["OK! OK! We'll Support It!" LOL]

The company killing XP is not Microsoft (the guys have been giving support much longer than any company would for their own product), the baddies here are Intel. We are buying Intel hardware that have no support for XP. No AHCI, LAN, USB3 or Graphic drivers, no Intel QuickSync, and who knows what else. The problem is they have no competition, the other one is AMD and it's not up to the game, every other mobo bundles an intel component so you are screwed.

There's a lot of truth in that ( but not enough to let Microsoft off the hook ).

I often suggest that people write letters to the motherboard OEM's and also the chip makers and DEMAND they continue writing drivers for their newer hardware for all NT Windows. If they are vaguely competent then this is no challenge at all as they only need to write the most neutral of device drivers, avoiding any Vista era specific changes ( Vista could be installed on tons of "legacy" computers proving it can utilize older drivers. ) The driver SDK ( aka WDK ) for WDM and WDF have all the necessary backward/forward compatibility. In theory the programmers writing the code will need to go out of their way to write drivers that crap out on XP. Well, except for the fact that the tools themselves like Visual Studio are evolving ( now VS2013 but problems for XP and earlier definitely started in VS2008 ) which target details in Vista+ so the programmer must literally set out to be compatible with XP ( actually from what I read they need to enable some options and update VS with certain modules, but I don't use these later versions so I am repeating what others have described ). In short, Microsoft are obsolescing Windows XP ( and whatever older Windows they intend to murder ) through a thousand cuts. And at each step along the way, programmers make the somewhat sensible decision that "it's too much trouble to ..." maintain compatibility. So Microsoft cleverly offloads the blame to the OEM device driver programmers, just like they always do.

When contacting these important OEM's I also like to suggest using the wording: "Stop illegally colluding with the Microsoft monopoly and their planned obsolescence while at the same time open up more potential customers for yourselves." That's a no-brainer to anyone, both parts. They ARE colluding by accident or design, AND they are slicing their own potential customer base in half. Only a knucklehead would voluntarily follow this path.

Anyway, getting Intel to continue XP compatible chipset drivers, or even AMD/nVidia/Via/whomever, would spur the others to wake up and smell the coffee or get left in their competitors' dust. That's an argument they can probably understand, even if the issue of antitrust, collusion and planned obsolescence go right over their heads.

EDIT: clarity

[Modifying/Replacing Shell32.DLL on NT 4.0]

I don't have time to look at this now, but thanks for your responses. I will look at it tomorrow.

What do you mean by 100% compatible? Do ALL the functions have to be present in both DLLs (the 2k & NT 4.0)?

I can't speak for him but for 100% compatibility two criteria must be met - Function Names and their Ordinals.

The latter case - out of order functions, is a biggy. In the past it was common for applications and even Windows to call functions in a DLL by importing them via ordinal. So if someone recompiled a DLL without changing a single line of code but re-sorting them out of original order an incompatibility is created because the 3rd ( or whatever ) function is completely different in another version of the same DLL. Having never used it myself ( so I don't know for sure ) I would expect that this topic is an important part of the KernelEx project here at MSFN.

Naturally in the former case the function "Names" implies that everything else is the same within the function ( i.e., if it has same exact name then it's still ANSI/Unicode, same arguments, etc, as its same-named predecessor ), but even this might not always be the case since there is nothing stopping some programmer from changing ( for example ) from ANSI to Unicode but leaving the NAME unchanged. Likewise a function could be completely rewritten and butchered to use a completely different prototype while keeping the NAME unchanged. These are exceedingly bad ideas but cannot be ruled out. But for the sake of argument its *assumed* that same name means same function.

How was this failure vector even possible? It was considered faster and more efficient to call by ordinal, in other words cutting corners. But speed and efficiency isn't everything. IMHO consistency, stability and compatibility are. But that ship has clearly sailed!

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

The latest Snowden leaks ...

NSA and GCHQ target 'leaky' phone apps like Angry Birds to scoop user data ( UK Guardian 2014-01-27 )

The National Security Agency and its UK counterpart GCHQ have been developing capabilities to take advantage of "leaky" smartphone apps, such as the wildly popular Angry Birds game, that transmit users' private information across the internet, according to top secret documents.

The data pouring onto communication networks from the new generation of iPhone and Android apps ranges from phone model and screen size to personal details such as age, gender and location. Some apps, the documents state, can share users' most sensitive information such as sexual orientation and one app recorded in the material even sends specific sexual preferences such as whether or not the user may be a swinger.

Snowden docs reveal British spies snooped on YouTube and Facebook ( NBC News 2014-01-27 )

The British government can tap into the cables carrying the worlds web traffic at will and spy on what people are doing on some of the worlds most popular social media sites, including YouTube, all without the knowledge or consent of the companies.

Documents taken from the National Security Agency by Edward Snowden and obtained by NBC News detail how British cyber spies demonstrated a pilot program to their U.S. partners in 2012 in which they were able to monitor YouTube in real time and collect addresses from the billions of videos watched daily, as well as some user information, for analysis. At the time the documents were printed, they were also able to spy on Facebook and Twitter.

[...]

A source close to Google added that Google was shocked because the company had pushed back against British legislation that would have required Google to store its metadata and other information for U.K. government use. The legislation, introduced by Home Secretary Theresa May in 2012, was publicly repudiated by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in 2013 and has never become law. May hopes to reintroduce a modified version this spring.

Its extremely surprising, said the source, that while they were pushing for the data via the law, they might have simultaneously been using their capability to grab it anyway.

Can we all agree now that every single possible avenue is under relentless attack by the spooks, there is nothing considered off limits, lots of overlap, the goal is to have access to anything and everything, and they couldn't care less about what anyone, especially the taxpaying sheeple think about it? And what they do not get handed over to them they proceed to take through black bag jobs.

As we have seen in other stories, the British spooks are knee-deep in this, and in this case are actually the dominant player with our own spooks portrayed as the customer. This is most alarming because they get to use UK personnel as the bad guys creating a firewall of plausible deniability. That's very convenient indeed. So you have two separate countries each who sear they respect their own citizens' privacy and laws using the other to violate those laws and just handing over the information. That's pretty sick and violates the spirit of all the laws involved.

US looks at ways to prevent spying on its spying ( Yahoo 2014-01-27 )

WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. government is looking at ways to prevent anyone from spying on its own surveillance of Americans' phone records.

