the whining. Like I said, it wasn't really holiday season sales ( which all the NeoKids keep talking about ), it was the launch period coupled with holiday, but the launch was the dominant variable. You had several million in both camps waiting for the next generation console and empty retail channels that needed to be filled ( and these will not be repeat customers next holiday season ). This is why there is that sales cliff the numbers fell off. After the Sony release in Japan next week ( UPDATE: just happened ) and an associated burst of sales, they can both expect a trickle from now on compared to the launch period, a few hundred thousand a month going forward, most likely with Somy leading the numbers each month, and this will continue for years, perhaps even a decade until maybe a hundred million are out there. Of course this guess is subject to change without notice in the event that Microsoft wises up and makes the thing more friendly, and Sony in turn cuts off their legs somehow ( UPDATE: this is one way ).
Microsoft removes sharpening filter in latest Xbox One update ( NeoWin 2014-02-17 )
Xbox One update introduces "black screen" issue ( NeoWin 2014-02-18 )
One of the features from the latest Xbox One update that didn't get mentioned during the announcement was the removal of the sharpening filter which was used while upscaling lower resolutions to 1080p.
Now, many users over at NeoGAF forums have observed that Microsoft has indeed removed the filter, giving the users a better visual experience than before.
Okay, so far so good, but then ... a day later:
The latest update for Microsofts Xbox One included a number of highly anticipated features and positive changes. Unfortunately, it has also introduced a fairly significant bug.
Users on reddit and the official xbox forums have reported that their screens sometimes go black after pressing the Xbox button to go to the home screen. While users can still hear audio, the only fixes that can bring back video output are either unplugging the Xbox One power cable or, more simply, holding down the power button for approximately ten seconds to perform a hard reset.
Xbox cannot catch a break!
While seemingly unrelated, IMHO this really dovetails with their push into hardware - phones and tablets. Welcome to the joys of hardware support The funny thing is, they've been doing this for quite a while on a small scale, one could call it a testbed or proof of concept - supporting the Microsoft built device called "Xbox". Yet problems still occur regularly on the Xbox line which makes it even more amazing that they somehow convinced themselves that expanding the company into phones and tablets is economical and sensible. Nevermind the race to the bottom of assembly costs from using slave labor in the 3rd world, a race they cannot win and at best can only equal. You see, Microsoft had their cake and ate it too thriving in the PC universe. They managed to avoid any hardware problems by letting OEM builders create the devices and field the support calls. Moreover, they sold the Windows licenses to OEM's insulating themselves from the customer while actually offloading that support to them as well. When customer sheeple actually got phone calls through to Microsoft rather than the OEM, they were greeted by farmed-out 3rd world operators and then got charged anyway. These two business strategies are night and day. With Windows they never had it so good, and the same is true with WP on Nokia phones. But with the new strategy of selling Microsoft hardware devices they can no longer offload responsibility. And that means whatever profit they manage to eek out of these toys it can be eaten up instantly by quality control problems. The real laugher is that they believe they can arrive late to the party and instantly keep up, a party where the existing companies have already experienced all these speed bumps and adjusted to handle them, a party where giants like Samsung are deeply entrenched and geographically located right in the 3rd world swimming in cheap labor and experience in these issues. It is a rare form of arrogance really that allows one to convince themselves that all they need to do is enter such a universe and you instantly start cashing paychecks like Apple and Samsung. I'd say it's even money that Microsoft will still be selling Microsoft phones and tablets after some period of time, perhaps two to five years. They came to that party just way too late and the race to the bottom is almost complete. The economics do not look good and it is an easy decision to just sell off things like that. Meanwhile, the cash cow of Windows on personal computers is dying on the vine.
Microsoft's recently hired PC gaming and entertainment leader departs ( NeoWin 2014-02-11 )
Source: Former Steam head Jason Holtman has left Microsoft ( PC Gamer 2014-02-12 )
Microsoft's PC gaming and entertainment division chief splits after less than six months ( TechSpot 2014-02-13 )
Microsofts often troubled relationship with PC gaming took a positive step in our eyes when the company hired Jason Holtman, previously the head of Steam at Valve, last summer. Now it looks like the gain was short-lived as it emerges that Holtman has left Microsoft after only six months.
Another mysterious departure?
He probably saw their roadmap and business practices and said "Are you F@*($^G kidding me... You guys arent doing a single thing to make pc gaming better your trying to make the console better but not the pc, cya I am going" Wouldnt have blamed him either.
100% agree with wastedkill and 9Nails assessment. After he got behind Microsoft's closed doors and saw what their game plan was (pun intended), I'm sure he said, "no frickin' way," and beat feet for the nearest door. I think it's a stretch of anyone's imagination to believe that MS is even remotely interested in PC gaming with all they have invested in XBox One.
Completely agree with everyone above...MS has no intention of doing anything except killing any possible remnants of PC gaming. Jason Holtman saw this after getting on the inside and was like..."No Fing Way!"
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Windows XP FUD Edition ...
Whitehall and Microsoft negotiate NHS Windows XP hacker survival plan. Protection at a price to GB taxpayer. ( UK Register 2014-02-12 )
Microsoft may offer extended Windows XP support to UK's National Health Service ( NeoWin 2014-02-13 )
The Department of Health has exclusively told The Register its in talks with Microsoft to develop a migration plan to move PCs off of Windows XP.
A major plank of that deal will see Microsoft offer what the DoH terms extended support* at a cost.
Extended support is not a cheap option and means the taxpayer will foot the bill for the NHSs failure to hit the April deadline to move.
Under extended support Microsoft will deploy dedicated engineers to paying customers, who keep releasing fresh security patches after the April cut off.
Fees for this special protection start at $200 per desktop for the first year, going up to $400 in the second and $800 in the third year.
Naturally the fanboys and some naive commenters are waving their hands at this "outrage". 'Just upgrade' they say! Well I say go ahead and do that, they will deserve it. Windows is no more secure in later versions, never has been, and you get to pay more money just to have the placebo of a newer OS and the illusion of security. Not to mention the guarantee of UK and USA spooks having deep hooks into the new version baked-in at the factory post-9/11 rather than retrofitted later as after-thoughts. Definitely go ahead and upgrade, PLEASE do this. I don't want Windows XP blamed for the inevitable hacking of UK citizen health histories. I think this El Reg commenter agrees: "Replacing one set of unknown XP vulnerabilities with another set of unknown W7/W8 vulnerabilities doesn't make you more secure... the chances are it will make you less secure in the short term... and it will definitely make you poorer in the short term.". But naturally the sheeple do not get this. So let them have their placebo, and let them pay for it, and let them get hacked anyway. Let them eat
cakeMetro.Many Windows Embedded SKUs based on Windows XP will be supported beyond April 8th ( NeoWin 2014-02-19 )
In a post on the official Windows Embedded blog, Microsoft revealed that that while support for Windows XP Professional for Embedded Systems will indeed end on the same day as XP itself, the other SKUs will continue to receive software update afterwards. Support for Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 3 will end on January 12th, 2016, and Windows Embedded for Point of Service SP3 will see its updates stop on April 12th, 2016.
Two other XP-based Embedded operating systems, Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009, won't see their support end until January 8th and April 9th of 2019, respectively.
~sigh~ The comments by NeoKids. Unpaid employees of a corporate monolith.
Microsoft Answers More Windows XP Questions ( Softpedia 2014-02-07 )
Microsoft: Windows XP Users Are Missing Out ( Tom's Hardware 2014-02-16 )
An unnamed Microsoft representative recently spoke with Softpedia about Windows XP and how consumers and businesses are handling the transition.
Softpedia: We've heard that the Malicious Software Removal Tool might still get updates on Windows XP after April 8. Is that true?
Microsoft: Yes, Microsofts Malicious Software Removal Tool is aligned with the companys antimalware engines and signatures and as such, the removal tool will continue to be provided for Windows XP through July 14, 2015.
However, its really important to note that PCs running Windows XP after April 8 2014, should not be considered truly protected, and it is important that business customers and consumers migrate to a current supported operating system so they can receive regular security updates to protect their computer from malicious attacks.
Our research shows that the effectiveness of antimalware solutions on out-of-support operating systems is limited. Running a well-protected solution starts with using modern software and hardware designed to help protect against todays threat landscape.
Lie after lie. So Windows 7 is secure? Windows 8 is secure?
They are not. It's not even close now. The majority of viruses and hackings is on consumers on Windows 7, because it is the majority OS. You give a sheep any computer and it will get attacked, period. This reminds me of that great Eddie Van Halen story in the late 1970's that taught us that it wasn't just his custom guitar and amp that made his extraordinary sound. When Ted Nugent picked up his guitar and tried it out it still sounded like Ted. Likewise when Eddie plays anything else it sounds like Van Halen. The only way to stop sheep from getting FUBAR'd is for them to give up computers, or switch to Apple maybe. Microsoft is the great pretender by parading this nonsense about a "more secure" operating system.Softpedia: Why are people so hard to convince to move from Windows XP? Why do they love this old OS so much?
