CharlotteTheHarlot

:realmad: You see that whopper of a lie in there ... A total lie. That is just the opinion of certain MetroTards, the ones that say they didn't get enough Metro and want even more. This move would be a critical mistake, not for Microsoft, but for MSFT. This would, if government is on its toes, kick in the antitrust actions once the desktop is removed. Windows 8 with the desktop can at least pretend to be a neutral operating system that allows anyone to develop programs for it. Without the desktop and only having Metro as the interface and environment means that Windows is no longer an operating system at all, but a Microsoft facilitator that allows only programs that pass through their gatekeeping. I hope this rumor wakes everyone up. Microsoft needs to be broken up, at the minimum the OS div needs to be ripped out of there and sent a million miles away with no interaction with Microsoft whatsoever. People need to start the ball rolling by badgering their governments and representatives now. If true, this is a brazen attempt to convert their "special" long-standing monopoly into a private cash register. It is unethical and immoral. It is also illegal if the past history of monopolies is recalled. Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Morgan, Carnegie or even the Sopranos wouldn't dream of the scale of this takeover. I have no more patience for these crooks, or those that enable them.

It’s Time to Bring Back NT. Windows NT meant something. It still can ( Thurrott 2013-03-11 ) Paul "The Desktop Must Die" Thurrott in his trademark bipolar fashion is once again testing the waters of sanity, sticking his foot in and sloshing it around, but not yet ready to jump in. To be clear, he is using NT in the generic sense, not the specific enterprise server Windows 3 and mostly 4 versions that were quietly perfected behind the scenes while Win9x was in the consumer spotlight. Many of his commenters cannot quite understand his use of NT as a term for top shelf, practically bug free design of a pure operating system though, so he is forced to explain this over and over in the comments. In some ways Paul has essentially come around to my own way of thinking now ( Post #1811 ) of the traditional delineation of Server, Client and Workstation. He must be beginning to realize that his many columns have had no influence turning us all into loyal mSheep and so he continues to offer modest half-hearted suggestions to turn around the ongoing Metro fiasco. Predictably some of his commenters who are even bigger MicroZealots than he is, are irredeemably obstinate when they perceive back-peddaling that threatens their new toy ... The common thread throughout this entire conflict is the clear divide between MicroSheep and all those others that prefer choice. Choice is an alien concept to these dictatorial narcissists and they will have none of it. Furthermore they want none of it for anyone else. They want Microsoft to choose the interface and theme for everyone else. I wonder if uber-Fanboy lets his wife or boyfriend or mother pick out his clothes too? Historically Microsoft showed this arrogance way back in the 2001 Windows XP cycle when they chose to lock down the UxTheme engine to approved themes, and many of us never forgot that. It was a new paradigm that contradicted the previously open themes dating back to Plus! for Windows 95. Of course we got around this by patching the theme engine in Windows XP and subsequent releases and moved on. But their inexplicable arrogance seems to have just percolated away up in Redmond and is now ubiquitous in every decision they make. Then these enablers step in to justify and rationalize it. The result is that Microsoft is now a morph of IBM and Apple, specifically all their bad characteristics rolled into one corporate entity. There are a lot of comments at that article, and so many are upset or confused that he immediately clarifies his position in another column ... Fixing Windows 8: Advice for Users and for Microsoft ( Thurrott 2013-03-13 ) Thing is, he still doesn't really get it at all. The word choice is in very short supply over there. "Choice" is the solution he is always missing. This new interface controversy merely is a small part of the larger concept of freedom of choice, a concept he needs to learn long before his "advice" will ever be useful to anyone. In the real world we have been experimenting with alternative launchers since Windows 95, and even before that during the entire DOS and WinDOS era. We have always been on the lookout for better interface elements, themes, shells and file managers, etc. These MetroTards simply are unaware of the 3rd party universe and like a person that needs their mommy to pick their outfit, they require Microsoft to pick their interface, right down to the wallpaper and colors. It's a wonder that they didn't all gravitate to Windows "Starter" Editions where Microsoft did just that. Paul, what is needed is Choice to run Metro and/or a traditional Start Menu ( with subchoices to customize that further since they always introduce aggravating changes with each new version ). Choice to use the Ribbon and/or the traditional Menu Bar. Choice to use Breadcrumb navigation and/or Address Bar navigation and/or traditional TreeView GUI ( with the freakin up-one-level arrow shortcut! ). Choice to use crappy handicap icons and/or full-color icons. Choice to use Metro apps in FullScreen and/or Windowed fashion. The list is practically endless. And for every one of these new changes that Microsoft foists upon the Windows user base, each one should be required to have a checkbox option to painlessly and seamlessly fall back to the earlier code. It's how it was always done. See here ... If you don't want to see hidden files or have the Run command displayed on the Start Menu that's fine, for you. But you do not unilaterally make such decisions for everyone else. In the arrogant Microsoft paradigm endorsed by MicroZealots and MetroTards, all the options are simply taken away, with no configuration available. This is what they still don't get. And neither does Thurrott, yet.