As the Obama administration considers shifting the collection of those records from the National Security Agency to requiring that they be stored at phone companies or elsewhere, it's quietly funding research to prevent phone company employees or eavesdroppers from seeing whom the U.S. is spying on, The Associated Press has learned.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has paid at least five research teams across the country to develop a system for high-volume, encrypted searches of electronic records kept outside the government's possession. The project is among several ideas that would allow the government to discontinue storing Americans' phone records, but still search them as needed.

And to rub salt in the wounds our own government has plans to find new ways to keep us in the dark.

Gov't, Internet companies reach deal on disclosure ( AP 2014-01-27 )

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government and leading Internet companies on Monday announced a compromise that will allow those companies to reveal more information about how often they are ordered to turn over customer information to the government in national security investigations.

This is the pea under the walnut shell game in action. A wonderful compromise that allows the companies to tell us exactly nothing. Meanwhile the First Amendment is still under siege, the agreement ignores it, and even the alleged infringed-upon companies refuse to cite it. The citizens are NOT a party to this agreement and it reeks of a meeting of wolves and foxes in the hen-house deciding on what they are going to have for dinner.

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

Microsoft: Law enforcement inquiry documents stolen in recent phishing attacks ( NeoWin 2014-01-25 )

Microsoft admitted last week, "A social engineering cyberattack method known as phishing resulted in a small number of Microsoft employee social media and email accounts being impacted." While the company has yet to state that the SEA is responsible, Microsoft has now offered more information on these attacks that may show the impact may be bigger than first thought.

In a post on the Trustworthy Computing blog, Microsoft stated:

"While our investigation continues, we have learned that there was unauthorized access to certain employee email accounts, and information contained in those accounts could be disclosed. It appears that documents associated with law enforcement inquiries were stolen. If we find that customer information related to those requests has been compromised, we will take appropriate action. Out of regard for the privacy of our employees and customers as well as the sensitivity of law enforcement inquiries we will not comment on the validity of any stolen emails or documents."

Ruh Roh. Seriously, I don't know what's more weird, the fact that highly sensitive documents can be phished out of Microsoft employees, or that the bad guys have accidentally accomplished what amounts to a successful FOIA request ( Freedom Of Information Act ) obtaining information the government won't release, and that Microsoft allegedly wants to release but cannot due to a gag order. This is getting awfully close to a universe ending paradox. And then you cap it off with that odd quoted statement that raises more questions than answers - "IF we find ... THEN we will take appropriate action". Sounds to me like they need to be taking some action immediately.

On Childrens Website, N.S.A. Puts a Furry, Smiley Face on Its Mission ( New York Times 2014-01-24 )

NSA website 'for children' features code breaking cats and dogs ( NeoWin 2014-01-25 )

As the website says: It is never too early to start thinking about what you want to do when you grow up.

To enter the How Can I Work for N.S.A.? section of the site, children click on a picture of a bucktoothed rabbit, who says in his biography that he likes listening to hip-hop and rock. In his free time, the bunny says, he participates in cryptography competitions with other cartoon characters named Decipher Dog and CryptoCat.

As a signals analyst, you will work with cutting edge technology to recover, understand and derive intelligence from a variety of foreign signals found around the world, children are told in the future employment section. You will also attempt to identify the purpose, content, and user of these signals to provide critical intelligence to our nations leaders.

America's Crytopkids, a flash-based website hosted by the NSA, is the place where pre-teens can go to learn about the benefits of the National Security Agency from the likes of "Crypto Cat" and "Decipher Dog," D-dog for short.

While one might wonder if a dog could possibly possess the necessary qualifications to work at a government agency like the NSA, one quick look at his biography reveals that he is an ideal candidate. Asked about his "favorite computer project," D-dog explains how he was able to set up a wireless network for his entire family of seven. The best part? As administrator, D-dog can "check the programs to see which ones are being used, I can figure out which member of my family is using the network." You can't make this stuff up

Well that sure is creepy. They are one step away from cultivating a cadre of embedded spies, "government-youth", reminiscent of previous totalitarian examples. All they need now is a bait on the hook so the kids rush to give up information in exchange for something like badges and points. It could evolve into a completely new method to access the homes of the sheeple. Disgusting.

South Korea rules that all smartphone bloatware must be removable ( NeoWin 2014-01-25 )

Well who loves bloatware? Not me. Neither do the fanboys who cheer this ruling. But this is where the sheeple can quickly get themselves sheared, for two separate reasons ...

The most obvious way requires an understanding as to why bloatware even exists in the first place. One of the main drivers is low profit margins on big box OEM systems which is reduced substantially by extra costs such as Microsoft's "Windows Tax". If they sell a $500 computer and pocket just 10% profit, perhaps $50, after paying off all suppliers and labor and still assume all the risk ( warranty for the system and even the angry calls for Microsoft Windows OS annoyances ) then what is the possible incentive to even stay in this business at all? I wouldn't even consider this a sensible line of work. Hence the payola received for bloatware preinstalled which lets them increase their profit margin by a few bucks. Fanboys that cherish this ruling are actually rooting for the demise of Microsoft because without incentives the market considerations will speed the move to a lower cost OS. The fanboys are in all actuality rooting for Linux and they don't even know it. And although this ruling is about phones, it easily ports to all of Microsoft's OS businesses.

The other reason is the one that concerns me most. I'll just quote the one sensible NeoWin commenter as he nails it perfectly ... "Hooray for Governments using force to control UX on devices. Just remember if they can change stuff you agree with they can change stuff you disagree with."

FBI warns of more cyber attacks like Target's ( NeoWin 2014-01-26 )

Arts and crafts retailer Michaels latest victim of credit card data theft ( TechSpot 2014-01-26 )

Krebs noted that multiple sources in the banking industry were tracking a pattern of credit card fraud that was traced back to recent usage at Michaels Stores Inc., the arts and crafts specialty store with more than 1,250 locations nationwide.

The retail chain later said they recently learned of possible fraudulent activity on some US payment cards used at their store which suggests they may have been the victim of a data security attack. Michaels noted they are working closely with federal law enforcement and will continue the investigation with the help of third-party data security experts to get everything sorted out.

[...]

Whats more, if the investigation finds they are at fault, Michaels will offer identity protection and credit monitoring services to affected customers at no cost.

Too late. Love that last part though. Is anyone else thinking that these identity protection and credit report services will be a prime target for penetration? How long before that shoe drops?

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

Surface 2 Grammy's commercial released, uses Paul McCartney song and old commercial bits ( NeoWin 2014-01-24 )

~sigh~ Since the Grammy's were lost long ago to fat cats, payola, hipsters and no-talent retards, this would have been the perfect place for that original Surface dance commercial. Leave it to Microsoft to not just mess it up, but to do it backwards.