Microsoft: Windows XP was a great operating system for its time, but the world of technology has changed irrevocably over the past 12 years. Modern operating systems like Windows 8.1 deliver increased security, productivity and mobility that help your organization thrive in a rapidly evolving business environment and help individuals stay on top of and enjoy their busy lives.
Companies still on Windows XP are missing out on tangible benefits of modernizing their IT investments from dramatically enhanced security, broad device choice to meet the needs of a mobile workforce, higher user productivity, and lower total cost of ownership through improved management capabilities.
Well isn't that quaint! Let's parse out and analyze what this anonymous Softies is really saying. Imagine this ... your desktop computer is presently running Windows XP right now, and you take their ridiculous advice ...
- "increased security" which he later repeated as "enhanced security" ... umm no. This is a lie right from the mouth of Microsoft itself. You upgrade that computer and at best it is as safe as XP, however, the more popular a new OS is, the less safe it becomes from being the primary target and also from being the very same OS that the bad guys are using themselves in developing their attack methods.
- "productivity" which he later repeated as "higher user productivity" ... That's a big fat NO. You upgrade that computer and productivity goes down, even if it is only for the learning curve. However in reality, it's far more than that because broken muscle memory and removed features require workarounds. Another lie from Microsoft.
- "mobility" which he later repeated as "broad device choice to meet the needs of a mobile workforce" ... That's a laugher You upgrade that computer and it suddenly shrinks in size, sprouts a battery and flipscreen and begins walking around!
- "lower total cost of ownership through improved management capabilities." ... NO! You upgrade that computer and you have spent some amount of money from $49 to $200. And by removing 18 year old Control Panel items they have made management a disaster. And for tech support over the phone, the missing Start Menu means playing whack-a-mole with a n00b user who can't find the items even on a good day on Windows 7.
The Softie is lying through his teeth. And I did say LYING because the context of the questions are clearly talking about existing Windows XP systems, not about buying new ones. His answers may be stretched as being appropriate for some other discussion, but not this one. This is FUD and lying directly from the Redmond mothership and reinforces everything that people detest about them.Now check out this non sequitur ...
Softpedia: Give some advice to users who cannot afford to switch from Windows XP before April 8 and who'll still be running it for a little bit more.
Microsoft: Our advice is that any individual or organization running Windows XP needs to migrate to a modern operating system like Windows 8.1.
PCs running Windows XP after April 8 2014 should not be considered to be protected, and it is important that individuals and organizations migrate to a current supported operating system such as Windows 8.1 so they can receive regular security updates to protect their computer from malicious attacks. The good news is that theres a broad range of affordable new Windows devices available in retail and online today.
First of all, that answer does not even address the question! And at the very end when he tries to answer it the reply is to buy a new computer. So can he show us where there is a new computer that costs *less* than a copy of Windows, because that's the only possible way for that to make any sense. He also once again alleges that computers are safe today XP or any version, but XP will suddenly be unsafe this spring. How is it possible then for a single Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer to be infected presently? Did he mean to say XP will be less safe this spring? Does he mean to say that newer Windows versions are not safe but are better than nothing? Inquiring minds want to know!
Law firms using Windows XP need to be wary of April 8 ( Wisconsin Law Journal 2014-02-10 )
Windows XP Could Be Infected Within 10 Minutes of Support Ending ( Tom's Hardware 2014-02-12 )
In an article published by the Wisconsin Law Journal, Michael Menor, a former military computer specialist and network engineer at Tech Experts in Monroe, Mich., indicated that hackers will likely pounce on Windows XP ten minutes after Microsoft pulls the plug on support this April 8, 2014.
Shakespeare was right.
0 - "increased security" which he later repeated as "enhanced security" ... umm no.
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The Numbers Game ... As first mentioned above by Jorge ...
Android and iOS Continue to Dominate the Worldwide Smartphone Market with Android Shipments Just Shy of 800 Million in 2013, According to IDC ( IDC 2014-02-12 )
Microsoft: More than 200 million Windows 8 licenses sold ( NeoWin 2014-02-13 )
Microsoft's Tami Reller Touts Over 200 Million Windows 8 Licenses Sold ( Maximum PC 2014-02-14 )
Microsoft sells 200 million copies of Windows 8 ( TechSpot 2014-02-14 )
Microsoft has revealed a milestone in sales for Windows 8, with Executive Vice President of Marketing, Tami Reller, saying the company has sold 200 million licenses of the operating system. The last time we heard about Windows 8 sales it was back in May 2013, when Microsoft passed the 100 million copies sold milestone.
In the first 12 months on the market, Microsoft sold 240 million copes of Windows 7. With Windows 8 having launched on October 26, 2012, it's now 15 months since launch and only 200 million copies of Microsoft's newest operating system have been sold.
But these are ambiguous numbers from Microsoft as is always the case. Just for once tell us how many returns there were? I know for a fact that there are many since I have personally been with customers going crazy over the Windows 8 GUI disaster. And I really do mean going crazy - cursing and spitting over this sick and twisted nightmare that Sinofsky and Ballmer greenlit. I can think of at least ten different clients that gave up, and went straight back to Walmart and Best Buy and Dell for exchanges or refunds. This never happened in the past except maybe during the Vista fiasco, where people said 'Eff this sh!t, I've had enough'. That's two massive mistakes of directly insulting and harming your carefully cultivated customers. And you know what's really amazing? The bad impression occurs as soon as the new computer is turned on when they purposely hide the local account option for people that have no idea what a Microsoft account even is ( this is also a direct monopolization attempt at sucking hapless computer purchasers into the Microsoft cloud ). When I show them where the local account option is ( and again, keep in mind this is the first thing they even see so they are simply stuck there until I call them back ) they CANNOT believe what Microsoft did. Then once they get past the user creation and are greeted by Microsoft Tiles and then an alien looking Aero-less desktop WITHOUT a Start Button. And it gets much worse. Wait until they find out they need to create a 2nd local account and use this for daily use as a standard user and then disable that first one they already created, all because it defaulted to "administrator". I've been through this a whole bunch of times since Christmas when lots of suckers bought or were gifted computers. Let me confirm that there are some really ticked off people out there. I know this from walking them through this procedure over the telephone and it's made me even madder than they are.
As these alleged numbers are the sole point of optimism lately, in the various comment threads there are a few MicroZealots finally daring to lift their heads up. Over in the NeoWin comments there is lots of entertainment to be had. Watch Dot MetroTard struggle to exonerate Ballmer and insist he was not "fired" over this debacle. And my favorite? IMHO the undisputed gold-medal winner for insulting an astroturfer is seen in the Maximum PC comment thread ... "100,000 sperm and you were the fastest?". God I wish I thought of that one.
Anyway, Microsoft's little accomplishment here is nothing more than continuing their exploitation of the long captive OEM monopoly channel. The numbers are only a measure of their monopoly. In fact it is far weaker than the Windows 7 exploitation of that same monopolized channel, therefore they are still failing because shipments are once again falling just like with Vista versus XP. But what about the other big market, mobile phones, where they had nothing but lots of room for growth? ...
Android and iOS Continue to Dominate the Worldwide Smartphone Market with Android Shipments Just Shy of 800 Million in 2013, According to IDC ( IDC 2014-02-12 )
Android and iOS made up for 95.7% of worldwide smartphone shipments in 2013 ( TechSpot 2014-02-13 )
Top Five Smartphone Operating Systems, Shipments, and Market Share, 4Q 2013 (Units in Millions)
------------ 4Q13 Shipment Volumes -- 4Q12 Shipment Volumes --- Year-Over-Year Change
Android ........ 226.1 .. 78.1% ........ 161.1 .. 70.3% .............. 40.3%
iOS ............. 51.0 .. 17.6% ......... 47.8 .. 20.9% ............... 6.7%
Windows Phone .... 8.8 ... 3.0% .......... 6.0 ... 2.6% .............. 46.7%
BlackBerry ....... 1.7 ... 0.6% .......... 7.4 ... 3.2% ............. -77.0%
Others ........... 2.0 ... 0.7% .......... 6.7 ... 2.9% ............. -70.1%
You keep hearing the mantra that Windows Phone is growing, but these numbers crush that theory. IDC even phrases it this way: "Windows Phone posted the largest increase for both the quarter (46.7%) and the year (90.9%), with each nearly doubling the growth of the overall market.". But what they are not saying is that in comparing year 2013 to 2012, the most important detail is that 2012 was only from Q4 for WP8, previous to that was the stone cold dead WP7! So the entire year of 2013 versus one quarter of 2012 saw shipments move from 6 million to 8.8 million, which is in reality astonishingly SLOWING growth. Saying that they are growing year over year is a criminal interpretation of statistics, the kind that the SEC just might notice BTW.
In fact it looks like they simply replaced Blackberry as the bottom tier platform. And as I almost correctly guessed, at 8.8 million shipments they are just above the annual shipments of Apple iPods, a device with little future and no refresh for that previous year. If these numbers are to be believed they have only shipped a total of 14.8 million Windows Phones in the past two years, which as I theorized is just under what Apple ships in a single quarter.
