CharlotteTheHarlot

After reading that Forbes "update", I just don't know what has happened to writers' communication skills these days If you read from around the "---------" divider it just makes no sense to me. His font and size selection further messes it up. This paragraph is out of place compared to the title: "If you have a digital creative streak but your budget doesn’t extend far enough to buy Adobe’s Creative Suite applications, this is for you. Adobe have made available an array of applications from its Creative Suite 2 bundle — for free.". Maybe he is just sloppy and neglected to label the "original" and the "updated" parts of the post? Still clear as mud to me.

Well, Paul Thurrott is back embarrassing himself again in ... Fixing Windows 8, Part 6: Offer Desktop Apps in Windows Store ... For Both Windows 8 and RT ( WinSupersite 2013-01-07 ) Under the guise of improving Windows 8 by cross-pollinating the two sides of the Desktop and Metro, he actually is just re-stating much of the nonsense he stated earlier in another infamous comment. Here he is yesterday ... We'll get back to that "deadwood" thing again later. Anyway, from there he proceeds on a wishful magical mystery tour of band-aids to be applied on this frankenstein monster. He seems to believe that if only Microsoft would tweak the thing up all the ill-feelings would wash away and the countryside would suddenly resemble the fields of Windows XP Bliss once again. It's sad really. He mentions that the "sandboxing" is the key to the safety and security of the new model. He implies that multitasking is the root of all evil, apps cannot be allowed to interact. Uggh. He is practically begging Microsoft to lock down the platform and turn him into an iSheep. Why doesn't he just go Apple? He closes the post with this ... I'll bet he actually does believe that too even though it cannot be said of any software ever developed in the history of the world, yet he no doubt believes it. He also demonstrates his failing eyesight or complete lack of taste when a very sensible commenter says: "I think that then next Fixing Windows 8 article should be about aero glass and personalization. I think the personalization settings in Windows 8 should be restored to that of the Release Preview.", to which he replies ... Every single word he wrote was ridiculous. Microsoft made the wrong decision Paul. Aero Glass was removed for no good reason Paul. And if you think the flat, glaring, shadowless, colorless, sharp-cornered, two-dimensional Windows 1.0 look "is more attractive", can I see some pictures of your house to see if you also do without the bells and whistles to keep it "more attractive"? Aero Glass may be optional and subjective certainly, but do you deprive yourself of such things in your home? Optional decorations are a personal choice, we could always choose not to use them and some did, but they are not things that are to be removed under false pretenses or outright lies. My computer here doesn't have a battery Paul, what do you have to say about that? My laptops are plugged in Paul, what do you have to say about that? You always had the choice to disable Aero and set the computer for "best performance" and a variety of other reductive settings. Did you disable all of those Paul? Now here is the final question Paul ... Why do you think these things should be removed from my computer and not just yours? His comment about "Deadwood" was noticed in an earlier comment ( see Post #866 ) and is a reference to one of his worst displays of fanboyism ... Wednesday, August 15, 2012 - Start: The Windows 8 Era Begins ... where we dubbed him ... Paul "The Desktop Must Die" Thurrott , and we saw him state ... The real mind-bending pull-quote was this self-outing as a delusional MicroZealot ... Exorcism? Technological deadwood? Give me a break. Malware from the "desktop"? Canned apps, no multitasking? Lunacy. Everyone knows that it does not make sense to attack your own strengths, your allies, your own history. You don't burn the bridges behind you unless you are in retreat. Severing ties to your own history is ludicrous. Microsoft was propelled to its dominant position from its pre-OS past life as a small fish in a big pond of software companies because of one platform - the x86 universe pioneered by IBM, whose coattails were long enough to drag these hicks into prominence. The x86 universe ( which now includes 64-bit also, it means 8086 family ) is one where anyone can become a programmer and directly sell their wares to anyone else without a gatekeeper like Microsoft charging a bridge toll. All the related companies including OEM hardware makers also played nice keeping the open architecture alive ( ironically it would be IBM that broke the unwritten rule with MCA, but I digress ) and thriving so this "ecosystem" flourished. Along came Apple's business models, with a closed architecture, iron-fisted uniformity and later with private controlled stores complete with mafia-like cuts, and the mental illness of Apple-envy took root in all those jealous minds in Redmond. And here we are. It is very transparent to those of us who participated from the beginning. Microsoft wishes to morph into MicroApple right before our lying eyes while telling us how great this Windows 8 abomination is for everyone, even though we know it is good only for Microsoft. So where does Thurrott and Bott and a few other MicroZombies fit in? Good question. I find it hard to believe that they could be this gullible. It is impossible that the entire history of the x86 universe has escaped even them. They must be willing participants in this attack on the "free world" ( a good metaphor for the x86 universe I think ). Thurrott sees the "Free World" as "Deadwood". He is either blind or a useful idi0t. When you look at the overall history and remember that Microsoft first pushed its way into the OEM assembly line with back-room deals and ultimately got the bulk of the computers on Planet Earth running their OS, and later they decide it is time to convert them into their private walled-garden slowly and by attrition, it becomes a serious matter legally, morally and ethically. It is a very easy comparison to large monopolies of the past like Railroad or Oil Barons, except for scale, because the legendary monopolists of the past never got into the customer range of holding a billion victims at their disposal the way Microsoft has. This attack on all of us is real. This is war. There can no longer be any doubt that they want x86 and all its scab developers with their non-sanctioned, non-taxed software out of the picture. Make no mistake, they have a plan to phase out x86 by hook or by crook. Ultimately the operating system ( Windows 8 or 9 or 10 or Metro or RT or whatever they call it ) will be the gatekeeper. Microsoft will get a cut from the software authors, advertising, streaming, developer tools and maybe even email and TV. This is a very cloudy future for freedom. The death of the x86 universe does not even mean the death of x86 chips from Intel and AMD because the OS could emulate on top of them a different target ( explains why they don't seem too worried yet ), or it could just shift to ARM architecture or even something else entirely. The problem is at the OS level, where Microsoft is making its move from selling a passive Operating System ( that sits between the hardware and applications ) to a one-stop shop of gate-keeping and control. Pretty much everything you take for granted now is on its way out the window. Yes, they cannot take away our own systems and tools and a dwindling world of x86 will probably survive, but the plan is nefarious nonetheless because as old computers die, and the new ones roll of the assembly lines with "Microsoft Gates" installed ( get it? like Windows, but gate-keeping ) it becomes a matter of time. This is why they have turned me around, an ancient veteran Microsoft DOS and Windows tech, from a friend to a mortal enemy. This is why I believe Windows 8 and all its evil spawn must fail and fail spectacularly. There is an old saying: "You always dance with the one that brung ya", and the x86 universe with its huge amount of companies and individual developers is "the one who brung ya". The picture isn't crystal clear yet however. They may fail spectacularly this year, but it might not be enough to put this genie back in the bottle. In a perfect world they would just say "We're getting out of the OS business" and release something like the Windows XP or 7 source code to the community ( along with FAT and NTFS and other necessary protocols ) and let the actual experts take over. I mean they say it's dying anyway, right? Prove it by getting out, you made enough money off this thing already. Then they could move on to their Windows RT pipe dream ( and still fail ). Alternatively we can demand from the government ( never my first choice, but ) that this company to be split in at least two parts, isolating the OS division from the rest of those children. After a thorough house-cleaning ( that means under-achievers like you Steve, Julie and Jensen ) then things might just get on track. Hey, we can still dream, right? EDIT: typo