( I tried watching it ( the Grammy's ) but couldn't get past that marbled mouth karaoke singer mumbling something about "invisible". There were a few moments that were okay, but IMHO it was largely a CrapFest benchmark to how far music has fallen. As both a musician and an American I apologize to the rest of the world for this embarrassment. They're really just begging for that earthquake out there now. )

Latest Windows 8.1 Update 1 screenshots show changes to Start screen ( NeoWin 2014-01-25 )

Screenshots have appeared that show a traditional context menu when right-clicking on a Metro tile. Hordes of MetroTards immediately have strokes.

And now for something completely different ...

Inside the Mind of a Fanboy ( The Verge 2014-01-21 )

Interesting article, if a bit wordy and unfocused. Probably will spawn a host of comments and similar articles. The topic is kinda lost upon the Tribers at The Verge however, as it would be at NeoWin, and the author does not fully explorer the phenomenon of MetroTards. But, it's a start. Recognition of the problem is the first step toward recovery.

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

Windows 8.1 Update 1 could land on March 11 ( TechSpot 2014-01-25 )

When two MetroTard/Astroturfers have a scripted back and forth discussion ( yep, seen it before ) one TechSpot commenter let's it fly ...

So you want us all to upgrade to Windows 8 because it's boots faster. Just throw out all other factors normally used when comparing operating systems to each other and go with Windows 8 because it boots faster? *click....click....click....KABOOM!!!!!!*

Your second paragraph contains even more bizarre statements than the first. Nothing is stopping Microsoft from competing in the tablets/phones market. But I do agree with part of a statement you made:

"conforming your mobile centric OS to desktop users makes less sense to me."

Conforming either one to the other makes absolutely no sense at all. Why would I want to use a tablet OS on a desktop as you yourself stated that Windows 8 is - a "mobile centric OS"? Why would mobile users want to carry a keyboard/mouse in a gun holster on their hip and a laser printer on their back. So they can look like a modern day ghostbuster who really knows his tech stuff? Uh...I don't think so. If we cant ever get over the fact that mobile devices and desktop devices are "not the same thing" there will never be a solution. You can't solve a problem if you don't understand the problem.

"The further generations were going to drop the desktop all together and run everything through the MUI."

Dumbest statement of your entire post. The definition of desktop needs to be made clear here. It no longer most accurately represents the "size" of the device we are talking about. But what we "do" with that device. The "desktop" will not be going away ever because it represents a virtual place where people go to get serious work done.

When people can spend 8 hours a day editing movies, building websites, entering hundreds of medical/dental records, writing a book, or building the next "Call of Duty" engine on a tablet without a keyboard and a mouse - only using "chimpanzee-like" swipes - then that is the day the desktop will be going away. If you believe for a second that that day is arriving anytime soon, you are living on a planet which I have not yet heard of.

The desktop was kept in Windows 8 operating system because without it nothing could be produced for all you tablet consuming chimps to feast on day after day after day. The day the desktop dies your tablet dies with it.

Nice shooting soldier. : Now leave the gun, take the cannolis

Microsoft creates a 20 gigapixel photo panorama of Seattle ( NeoWin 2014-01-26 )

Can some other people confirm this ... Two videos about this panorama shown at the above link, and unless I'm mistaken it looks like the good people at Microsoft Research are using Windows XP on the system where they are stitching together this giant file. See the 2nd video ( "part-2" ) at about :59 and at 1:30. Set the YouTube player to HD at 720p and set to full screen and tell me what you think. I could be wrong but it sure looks like it to me.

Samsung and Google team up for new worldwide patent license agreement ( NeoWin 2014-01-26 )

Get a load of the stuttering MicroZealots in the comments barking about Android and copying and stealing and collusion ( say what? ) and other crazy stuff. Their minds are shaped by the universe they inhabit, the Redmond Microverse, where everything revolves around locked-down intellectual property with extortion payments. They cannot imagine an alternate universe that is disconnected from their Microverse and this leads to all manner of loony comments. The 'Tards still see Android as as form of NeoWindows ( pardon the pun ) designed to bleed its OEM system builders of cash like Windows does, rather than exist as a way out of that IP trap and the Microsoft tax.

The NeoTards were so hoping for division and conflict to arise between Google and Samsung that they are caught completely blindsided. This agreement is huge as it cements a solid alternative for at least 10 years into the future ( which is like 100 years in the normal world ). This perfectly sets the stage for many other OEMs and developers to feel welcome as well and to jump onboard.

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

Microsoft: Windows Phone activations doubled during 2013 holiday season ( NeoWin 2014-01-25 )

Brad Sams and lots of NeoKids misinterpreting every shred of news they come upon. It all started with this official Microsoft Tweet ...

Folks who think holiday sales of WP declined are incorrect. Activations more than doubled last holidays and increased each holiday month. joebelfiore (@joebelfiore) January 25, 2014

Even Stevie Wonder can see the holes in that carefully worded propaganda. How sad.

Microsoft renames SkyDrive to OneDrive following trademark dispute ( TechSpot 2014-01-27 )

Legal Dispute Prompts Microsoft to Rebrand SkyDrive as OneDrive ( Maximum PC 2014-01-27 )

Microsoft's SkyDrive rebranded as OneDrive ( NeoWin 2014-01-27 )

SkyDrive Becomes OneDrive. OneDrive to rule them all, OneDrive to find them... ( Thurrott 2014-01-27 )

Microsoft has announced it is renaming its SkyDrive cloud service to OneDrive, after losing a trademark dispute with British Sky Broadcasting Group over the "Sky" name in July 2013. The transition will happen in the coming weeks with no interruptions to the service whatsoever. But the company promises that this is more than just a cosmetic change, saying OneDrive is everything you love about SkyDrive and more.

Microsoft General Manager for Consumer Apps and Services Ryan Gavin announced the move in a blog post this morning. Though he admitted changing the name of a product isnt easy, he also played it down making the case for the new name: Why OneDrive? We know that increasingly you will have many devices in your life, but you really want only one place for your most important stuff. One place for all of your photos and videos. One place for all of your documents. One place that is seamlessly connected across all the devices you use.

Well I guess it could have been worse. I still prefer SpyDrive though. But can you believe they took almost six months to do this!

ADDED: At the Thurrott article two commenters have already suggested two possible naming collisions ...

* http://www.kldenergy.com/onedrive/ ... oneDRIVE

* https://one.ubuntu.com/ ... Ubuntu One

Is it possible they did it yet again?

Speaking of Microsoft cloud storage ...