Anyway you slice it, the Microsoft Tiles fiasco was an epic failure, capturing nothing and in fact losing ground in all markets. And the price of this fail was enormous. The wanton destruction of the usability of Windows from the pathetic child-like Playskool interface turned long time Windows veterans into angry sworn enemies. Great job Sinofsky! And Ballmer, and Jensen, and Julie, and the rest!
EDITORIAL: iOS on the iPad is stuck in the past and it's kind of embarrassing ( NeoWin 2014-02-12 )
Neowin: iOS on the iPad is stuck in the past and it's kind of embarrassing ( TechSpot 2014-02-13 )
Well Brad Sams has another editorial at NeoWin. This time he presumes to voice concern that poor Apple is falling behind in the tablet space ( wait, wut? ) kind of like a concern troll. But actually he is following his normal pattern really. After the recent news of Apple earnings and its specific sales results ( unlike Microsoft ) he has probably felt the need to cheer up the troops from their depression ( see here ).
TechSpot has that second article linked above where it mentions Brad's little editorial thread ( TechSpot and NeoWin have some kind of cross-promotion agreement ). As one of the commenters stated: "This article is clearly written by someone from seattle...". Brad is probably nowhere near Seattle or Redmond though, he strikes me as one of Microsoft's vast army or pawns, unpaid fanboy astroturfers forever engaging in damage control for the mothership.
64-bit Windows 8.1 tablets are coming later this year ( TechSpot 2014-02-12 )
Heres something you may not have noticed before most Windows 8.1 tablets that are currently on the market are loaded with the 32-bit version of Microsofts latest operating system despite the fact that they carry 64-bit processors. Thats about to change, however, according to at least one source familiar with the matter as reported by CNET.
As the publication points out, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Samsung all offer Windows 8.1 slates powered by Intels Bay Trail (Atom) CPU but oddly enough, these machines have all included 32-bit versions of Windows 8.1.
Yeah, and that's not all. See this comment where I showed what you get when you initiate the purchase from a Windows XP computer ( 32-bit naturally ). The dumb process supplies the 32-bit version setup files with no way to change it, consequently Microsoft has ensured a regress of the substantial progress to 64-bit made by Windows 7 and to a lesser extent, Vista. It is an amazing mistake that could have been avoided by limiting the number of SKU's and offering an online super-ISO of a DVD containing all versions and 32/64 with a simple choice in the setup menu. And it's something that could be done later very easily. Like right now.
Neobytes
Conan wants Instagram filters in Excel 2014, offers congrats to Nadella ( NeoWin 2014-02-12 )Here's how Conan O'Brien would have run Microsoft ( TechSpot 2014-02-12 )
Elsewhere, the comedian said he would include a new accessory with Surface tablets called the Tiny Windshield Wipers and that all versions of Windows would be voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Excel 2014 would have built-in Instagram filters and hundreds of millions of dollars would have been spent on a marketing campaign to get everyone in the US to Bing their symptoms after that weekend trip to Juarez.
Jeez, I hope Conan patented that idea ( that would be sweet! ). It's a pretty good idea judging by the touch screens I have personally seen.
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Microsoft denies censoring Chinese-language Bing searches in U.S. ( NeoWin 2014-02-12 )
Bing reportedly censoring Chinese language search results for US users, Microsoft denies accusations ( TechSpot 2014-02-12 )
The British publication also noticed that Chinese-language searches for politically controversial China-related topics produced unforeseen results.
An English-language Bing search for the Dalai Lama is led by a link to his official website, followed by links to his Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter pages. Whereas a Chinese-language search for the same displays a link to information on a documentary compiled by CCTV, Chinas state-owned broadcaster, followed by a link to Wikipedia rival Baidu Baike, which is said to be heavily censored.
Stefan Weitz, senior director for Bing, denied the charge that Microsoft is censoring information overseas, citing a technical problem instead. Due to an error in our system, we triggered an incorrect results removal notification for some searches noted in the report but the results themselves are and were unaltered outside of China, he said.
People must understand exactly what is the issue here. This is NOT about censorship inside the Chinese great-firewall ( which itself is bad enough, and which Google and apparently everybody has submitted to ). No, this is something even worse! This is alleging that Microsoft has extended that censorship concept outside the firewall to elsewhere, censoring the search results returned on Chinese versions of Bing/Windows as compared to non-Chinese versions. Microsoft says it was a technical glitch? Yeah right. That sounds possible, NOT. That would be one huge and amazing coincidence. Notice that the NeoWin thread has managed to collect a single comment after
fourten days. That's another amazing coincidence!Yahoo! used Microsoft CEO appointment as a reason to delay Bing search rollout ( NeoWin 2014-02-17 )
Microsoft and Yahoo signed a 10-year agreement for the search service but Mayer wants out and she is not shy about stating it publicly. She believes that search is a core service of the site and by allowing a third-party to control the experience; it puts Yahoo at a disadvantage.
Seeing that Yahoo has not found a way to remove the partnership with Bing, we suspect that Microsoft is not willing to rescind its agreement either as the company wants to take ahold of the largest piece of the search pie. More so, Yahoo has not found any legal loopholes that would allow it to escape the agreement, which is why Mayer is likely intentionally slowing down the deployment.
( NOTE: this is an unusual Brad Sams piece in that he resisted multiple opportunities to kiss Microsoft's behind ). Pretty astonishing conflict going on there. The Yahoo! CEO wants badly to kill the deal with Microsoft to use Bing and Redmond says no. Imagine you are so desperate for positive results that you would not grant a release to a "partner" that wants nothing to do with you. The problem is that in addition to whatever dubious financial gains Microsoft receives this will purchase them even more in bad publicity. And it is going to get worse if she begins really taking shots at them. She should start tossing around words like "slavery" and "abuse" and they will change their tone pretty quickly
It's funny to see the NeoKids saying 'too bad, no escape from the deal'. Not only does that illustrate their innate embrace of tyranny, but it plays right into the 'slavery' angle. I wonder if the NeoKids are pondering what happens if Yahoo! now crashes and burns? How will they greet the news that Yahoo! makes a deal to use Bing and then dies? Of course we know the answer, it's the same as it always is. Not Microsoft's fault. Microsoft allegedly considering Android apps on Windows, Windows Phone ( NeoWin 2014-02-12 )
Microsoft Considers Allowing Android Apps on WP8 ( Tom's Hardware 2014-02-15 )
Unnamed sources are reporting that Microsoft is considering allowing Android apps to run on Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. Sources told The Verge that some inside Microsoft actually like the idea of enabling Android apps inside both stores.
As you can imagine the NeoWin thread is full of crazies, worried about polluting Windows with Android stuff ( wow! ) and scaring off Windows developers ( huh? ).
But what could really be behind this? Why would they consider inviting Android into the "Windows environment"? Could it be that they have no choice ...
Google-VMware deal brings Windows desktops and applications to Chrome OS ( TechSpot 2014-02-13 )
Google and VMware offer Chromebooks access to Windows apps ( NeoWin 2014-02-13 )
Microsoft has been running TV ads recently that show Chromebooks can't access apps such as Office or other major Windows-based programs. Now Google is trying to show that the inexpensive Chromebooks can offer some owners access to the Windows desktop and its programs via a new remote service that is being offered by another Microsoft rival, VMWare.
In joint announcements, Google and VMWare revealed plans to give business and enterprise users a way to access Windows-based apps from Chromebooks via VMWare's Horizon Desktop as a Service program. The subscription-based service is already available for businesses that own Chromebooks by accessing VMWare's VMware Horizon View 5.3. Google will also release support for the service via an app from the Chrome App Store.
That seems like the pretty obvious reason to me. It has to be so very painful to be a fanboy these days with hopes and dreams ( and fantasies ) being crished on a daily basis. The NeoKids and Verge Tribers have been especially nasty concerning Chromebooks and all things Android. Say a prayer for their mental health tonight, things have not been going their way for a very long time and it looks like Microsoft is going to continue ruining what remains of their sanity as the year goes on. In fact I expect to see some very entertaining opus comments swearing off Microsoft in the coming days.
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As first mentioned by TELVM ( with effective use of the HP image BTW ) ...
Sales of new PCs with Windows 7 end October 31 for several SKUs ( NeoWin 2014-02-14 )
Microsoft Pushing Users To Adopt Windows 8 Over Windows 7 ( Maximum PC 2014-02-16 )
Microsoft has set a firm date of October 31st for final sale of consumer Windows 7 machines, but business machines are another story. The official website has been updated as such to reflect this, with Microsoft noting that October 31, 2014 is the new end-of-sale date for Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate PCs. Home Premium takes the cake when it comes to sales, but now Microsoft is pushing for Windows 8 to take over as reigning champ, per PC World.