I am still confused because I thought you said you had no registry to use ... So you want to take the hives from an image and export them to a REG text file, correct? When you have access to a registry hive file, you can use a 3rd party tool called RegDat ( Win9x ) and RegDatXP ( NT ) to open any hive file individually and then process it, including exporting it out to a standard REG file. Last August I located several copies of RegDat and described it here. Please note that registry hives from any computer are crafted to that specific machine and users. Depending on what your "Windows7 image" is an image of will determine if those hives are useful or useless. EDIT: typo

Acer Intros 7-inch Iconia B1 Android Tablet For Under $150 ( Tom's Hardware 2013-01-07 ) Acer confirms "less than $150" 7-inch Jelly Bean tablet ( TechSpot 2013-01-07 ) Now what do they do? I've been saying their math is way off on how much marketshare they can expect in "Mobile". There is also a often-rumored wave of budget cellphones coming as well. Microsoft let the Surface go for midrange laptop prices and the Surface Pro will go for high-end laptop prices. Are they crazy? What do they got on the bottom end? The number of tablets and phones will leapfrog and they have no chance at penetration. Even if every other phone and tablet ( "mobile" ) maker decided to take a year off, could they than make a dent? I doubt it. Great idea destroying Windows Steve. Report: Microsoft's Xbox division has lost nearly $3 billion in 10 years ( NeoWin 2013-01-07 ) Is there actually a board of directors at this company? Nokia is committed to Windows Phone, full stop ( NeoWin 2013-01-07 ) Or are they? Article makes it sound a little shakey to me. Linksys Intros New 802.11ac Smart Wi-Fi Routers ( Tom's Hardware 2013-01-07 ) Not related to Windows 8, or is it? ... So much for computer security which is unraveling on two fronts now. The router is getting "smart" and Windows 8 displays personal information by design at your fingertips. If I steal your Tablet or Surface I will have nice updating tiles with the names of your contacts, emails, tweets, facebook and probably billing information and stock quotes, each being a fingerpress away for more info. Now with smart routers, all I need to do is steal your Tablet or Surface and if the owner has his router password stored I have direct access to the network, its client computers, webcams, and coming soon: smart house devices probably including burglar alarms. We thought this was a bad idea a decade ago with uPnP, but memories are short I guess. Sacrifice security in the name of convenience and you know the result. Totally unrelated to Windows 8, but articles to demonstrate that it is not just Microsoft that are not thinking clearly ... USB 3.0 doubling up to a super ‘SuperSpeed' of 10 Gbps ( NeoWin 2013-01-07 ) USB 3.0 update will double transfer speeds to 10Gbps in 2014 ( TechSpot 2013-01-07 ) In summary, About a year from now USB will increase its speed from 5 Gb/s to 10 Gb/s, a complete doubling. However ... the new USB will still be called USB 3.0 ... and it will still use the same Connectors ... and it might still use the same Cables. What could possibly go wrong? Continuing with previous blunders they will use a dumb parlance like USB "SuperSpeed" instead of USB 3.1 or something else. Why do we have these standards organizations again? EDIT: using the same connector is a good thing, I doubt the same cable will work though. But the name is wrong! If you go shopping at NewEgg for something that runs at the new speed wouldn't you rather search for USB 3.1 instead of some dumb marketroid label? It is going to cause lots of headaches for hardware makers.

First, so we're clear, we're talking about the AOL Software here, i.e., AOL 7 or 8 or 9 which I know work with broadband. The earlier ones may also have but I cannot remember and in those versions most people used AOL as their ISP. (1) Your modem ( DSL, Cable, Fiber ) does not connect to AOL, The AOL software uses the existing configured Windows TCP/IP connection. Far more importantly, if you are on broadband ( DSL, Cable, Fiber ) you should have a router in between that modem and the computer. If your computer is directly jacked into the modem with ethernet you are asking for trouble. In case that describes you ( or others reading this ), forget AOL for the moment and get a router and properly configure it ( research the exact model and spend some time reading forums discussing the exact model ). Modem <-> Router <-> Computer. After the Router is working and you fire up some web browser like Opera or Firefox, make sure that web is working fine ( this means your TCP/IP is good to go ). Only then, install AOL ( the software ) and it will see the working