Kansas man runs into burning building to save beloved Xbox ( NeoWin 2014-01-26 )

Funny thing in the comments starring one of our favorite MicroZealots ...

Last year, when I was evacuated out of my house by the Fire Dept. for a gas leak, I ran to save my Surface tablet, my laptop, and my backup drive.

Another commenter says: "Why is your backup drive at the same location as your primary if it's that important that you risk your life for?" That's a good question.

Just don't really have access to another location. My drive is usually stored away in a fire proof safe, but on this particular day, I had it out to access. So, despite a Fire Marshall yelling at me to get out now, I grabbed it.

Ummm, what? Dot MetroTard knows full well of all the cloudy connections available to him, especially his beloved SpyDrive, through his beloved Surface, hosted by his beloved Microsoft, which he has evangelized for. Perhaps he figured out the disadvantages to tying up your system with backup processes and your bandwidth with data transfers, not to mention the difficulty of really restoring system drives from backups ( it's one thing to backup stuff and have the software tell you "Congratulations, successful backup complete!" and quite another to put it back as a functioning system drive ). But I admit I am speculating here, it is entirely possible any or all of these concepts are beyond his/her capability. Such is the NuWorld we live in, co-inhabited by MetroTards attracted to the NuWindows GUI, pushing on colored tiles with their fingers which quite possibly is the extent of their skillz.

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

Microsoft: 3.9 million Xbox One units sold to retail stores ( NeoWin 2014-01-23 )

Today, as part of its quarterly financial report, Microsoft revealed that it has sold 3.9 million Xbox One consoles during its last quarter to retail stores.

The numbers also include 3.5 million Xbox 360 consoles that were sold to the retail channel, for a total of 7.4 million Xbox devices that were purchased by stores for the last quarter. Remember, these numbers are for console units that are bought by customers like GameStop, Walmart and Target, rather than the sales recorded to consumers.

There's a traditional word for that, it is called "wholesale". So now they're confusing even the fanboys who are stuttering and babbling trying to decode this. I wish I could blame this on NuMicrosoft, but we can't. They have always obfuscated everything in every reporting period, frankly I don't know why people fall for it. But they still do. All I can guess is that they really don't want anyone to know the real numbers, numbers which they most assuredly possess.

Microsoft: Office 365 Home Premium now has 3.5 million subscribers ( NeoWin 2014-01-23 )

Well, once again I have to ask, how exactly is that impressive? That sounds insanely small to me considering the international pool of customers must be well over a billion! They have this discounted price for the full Office suite and maybe 1:300 potential buyers have made the leap?

Microsoft's Surface revenues and unit sales surge up last quarter despite shortages ( NeoWin 2014-01-24 )

Today, as part of its financial report for its last fiscal quarter that ended December 31st, Microsoft said that it generated $893 million in revenues from Surface tablet sales between October and December 2013.

[...]

Microsoft also listed its Surface costs at $932 million for the quarter, which means despite the revenue surge, the division is still losing money.

Wait what? That used to be calculated as Revenue-Costs=Profit. This must be some of that NuMath where a net loss is a actually a gain. What am I missing here?

[Diminutive Device to Detect Drones Hovering Overhead]

Right you are, I seriously insulted that classic toy. My bad.

Let me cast my vote for a "Political Deathmatch" ( just like "Celebrity Deathmatch" which was a hysterical and clever spoof of the Roman Gladiator concept ). We can take our elected and unelected bureaucrats and self-appointed tyrants and shove them into the ring. Two enter, one leaves. Come to think of it, that would still be one too many.

[Websites automatically blocking and banning Windows 95 users]

It seems this situation is a that of a 3rd party blocking access to that website from his own domain. Two separate cases ...

http://www.windowsbbs.com/

http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsBBS.html

The first one works fine as bphlpt mentioned, while the second results in the following as Jaclaz has mentioned ...

Note the use of the language "from WindowsBBS.com".

Curiously, since he writes that in the first person I have to infer he is involved with that website somehow. So the question is ... have we in fact now met the dumbest person on the entire Internet? It is very possible. It is quite a stretch to rationalize banning all Opera users because of some alleged bad behavior by a few. It immediately makes me angry and I think back to things like this ...

Just one of countless examples from the past.

What excellent thinking by this Microsoft MVP! ... NOT.

["OK! OK! We'll Support It!" LOL]

Consider this: as much as you may love a 1965 Ford Mustang, Ford will never make another vehicle of that fashion EVER AGAIN. It would likely pose safety concerns. Now you may say as an experienced driver, "I know how to protect myself in an older car and how to avoid the hazards it may impose." However, that wouldn't make Ford build an old-style vehicle, since it compromises safety.

Further complicating it is the fact that MetroTards ( and Microsoft itself ) use the new math, where both that '65 'Stang, AND the 1964 original, AND even the 2015 model are all 50 years old.

( Of course I'm referring to the "Windows XP is 12 years old. Kill it with fire!" mantra even though the most recent release is from 2008 and many parts are Windows Update refreshed to 2013 and now 2014 )

Lookin' good for a 50 year old!

Math is hard.

[Windows XP security guide]

1: Set a password on the Admin account(s), and use a Standard account for everyday use.

Why this?

Why the password or why the standard account?

The password for "Administrator" will prevent non-Admin users from running any dangerous command line or batch file with same or any application that requires Administrator level privilege. This includes malware accidentally executed by that user. Note that when I say "any", I actually mean most. Some might say some. Leaving the password blank is a bad idea because the bad guy or hostile script or malware ( or the good guys as well ) wouldn't need to know it in order to RUNAS or other things. This is a highly recommended item.

The use of a Standard Account just expands that concept to day-to-day experience, it means that most of the time that user will be prevented from most risky activities, by accident or intention. He ( or the hostile script or malware ) would need to specifically provide the Administrator password to proceed, or, switch users which takes time.

Nothing is perfect by a longshot, but some things are closer to perfect than others. Using an umbrella will keep you mostly dry. Using a condom ... you can figure it out

[Opera 15/18/20 Rant, Rave thread]

@ epic ... great job in the top post

Opera devs lost their minds years ago. It began IMHO when the Opera forum threads began to get prowled by NuOpera fanboys who shutdown every complaint. Every mistake they made was addressed by users in threads, but ignored thanks to their enablers killing the discussion by trolling the complainers and getting threads locked.

The best we can hope for is for them to fork off the 12.x desktop source code to another group or release it to the community as public domain.

EDIT: clarity

Haha, you reminded me how I got permanently banned from Opera forums after repeatedly complaining about some thing the changed over the course of v12 version history.