Amazon Lowers Prices of Kindle Fire HD 8.9, Further Pressuring Other Tablet Makers ( Thurrott 2013-03-13 ) Amazon cuts prices of Kindle Fire HD 8.9 models ( NeoWin 2013-03-14 ) More last-minute Galaxy S IV images, specs and features leak ( NeoWin 2013-03-14 ) BlackBerry: Unnamed partner bought one million BlackBerry 10 phones ( NeoWin 2013-03-13 ) Just a small sample of the many daily stories which spell nothing but trouble for Microsoft, and their genius Plan-A strategy to gain some marketshare in the mobile space by Destroying Windows and having everyone come running to their Playskool Windows ReTard platform. There is action everywhere in the mobile space, except for Microsoft. Apple is working up their next iPhone and iPad refresh and additionally has new form factors such as watches and TVs in the pipeline and probably some other stuff no-one has even thought of, and all that will rack up percentage points in the iOS column canceling out whatever anemic gains "Windows" manages to gain. I have said many times that even if all companies except Microsoft simply went on vacation for a couple of years releasing no products at all, they still couldn't penetrate this market to any real extent, let alone enough to justify the murder of its signature product and the intentional arrogant insulting of her user base. So even if every company just stopped all production to give Microsoft a chance, buyers would simply run to eBay and buy used devices choosing them over brand new MicroJunk. All that remains to be done is to psychoanalyze the perpetrators of this asinine strategy, the upper level management, their mindless rubber stamp Board of Directors, and all the narcissistic surrogates and enablers around the blogosphere that cheer led them on. Low Cost Products Drive Forecast Increases in the Tablet Market, According to IDC ( IDC 2013-03-12 ) Report: Windows to Make Small Gains in Tablet Market by 2017 ( Thurrott 2013-03-12 ) Microsoft tablet share predicted to grow to 10% by 2017 ( NeoWin 2013-03-13 ) Keep hope alive! They are just looking at tablets where OEMs are the main driver and allegedly results in a growth from the current 4.3% to 10% penetration in 4 years. Even that is questionable though, because those extra 5.7% percentage points must come from someone else, and that is Android and iOS they believe. Even if true, how does the tradeoff of murdering Windows and customer loyalty justify this little possible gain that practically falls into the statistical noise? Taking all mobile into account, tablets, phones and the new form factors we haven't seen yet, then what happens? Even less gain. The tablet space is the only place they are even vaguely present. The competition on phones is enormous with Blackberry just coming out now and another Galaxy tsunami just over the horizon. The rumored wristwatch and maybe even eyeglass market will also count in "mobile" and there does not appear to be a Microsoft plan in the works yet. The only question is, what will the geniuses in Redmond decide to destroy chasing down a few percentage points in that new arena?