connection and automatically configure the few things it does. It is not like the old days with AOL as an ISP, where they needed to install an "adapter", essentially another network, and another layer of complexity. ADDED: when you are setting up the router from your computer which is connected by ethernet cable ( done by entering a URL into your web browser like 192.168.1.1 ) there will be a main page with SETUP and usually there is a drop-down list of "Connection Types", of which one should be "Automatic". DSL may be different, but on our Cable the automatic goes to DHCP. There are half a dozen others including PPPoE. Try Automatic, or see what your DSL ISP says in their literature. It is very simple. The main point is that this question you asked has NOTHING to do with AOL or web browsers. It has to do with how the router uses the provided broadband signal. Once the router is all configured, none of these details will be needed for the Web or AOL or Windows or anything else because everything behind the router ( computers, laptops, phones, tablets ) communicates with the router and not the internet directly. Almost all software will be talking TCP/IP, but some special programs or functions like Torrent clients might require you to jump back into the router page and open ports and other things. 99% of the time you have nothing at all to do though. (2) No. Just so we're clear, going to websites through a NAT router should only be an abstraction. The purpose is avoiding end-to-end communication entirely. You are talking to your router, it is talking to the internet, the router makes the thing seamless by getting the right IP addresses inbound and outbound. It is a hardware firewall. "Ergonomic and Straightforward" in this situation is a bad idea. That is unless you are using AOL as an ISP, like many people used to do. But that cannot describe you since you say you have DSL. That provider ( Verizon? ) is your ISP. (3) No. AOL email has been free for a long time now. Anyone ( in fact most ) simply use their @aol.com email addresses through their web browser by going to Aol.com and signing in with their password just like on any other site. All the protocols are in use ( POP3, IMAP, etc ) last I checked, but it is not necessary to know this for any major web browser, the more obscure ones might need manual configuration and for those you just Google for the details ( but I have never seen it need to be done since the "Broadband" era ). The AOL software package ( now 9.7 I think, with a version 10 for cloud ) is only because of personal preference for the mail management, contacts, address books, IM and all the proprietary stuff we are used to. It also is probably a bit more secure than web browsers because they are constantly hacked and it would be easier for bad guys to get the mail and passwords from the registry or browser folders than from the AOL screename files. But that last part is more my own opinion. Note what I described above, setup a Router, test Web browsers, if all is okay install AOL Software. No configuration is necessary. AOL does not know or care who your ISP is or even how you are connected. It does not see Cable/FIOS/DSL, it sees "Broadband". Likewise, your ISP ( Verizon, etc ) does not know or care about AOL. How it works for me is I can use web browsers all day long. If I want to look at AOL mail I fire up the AOL software, click "sign in" and it simply connects instantly using TCP/IP just like any web browser might. The difference is that you are within the confines of an AOL Window ( with all the traditional AOL accoutrements ) rather than the other way using a browser, where you would be doing your mail within a webpage in a Firefox or Opera tab. Finally, if someone is using the AOL Software ( not the AOL website ), and clicks a link or types a URL, they should be aware that AOL still uses Internet Explorer as its browser even though it is disguised as AOL Browser. So I never do any internet within the AOL Software window. Many of the complaints about AOL can be traced to the fact that they were actually using MSIE. P.S. I doubt there are people here that this describes, but if you are still paying that AOL monthly bill, it is unnecessary! That is, unless you use AOL as an ISP, and the only way that could be true is if you are using dial-up. There are some who stopped using dial-up and switched to their broadband connection. AOL doesn't just stop billing you! You need to manually go into the billing preferences and change it to free. If this applies to you let me know and I can show you how to stop paying them for doing nothing! This is for real, no joke. When AOL became free, anyone who didn't use them as an ISP any longer still get billed as if they were. EDIT: added stuff