I hear you. I never got tossed but that's only because I would read my replies over and over before posting, and that's from knowing all about the trolls from experience. They just look for anything that can be twisted into a rule violation or controversy to kill legitimate discussion about Opera screwups. They are the lowest form of human beings, enablers that exist for no good reason, and act only as NuOpera fanboys. The parallel to the MicroZealot MetroTards at NeoWin and The Verge Tribe is astounding.

Most of these cretins were not even connected to Opera as far as I could tell. Their profiles didn't link to dev status ( unless they were sock puppets ). That leaves the only explanation as being worthless fanboys with nothing to do except for shutting down any discussion of Opera mistakes and thereby preventing any possibility of improvement. Video Fanboys killed the Radio Internet Star.

[Diminutive Device to Detect Drones Hovering Overhead]

Ideally if mankind evolutes enough to create such robots it would be mature enough to make wars unneeded.

A dispute could be settled by flippism or even through a robot fight, but more like "Real Steel":

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433035/

than those more catastrophic Sci-Fi examples.

Ironically, Real Steel was on TV just as I read this post.

I like the idea though. : And depending on how much entertainment value we want to provide we can design something in between national Gladiators in a Coliseum to Celebrity Deathmatch style battles between elected politicians. Or scale it up to technological matches spanning from RC controlled Gigantor and Real Steel bots to full-on self-aware Transformer units.

However, with budget considerations and the current low-expectations from our modern design geniuses all we'll probably see is this ...

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

CNN social media accounts compromised by SEA (Update) ( NeoWin 2014-01-23 )

How's that Twitter IPO working out I wonder. It appears anyone can do anything they want to their service. They got all this money pumped in from investors, but what are they doing with it? Let me guess, cozy new offices and limo rides to the airport.

Everything You Need to Know About Valve's Steam Machines ( Maximum PC 2014-01-23 )

This is a pretty good summary of what we know thus far in Q&A format. Good for the total n00b who might be wondering what this thing is all about.

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

HP Explains Decision Bring Back Windows 7 PCs ( Maximum PC 2014-01-24 )

HP today posted a blog further explaining its reasoning for bringing back Windows 7.

"The answer is dead simple: Choice. We like giving our customers the option to get the computer that's right for them," HP explains. "For some folks, that's Android. We've got everything from 2-in-1 detachables like the SlateBook x2 to the giant-sized Slate 21 All-in-One."

HP reiterated that it still offers Windows 8.1 systems and emphatically stated in all caps that it has no plans whatsoever of dropping the touch-friendly OS from its lineup. However, "some people still want to run Windows 7 on their computers," hence why the last generation OS is still an option.

HP: 'WE ARE NOT DROPPING WINDOWS 8' ( NeoWin 2014-01-24 )

The blog points out that HP now sells PCs that run Windows 8, Windows 7 and even Android. However, the blog also said HP was committed to selling PCs with Microsoft's newest OS. It stated:

We want people to be happy with our computers whichever option they choose BUT WE ARE NOT DROPPING WINDOWS 8. Let me put this in perspective for you. All the five Windows 7 products we launched are available with Windows 8 as well. And in addition, we have several dozen more laptops and desktops that we only offer with Windows 8.

Yes, there's that word "Choice", a truly alien concept to both Microsoft and all the sycophantic NeoKids. Good explanation by HP.

The only news there to me is that they only have five models with Windows 7. That's not the way they should do it. It should be a selection in a drop-down option box if you ask me.

Apple executive: Convergence of iOS and OS X would be a 'waste of energy' ( NeoWin 2014-01-23 )

Despite rumors and speculation suggesting the contrary, Apple does not have any plans now or for any point in the future to merge OS X with iOS. Apple executives said that doing so would be a "waste of energy" and indirectly poked a bit of fun at Microsoft's strategy to have one OS for both tablets and desktops.

"We don't waste time thinking, 'But it should be one (interface!) How do you make these (operating systems) merge together?' What a waste of energy that would be," Apple's Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller told Macworld in an interview.

"You'll see them be the same where it makes sense, and you'll see them be different in those things that are critical to their essence," added Craig Federighi, Senior VP of Software Engineering.

Very well said. : It sounds to me like Apple understands the technology and the market much better than Microsoft, and the reason is that Microsoft is shooting wildly in the dark while playing catch-up.

As you can imagine, this leads to a holy war in the comments as religiously zealous NeoKids climb out of their holes to attack the infidels insulting their prophet. Some of the absolute dumbest things I have ever read are present in this thread ....

marketshare win 8 > OSX. Who is right again?

are you kidding me, apple spend decades trying to sell OSX to the masses and failed every time. [... pointless screed snipped ....]

Selling OSx ( or any Mac OS )? When did that happen?

This crazy stuff is prevalent through the entire thread from NeoKids who describe Microsoft vs Apple as competitors, and Windows vs Mac OS as competing products. The problem is that they have never really been direct competitors in any category until the Surface tablets ( vs iPad ), and soon with MicroNokia phones ( vs iPhone ). These will be apples to apples comparisons and I highly doubt that any of the NeoFools will like to see the result.

Hence they create this crap fantasy about marketshare comparing Apple Computers versus OEM PC's shipped with Windows. Seriously? How is this not the absolute dumbest bit of fanboy logic ever spewed? I am trying but cannot ever remember in over 30 years a time when the Mac OS was for sale, IIRC it is not for sale now and never was, period. Apple does not sell an OS, Microsoft does not sell a PC. Only a retard would try to sandwich these two opposites into one category.

In fact, to be perfectly accurate I would say that while Windows reportedly exists on 90% of all the PC's in existence, Apple's Mac OS is running on 99.99% of the computers it can be run on ( i.e., Apple computers ). Therefore Apple has the highest marketshare. Ha!

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

If I may , you are extending the concept of astroturfing a bit too much .

The general idea of astroturfing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

is IMHO in three points:

• deny (or hide) any connection with the product/firm, i.e. appear as "independent" or"super partes"
• appear as knowledgeable, expert, reliable, honest
• recommend the product/firm (or tell everyone how great it is, etc.)

A large part of what you address as "astroturfing" fulfills point #1 and #3 but fail on point #2, thus flatly falling in this definition of "fanboyism":

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fanboy&defid=3190045

An astroturfer, in other words, has often spent some time and work in creating it's credibility, in a somewhat perverted way he/she has some more dignity and deserves some more respect than the "pure" fanboy.