CLIENT OS ------- LATEST UPDATE -- END MAINSTREAM SUPPORT ----- END EXTENDED SUPPORT
Windows XP ...... Service Pack 3 ....... April 14, 2009 .......... April 8, 2014
Windows Vista ... Service Pack 2 ....... April 10, 2012 ......... April 11, 2017
Windows 7 * ..... Service Pack 1 ..... January 13, 2015 ....... January 14, 2020
Windows 8 ....... Windows 8.1 ......... January 9, 2018 ....... January 10, 2023
That table is official, direct from Microsoft. It seems we finally have confirmation of no more service packs for Windows 7. Lots of FUD was tossed around by Microsoft employees in various threads about the sky not falling and to wait and see. Now we see. This is a huge problem for people that install Windows, being stuck with downloading hundreds of post-SP1 updates. It is also an act of irresponsibility leaving countless computers at the mercy of Windows Update just in order to become vaguely close to 'updated' and 'secured' after an install or reinstall. It is reprehensible. And this is done purely out of selfish interests, to whittle down the amount of users even considering to use anything but the latest modern crap, that abortion called Windows 8. The war on their user base is still raging, the incompetency at Microsoft has no bounds.
Or does it? The old theory that Microsoft makes every other version a dog on purpose just in order to create a huge demand for the following rescue version and the inevitable massive movement to adoption just might be true after all, at least some part of it. But it doesn't explain the history here with decreasing number of service packs, especially extending back to the NT4 era ( final number of service packs: 6, 5, 3, 2, 1 chronologically ). This fact is demonstrable of a company that is exiting the hard business of responsible software production and entering the easy business of selling a toy commodity. So what do we really have happening here? It's simple. We have a company that is telling everyone one thing and doing another. They have decided behind closed boardroom doors to officially change Microsoft into IBM and other similar Wall Street darlings, chip away any extra work for themselves ( real or perceived ), and focus on nebulous products of dubious quality. They are cashing out of their long monopolized x86 OS monopoly, shaking the money tree for all it's worth. I expect there will be but one more possibly useful version of Windows before it is all over, and only if enough sheeple speak up. After that passes they will confine themselves to Apple-like OS creation, targeted at specific devices rather than at the entire market, and eventually exit altogether. Layoffs will definitely follow. The stockholders will be thrilled and the analysts will praise them as long as dividends, no matter how small, continue to appear. It was billg himself who all but admitted this eventuality ( in a roundabout way ) when MSFT went public long ago. As soon as non-computer literate stockholders became involved ( and now only Gates and Ballmer remain as sizable shareholders ) the end of the story was written.
This was predicted by us here in this very thread long ago on many occasions. The long term strategy is what we discussed while all the 'Tards concentrated on short term tactics. In fact the NeoWin thread there is doing it as we speak now. They really do believe Microsoft is still in the PC business and 'listens to customers' and will turn things around. But we here watched it happen right before our eyes. The PC was sentenced to execution sometime during the past decade post-XP. There have been lots of tweaks and twists to the end-game strategy, but it never really changed. There is no-one left at Microsoft ( if they were ever there in the first place ) that sees a responsibility to the PC, the Personal Computer. And truth be told, they have probably had massive external pressure from the spook community to accelerate its demise. All I can really suggest about this to anyone listening is to stop sending old computers to landfills or recycle plants. Doing this will make it an absolute certainty that there will be no working PC around in a decade or less. Stockpile your x86 systems ( lots of them ), spare parts, and the Software, and the Operating Systems, forever. At some point they will be the only things left that can be operated without looking over your shoulder and being spied upon. Stick a fork in it. It's dead Jim.
IMPORTANT NOTE: While we're on the subject, NewEgg shows the Windows 7 OEM System Builder for HOME PREMIUM as Out Of Stock and PROFESSIONAL is available at $125 ( on sale from $139 ) via that link from Maximum PC. I'm not sure if NewEgg will ever be getting replenishment from Microsoft for the Home Premium Edition, so this may be an important bit of news.
UPDATE: Microsoft has just cut the OEM licensing price for Windows 8 to $15 ( not to individuals but to actual OEM big box manufacturers ). See NeoWin: Microsoft slashes Windows 8.1 pricing 70% to make way for cheaper devices. It seems that Chromebooks are having a real effect on them now.
I didn't want to let this older Thurrott column pass without comment ...
What the Heck is Happening to Windows? Is it better to burn out than fade away? ( Thurrott 2014-02-09 )
When critics described Windows 8.1 as a step backwards, I disagreed: Responding to customer complaints is never wrong, I argued, and the new version of the OS made it more acceptable on the many different types of PCs and devices on which Windows now runs. With Update 1, however, I'm beginning to question the validity of this new direction, and am now wondering whether Microsoft has simply fallen into an all-too-familiar trap of trying to please everyone, and creating a product that is ultimately not ideal for anyone.
One could pick apart Thurrott's entire column apart sentence by sentence as he is in his up/down see-saw mode once again. But let's just leave it as this: Thurrott was in fact a certifiable shill at launch, and even though he references that first column in the fall 2012 launch he has somehow managed to rationalize this away. If things had gone differently for Windows 8 and the Playskool Metro disaster he would NOT be speaking like this today. Oh whatever. We see right through you Paul, your inner-Apple came out in all its glory at launch, releasing all that pent-up frustration at having no walled-garden you could call your own. They gave it to you and you slurped it up and told us all that the 'Desktop Is Dead' and to join you in your exhilaration at pushing on tiles on a big screen like a chimpanzee. Fate intervened and dealt Microsoft and its modern intentions a body blow and now you back-pedal. That's fine, but it's high time you stop pretending you are a power-user because at every opportunity you opt for laziness and Apple-like sheep-herding into clouds and walled-gardens. A power-user does not think Microsoft Tiles belongs on server operating systems, or even on desktops. They do not attempt to replace their home power-user systems with tablets ( like he tried ). There's nothing wrong with embracing your 'Tardish inner-Apple desires. It is wrong to sit here now and tell us you never were.
On Sinofsky, who he never really like ( probably because he did not leak info to him or allow inner access ) he states ...
Here, finally, was a guy who could push through a Steve Jobs-style, singular product vision.
And he did. Sadly, the result was Windows 8.
The reason this happened is that while Sinofsky had the maniacal power and force of will of a Steve Jobs, he lacked Jobs' best gift: An innate understanding of good design. Windows 8 is not well-designed. It's a mess. But Windows 8 is a bigger problem than that. Windows 8 is a disaster in every sense of the word.
This is not open to debate, is not part of some cute imaginary world where everyone's opinion is equally valid or whatever. Windows 8 is a disaster. Period.
The disaster part is so obvious that even Helen Keller could see and hear the problems. You are not breaking any news here. But my long running question remains, where is the Sinofsky post-firing interview? That is a scoop that a real journalist would really want to chalk up. Even just submitting hard questions and then upon being denied a response would make for a useful column. A sharp journalist would use the non-response as a weapon to pry information out of their target, but from you we get crickets. With your reputation as a shill ( again, the see-saw notwithstanding ) you were possibly the only tech writer actually positioned to get these answers. You failed
Skipping through many more obvious thoughts and comments by Thurrott, let's jump to the very end ...
You can't please everybody, Microsoft. So stop trying. It's time to double down on the people who actually use your products, not some mythical group of consumers who will never stop using their simpler Android and iOS devices just because you wish they would.
I hate to tell you Paul, but you are way behind the curve now. You are under the same illusion that many others are that Microsoft is still even in the x86 desktop operating system business, at least in the way they used to be. The company is now a big corporate. It no longer has the skill, patience, attention to detail or even the will to tackle this job any longer. There is easy money to be made in the cloud and by providing simple, short-lifespan retard devices for chimpanzees. In short, most of them are like you, they have an inner-AppleTard just dying to break free of the wild, crazy and individualistic personal computer universe and desire to create products for Idiocracy style devolution. On Microsoft's part, and yours, it is insane jealousy and envy at watching the famous fruit company jump to the top of the heap. It's really no more complicated than that. You are now about 7 years late to the party. You had your chance during the Vista fiasco to pull your head out of your butt and recognize the clear devolution in the GUI without clear options back to a clean desktop without abstractions. Instead, you and Ed MicroBott jumped aboard Microsoft's defense team justifying every single step towards a less user-friendly and less clean interface, without any way back to familiarity. And this was such an easy thing to criticize! The simultaneous contentious issue of DRM and the intrusion into the personal computer from Hollywood and other copyright mafia also found you defending them against our so-called wacky conspiracy theories and paranoia. These of course preceded the now-known spying issues such as a compromised RNG and other exploits which had they been known at the time would have generated even more anger from the Windows veterans and more contemptuous defense from MicroZealots such as yourself.
So Paul is presently trying to reposition himself somewhere in-between his longtime position as a shill and where we mostly are today. Naturally his column has generated much discomfort for his normally sycophantic followers. The thread comments number 265 presently and is six pages long. Quite a few are angry, such as this very familiar MicroZealot ...