Don't even ask. You will not find such a link, here or there. EDIT: I happily stand corrected. I don't recall seeing the DR links ever posted here before. This does raise an interesting point though. Since consumer versions of Win7 ( like Vista and XP ) are activation based, why do they not provide an archive of ISO's for honest Windows users who have legitimate licenses and keys? You really should direct that question to Microsoft the company, the many Softies you find on websites, and all her surrogates. Ask them why consumers are stuck with all the disadvantages of activation and none of the alleged benefits. Having dealt with this issue over and over in the real world, Activation should be instead referred to as Genuine Disadvantage.

Some suggestions ... (0) Personally I prefer a hardcoded path for the temp folder because the global %temp% variable can easily get changed either by accident or malware. (1) Likewise with temp filenames, I also prefer filename.ext rather than just filename to avoid a possible directory name collision. But that's just me. (2) For absolute precision I prefer %1\*.* instead of just %1 because I don't trust the shell ( context menu ) to supply the trailing backslash. Indeed I just checked on WinXP and it does not supply the backslash. So if a file exists that matches the name of the directory you are right-clicking there will be a collision and instead of getting a directory listing you will get the name and size of the file. Also note, as jumper mentioned, there is the possibility of spaces in the folder name. But in the example registry string I gave you above, it is already handled by the escaped string ... @="\"C:\\Windows\\Printdir.bat\" \"%1\"" (3) I don't think you need the colon ":" in the DIR command sort switch. Try using just ... /ogn (4) You are using the reverse prefix "-" on the /p pause ( did you instead want it to be on the /o sort order? ) And I am confused why it should be paused when it is intended to be printed. Or, perhaps you have DIRCMD defaults and this is intended to reverse that and prevent pausing? (5) You are using a temp file and then deleting it, thus you need the START /w which makes sense, but the whole process is unnecessary. Since you are using the overwrite redirection operator ">" ( rather than the append ">>" ), the file is essentially deleted anyway. Scrap that concept and forget the temp file even exists and just launch NotePad. When it closes you can ignore the temp file ( no need to delete it ) because it will get overwritten later. It also may prove helpful to be able to refer back to the exact file you printed if something looks awry in the printout. (6) I wouldn't even bother with the @echo off since without it you might get some echoed debugging clues in the CMD window if you should ever wind up in a hang situation. (7) I don't recall needing EXIT for context menu launched batch files, but I know that using CLS after a blank line is an old trick to close stubborn CMD windows. There is a linefeed after CLS also. So I would try this one ( depending on what that /p DIR switch is all about ) ... dir %1\*.* /ogn /-p > C:\Temp\Listing.txt notepad.exe /p C:\Temp\Listing.txt cls EDIT: almost forgot, you may want to add /a to list all files ( including hidden ) ... dir %1\*.* /a /ogn /-p > C:\Temp\Listing.txt Also, I always try to limit the failure vectors and specify exact filenames ( e.g., notepad.exe rather than just notepad ) to rule out malware cases like notepad.bat. Probably the best thing is to hardcode to C:\Windows\Notepad.exe to be completely safe!

Two more reviews ... StartisBack 2.0 Windows 8 Start menu program released ( NeoWin 2013-03-04 ) The first time ( I think ) that Tiihy's utility has been featured at NeoWin. Naturally the MetroTards are less than happy. Stardock Start8 vs. Classic Shell ( Maximum PC 2013-03-12 ) Very thorough comparison. The comments are a hoot ( remember that MPC is the opposite of NeoWin ).

Yes it is. And it is from one of our very own friends here, XpClient.

Yeah, FormFiller mentioned it back around Post #1722. I would have brought that thread up back in October if it had kept on going but a moderator over there locked it up quickly. I think one of them thought they were being clever trying to flush out my NeoWin handle. Note that around that same time one of the mods here politely and correctly asked us to stop using that term so we all made this "concession" because we really don't want to stoop way down to their very low level ( although everyone using that phrase is really only referring to that vocal minority of children anyway, not the entire NeoWin site obviously ).

Rick clearly just forgot the sarc tag there. Or maybe he was referring to my handle here. There are couple of better songs on the 1st Iron Maiden album. I tried for both Phantom Of The Opera and Prowler but I believe they were already taken.