Courtesy of: http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/22/understanding-fanboy-ism-an-overused-and-misconstrued-term/

And now you owe me another monitor ( and I just finished cleaning up the mess from the Toll Booth Jumping video )

Tell you what, just send me this one and we'll call it even.

[chkdsk not working, faulty hard drive?]

I don't think you can say that with certainty, yet. The problem with examining a disk for errors in the same computer that exhibits the errors is that other potentially guilty parties are still present. Motherboard issues like controller problems or heat, bad cable, airflow, weak or bad power supply, or some rare chaotic condition from a combination of them may appear as a disk problem.

NO.

CHKDSK, notwithstanding the name, has very little to do with the actual DISK, it only checks the logical consistency of the filesystem/volume, if it reports no errors, than running it on 100 different computers will still result in no errors (unless the other 100 computers are faulty themselves).

BUT it won't say you anything about the actual DISK status, so, running the manufacturer utility tests is a very good idea , but no *need* to do so on "another" computer, if not because on the "other" computer it might be handier since you have a "full OS" working.

I actually agree with you about Chkdsk ( and I think I drifted off in the middle of that original comment without completely explaining my thinking ). Without sector scanning ( I believe that shows up as a 6-step Chkdsk rather than 3-step IIRC ) then the whole process was file system sanity checking, metadata, etc. Nothing about the disk itself. This, by the way, is the reason I said we don't know for sure ( my incompleted thought ). Chkdsk is not rigorous, never has been. So I fully agree here.

I disagree about the use of another computer for one reason: I was trying to eliminate "false positives" ( for lack of a better phrase ) which he reported earlier but not this last time.

Let's say you run all the tools against the disk in the original machine and see some failures. Now we run them again in another known good machine but with no failures. The evidence points to a false positive in the first system perhaps from any of those myriad possibilities ( like heat, PS, etc ). Now we can try to pinpoint some other issue.

And yes, it still could be the disk even after getting the all-clear on two machines, such is the nature of technology ( some maddening highly intermittent electrical fault ), in which case the "all-clear" would really be a false negative, but that's why we keep third, and fourth, ... machines around. The way I do it is run a battery of stuff as mentioned, and compare everything looking for any differences.

One really good reason to use a second computer as a matter of course is for malware scanning. There is no way to trust the original computer to scan for malware if it is infected by malware ( especially rootkits and outside-the-file-system MBR viruses ). All I'm saying is that you can kill a lot of birds with one single stone by just dropping the disk into a clean computer, preferably pre-configured for this task with lots of tools sitting right there ready to go. Alternative methods are using standalone environments from optical or flash drives. But none of this is news to you of course!

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

Edward Snowden to participate in live Q&A session on January 23rd at 3PM ET ( TechSpot 2014-01-22 )

Live Q&A with Edward Snowden: Thursday 23rd January, 8pm GMT, 3pm EST ( FreeSnowden 2014-01-23 )

For a good laugh read the comments at the first link from before the Q&A from a couple of sheeple ( saying: "He's a Traitor" ) boot-lickers.

NOTE: the interview is now complete. At the second link is the completed transcript.

I like how the second question and answer echo what I said a few days ago ...

@mrbass21 Recently several threats have been made on your life by the intelligence community. Are you afraid for your life? Thoughts? #AskSnowden

Its concerning, to me, but primarily for reasons you might not expect.

That current, serving officials of our government are so comfortable in their authorities that theyre willing to tell reporters on the record that they think the due process protections of the 5th Amendment of our Constitution are outdated concepts. These are the same officials telling us to trust that theyll honor the 4th and 1st Amendments. This should bother all of us.

The fact that its also a direct threat to my life is something I am aware of, but Im not going to be intimidated. Doing the right thing means having no regrets.

Good answer.

Independent watchdog says NSA program is illegal and should end ( TechSpot 2014-01-23 )

Less than a week after President Barack Obama announced plans to overhaul controversial NSA phone data collection program, an independent review board has questioned the program's legality. According to a Washington Post report, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which became an independent agency in 2007, has concluded that the program is illegal and should end.

Well that's all fine and dandy, but only of gray area significance because it is mostly metadata and has been done for a very long time. Ultimately this will probably be ruled Constitutional IMHO because it occurs outside of the home, in transit where governments have some claim to regulatory privilege. That's not to say it is a slam dunk, or even acceptable, but it looks to me like one of those sucker issues to draw in everybody's focus and resources and they will ultimately hammer out a compromise so everyone feels like they won something ( though we lose in every circumstance ).

Meanwhile crystal clear violations of the Constitution are evident. Black bag jobs, spying on private property, collecting content ( not just metadata ), breaking and entering into Big Data resources, hardware and software spyware, data theft and hacking, and other computer crimes galore. The list is simply endless and we don't even know a fraction of the entire scope. The First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments are under specific assault, but frankly the most important one is the Ninth Amendment that essentially says "Those previous Eight Amendments are NOT all the rights we have by a longshot, just a few of them we bothered to enumerate. We reserve everything stated and unstated, period". The original intent is that it is the government that is limited, not the citizenry. With that perspective the amount of rights violated by the spook agencies and the government itself is almost unmeasurable.

Federal judge rules IP address alone not proof of copyright infringement ( NeoWin 2014-01-23 )

In considering a claim against hundreds of alleged downloaders of the movie Elf-Man, Judge Lasnik considered the complaint brought forward by the film-makers, who asserted that the defendants - identified via their IP addresses through their internet service providers under subpoena - had either downloaded a copy of the film themselves, or otherwise enabled others to download the files using their internet connection.

But the judge disagreed with that assessment: "[The movie studio] has actually alleged no more than that the named defendants purchased Internet access and failed to ensure that others did not use that access to download copyrighted material," he stated. "Simply identifying the account holder associated with an IP address tells us very little about who actually downloaded 'Elf-Man' using that IP address."

Amen to that ruling which kicks the Hollywood Mafia right in the 'nads. Now they are going to have to figure out ways to break into the networks at those IP addresses to steal personal info that might identify the dummies who copied their stoopid movie. Or they can just ask their friends in spook agencies, or the DoJ to do it for them. Or they will cry to their DC benefactors to pass even more laws to save their starving industry ( /sarc ) from ruin.

I wonder why some clever individuals didn't set up a reverse honey pot trap showing fake movie and music files, which records IP addresses from the Hollywood Mafia and their agents and drag them into court for a variety of computer crimes? On private property they could host a private server and buy a T3 line and a bank of URLs and place a big banner on the front page with an Opt-In EULA that says "No Trespassing. Federal Agencies and Hollywood and their agents are not welcome and if you enter this site you agree to pay One Million Dollars for each infraction". A firm of lawyers could have a field day with the results and it would help right the floundering ship of privacy back to vertical after they get a taste of their own medicine. What's good for the goose.