I'm sorry, but it's people like you that ruin this for everyone else. Windows 8 ISN'T growing as fast as Windows 7 did, but it IS, in fact, growing. I'm sure we can play various statistical games and each show that the other is wrong. But it's people like you that just infuriate me. You're so flipping stuck in the old world that you can't possibly conceive, much less embrace, a hybrid computing existence while we transition to the environment we will unrelentingly move toward. I don't really CARE if you people don't have touch screens. I don't have them either and yet, magically, I can get a much work done--and in a much more organized manner--as I ever did when my machines ran Windows 7. How is that? Because instead of complaining that they were taking away my buggy whip I examined how I could adapt and best use the hybrid nature of Windows 8. Perhaps what angers me most about all of this is that those who absolutely had no use at all yet for the Metro side of things could easily live on the desktop or, better, just become the next group of "Windows XP zombies" with Windows 7. I do have a number of legacy programs that will never ever see the Metro light of day. But I still keep my desktop absolutely clean. EVERYTHING starts from the Start screen. It's simple to throw my legacy programs on screen 2 while my Metro apps are used on screen 1. And NOT ONE ISSUE with using a mouse and keyboard. But the fact is that it won't be that long at all before you simply will not have machines WITHOUT a touch screen or, probably, voice and gesture control. There will always be a place for some sort of mouse & keyboard analog because of the particular needs of granular control. But there is absolutely no reason why we have to be stagnant or, what I believe is now happening, going backward.
What a wonderful example of an AppleTard, or is that a MicroZealot. But there is no difference, and THAT is the point. All the historical stereotypical criticisms of arrogant Apple users applies to the current crowd of MetroTards. They are arrogant, they look down their noses at anyone that does not embrace their little toys. And they intend to impose their vision and will on everyone else. Any deviation from this vision is a roadblock to so-called progress. The funny thing is that AppleTards like this may in fact exist, but I do not know them personally, nor do I remember crossing paths with them in the past. But in the here and now in the Microverse they do in fact exist. And as enablers to the cause of Metrofication of all things Windows they are dangerous because at the end of the day with their vision in place, there will be but two main choices on personal computers - two walled gardens with the only real difference being in the design of the retarded interface. Welcome to the Planet Of The Apes where the chimpanzees are calling the shots.
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Apologies in advance to anyone who already posted any of these, and also for this massive comment dump. It's my first chance to post after the 2 1/2 feet of snow last week, over a foot the week before, it's been chaotic! Most of these posts were ready to go a while back but have been updated since. My work piled up almost as fast as the snow did and had to get caught up. Today it hit 50 degrees F and finally we finished moving the last necessary piles of snow from roofs and other places to limit the probable flooding.
As first mentioned by MagicAndre1981 ( NOTE: this story is on practically every single tech site now. The original source of the discussion is at the below-linked Reddit subthread, read that or even the NeoWin coverage which offers a surprisingly good synopsis. Be aware that the Reddit link zooms directly to the pertinent subthread, but you will still have to expand all those stupid comment nests. ) ...
REDDIT SUBTHREAD ( Windows 8 Sells 100 million Fewer Copies than Windows 7 at 15 Months ) ( Reddit 2014-02-15 )
Windows 8 UX designer on Metro: "It is the antithesis of a power user" ( NeoWin 2014-02-18 )
Neowin: Windows 8 UX designer says Metro is "the antithesis of a power user" ( TechSpot 2014-02-18 )
Why Windows 8 Has New Start Screen and Metro Apps ( Tom's Hardware 2014-02-19 )
So, an alleged Softie on the UI team offers explanations at last, excuses really, in a response that somehow never emanated from Sinofsky, Jensen Harris, Sam Moreau or Julie. Assuming he is real and is actually telling the truth let's see his statement in full ( emphasis mine ) ...
UX designer for Microsoft here.
I want to talk about why we chose Metro as the default instead of the desktop, and why this is good in the long run - especially for power users.
...but not in the way you might think.
At this point you're probably expecting me to say that it's designed for keyboard execution, or some thing about improved time trials for launching programs, or some other way of me trying to convince you that Metro is actually useful. I've talked about those in the past extensively on reddit, but for this discussion let's throw that all out the window. For this discussion, assume that Metro is s*** for power users (even if you don't believe it to be).
Now that we're on common ground, let's dive into the rabbit hole. Metro is a content consumption space. It is designed for casual users who only want to check facebook, view some photos, and maybe post a selfie to instagram. It's designed for your computer illiterate little sister, for grandpas who don't know how to use that computer dofangle thingy, and for mom who just wants to look up apple pie recipes. It's simple, clear, and does one thing (and only one thing) relatively easily. That is what Metro is. It is the antithesis of a power user. A power user is a content creator. They have multiple things open on multiple monitors - sometimes with multiple virtual machines with their own nested levels of complexity.
Okay I'll stop right there to take the opportunity to request, no, to beg to all my fellow Microsoft Tiles criticizers to PLEASE copy/paste that red bold section, and append it with attribution ( e.g., -- Jacob Miller, Microsoft Windows 8 UI Team ), and post it verbatim in threads at NeoWin and The Verge Tribe and wherever else lying astroturfers congregate ( see convenient SPOILER below
). This will be the source of endless amusement for years to come as we shove those words right from the mothership down the throats of MetroTards who insist on insulting us to our faces of how the Playskool GUI is anything but a pushbutton toy for chimpanzees. "But wait," you're thinking, "You said Metro is good for power users, yet now you're saying it's the worst for them, what gives?"
Before Windows 8 and Metro came along, power users and casual users - the content creators and the content consumers - had to share the same space. It was like a rented tuxedo coat - something that somewhat fit a wide variety of people. It wasn't tailored, because any aggressive tailoring would make it fit one person great, but would have others pulling at the buttons. Whatever feature we wanted to add into Windows, it had to be something that was simple enough for casual users to not get confused with, but also not dumbed down enough to be useless to power users. Many, MANY features got cut because of this.
A great example is multiple desktops. This has been something that power users have been asking for for over a decade now. OSX has it, Linux has it, even OS/2 Warp has it. But Windows doesn't. The reason for this is because every time we try and add it to the desktop, we run user tests; and every time we find that the casual users - a much larger part of our demographic than Apple's or Linux's - get confused by it. So the proposal gets cut and power users suffer.
Let's pause from this for a second, to unravel the lies. While true that Linux has a higher percentage of "power users" versus "casual users", that is untrue of Apple obviously. The vast majority of them are willful members of the curated walled-garden of hardware and software, and always have been. Some small fraction of them are probably "power users", but the vast majority are content with exactly what they receive for their hard earned money spent on entry into the locked-down Appleverse. That is the entire point of Apple, they offer turn-key solutions for a price. Windows has a much higher percentage of "power users". It is Microsoft's Apple-Envy that resulted in the paradigm shift to catering to the MetroTards ( or as he calls them "casual users" or "content consumers" ), and this at the expense of the power users.
The lies and rationalizations here are heavy. Windows has long had simple facility for providing advanced options via check boxes ( e.g., show hidden files, etc ) that already took into account the various skill level of different kinds of users. And longtimers have long noticed the trend there was to bias towards the minority "casual user" increasingly as time has gone on, by dumbing down the interface and moving previously default power user settings into disabled options. The Softie is lying by saying it was either/or, because it never was that. It has become that recently, specifically in 2010 when Microsoft as an entity had a stroke at the conquering of the tablet market by Apple with their iPad. Microsoft blew a gasket and began its descent into madness by assembling their team of Windows destroyers ( Sinofsky, Jensen, Sam Moreau, and apparently this guy ) and gave them carte blanche to stupify the interface to appeal to NON-Windows users, hoping like moths attracted to a flame that they would all come running. In short, Microsoft convinced itself that the only reason that Apple sells iPads to AppleTards is that they didn't have a similar product to attract them, and then they massively compunded this miscalculation by sacrificing classic Windows and leveraging their massive monopoly to be the flame to attract these mothes.
Proof of this Softie's deceptions, lies and misunderstandings is everywhere in his post. He states things as impossible that are pretty much trivial and often done 3rd party. The truth is that most things are not impossible at all, but vetoed by management, but not because they cannot be done. Multiple desktops? Well the funny thing is that Mark Russinovich developed a quick way to do this ( i.e., "Desktops" ) and others have obviously created more elaborate solutions. It is the "will" and the "vision" that was lacking, and truly this was all done out of cynicism, a lack of respect for those that supported Windows from the beginning but unwilling to take one for the team, and lack of respect for the law by using their unique monopoly position and access to OEMs to summon 'all hands on deck' to push the ridiculous Microsoft Tiles into the public consciousness and make a dent in Apple's success. ( perhaps this Softie deserves some benefit of the doubt though, he might just be a lackey GUI team member or tester and is magnifying his importance by offering his uninformed speculation as authority. ) It is likely that very few people inside the Redmond campus really know the truth as these decisions are at the top of the totem pole, especially matters that touch upon monopoly, antitrust and anticompetitive behavior.
Our hands were bound, and our users were annoyed with their rented jackets. So what did we do? We separated the users into two groups. Casual and Power. We made two separate playgrounds for them. All the casual users would have their own new and shiny place to look at pictures of cats - Metro. The power users would then have free reign over their native domain - the desktop.
It doesn't look that way to me. This sounds like revisionism after the fact of an overwhelming controversy. I suppose it is possible that this was the plan all along, but that doesn't explain why now, four years after the first glimpse, that we only now first hear this "official" explanation. The more likely scenario is that Metro was going to be the main focus, the desktop deprecated, and they are now backpedaling as it backfired. Proof of this scenario is in the evisceration of the desktop by killing Aero and the Start Menu, details which show the disingenuous nature of this revisionism.