While unrelated to Win9x, this might be of interest to others ( Win2k, WinXP ... ) Adobe releases Creative Suite 2 for free [update: Site is back!] ( NeoWin 2013-01-08 ) It seems at first glance that this Suite ( I think with Photoshop 9 ) might be free now. Many commenters and the author say yes, but there are some that say no.

Not sure what you are looking for. If you are asking if there are ways to grab the files from %SystemRoot%\System32\Config the answer is yes. But that is not what you want, you can't use someone else's registry hives because they are specific to a machine ( HKLM ) and/or a user ( HKU ). Begin here ... Wikipedia :: WinPE Wikipedia :: WAIK :: Windows Automated Installation Kit Technet :: Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 Download Center :: The Windows® Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows® 7

Okay all you alcoholics ( be patient, it will all become clear later ). Paul Thurrott has a few new articles up. The one I am commenting on is sandwiched between Explaining Windows 8 PC Sales Over the Holidays and a newer one called This Best Buy Circular Says It All. Both are getting comments and ridicule at other sites because of his various rationalizations of blaming the unfolding Windows 8 debacle on OEM's and hardware and retail stores and especially the consumers who are spoiled by low-cost netbooks and expect cheap devices ( like Apple?!? ). Whatever... So he has this other article, which from the title you can imagine will draw the ire of the MicroZealots ... Windows 8 Tip: Boot Directly to the Desktop with Skip Metro Suite ( Thurrott 2013-01-05 ) ... in which he explains how to bypass Metro using the tool called Skip Metro Suite. After profusely disclaiming any love for this idea, he then takes some time to badmouth Start8 and other tools that restore the Start Menu and especially those that completely replace Metro ( and he doesn't mention Classic Shell but I think he is calling Tihiy's apps "Draconian" ). Basically it is an advertisement for Skip Metro Suite, which is fine, even though you know he just hates to be writing the thing at all. Then we get to the comments. Oh yes, the comments from certifiable MicroZombies. Emphasis on certifiable. In fact so certifiable, this one only 6 days into the new year just may have already locked up the award for 2013 Best Performance by a Microtard. Let's break it down, shall we? ... "angry that so many people seem to be so simple-minded that they can't and/or refuse to embrace this new concept" ... Ahhh, don't go away angry ( just go away ). Bu let me try to follow. Those using Win7 and WinXP with many multitasking Windows and a variety of program launchers using hardcore tools doing file and server management and systems administration are "simple-minded", so what is his description for those desiring finger pushing colored blocks and full screen toy apps like Cut The Rope and Angry Birds? "and help push it to it's logical success." ... Yay. We should take one for the team. Its success is logical after all. Not sure what that means, wouldn't a better word be "unlikely" or "questionable". "expend ridiculous effort and energy to empower folks to stay stuck in an old world." ... Hang in there young man ( or lady ). What goes around comes around. One day someone might say this about you when they try to install an Ubuntu distro on your PC to see if you can just accept some random "change" and drag you from your "old world". In fact, why aren't you using Ubuntu? Afraid of change? Do you criticize it without testing it? <-- Reverse Psychology, but it won't work, to understand hypocrisy you have to be both intelligent and honest at the same time. "It's like giving vodka to an alcoholic" ... Even from an mSheep, this is a new one. But as colorful as it is ( funny too ) it displays the view that the mSheep and Microsoft themselves really have of their customers. It is contempt. "stop empowering the dim-witted" ... How? Take away their Windows 7! Make them use Metro! Ban the 3rd party utilities? I don't think he thought this one through at all. Unless he really means that taking away freedom will un-empower them ( us Dimwits ). I guess in a way that makes sense. So he meant to say: "stop empowering the dim-witted by taking away their freedom". Okay, got it. Little fascist. "Steve Jobs certainly didn't care to cater to them." ... Wait, what? What was all that stuff about iTards and iSheep about again! This is a necessary level of mental gymnastics he is doing here. You see, before he can accept membership in the Metrofied world of mSheep and MicroApple, he must first resuscitate their image that they have ridiculed since the iPod came out. Clever! Can you believe all that brilliance came from a single-mind? So listen up you all simple-minded dim-witted Alcoholics, wise up. Take one for the team, please? It is only logical. No more vodka for you. P.S. No matter what side of the debate you are on, can we all agree that the best thing that could happen would be for Microsoft to restore the Start Menu and Aero Glass just so we can watch the global meltdown of these generation Xbox child fanatics! EDIT: wording