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

New Windows 8.1 update 1 screenshots highlight modern app pinning ( NeoWin 2014-01-23 )

( Image from NeoWin )

Looks like the taskbar will now be littered with icons for Metro apps in addition to all the normal x86 applications and other shortcuts. Yay Microsoft.

Hopefully they will think of combining them into a single icon with a jump list ( SEPARATE from usual Explorer one ). We'll call it the Metro or Playskool icon.

Best comment I've seen yet ... "I been using Windows 8.1 for several weeks and I have to say: Windows 7 is awesome!"

Microsoft's Must-Have List for Windows 9 ( John Dvorak PC Magazine 2014-01-22 )

Dvorak drops the hammer on Microsoft for the Windows 8 fiasco and offers up some suggestions ( not enough though IMHO ). Surprisingly most commenters so far agree which is surprising because ZD has quite a few astroturfers.

Nokia sold 8.2 million Lumias in Q4 2013 ( NeoWin 2014-01-23 )

Nokia did not reveal how many feature phones or Lumia smartphones it sold during the fourth quarter of 2013 in its latest financial report today, but later confirmed that it sold 8.2 million Lumias in the fourth quarter.

Back in October, Nokia said it sold 8.8 million Lumia handsets worldwide and 55.8 million mobile phones for the third quarter of 2013. Today's report from Nokia's Devices and Services division stated that Lumia sales for the fourth quarter of 2013 were up from the same period a year ago but down from the third quarter of last year. Overall, Nokia sold 30 million Lumia phones in 2013, over double the number that it recorded being sold during 2012.

Awfully wordy article when they could have just said: "Nokia Lumia sales down in Q4 2013 from Q3." That means the crucial Q4 Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday season somehow underperformed the late summer Q3 dead quarter.

UPDATE ...

Nokia reveals hugely disappointing Lumia Windows Phone sales in Q4 2013 ( BetaNews 2014-01-23 )

Nokia reveals hugely disappointing Lumia Windows Phone sales in Q4 2013 ( The Verge 2014-01-23 )

HeHeHe Folks stoking the flames. The Verge Tribe comments should get pretty good.

[Windows Xp Pro or Home edition for an old pentium 3]

Why are you doubting my pics

@Flasche, I'm NOT doubting your discs at all! You misunderstood. Actually I was trying to say that you do in fact have the necessary "full retail" or "system builder" editions that allow you to install on a random computer ( rather than the limited OEM SLP arrangement where Windows essentially dies with its motherboard ). It's all good. :

Okay now, that photo is what you needed. That's a super common Asus P3B-F, one of the better boards of the ... last century ;-)

The very good news is that you will have no problem finding everything from drivers to documentation to reviews. Here's a good start ...

• http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/list.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=P3B-F
• http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=P3B-F&os=8
• http://www.motherboards.org/files/manuals/1/p3bf-104.pdf
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_440BX
• http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-p3b-f.html
• http://driverscollection.com/?H=P3B-F&By=ASUS&SS=Windows%20XP

The other good news is that Windows XP can be used on it ( the board is 1998-1999 and XP is just 2 years later ) and since it was mid to high-end in its time and popular, the board was well exercised in the XP formative years. A quick look at Google ( "Asus p3b-f with Windows XP" ) shows discussion to read through.

The bad news is the same as the very good news: "one of the better boards of the ... last century" IMHO the biggest single killer is the HDD interface at UDMA/33. Even if it were UDMA/66 it would still be too performance limiting. Also, as I expected it is the SDRAM era ( the old 164-pin size DIMMs before 184-pin DDR ). These were 100 MHz speed and no bigger than 256 MB per stick. Theoretically you could max it out at 4*256 for 1 GB ( a very respectable amount for XP ) but you might have a problem locating that RAM now if you don't already have it ( and I see you do have 2*256 MB mentioned above, which is adequate ). Finally the CPU is also limited to the Slot format, although there were a handful of near GHz models at the end of that cycle ( in fact that one link seems to show at least one 1 GHz Slot-1 on the compatibility list, who knew! ). I don't think you mentioned what speed your CPU is, but naturally the faster the better. If you could find that highest speed model for sale used, I bet it would only cost $10 max.

So ... It could be done, with Windows XP that is. No question at all about it. And the answer to the original question is ... Windows XP Pro.

Good luck!

[chkdsk not working, faulty hard drive?]

Alrighty, thanks for the series of steps. I went through all of them. There is nothing wrong according to all the chkdsk commands I ran.

I don't think you can say that with certainty, yet. The problem with examining a disk for errors in the same computer that exhibits the errors is that other potentially guilty parties are still present. Motherboard issues like controller problems or heat, bad cable, airflow, weak or bad power supply, or some rare chaotic condition from a combination of them may appear as a disk problem.

The only way to get to near certainty IMHO is to put that disk in a known working computer ( as a slave ) and run CHKDSK and other tools against it there, including the specific HDD manufacturer tools. Also check out what the SMART data looks like there as well ( in HDTune or similar ). In fact you should run the HDTune benchmarks on each while you're at it. Then take all these results from both computers and compare them to see if there is any conflicting information. If they both check out identically you can be pretty certain the disk is healthy IMHO.

Is it possible that my computer is not running chkdsk on startup because of a registry issue?

About the registry and possible AutoChk disabling, infection or corruption. There are a bunch of reasons ...

AntiVirus packages often have a realtime system protection component ( ) that revert system setting changes silently in an effort to save the user from nefarious malware. The registry, especially all those startup keys are a prime location for these protectors to monitor so it is possible for them to block something like AutoChk. So there is a possibility here, but you say you ruled it out by disabling or removing the AV software.

Another possibility, if you are not running as Administrator, or, if the permissions were modified for that key, or for that file, or any combination of these you may be unable ( or Chkdsk may be unable ) to set it correctly.

Here's another. Some 3rd party programs become territorial, perhaps a hard disk software like a retail DEFRAG suite or full blown Norton Utility or similar ( you said you used GlarySoft? ) now assumes duties for that Chkdsk function and takes ownership of the file or some combination of the permissions. They have to do it if they want their particular app to replace the normal Windows apps. Have you had any program installed that falls into this category?

Then there are other problems like a corrupt file AutoChk file as this thread with one of MSFN's members ( Andre ) participated in ...