So why make Metro the default? And why was there no way to boot to desktop in Windows 8.0?
The short answer is because casual users don't go exploring. If we made desktop the default as it has always been, and included a nice little start menu that felt like home, the casual users would never have migrated to their land of milk and honey. They would still occupy the desktop just as they always had, and we would have been stuck in square one. So we forced it upon them. We drove them to it with goads in their sides. In 8.1, we softened the points on the goads by giving users an option to boot directly to desktop.
Now that the casual users are aware of their new pasture, we can start tailoring. It will be a while before the power users start seeing the benefits of this (that's why I said they'd benefit in the long run). Right now we still have a lot of work to do on making Metro seem tasty for those casual users, and that's going to divert our attention for a while. But once it's purring along smoothly, we'll start making the desktop more advanced. We'll add things that we couldn't before. Things will be faster, more advanced, and craftier than they have in the past - and that's why Metro is good for power users.
That second to last paragraph while likely a blatant lie ( i.e., that this was the original plan ) almost brushes up against the truth. Almost. This is where he dodges the illegal abuse of monopoly by steering the sheeple, who happen to find themselves using Windows supplied at manufacture by the OEM, into the Metro garden and the Microsoft Store where the Sopranos gangsters peel off a vig of 30% from the actual authors of apps. The Softie almost, but does not say that 'without Metro as the in-your-face default no-one would voluntarily go there. For this crime Microsoft should be broken up ASAP, it far exceeds the ludicrous allegations that MSIE being included in Windows hurts Netscape and other competitors, because this latest attempt was actually swinging for the fences.
His last bit there is clearly revisionism, saying that 'now we will make everybody happy as originally planned'. Yeah, right. And I got a bridge for sale. So once again, the solution we identified long ago here at MSFN still stands - Metro as an optional module like Media Center available from an icon click from the desktop. Simple. Done. Only Microsoft could have done this to themselves on purpose.
Now if you check out the original Reddit thread ( you need to expand all the stupid nests ) you will see a surprising amount of common sense being hurled back at him by the commenters. In fact it is a slaughter. Almost immediately you will this one: "This sounds like post ex facto justification to me. What you're basically saying is that you p***ed all over your core users because you wanted to make it easier for daft people to look at "pictures of cats"."
yep. Right on the money. I love the guy that said: "They're using the EEE attack on themselves.". That may be the humor award of the thread ( Embrace, Extend, Extinguish ). I see that the Softie actually confirmed something I alluded to way back in here, and that is that they have been copying the Intel "tick-tock" roadmap, albeit with more cynical aims. At one point the Softie actually commits himself and Microsoft to a renewed desktop when he literally states: "moving forward, we aren't going to worry about whether or not features on the desktop are too complicated for casual users. In the future, the desktop may very well be complicated to use, but more powerful as well." Now that would be considered huge news indeed. It is something that should be coming out of the mouth of an official but hasn't ( I'm talking to you Julie, and Jensen ). However, later someone asks him if the desktop is a 2nd class citizen, and he replies: "No. Not as part of our long term strategy. In the short term you'll see less resources devoted to it until we get Metro figured out, but once that happens the desktop is very much a first world citizen. It will be equal with metro. The desktop is not going away, we can't develop Windows in Metro.". Make up your mind son. Unfortunately he also takes a few swipes at Windows 2000, which in my mind tells me he is over-rating himself in experience, in other words lying. It is similar to the way MetroTards lie about the Win95 interface meeting resistance and its Start Menu being criticized for replacing Program Manager. In another comment he says: "Users of windows 7 could have been considered beta testers for 8 too." which is utterly ridiculous because of the known timeline. One other thing he says is this: "When I'm working, I'm a power user. After a long day though, I may want something more casual - especially after a joint or a couple beers." which I'm sure he is going to regret. Weed may be legal up there, but I doubt his bosses want the Windows 8 disaster associated with a bunch of pot-smoking beer-drinking spaced-out programmers. If I was in an angry mood I would whip up a killer graphic, but I'll skip it this time. See if you can find the creepy part about people getting used to it where he states: "Repetition to the point of familiarity lowers stress and can increase enjoyment." and he links to exhibit A, B, and C evidence of Microsoft kookiness, the kind of stuff that Sinofsky probably distributed. One guy tells him he will now get fired and he replies: "Doubtful. As long as we don't reveal any unannounced features, we're free to talk about Microsoft publicly so long as we let people know we work for Microsoft when we do.". Which actually is true from the Softies I have spoken with. Unfortunately there are many that ignore this little detail and is why I always try to make a point of asking astroturfers and other smart@ss MicroZealots if they are in fact employees. Another lie pops up when he states: "Honestly if you're just looking for 7, grab a start menu replacement and upgrade to 8. You'll have the same UI you did in 7, with a faster/more stable/more secure OS under the hood."
That is most certainly NOT the same UI. What are you, blind? That is an insult and a lie all wrapped up in one.Over at NeoWin the thread has grown to 285 comments now and the kids are somehow managing to find positve news in all this! Dang, they are thick. And one Softie ( +Brandon Live ) there thinks he might not be real: "He isn't "Metro's designer." I've never even heard of the guy. Unless maybe that's a fake name. If anyone gets that title for Win8 it's Sam or Clay.". Ummm Clay who? We know Sam Moreau, and Jensen Harris though. Ironically this same Softie only seldom identifies himself as an employee. Whatever. But don't miss the champion MicroChimp Dot MetroTard post comment after clueless comment in a mad effort at preserving his world view. The desktop is going away he says. Playskool tiles are the future he says. Would someone please show him this ...
Here is a useful quote suitable for copy/paste into comment threads of Fanboys and Astroturfers. Have fun! ...
"Metro is a content consumption space. It is designed for casual users who only want to check facebook, view some photos, and maybe post a selfie to instagram. It's designed for your computer illiterate little sister, for grandpas who don't know how to use that computer dofangle thingy, and for mom who just wants to look up apple pie recipes. It's simple, clear, and does one thing (and only one thing) relatively easily. That is what Metro is. It is the antithesis of a power user." -- Jacob Miller, Microsoft Windows 8 UI Team
http://i.imgur.com/l4LcoQv.jpg
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Silly question, and a bit OT, but not badly.
Could a similar approach be used for making a driver for say 98SE or 2K?
Not that I need one, now anyway, but someone else might be facing an issue with a newer printer or something else. The thought came to mind when I first read this thread.
By "making" do you mean extracting from the distribution disc? In that case, yes for Windows 2000 which is pretty much the same as XP in disc layout and file formats, but definitely not for Win98SE or Win98 whose *.xx_ drivers were using one of the COMPRESS variations, and you used EXPAND.
On Win95 and OSR the driver files were not compressed IIRC, just sitting there as normal. I can't remember WinME, or if it even had the full set of drivers like Win98, I think not, actually.
Naturally we're talking only about the driver files and not the Windows files which were always included in CAB containers for every version of Win9x. They were all in MSZIP format and mercifully can be opened by just about anything out there.
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Snowden and Manning real American heroes.....................Next to Mister Rogers and Bob Ross.
Gotta admit that I do miss Bob Ross very much.
His paintings with trees living on mountains underneath happy little clouds beats the heck out of our Modern UI world.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoYSFlZ8Du8
See that video there for a crash course Jorge. He was one class act.
... "Listen and understand. Windows XP is out there. It can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear, and it absolutely will not stop. Until you are dead." ...
Love the graphic!!
--JorgeA
That's most likely an XP boot screen!
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Charlotte, did you actually READ my reply?
For the record (and of course) there is no need (at least in 7-zip) to rename the file changing it's extension, you open 7-zip and from it you open a CAB .in_ file normally.
jaclaz
It wasn't there, I swear!
P.S. I usually suggest to people that are not expert in compression/extraction programs to rename rather than play with the 7zip GUI on the original file directly. For this one it is safe, yes. But if it was an EXE, the difference between "Open Inside" and "Open Outside" is dangerous.
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Well first, about the expansion. Thankfully in Windows XP they went with the normal MS Cabinet container format with LZX rather than one of the earlier compressions. If you have WinRar or 7zip ( but not WinZip ) just rename the Sysoc.in_ file to Sysoc.rar or Sysoc.7z and double-click open it up and it will appear as a container displaying the file inside: Sysoc.inf. Now you extract as normal or drag/drop it out of the container. In fact you can do this for any of the *.??_ compressed files in the Windows XP distribution.
However, the problem is there are a lot of those same name INF files on Windows XP SP3 ...