Excellent. I just read through a bunch of related threads from the one you linked to. Here is one from last summer I missed ... I hate Windows 8 ( Social.Technet.Microsoft 2012-07-10 ) Quote from a Softie offering an official answer ... That horse has left the barn, lets see if he can chase it down. Nice try though. Also just saw something related to the Windows 8 ergonomics I was lampooning a few posts above. Honestly I had no idea it was in the news, the subject must be simultaneously occurring to lots of people from seeing the commercials and advertisements for all those AIO desktops ... Why Touch Screens Will Not Take Over ( Scientific American 2013-01-03 ) Gorilla Arm' Will Keep Touch Screens From Taking Over ( Slashdot 2013-01-06 ) Most comments at Slashdot are refreshingly intelligent ( not a given these days ) but there are some definite weird ones at SA from the types of people that carry hammers and everything looks like a nail. For example: Like I said, re-design the physical office to accommodate Windows 8! That's the ticket. There is a bit of a God complex in a lot of people these days, including Microsoft. They see everything as something that needs to be changed, because they can. Going to have to make a banner like this ...

Windows RT has been jailbroken, you can now run un-signed code ( NeoWin 2013-01-06 ) Hack to run traditional desktop apps on Windows RT detailed ( TechSpot 2013-01-07 ) Microsoft: Ingenious Windows RT jailbreak poses no security threat ( NeoWin 2013-01-07 ) I was about to say "Excellent!" but all that came out was "Pffft, Who cares." Interview: We chat with the creator of the new Windows 8 LCARS app ( NeoWin 2013-01-06 ) More Star Trek TNG theming, but this one is completely unrelated to all previous discussion. This is a Metro app in the store that already uses LCARS. Interesting I guess. The Windows 8 zealots seem ambivalent about it, they're confused I guess as to why someone would alter the absolute perfection that is Metro. Kids, gotta love 'em. The app has some basic functions like text editing, calculator and WMP. It is a $2.99 app and yet some of the commenters still want a trial version! So much for that rich new developer environment I guess. Screenshot ... EDIT: wording, more links

The CorelDraw Suites have always been nice packages because of the massive amount of things they can do from vector to raster to animation and more. Versions 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 all will run on Win9x with some caveats. Font handling on Win9x sucks ( limited to ~500 I believe ), so you need to install stuff like a Corel suite carefully, de-selecting all fonts. Even then a few still get registered and require manual editing of the Fonts registry key to correct bad paths. Also, All of the suites are registry hogs, and if your Win9x system is right at the limit with a large registry it might push it over the edge into BSOD territory. Of course, all things being relative, you can even more quickly kill the Win9x registry by installing something like the platform SDK and some other related tools that exceed Corel by a mile. If you have a fast computer, lots of memory and a normal or small registry then Corel will be fine though. I know that Jasc Paint Shop ( version 7 and 8 ) and Animation Shop also run on Win9x. MediaChance RealDraw and its sibling programs also work with some specific versions. Ulead had some programs as well. Microsoft also had a basic GIF Animator that worked on Win9x but I am not sure if that is what you were looking for. Pretty sure all Photoshops worked until the first CS, but I'd let someone else verify that first. EDIT: typos