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-system/autochkexe-corrupt-windows-7-x64-pro/20217a8c-1b75-402a-ad2a-30224441f48f

Also, there are reams of results in Google and Bing for AutoChk related errors. It's a matter of getting the right combination of keywords to zero in on it. But personally I would be sure to check out all those other things too ( test the HDD in another system, check the permissions, etc ).

[An American in Paris]

[Windows Xp Pro or Home edition for an old pentium 3]

In the last photo ...

- The left disc, does it match this one? If so it is Full Retail Pro and *can* be used on any computer ( one at a time naturally! ).

- The right disc is very hard to see, does it match this one? If so it is probably Home Edition OEM System Builder and for all practical purposes can be used the same way.

The Motherboard...

- You need a wide shot showing the whole board. All I can see for sure is "Made in China", it has ATI Rage graphics ( 128 MB ), Award BIOS, and PCI Slots. With a full board photo ( take a few ) we can tell where the motherboard stenciling is and then you will later need to zoom in on that and get another closeup ( none of your existing photos shows it ). BTW, the CPU is also not shown, or the RAM or the back I/O panel.

But at least you *do* apparently have two useful copies of Windows XP which could be useful if you have a decent computer ( one fast enough to be tolerable ). Naturally you would want to use the Pro copy.

[Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions]

Microsoft Fixes Office 365 Exploit That Grants Admin Rights ( Tom's Hardware 2014-01-21 )

Alan Byrne of Cogmotive reports on the discovery of a "serious" Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Microsoft Office 365. All a potential hacker needed in order to fully exploit this vulnerability are just a few lines of JavaScript and a web browser.

According to the report, any person with a mailbox in a company using Office 365 could gain full administrative permissions over an entire company's Office 365 environment. They would have the ability to make configuration changes to the environment, and gain access to every employees' email and SharePoint content.

[...]

The good news here is that the problem was reported to Microsoft on October 16, 2013, and resolved as of December 19, 2013.

If you say so.

LogMeIn is killing free remote access ( NeoWin 2014-01-21 )

LogMeIn Ends Free Ride, Gives Users 7 Days' Notice to Subscribe or Scram ( Maximum PC 2014-01-21 )

People who currently use the free version of the LogMeIn remote desktop software will have to prepare for a big, and for most an unwelcome, change. The company announced today that it will no longer offer a free version to download and will force current users to switch to their paid software.

[...]

Free LogMeIn users will have seven days of continued use after they log into the program beginning today. After that, they will have to pay to continue to use the program.

Didn't that used to be called bait and switch? Whatever, I guess. BTW, it seems that this is the norm for this outfit ...

LogMeIn have a habit of doing this - offering something for free, and then at a later stage change and offer exactly the same produce, but at a cost - so this news comes as no surprised to me!

Some recent examples of other LogMeIn products that were initially totally free, and are now paid services, include:

Cubby - initially totally free, then only free for certain options, with others that had been free suddenly becoming premium.

Hamachi - initially totally free, then only free for up to 8 devices, then only free for up to 5 devices.

Basically, don't trust LogMeIn as a company!! - They will screw you over and change the terms/license of their software at a whim.

You wouldn't mind paying more for more features, but when they take away features that once were free, and make you pay to get them back.. well, that's just bad business practice! No wonder their customers are annoyed and leaving them in droves for alternative - and FREE solutions!

US court: Bloggers have same speech protections as institutional press ( TechSpot 2014-01-20 )

Under US law, professional journalists are entitled to the First Amendment Protection which makes it mandatory for the accuser to prove that the accused journalist deliberately printed something they knew was false. In Cox's case, the blogger wasn't entitled to this protection as she wasn't a professional journalist.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, however, rejected the court's interpretation, and pointed out that the First Amendment Protection applies to anyone who raises a matter of public concern. According to the court, the allegations made by Cox were indeed a matter of public concern.

Well isn't that good news? Probably not I'm afraid. This does NOT have paradigm shift written all over it IMHO. The Ninth Circus ( not a typo ) finally got something right it seems, but it should have been obvious all along and never got there. And I am referring to the categorization of the First Amendment and NOT about the defamation issue. I'm worried that if people highlight the First Amendment part of this case it will become even more damaged because of this blogger's carelessness and it could easily get overturned by the Supreme Court. This is really a dangerous case IMHO.

The main issue not being addressed in isolation is the fact that there are now laws in the USA that amend the First Amendment, casting journalists into categories: pros or amateurs, and this is utterly ridiculous. I've read the Federalist papers and that is NOT the intent of the Constitution. Such a concept is insidious for another reason, and that is that once this twisting of the First Amendment is accepted, then you have the locking-in of the concept because the very journalists reporting on such matters ( even this particular case ) have a vested interest in protecting their protected status, which means shaping the "journalist vs blogger" issue in their stories squarely against the blogger ( and this often happens ) which cements their own position of power.

The closest possible parallel to revolutionary pamphleteers in colonial times has to be today's citizen bloggers, relentlessly questioning the system and everything around them. By no stretch of the imagination can the intent of free speech protection be applied solely to paid journalists. That is the biggest insult to the Constitution imaginable. And that is why this case is so dangerous as it could very well set even worse precedents if it is overturned, or, if people merely accept the concept of special status for paid journalism.

Microsoft's not entirely pleased with NSA reforms, says there is more work to do' ( NeoWin 2014-01-21 )

With the fluff out of the way, Microsoft has take a hard stance that the announcements by Obama about the NSA reforms are not enough and they are not happy with the current plans. More so, if you start to understand why they are unhappy, it becomes quite clear why the US (and all countries) needs a legal framework.

Heres the deal. If the government is able to, at will, retrieve data from Microsoft (or Google, Apple, or Amazon) then it is hard to make the sell that US organizations are secure options for storing data (Cloud). Think about it, if you are outside the US and you choose any US firm to securely store your data, you are giving the US government access to your information, based on the current procedures. That, in itself, puts US companies in a tough position as they are now at a disadvantage where firms outside the US can advertise that they are able to offer more secure solutions than US based companies.

Here is Brad Sams trying to understand a huge issue through the narrow perspective from the NeoWin fishbowl. In short, he is buying the story that they are upset with the limited scope of proposed reforms and have their hands tied. Sycophants do that, so do enablers. I think the spook first and primary PRISM partner ( Microsoft ) has a lot of explaining to do and they have done none. If they want to impress me, disregard the gag orders and tell us all about the backdoors and other weaknesses the spooks are privy to. Detail all the stuff in Windows and Office and explain what happened around Longhorn-Vista. That's just the beginning of the questions.