\I386\Sysoc.in_ ........ 782 2008-04-13 22:00
\I386\Ic\Sysoc.in_ ..... 782 2008-04-13 21:00
\I386\Ikc\Sysoc.in_ .... 782 2008-04-13 21:04
\I386\Iknc\Sysoc.in_ ... 744 2008-04-13 21:00
\I386\Iknp\Sysoc.in_ ... 828 2008-04-13 21:04
\I386\Ikp\Sysoc.in_ .... 856 2008-04-13 21:04
\I386\Inc\Sysoc.in_ .... 772 2008-04-13 21:04
\I386\Inp\Sysoc.in_ .... 846 2008-04-13 21:08
\I386\Ip\Sysoc.in_ ..... 856 2008-04-13 21:00
\I386\Istart\Sysoc.in_ . 740 2008-04-13 21:00And I looked at that first one expanded and it has nothing to do with printers. Also, neither "Sharp" or "9600" or even "JS" turn up in a file search. Do you know the exact filenames for that Sharp printer?
It sounds like you said that you have a 'disc' with the drivers. Try to do the rename trick and extract them directly.
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As first mentioned by Duffy98 ...
Snowden Used Low-Cost Tool to Best N.S.A. ( New York Times 2014-01-08 )
It really is an good, in-depth article full of background on the Snowden saga. This is original primary reporting that will be the core of many stories to come.
Recall this one from yesterday: GCHQ disrupts Anonymous using Denial of Service attack ( NeoWin 2014-02-06 )
Snowden documents show British digital spies using viruses and 'honey traps' ( UK Register 2014-01-07 )
Snowden reveals how GCHQ used "dirty tricks" on their targets ( NeoWin 2014-01-08 )
A good followup at the Register that's well worth a read. Note that NeoWin follows it up as well but in typical USA media fashion, with typical sleepwalking commenters, many are still too busy to troubled by a little thing like being spied upon or the possibility of becoming an innocent bystander casualty in cyberwarfare.
Secret court ruling puts Obama's NSA crack-down in motion ( TechSpot 2014-01-07 )
A secret ruling made by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has now approved the two measures, both of which are directly tied to how the NSA can access the massive database of metadata it has accumulated. The first should potentially see the NSA require court approval on the basis of reasonable suspicion that the investigation is in some way connected to a known terrorist organization before accessing the data. The other is based on the degrees of separation or "hops" in which an NSA investigation can run. Previously, the agency was legally allowed to gather information on individuals within 3 degrees of separation of a target, that number now drops to 2.
Well I feel much better now.
Reform my @ss. It's a shell game.( Image Source )
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HP will now limit firmware updates to Enterprise customers under warranty ( NeoWin 2014-01-09 )
In a press release, Vice President Mary McCoy announced firmware updates through the HP support centre will only be available to customers with a valid warranty, Care Pack Service or support agreement. The move could see customers forking out hundreds or even thousands on Care Pack Services, which provide hardware and software support, as well as services, to receive the latest updates for their devices.
McCoy says while the move is a change from the past, it will place the company in line with the best practices in the industry.
We know this is a change from how weve done business in the past; however, this aligns with industry best practices and is the right decision for our customers and partners."
Best Practices? What a crazy euphemism that is. Nothing like peeing on your head and telling you its raining. And you gotta wonder what kind of robotic knucklehead would utter that tripe with a straight face? Best comment so far: "They really do like to shoot themselves in the foot...".
That's HP for you. They are operated like their management is the Marx Brothers of the Three Stooges.Comcast customer surprised to learn new router is also public hotspot ( Ars Technica 2014-01-05 )
Comcast customer Ronaldo Boschulte didn't know exactly what he was getting when the company swapped his malfunctioning modem for a new one. The cable modem doubles as a Wi-Fi routerthat much he was expecting. But he didn't realize the router would, by default, broadcast a public Wi-Fi network that anyone with a Comcast account could connect to.
I didn't know it had a hotspot," Boschulte told the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota.
Comcast started adding the public hotspot to its modems by default in mid-2013, as we reported at the time. Customers can turn the second signal off if they choose, but it's definitely an opt-out program rather than opt-in.
Got that? You are a hotspot. And it's Opt-Out. So just how easy will that be?
In an FAQ, Comcast doesn't provide instructions for turning it off manually. You have to call Comcast for that. "You will always have the ability to disable the XFINITY Wi-Fi feature on your Wireless Gateway by calling 1-800-XFINITY," the company says. Presumably, a customer service representative will try to talk you out of disabling it.
"We encourage all subscribers to keep this feature enabled as it allows more people to enjoy the benefits of XFINITY Wi-Fi around the neighborhood," the company says.
The second network won't slow your primary connection down, at least not much. "The broadband connection to your home will be unaffected by the XFINITY Wi-Fi feature," Comcast says. "Your in-home Wi-Fi network, as well as XFINITY Wi-Fi, use shared spectrum, and as with any shared medium there can be some impact as more devices share Wi-Fi. We have provisioned the XFINITY Wi-Fi feature to support robust usage, and therefore, we anticipate minimal impact to the in-home Wi-Fi network.""
Amazingly there are more than a few sheep in the comments excusing this. They say: this doesn't impact the homeowner at all. It doesn't even use their electricity! Apparently their modem uses secretly patented free energy magic. The sheeple even say don't worry about child porn because Comcast knows it is a separate IP address and they would never make a mistake like that! Seriously, these comments need to be seen to believed. Even if those concerns were exaggerated ( they are NOT, just meet the cops over here ) this is a perfect example of a Camel nose under the tent, in the worse way.
But there are some sane people left at Ars Technica, this comment is spot-on IMHO ...
The best part of this is that Comcast is training its users to hand over their username and passwords to any wireless network named xfinitywifi. Want to collect a few? Just set up a laptop that runs a wireless access point named xfinitywifi, a captive portal that looks like the real one, then saves the passwords it collects.
There are live CDs that make this really trivial.
Exactly.
: Expect hackers to jump on this. It's crazy really. These things are all downside, there is no upside except maybe for the ISP itself. Wake up sheeple!0 -
A bona fide mystery is afoot ...
Frustratingly Addictive Flappy Bird Game Makes $50,000 Per Day ( Maximum PC 2014-01-06 )
'Flappy Bird' earns $50,000 per day in ad revenue for its creator ( TechSpot 2014-01-06 )
Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen is laughing all the way to the bank as his game averages $50,000 in ad revenue per day.
Nguyen revealed the obscene figure during an interview with The Verge. I say "obscene" because the app is so incredibly basic. For those of you who haven't played it yet, your task is to tap the screen to keep a pixelated bird airborne while avoiding pipes that look borrowed from Super Mario Bros. That's it. Tap, tap, tap -- curse like a sailor. Rinse and repeat. I spent the better part of last evening ignoring the basketball game I meant to watch and intead trying to earn a respectible score in Flappy Bird -- I ended up with a high of 20 points.
... but less than 48 hours later ...
Apparently the stress of having one of the top games in the world right now is just too much for Nguyen. In a message on Twitter, the developer said he would be pulling the game around noon on Sunday. He apologized and said he simply couldnt take it anymore.
Nguyen assured everyone that the decision wasnt related to legal issues and he also claimed he hadnt sold the game.
( Image: NeoWin )
Wow. Stay tuned for this one. It might be a copyright battle as several commenters have accused it of being a clone of an earlier game. I'd bet that sudden publicity about $50,000 a day revenue woke up the patent trolls ( NOTE, I have no sympathy if he in fact did copy something and is profiting from it as his own ).
Apple removes Blockchain, the last remaining Bitcoin wallet app from its App Store ( TechSpot 2014-01-06 )
Apple removes popular Bitcoin app from iOS App Store ( NeoWin 2014-01-08 )
In what could be seen as another blow to the popularity of virtual currency Bitcoin, this week Apple removed Blockchain, the last remaining Bitcoin wallet app available from its App Store, citing an "unresolved issue." According to UK-based Blockchain, it received no prior warning of a problem.
The app, which is called Blockchain, had been downloaded close to 120,000 times in its two years on the app store. Despite no significant issues with the Bitcoin wallet in those two years, Apple still pulled it for "unresolved issues", according to a scathing response to Apple by the Blockchain developers. The developers noted their confusion with Apple's decision, stating:
Offering no explanation and no opportunity to address any issues, without any apparent change in circumstances other than the growing popularity of the independent and competitive payment system, Apple has eradicated their payment competition on iOS and left the bitcoin space entirely to competing mobile OSs like Googles Android. These actions by Apple once again demonstrate the anti-competitive and capricious nature of the App Store policies that are clearly focused on preserving Apples monopoly on payments rather than based on any consideration of the needs and desires of their users.
Hmmmm. Big Data corporations recently exposed as being in bed with government spooks and forced to do their bidding while prevented from commenting about it. No dots to connect here. Move along.
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How-To: Install Gadgets for Windows 8.1 (really...?) ( NeoWin 2014-01-08 )
WARNING: THIS SOFTWARE IS A 3RD PARTY PROGRAM AND INSTALL AT YOUR OWN RISK Some of you avid Microsoft fans may still be mourning the loss of the notorious desktop clock (or raving in joy), or the much loved RSS Feeder. Well now there's a way to get them back, unofficially of course. Using a nifty little download, you can emulate the same much loved (or hated) feature that was present in the previous operating systems.
[...]