The other day I had 75% completed a reply to you, but got called away. Anyway, I also have this version of WinImage and IIRC, it has a tendency to always re-register in WIN.INI which then propagates to the registry. WIN.INI ... [Extensions] bwz=C:\YourPath\WinImage.exe ^.bwz dsk=C:\YourPath\WinImage.exe ^.dsk ima=C:\YourPath\WinImage.exe ^.ima img=C:\YourPath\WinImage.exe ^.img imz=C:\YourPath\WinImage.exe ^.imz vfd=C:\YourPath\Winimage.exe ^.vfd wil=C:\YourPath\WinImage.exe ^.wil wlz=C:\YourPath\WinImage.exe ^.wlz Registry ... [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.bwz] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.dsk] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.ima] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.img] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.imz] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.vfd] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.wil] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.wlz] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\BWZfile] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\DSKfile] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\IMAfile] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\IMGfile] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\IMZfile] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\VFDfile] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\WILfile] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\WLZfile] IIRC the extensions you see in WIN.INI get assimilated because the Win9x kernel at bootstrap splats them into the registry automatically from the Win95 era feature for forward compatibility of programs that only know INI files, creating these registry keys whenever entries appear in [Extensions]. WinImage isn't the only one, sometimes you see entries in WIN.INI for the OLE features of Office9x and other programs also, which then find their way into the registry also. I was going to suggest that either a large registry hive might be getting to the "tipping point" and gets pushed slightly over after WinImage and Win9x does their thing causing an error, or, perhaps WIN.INI might be reaching the 64 KB limit and cannot be written successfully. Other possibilities are that WIN.INI might be Read Only or System or some other blocking mechanism like an AV or Anti-Malware might be protecting it or those registry keys. I cannot remember if I located the magic switch in WinImage to tell it to stop the self-register function. It is a pain because as you see it takes over those associations starting in WIN.INI so there is a chain reaction of failure vectors. Of course, WinImage knows both INI and Registry so it is desirable to "tame" this program. I think I used to just run a batch script periodically to clean up WIN.INI and the registry after using WinImage. I'll try to run this down later when I get some free time ( but please don't hold your breath! ).

It's exactly like I said, the error is in the REG script ( or you manually entered the REG script text ). The 2nd left photo clearly shows the error right away with the doubled backslashes and other stuff. For those to exist as they appear in the photo, you either literally entered the escaped ( double backslash ) strings from the REG text file into the registry via the REGEDIT dialog boxes, or, your imported REG text file actually has quadruple backslashes "\\\\". If you were to now export that key you will see them. Anyway, this is what you now should import into REGEDIT ( don't copy/paste the lines into REGEDIT! ) ... REGEDIT4 [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\Print] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\Print] @="&Print Directory" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\Print\Command] @="\"C:\\Windows\\Printdir.bat\" \"%1\"" I repeat, that chunk of text should be saved as a .REG file and then imported ( or dropped onto ) REGEDIT. P.S. I would personally use "FOLDER" instead of "DIRECTORY". EDIT: correction, I meant the 1st photo has the incorrect \Command] strings.

Please post the exact registry scripts you tried. Usually it is just a matter of getting the quotes and backslash characters "escaped" correctly. This just means using the proper syntax so that REGEDIT actually inserts the expected string into the registry.

ERUNT gets a thumbs up as does his ( Lars Hederer ) NtRegOpt registry defragging utility. You do have to watch the output carefully to make sure that ERUNT successfully gets all the hives without any error messages. I have never personally used ERUNT to actually restore the registry, nor do I even know the method, but I assume by now he has figured it out or else we would have heard about it. The manual fallback method is either to boot with a LiveCD containing its own operating system and manually copy the files into Windows\System32\Config, or take out the HDD and do the same from another computer.