I somehow missed the fact that WinME had OSK. But there it is in Win_9.cab ( OSK.EXE, OSK.CHM, OSK.HLP ) with a duplicate copy in Win_17 through Win_18. It is definitely not in Win98se though. I'm not on Win9x at the moment, but surely you can just test it and see if it runs. If it doesn't, it might just need a small edit to satisfy the version check. There are some folks here ( MDGx I think ) who ported lots of WinME to earlier Win9x. Because I didn't know about that file I went and located a 3rd party alternative to use on Win98se called On-Screenkeyboardportable.exe by John T. Haller ( link ). You learn something new everyday here. EDIT: oops, that link shows version 2.0 with minimum requirements now as Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8. The one I have is version 1.5.6.0 for Win9x. Sorry. No luck yet finding a link, but it must be out there if you need it.

AOL software can now be used as an AOL email client by making sure the "connection" stuff is pacified and attempts none of the automatic network configuration ( BTW, which MSIE also does when they throw up that stupid page "Internet Explorer cannot display ..." and the poor victim presses "Diagnose" and scuttles his current Network configuration. NB: that page displays if the router is off or cable unplugged. Doh! ). Anyway, I suggest the OP have the location set to "BROADBAND" and doublecheck the settings for "BROADBAND" and disable any AOL program or service that is in any Windows AutoRun startup locations. They are not needed and can cause issues. I still use the AOL email client 9.7 on WinXP+ since it is now an excellent client-only interface for mail and saves stuff locally and has other advantages over webmail. It is free also in this client-only mode when it is no longer your actual connection ISP. Version 7 was the last good one for Win9x, but version 8 actually did work also. NOTE: there is a lot of registry use in those versions, and if you are on Win95 ( and/or have small amount of memory, and/or slow CPU, etc ) there is the possibility that you can't run it reliably anyway. If your on Win98se with 512 MB it can definitely work but it definitely taxes resources, and these requirements go up if you have a large AOL screename profile with lots of mail. Some screename files for me are over 1 GB and I think they are read straight into memory and/or swapfile when AOL loads and closes. I didn't know that Win95 ( Windows 4.0 ) could run AOL 7. I remember using AOL 3, 4, 5, and maybe 6 at the latest.

Very true. There has been a transparent attempt by a few of the Windows 8 zealots to revise the history of that period, Win3.x to Win9x. There may have been a handful of people on Planet Earth that were wedded to the Windows 3.x interface, but even they were accomodated by being able to continue using PROGMAN in Win9x. The stuff about resistance to the Start Menu is just made up. There was commentary in the print magazines and discussion in NewsGroups but the points being made were the opposite that the zealots would have us believe. The criticism was What took so long? and Is it really Pre-Emptive Multi-tasking?. No-one complained about the collapsible and unobtrusive Start Menu because it was exactly that, collapsible and unobtrusive! You could still easily fill your desktop with icons if you wanted, but you could now easily use arbitrary folders or leave the desktop empty. The bulk of the negative reactions had to do with PnP ( Plug and Pray ) which was completely FUBAR when add-in cards were barely or non-compliant. The Windows work-arounds using "manual" adjustments in Device Manager were horrible and sometimes caused you to chase your tail around in circles as the BIOS would assign different IRQ's, Memory and I/O and then Windows would change them, back and forth leading to sending add-in cards back to the store for a refund. After a few years of BIOS maturing and new PCI cards and some fixes in Windows things got squared away at last ( well, just in time for the Win9x branch to be killed-off but I digress ). The point is, aside from hardware issues, the features that were changed from Win3x to Win9x ( pretty much everything really ) all led to an improved experience if you had a personal computer. Memory management, Disk management, FAT LFN, FAT32 later, relatively easy networking, the GUI, graphics resolution and color depth, input devices, printers, modems, multi-tasking, complete DOS access, useful Help and tours, custom Themes, ( there's much more of course ) and the ability to run programs of almost unlimited size all were suddenly available. In comparison, Windows 8 specifically attacks and removes earlier features and it is done malevolently, with ulterior motives behind it. They want to decide your theme, your work habits, push advertising, lock you into a store, and they even want you to re-design your office to have monitors that can lie down so that you may find some use for touch-screens. It is transparently self-serving and is approaching vindictiveness now. How they can rationalize what they continue to do when they have the unambiguous comparison of wildly successful operating systems like Win95 and WinXP is truly astounding. That does not mean re-create Win95 and WinXP, it means learn from what they did, which was offer huge real gains to the consumer. The whole purpose of Windows 8 and Metro is exactly NOT that, it is NOT offering huge real gains to the consumer, it is designed only to offer huge real gains to Microsoft ( and even these may exist only in their dreams ). It is a cynical product release we are witnessing, and all available evidence suggests they still have not figured this out.