Head over to 8gadgetpack.net and download the installer that's on the front page (beware of the ads, they can look deceiving, its the one on the right hand side.)And naturally all the NeoGirls start to wail like little bitches. One adult tries to penetrate their thick mindless skulls ...
Don't you know that how someone else wants to use THEIR computer is none of YOUR business or concern?
Some people like a different clock because it's their style, or it's pretty, or it matches their wallpaper, or...a million other reasons that don't have anything to do with your desire to run what they might consider a more spartan, ugly, or boring desktop.
This isn't Apple here. Windows is supposed to be for the 95% who actually do Think Different(ly).That's exactly right. These are intolerant little children.
Windows Experience Blog: Help your friends and family get off Windows XP ( Brandon LeBlanc Blogs.Windows.com 2014-01-07 )
Microsoft tries to get tech savvy customers to help get rid of Windows XP ( NeoWin 2014-01-08 )How desperate is Microsoft in its quest to get as many people to stop using Windows XP? Based on the tone of a new blog post from the company today, it's very desperate to stop folks from using the 12-year old operating system before it stops supporting it on April 8th.
The post on the Windows Experience blog says that if you are reading it, "its unlikely you are running Windows XP on your PC However, you may know someone who is and have even served as their tech support." Therefore, Microsoft seems to think that you are the perfect person to spread "the word to ensure people are safe and secure on modern up-to-date PCs."
It suggests that readers help others with Windows XP to see if that PC can run Windows 8.1 or simply buy a new computer with the newest version of the OS installed. The blog adds, "Once they choose and buy a new device, they can transfer their files from their old PC by copying them to an external hard drive, USB flash drive, or cloud storage like SkyDrive."A 'new computer with the newest OS', yes that would be very convenient for Microsoft, and the spying spooks. Beware of Greeks offering gifts, in this case you just know there is a surprise waiting inside. And how about that load of crap: "spread the word to ensure people are safe and secure on modern up-to-date PCs.". Yes, they actually said 'PC's' and not 'Operating Systems' because the OS hard sell has failed them miserably and repeatedly, so they now fall back on lies implying that a PC regardless of hardware and software and OS is not "up-to-date" unless it has Microsoft Tiles ruining it ( not a typo ). It's pretty amazing the depths these Softies will plumb, especially this Brandon LeBlanc. Literal fearmongering is all they have left in their toolbox. Couple this with the insane Scroogle and similar recent unprofessionalism you have to wonder if there are any sane people still employed there.
The NeoKids tried but failed to make this one an XP FUDFest, and lots of them took a good thumping from the adults. Best comment so far: "Listen and understand. Windows XP is out there. It can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear, and it absolutely will not stop. Until you are dead."
Meanwhile, over at Brandon LeBlanc's official little Microsoft blog where the article originates check out the bloody carnage. This comment hits it out of the park ...I have Windows 7 on a very modern computer with a very decent graphics card that's build for gaming. I have 16 GBs of RAM and a Core i5 CPU. I even have an SSD. I'm also taking classes in college to get into the IT field. As for my feelings of Windows 8/8.1, they are as follows... IT SUCKS!
Let's see, how does it suck you may ask. People expect Windows to look and behave a certain way because that's how it has always been for more than fifteen years. When you see a program window and you want to close it, you find the X button in the upper-right corner of the window. If you want to see a listing of programs that's installed on your computer you go to the Start Menu (NOT START SCREEN!). People expect to have a desktop with icons on it, not God awful ugly multi-color boxes that have no indication of whether or not it's something you have to click on or if it's just there to look pretty.
OK, so people have asked me this about Windows 8. Why not just install Classic Shell? Its free, you can get the Start Menu back on Windows 8. Whats to complain about now?
Hmm Classic Shell, you say? Id need way more than that to have Windows 8.1 look even close to past versions of Windows.
First Id have to get WindowBlinds ($9.99) because Microsoft arbitrarily decided that they would remove Areo. Seriously? Why?! Aero was nice, I liked the translucent window borders!
Second Id have to get ModernMIX ($4.99) because I cant stand the even few times I have to go to Metro land to change some setting that oh crap, you cant change that in desktop land you have to do that in Metro land and meanwhile were going to assault your eyes while transitioning to it.
That leaves the traditional Start Menu. You could go with Classic Shell but while youre already using several Stardock programs you might as well use Start8, thats $4.99. At this point youre going to have to spend $20 for various Stardock programs. Or, better yet get Windows 7 that you dont need to buy all of that just to have Windows look and behave like Windows should look and behave.
Sorry Microsoft, again, as I have said on other sites you really screwed the pooch with Windows 8/8.1 on the desktop.And that's just the very beginning, see the comments for yourself.
EDIT: that quoted comment is no longer the leadoff remark, in fact I'm not sure what they did. It still exists but for me it now appears in retard order ( newest first ). As of now the oldest are at the bottom and there are no sorting buttons ( on Opera ). As of this writing, you need to start reading from the bottom of the page and go up ( yep, I'm serous ). But don't miss this thread, it is a bona fide slaughter!0
: I don't have time to add credit inline so I thought I'd mention it here. This should be a record for me with at least 20 posts in a row saved from just a little over two weeks. I blame Microsoft ;-)
I was getting worried that something untoward might have happened during one of those endless snow shoveling sessions. (From sometimes scary experience, I know that it's very heavy work.)
AT&T was probably the first thoroughly compromised private company in the century old government vs citizen wars, providing at the very least metadata for every phone call ever made, and lots of whispers that it was much more than that. Big Blue has been whispered to be the storage provider for them as well as most of Big Government since the 1950's. When IBM was nearly broken up itself more rumors flew about what they had to agree to in order to remain in one piece. Frankly any mention of the two in the same sentence has always been worrisome for the private citizen. And now we get it right out in the open, both of them doing for the government what was long suspected. Orwell be d@mned.
Conan wants Instagram filters in Excel 2014, offers congrats to Nadella
Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions
in General Discussion
Posted
Windows XP FUDpocalypse ( continued ) ...
Microsoft: We Had "a Great Run" with Windows XP. Now upgrade, you skinflints ( Thurrott 2014-02-26 )
It's more like 'Windows XP wasn't designed for a world like today where spooks demand and expect unfettered access to any computer whenever they want. Please upgrade to an operating system that is more amenable to penetration from our benevolent government protectors. Thank you very much'. That would be honest.
IE's Flash made Windows 8 most vulnerable Windows OS, research says ( TechSpot 2014-02-28 )
Windows 8 is the most vulnerable Windows OS, you can thank Flash for that ( NeoWin 2014-02-28 )
Thank Flash? No, sorry.
You can thank MSIE for that. But indeed, let's all blame Flash instead, as if it doesn't exist on every other version of Windows and MSIE and alternate OS platform. Dumb@sses. Hey everybody, look at this chart posted at NeoWin ...
Got it? now look at this sentence from NeoWin ...
Ha!
So where is the NeoWin headline stating Windows XP is most secure? Dumb@sses. Look, we all know what the problem is, MSIE and ActiveX. They are the geniuses that gave us such Internet Options in MSIE as 'Allow ActiveX to do anything it wants without telling you'. I have never even seen an exploit myself for Flash on alternate browsers using the plugin model ( the DLL ) but huge amounts of computers using the OCX and of course MSIE is the browser. Apparently the best kept secret in the history of computer security is the suggestion of DO NOT USE MSIE unless absolutely necessary. Please keep it to yourselves lest the bad guys over hear it and stop attacking Windows n00bs using MSIE on the latest, greatest, most secure version of Windows in the known universe!
Anyway, that sound you now hear ( pop! pop! pop! ) is the sound of bubbles of false security bursting in the narrow minds of the NeoKids who just had a chorus of epiphanies. All that 'most secure' nonsense and that entanglement of buzz words like 'sandbox' blew up in their faces. The comments are a marvel of simultaneous scapegoating of Adobe and exoneration of Microsoft ( wut? ) thanks to this article. Yeah, whatever.
Microsoft Security Essentials 4.5 may also nag Windows XP users ( NeoWin 2014-03-05 )
Blah, blah, blah. I wonder if they realize they have been pushing out that lame message for years already on Knowledge Base pages. It's paternalistic and plain stupid. Only the most ignorant of companies would design a webpage that does not allow the possibility that the computer used to request the page at that moment in time is the same computer that the person is researching. It leads to the craziest situations where a KB article describing fixes for resuscitating a bricked system still assumes the reader is somehow using that very same stone cold dead system and feels obliged to tell them the page is designed for someone else and suggests they upgrade their OS while they're at it. Oh, the NeoKid comments? As usual a gathering of the dumbest SOBs anywhere to be found.
Microsoft to offer final fix for IE10 exploit Tuesday, along with four more security patches ( NeoWin 2014-03-06 )
Translation, they still haven't fixed that latest bug in MSIE, an exploit that *is* actually being exploited. And yes, the author managed to work in some more Windows XP FUD, but neglected to consider that these versions of MSIE are in use on all versions of Windows. This is almost unbearable stupidity now. That magic common denominator that makes Windows a target is MSIE, the very thing that NeoNitwits evangelize about.