Nokia supports Apple in Samsung product sales ban effort ( TechSpot 2013-03-07 ) Nokia and Apple team up against Samsung ( NeoWin 2013-03-07 ) They're sure making it really easy now to pick favorites in this conflict now. Microsoft-Nokia-Apple vs Samsung-Google. Hmmm, let me think. Microsoft-Nokia-Apple want to make it easy for judges to completely ban products, and remove their competition! Yeah right. It's really obvious that the long-running Microsoft and Apple duopoly is under serious attack now, especially their patented strategy of simply knocking all competition off the playing field and having the market all to themselves for a period of time, and then exploiting it like locusts until some competition manages to get some traction. That is Microsoft and Apple's only business model, add any deviation to the norm and all he!! breaks loose. That is why Apple is in court trying to ban Samsung phones from even appearing on the USA store shelves ( and thankfully losing almost everywhere ), and it is why Microsoft is operating so erratically. They have never had any real competition to deal with and it leads to crazy ideas like destroying Windows in order to gain some meaningless mobile marketshare. So WTF is Nokia sticking their nose into this case for? Obviously they believe if the competition is removed from the game everyone will flock to their wonderful WP8 with its Playskool colorful blocks interface. Or maybe not ... Nokia will end up owing $650 million to Microsoft ( NeoWin 2013-03-07 ) This has to be one of the most entangled partnerships ever. And those numbers, if true, are frightening if you are the accountant. Remember what they did. They literally threw out their in-house phone operating systems and have almost now switched over entirely to Windows Phone ( it is also interesting to imagine if Nokia had simply gone Android. Who would even be selling WP today? ). So Nokia literally bet the company on Microsoft. It is unimaginable how Nokia can keep its books straight. It is hard to see them pulling through if you recall some of the recent stories in just the past six months ( Post #1870 ) ... Nokia stock down 15% following Windows Phone announcements ( NeoWin 2012-09-05 ) Nokia apologizes for misleading Lumia PureView video ( NeoWin 2012-09-06 ) Nokia CEO: "No indications" Microsoft is making its own phone ( NeoWin 2012-10-02 ) Nokia confirms sell off Finland HQ buildings [update] ( NeoWin 2012-10-03 ) Major bank downgrades Nokia again, recommends break-up and sell-off ( NeoWin 2012-10-04 ) Nokia's VP of Product Marketing departs, investors dissapointed with 920 announcement ( NeoWin 2012-10-07 ) AT&T Lumias get reduced battery life estimates ( NeoWin 2012-10-07 ) Nokia reveals Euro pricing for Lumia 920 / 820 and accessories ( NeoWin 2012-10-12 ) Nokia to raise cash by selling its headquarters ( NeoWin 2012-12-04 ) Lawsuit that claimed Nokia lied about Lumia sales resolved ( NeoWin 2012-12-13 ) Nokia may pull out of CES to focus on MWC ( NeoWin 2012-12-18 ) Nokia will be at CES but has "scaled back" for the 2013 show ( NeoWin 2012-12-18 ) Nokia is committed to Windows Phone, full stop ( NeoWin 2013-01-07 ) Nokia accused of $545m tax evasion in India; offices raided in investigation ( NeoWin 2013-01-08 ) Nokia's Asha range outselling Lumias 2:1 ( NeoWin 2013-01-13 ) Nokia slashes another 1000 jobs in Finland ( NeoWin 2013-01-17 ) Nokia sells Oulu campus for $40.8 million ( NeoWin 2013-02-12 ) Nokia Mistakenly Reveals Lumia Windows RT Tablet ( Tom's Hardware 2013-02-14 ) Nokia may drop Samsung as parts supplier ( NeoWin 2013-02-14 ) I made this graphic a while back and was saving it in case Nokia filed chapter 11, but this seems like a perfect chance to use it ... EDIT: forgot to mention that this is what the original photo looked like ...

Yes to this comment! Don't use them. The only way registry cleaners can ever be considered safe is if you know exactly how to back up your registry hives and also know how to restore them. What I mean by "registry hives" is the files in native binary form, not a registry export. Registry exports are useful for many things, but on Windows NT versions they cannot be used to recreate your registry in binary form ( on Win9x yes, but with caveats on large registries ). Windows NT has ACLs that are not exported. So saving the entire set of binaries is the only sure method of backing it up. Some of the registry cleaners do give the ability to merely create a list of items to be changed without actually changing them. I find those useful for audit purposes, but never allow them to do anything. Changes are made manually later after carefully examining every one of their suggested "improvements".