Microsoft Loses Mobile Market Share to Google and Apple ( Maximum PC 2012-01-04 ) This is what I was alluding to above. If "mobile" includes phones and tablets, and they want to penetrate this market, just how much can they expect? 10% or 20% or 5%? With the massive influx of devices they will not only need a major hit, but something with iPad level of success. Actually they would need multiple iPad level success devices to make a dent now. Fine, they needed to do something. Well Ballmer should have granted a new separate "mobile" division complete independence like IBM did with their new PC Division in 1980. That new division could have made toys for kids and tablets for Metrotards and phones for those that might be interested. It could have been fleet-footed and nimble ( like the IBM Charlie Chaplin operation in Boca ) operating outside the bureaucratic entanglements up in Redmond. What was stupid and completely unnecessary was destroying the mega-important "Windows" division instead. The result which is just becoming clear was completely predictable. It was stated here in thousands of comments and in every other tech website that exists. Microsoft got so much free and truthful advice for at least one and a half years that they have no excuse for failing except that they have morphed into IBM. EDIT: it is ironic now to me that if Microsoft had been broken up with the Operating Systems division separated, it would have been not only a good thing for us, but a great thing for them, by protecting them ( "Windows" ) from the rest of the knuckleheads in the company.

Steven Sinofsky has published his 2nd post up on his blog now: "Engineering and social science lead to plans", it is as dull as it sounds. I'll give him some faint praise though for not ripping out any comments yet on either of the two posts ( over a hundred now ) and there are some good ones. Remember that he has entitled his blog: Learning By Shipping. Funniest One-Liner nominations ... So this isn’t “Learning by looking at Apples”? (credit) “Learning by shipping” must be the most expensive way of learning ever. (credit) ... Sinofsky actually replied to this Hello Steve, Why did you leave Microsoft? (credit) Is this the d**chebag for the utter failure of windows 8? Why would anyone care about what he has to say (credit) Steven, I have noticed that you are not a good listener from the way you have managed your Windows 8 blog where you explained upcoming features with technical aspects and usability ideas. I am sure a bunch of us will watch this one from a distance, now ! (credit) Just a quick recommendation. Choose a “metro style” WordPress theme for your blog. They exist and look great and digitally authentic (credit) ... actually this commenter was serious, he has no idea how funny it sounds. Best Unanswered Questions ... ( multiple nominations allowed ) Hello Steve, Why did you leave Microsoft? (credit) Hey SteveSi, is there any truth to this: “My understanding is that they actually promoted the one who designed metro when they fired sinofsky, Julie Larson-green. iirc, sinofsky was actually fighting to prevent metro from being the primary interface and was labeled an old stodge by his peers.” (credit) There are some very long questions also, but I just put these here for a sampling. Note that already the commenters have exhibited more pointed journalism than the combined efforts of those in the Tech press like Thurrott who as far as I can tell have not even asked him or Microsoft about him getting fired that Monday evening. EDIT: typos

And if that date is correct, it is just over a week after Windows 8 general availability, which could mean they wanted to add products to the roster that would actually sell ( instead of products that sit still, generate extra support calls and create needless controversy ). In other words, they quickly learned something since the launch and adjusted accordingly. Back then we noted something else ( see Post #1255 ) ... Windows 8 Users Receiving How-to Emails From Microsoft ( Tom's Hardware 2012-11-07 ) Around this time something obviously became clear to Redmond about their initial expectations ( they were wrong! ) so they jumpstarted those "helpful" emails to salvage something from the looming disaster. That laptop you found is exactly in the same timeframe. I bet there are some more dots to connect, yet to be found. EDIT: clarity

Polaroid Has a 7-inch Android Tablet Too... For Kids ( Tom's Hardware 2013-01-04 ) Polaroid Introduces A Fun, Interactive, Durable Tablet Designed For Kids ( Polaroid.com ) This is the kind of thing that Microsoft could have done. There are ton of tablets like this already and there will be many more. They used to have tons of software for the education sector, heck they used to have other things like Flight Simulator too. It would have been simple to whip together appropriate products ( without Wi-Fi naturally and without Microsoft Store ) and attacked the low-end of the market. Or could they? Could they possibly price an Operating System low enough to compete at these levels? Probably not, because they decided to chain RT and 8 around "Windows" like an anchor. No, they would have had to create a separate edition of Windows for this, and that would have upset their grandiose plans for the rest of us. Instead of populating the aisles of Toys'R'Us with MicroToyz ( catchy name huh? ) in time for the Christmas season with a safe, non-controversial product that does not attack and insult their existing customer base, instead we see these things are flying off the shelves, adding numerous new "Android" devices to the mobile market share usage statistics. How can they possibly even hope to have a chance to penetrate this market? What was the plan Steve? Oh yeah, create a monstrosity that attacks and insults their existing customer base. The common wisdom has said they can expect to make some headway into the mobile space, perhaps 10 or 20 %. As these low-end, high-volume devices roll in ( and there is a lot of talk of a tidal wave of low-end phones also ) how is that gonna happen? They might even lose total percentage or simply gain 1 to 5 %. Great job compromising the "Windows" brand guys. Great job.