Nokia CEO: Windows Phone can be the world's biggest OS ( NeoWin 2013-02-27 ) That was funny a week or so ago. But it's way funnier now ... comScore: Microsoft's US smartphone OS share stagnant ( NeoWin 2013-03-06 ) As has been said here over and over, how can they gain anything in mobile marketshare? Look at the chart. Microsoft lost marketshare since last October falling from 3.2% to 3.1%. Blackberry was just released and the next Galaxy and iPhone are in the on-deck circle. What was that Plan-A again Ballmer? Destroy Windows to obtain some increased mobile marketshare. Good work! Speaking of mobile space ... Ferrari adds Apple iPad Minis and Siri voice to its newest models ( NeoWin 2013-03-06 ) There actually are MetroTards bad-mouthing Ferrari! Jeez Louise. Can anyone seriously imagine putting those playskool blocks on a screen in a car like this? ... No way! EDIT: updated image URL, and again

Stardock reveals ModernMix: Run and resize Modern Windows 8 apps on the desktop ( NeoWin 2013-03-06 ) Interview: Stardock's CEO talks about ModernMix for Windows 8 ( NeoWin 2013-03-06 ) Windows 8 Tip: Run Metro Apps in Windows on the Desktop ( Thurrott 2013-03-06 ) ModernMix lets you run Windows 8 apps as desktop apps ( TechSpot 2013-03-07 ) Here's the $4.99 utility that might just have saved Windows 8. Is Microsoft listening, though? ( UK Register 2013-03-08 ) A new app subverts Microsoft's vision for Windows 8 ( The Verge 2013-03-06 ) More details about the new StarDock program mentioned by MagicAndre1981 above ( Post #2175 ). This thing solves one big problem, putting those stupid apps into proper windows where they should have been all along. If you read the comments you might be surprised that many of the MicroZealots and MetroTards are interested in this program! Actually, one of the posters here, FormFiller accurately predicted this phenomenon above when he said they 'will turn on a dime' in these situations despite their mountains of previous comments attacking these things. Good call. ( Check out the pair of uber-MetroTard comments at the Thurrott article by "ScubaDog2008" for a glimpse into the troubled mind of a Microsoft enabler who makes Thurrott look like an Android Droid! ). Windows 8 / Office bundle costs OEMs $30 after Microsoft slashes prices ( TechSpot 2013-03-06 ) Rumor: Microsoft to cut Windows 8 touchscreen OEM price by 75 percent ( NeoWin 2013-03-06 ) Microsoft Discounting Windows 8 For OEMs to Boost Sales ( Tom's Hardware 2013-03-07 ) Microsoft to Offer Price Cuts for Windows 8 PCs ( Maximum PC 2013-03-08 ) More details about Price Slashing mentioned by Jorge above ( Post #2179 ). Although the range is varied, it seems the Microsoft tax for the Windows 8 pOS ran between $80 and $120 per device. Is it any wonder the OEMs are bailing on them? Their monopoly position and OEM backroom deals that facilitate this gouging is now under attack from all sides. It was Microsoft's mistake to offer up this pOS at this particular time because they are just handing them a reason to bail. Will the radical price cuts work? Maybe. One thing is for sure, the actual customer is the farthest thing from their minds. Microsoft wants these things sold, whether or not the customers like them or want them. This action may even be a last ditch effort to save this dog due to horrible internal numbers, but we don't have enough information to really know. Speaking of bailing ... As Intel knocks on ARM's door, what is the future of Windows RT? ( NeoWin 2013-03-06 ) Is Samsung pulling the plug on its Windows RT tablet? ( NeoWin 2013-03-06 ) Why Microsoft's Surface RT Will Flop ( Dvorak PC Magazine 2013-03-07 ) I can't imagine anyone wanting one of these things ( the ARM version with no x86 Windows software compatibility ). Its main purpose in life seems to be as an alternative to Android tablets, and it isn't really price competitive. Who would want one and why? The only way I can see people buying these things is entirely by accident due to the mischievous use of the term "Windows". And then they angrily return them. What a plan. Oh yeah, let's not forget the dogfood fed to to the 90,000 Softies, now there's a workplace benefit. EDIT: added links

More links about the recent Microsoft judgment mentioned by Jaclaz ... E.U. Slaps Microsoft with $731 Million Fine Over Botched Browser Ballot ( Maximum PC 2013-03-06 ) Microsoft fined €561m for not showing browser ballot on Win7 SP1 ( TechSpot 2013-03-06 ) EU Fines Microsoft for Failing to Comply with Browser Ballot ( Tom's Hardware 2013-03-06 ) EU fines Microsoft $732 million for web browser ballot violation [update] ( NeoWin 2013-03-06 ) Since 2004, the EU has fined Microsoft 3.04 billion dollars ( NeoWin 2013-03-06 ) Microsoft Has No Plans to Appeal EU Fine ( Tom's Hardware 2013-03-06 ) EU Fines Microsoft $732 Million for Breaking Terms of Antitrust Deal ( Thurrott 2013-03-06 ) Well, I am on record against the original judgment ( Post #731 among many others ) which occurred when Barksdale cried to Congress in the late 1990's and several normally sensible lawyers got on board the Netscape bandwagon and government bureaucrats dutifully obliged. It's not that Microsoft didn't try to kill Netscape ( they did ), but the precedent of government intrusion should they have prevailed was very dangerous. And although it amazingly never happened, there was the very real possibility that every kind of "optional" software could be stripped out of Windows ( Calc, Calendar, ScanDisk, ad infinitum ) because they are all anti-competitive against their 3rd party standalone counterparts. For some reason, the shark trial lawyers never figured this out. But now we can plainly see the real problem that occurred while no-one was looking. While the government spent all their ammunition running down this rabbit hole, Microsoft consolidated their OS monopoly while everyone else played the pea shell game. The original judgment and this latest fine mean nothing to Microsoft. It is a cheap discounted means to an end. Pay this and proceed with the master plan. So now we have Windows 8 and Metro ( specifically an OS that boots straight to the walled garden with "The Store" right up front ), that is going for the gold ring. The end-game is in sight once the Desktop is removed, and then it is done! Always watch where the pea is, not the sleight of hand! So try as I might, I just cannot muster any sympathy for the Redmond bureaucrats. EDIT: typos, added another link

Microsoft quietly revamps Bing.com Search History page to Modern UI ( NeoWin 2013-03-06 ) They really can't help themselves. In another example of square pegs and round holes, some genius said "let's Metrofy the Bing screen". Apparently the plan is to demonstrate at every available opportunity ( Start Screen, Server 2k12, etc ) the handiwork of the 9-year old daughter of a Microsoft executive, I mean, that is exactly what this looks like to me. Some MicroBoss has a child that recently discovered Paint and instead of hanging her creations on the refrigerator door or on his office wall, he fed them into the dev group and they wind up as product releases. Rather than link the photos I'll just nick the whole NeoWin page since it does a fine job of showing this abomination ... There are no words for this. ( okay, there are some words for this, but I better just withhold them for now, all things considered )