I saw this excellent comment at Slashdot, which was a great reply to the nonsense about resistance to the Win3.x to Win9x transition that Windows 8 fanboys have just made up in a vain effort to rationalize the current dictatorial strategy ... Have a look at that linked Win95-era document from Microsoft ( now hosted on a 3rd party site outside of Microsoft's reach ) and contrast this with the self-serving rationalizations found on the official Destroying Windows Blog featuring Sinofsky and Jensen Harris and citing bogus telemetry results. They cannot flush this stuff down the memory hole any longer. Usability studies used to be done and quite a lot was done prior to the Win95 RTM ( not to mention offering the optional fallback to Win3.x visuals ). Are you listening Sinofsky? Harris? Julie? Fanboy enablers? ( apologies in advance to anyone that already discovered this )

Now that's funny right there ( and strangely appropriate ). But I suspect Julie would frown upon this because it would add another layer of abstraction between the consumer and those colorful Windows 8 bits. EDIT: wrapped image with spoiler tags because it seemed to add delay to page load. Seeing Facebook in status bar now!?! Trying without it. Yep, seems to have linked baggage. Left as a URL.

And yet another update on this story. To summarize, MSIE zero day flaw discovered ( IE6, IE7, IE8 ), Microsoft eventually fixed it, then the fix was nullified a day later ... Exploit found in Internet Explorer 8; IE9 and 10 not affected [update] ( NeoWin 2012-12-29 ) Update 2012-12-31: The solution is out for that MSIE exploit: KB 2794220 Security firm: We have bypassed Microsoft's IE6-8 "Fix it" patch ( NeoWin 2013-01-01 ) Update 2013-01-13: And the next solution is coming through automatic updates tomorrow January 14 ... Microsoft to plug critical IE vulnerability tomorrow with an out-of-band patch ( NeoWin 2013-01013 ) Update 2013-01-14: Patch is out ... Microsoft releases full security update for IE6-8 ( NeoWin 2013-01014 ) EDIT: Updated again

Just measured eyeball distance at exactly 33" ( about 84 cm ) for myself from a 24" display at 1920x1080. Arms just barely make it. Yeah, why shouldn't I just completely re-arrange everything to make Microsoft Tiles usable.

Windows 8 Ergonomics Fail ... now available in 3 different flavors! It really seems those hipsters up in Redmond and their OEM partners are intent on un-inventing the already invented efficiency of a simple pointing device. They really desire to break the paradigm of three decades of mouse development with its highly efficient small movement = large travel methodology, while simultaneously ignoring the obvious detrimental medical effects of out-stretched arms. Seriously now, according to them, keyboards and mice demanded specially designed cushions and other supplements to thwart repetitive stress and carpal tunnel injuries, for example see in this document, hehe , from Microsoft.com: Healthy_Computing_Business_Reference_Guide.pdf very short excerpt ) ... ( 3rd party source ) Option One ... Touchscreen Desktops ( and Laptops ) Option Two ... Pen Input Targus announces Touch Pen for any Windows 8 PC ( NeoWin 2013-01-03 ) Option Three! ... Arm waiving Asus to bundle Leap Motion's gesture control system with laptops and all-in-ones ( TechSpot 2013-01-03 ) Leap Motion's hardware to be bundled with some Asus PCs ( NeoWin 2013-01-03 ) Kinect is probably coming soon ( Microsoft late as usual, reminds me of IBM beaten by Compaq with the i386 ) Good thing they changed that EULA to thwart class-action lawsuits! EDIT: wording, changed "Strikes" to "Options" ( too many mixed metaphors ), updated image URLs, and again

Former Windows leader Steven Sinofsky launches new blog ( NeoWin 2013-01-03 ) The Windows Destroyer in-Chief is back. Nothing major going on yet. He has but one opening blog post thus far. He has entitled his site "Learning by Shipping", for which the jokes can really just write themselves. The URL to the blog is ... http://blog.learningbyshipping.com/

Yep. I missed that one by a mile ( Post #68 ), didn't even see this thread until Post #412 ! P.S. So with that portable editor, no registry I guess?