Microsoft Caves, Allows Users to Transfer Office 2013 ( Tom's Hardware 2013-03-06 ) Microsoft reverses one-PC Office 2013 licensing restriction ( TechSpot 2013-02-06 ) Microsoft: Go Ahead and Transfer Office 2013 to Another PC ( Maximum PC 2013-02-06 ) Microsoft to now allow Office 2013 PC license transfers once every 90 days ( NeoWin 2013-02-06 ) Office 2013 now transferable ( blogs.office.com 2013-02-06 ) Office 2013 Retail Copies Now Transferrable to Second PC ( Thurrott 2013-02-06 ) Amazing how some parts of Microsoft are tone-deaf while others apparently still can use common sense. Either that, or the internal numbers are looking real bad for Office 364. Of course it is still strangely restricted to an arbitrary "90 days". Let's not forget the plan they have, advance the precedents towards full lockdown. These little adjustments are just that, little, and, adjustments. The song remains the same. EDIT: added that last Thurrott link, clueless as ever ... Oh Puhhhlease Paul. At least be honest. This is only in Microsoft's best interest, you slow cooking frog. One of the Tom's Hardware commenters nicely paraphrases Churchill, and I will modify it further ... "You can always count on Microsoft to make the right decision, after they have tried everything else."

What I believe they are doing is blocking 64-bit downloads on 32-bit systems. So it is some kind of sniffing resulting in ... ... which is a classic phony page. I tried in all three: MSIE, Opera and FF with cookies and Javascript and they are simply displaying a generic useless page full of lies like they all do. My guess is that they see 32-bit, but do not have an appropriate error message to display. But I think you and I are talking about two different pages. The sniffing I refer to is done from the main Java page for current releases: Java 6 or Java 7. From there try clicking through the links ( "Information about the 64-bit Java plug-in" ) and follow the rabbit holes and you will most likely keep going in circles. The Solution. If you want to download the 64-bit installers using a 32-bit browser just go here as Jaclaz posted ( and as I posted for the previous release ) ... Java 6 u43 Webpage Java 7 u17 Webpage

Do either of those URLs work for you? I had no luck with Opera, FF and MSIE as of this writing. As I have written above ( in this thread ) they use browser/system sniffing, specifically rejecting 64-bit packages for 32-bit systems.

How am I supposed to even respond to this without violating every one of the forum rules? You just said I was somehow "making trouble where there was none". For real? When I I wasn't even here? ! ! ! I think I just visited crazy land. P.S. Your description of what has been considered on-topic in this "Deeper Impressions" thread does not correlate with what I was involved in for the last 1,500 posts or so. To make it real simple, how about someone "in the know" just spelling out what the new rules are? Specifically, what is now considered on-topic. That's not too much to ask. I would like to know what caused the previous problem. But that is clearly too much too ask.

Well that didn't last long ... So much for that announcement. That was supposedly the final version ever released for Java 6 ( JRE 6 release 41 ), but as noted by egrabrych, it was quickly superceded. Just downloaded these files ... jre-6u43-windows-i586.exe ... Webpage ... Direct Download ( for now ) jre-6u43-windows-x64.exe .... Webpage jre-7u17-windows-i586.exe ... Webpage ... Direct Download ( for now ) jre-7u17-windows-x64.exe .... Webpage Note: Correct me If I'm wrong but there does not seem to have been a jre-6u42. Note: Correct me If I'm wrong but there does not seem to have been a jre-7u16. EDIT: added x64 links

I can't speak for anyone except for myself, but participating in a thread with a Sword of Damacles hanging over it is distracting, which might be the whole intent. So in a way Jorge is right, whoever the butthurt Softies are should claim victory. I just checked back in after a couple of days, and even as I type this the problems are still here. What is allowed? What was off-topic? What is now considered off-topic? Do any of you know? Since getting to the bottom of this fiasco is apparently verboten ( they locked the only thread where we started to get a couple answers ) does anyone even know what can be discussed anymore? For example ... ... with no further explanation, here or in private. We're apparently supposed to be mind readers I guess. What I want to ask is: concessions to who, and why, but I guess I shouldn't bother lest its gets snipped or something. It has nothing to do with a thread being moved ( it was killed, remember? ). And I disagree with your wording, there is nothing "petty" about free speech, and heck, it's not like we're talking politics or religion here ( okay, MicroZealots are definitely religious )., that's when the fur really flies. I'm never gonna compare "MSFN" to "evil-doers" because it is larger than whatever "evil-doer" might have infiltrated its staff and put their own petty agenda above that of the Site itself. That's what irks me. Troublemakers making trouble where there was none.