JorgeA

You mean HP doing something intelligent and good in the last what? ten years? No, it is actually surprising . jaclaz Yeah, I meant a major PC vendor offering Windows 7 machines at this stage, with the selling point that they're "back by popular demand"! --JorgeA

Does anybody have access to solid numbers showing how many PCs are actually harmed by the vulnerabilities fixed by Windows Updates? If you read the MS bulletins, a lot of these vulnerabilities sound fairly remote/unlikely. --JorgeA

Welcome back! I was getting worried that you were either buried in the blizzard, or maybe taken away for a chat with our friends at the three-letter agencies... Microsoft with its advanced and massive cloud infrastructure and associated software cannot find the wherewithal to serve up images for Windows 7 themers. Oh wait, they still do as long as you use Bing. Yeah sure. Download and install Bing spyware which will almost assuredly hijack your search engine and homepage, and naturally add a service or two and autoupdate at will, just to get the same wallpapers that previously came through a benign theme engine. Sounds like a wonderful idea. Not. Check out this observation down in the comments section -- --JorgeA

Love it!! --JorgeA

Thanks for the article, another scary warning. Beyond hacking for mischief, imagine the possibilities this offers not only to the NSA but even to "benign" authorities. With this "Internet of things" where every item in your house is connected to the world, state and local governments will be able to keep tabs on how many people are staying in your home, what type of light bulbs you're using, how much water you use to shower, what kind of food you're buying, how warm you keep your home in the winter and how cool in the summer. A fantasy playground for busybodies and ideological gangsters -- all in the name of maintaining property values or protecting your health or saving the planet or whatever bu!!$h/t excuse they come up with next for meddling in people's lives and telling them how to live. --JorgeA

I have friends that think I am a bonafide member of the tin hat society. But, every day or week, there is more information revealed about just how deep into our daily lives, that the various governments have burrowed. The only reason that I even have a cell phone, is that it has become a necessary evil. Even at that, there are day or even weeks, that I don't even turn the thing on. What finally pushed me over the edge, was that Pay Telephones were no longer available. The brave new and without privacy world, is becoming quite scary these days. Hopefully, the sheeple will wake up and demand better. The whole article can be read here: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/16/nsa-collects-millions-text-messages-daily-untargeted-global-sweep bpalone I'm now telling my friends that, "You were right that things weren't as bad as I feared: they're even worse!" --JorgeA

Naah, the notifications are fine, it is the NSA that intercepts the messages and redirects them elsewhere . LOL -- wouldn't surprise me if they could do that!! --JorgeA

Did you ever think you'd see anything like this: (click on the image to enlarge) Just got the advertising circular this morning from H-P. Makes me wish I were in the market for a new PC so that I could reward them for listening. --JorgeA

It's weird. Earlier this week, I stopped getting notifications on the "Deeper Impressions" thread only (AFAIK; notifications did keep coming in on some other subscribed threads) but now I'm getting them again. --JorgeA

Well, it looks like I've stopped getting e-mail notifications of new posts -- again. I was afraid that activity on this thread had ground to a halt, turns out I just wasn't getting told about it. Glad to see you guys have been holding the fort. I'll be back in action tomorrow. --JorgeA

You've probably solved this by now, but another way to approach this would be to bring the Vista installation up to date, and then add all the memory you want. I'm running Vista Home Premium with 8GB, no problem. --JorgeA

If Windows 8 was a Microsoft gambit to grab a share of the tablet market, here's another suggestion that the move may backfire: Windows XP End Could Bring More Bad News For PCs So instead of claiming a share of the tablet market, the attempt to push Metro on customers with Windows 8 may end up (further) decreasing their overall share of computing devices. Whereas before, users may have considered moving on to a new Windows desktop OS to replace their aging XP systems, now in many cases Microsoft will be out of the running for the replacement machines. And another bit of promising news: Paul Thurrott's sources back up this report: "Threshold" to be Called Windows 9, Ship in April 2015 Interesting, that bit about Microsoft's casting Win8 as the next Vista. Who was the Metrotard who wrote something about shooting the next guy who compared Windows 8 to Vista? He'll need a truckful of ammo to cut his way through Redmond. That is, if he doesn't first beat his head on the wall with rage at this official betrayal of the glorious Metro ideal. --JorgeA

Thanks for the info, Andre. Neowin has one interesting bit of speculation about this: If they make it available as an ISO and people don't have to jujmp through hoops to install it without going into the Windows Store , that will represent a real customer-friendly improvement. It better be integratable with existing Windows 8.1 images. The idea of having to recreate images every time they make some little update is ridiculous. Some possible good news on this front: Windows 8.1 Update 1 reportedly arriving via Windows Update, not via the Windows Store --JorgeA

Ed Bott analyzes the leading browser market-share trackers, followed by a lively discussion down in the comments section: Net Market Share vs. StatCounter: Whose online measurements can you trust? This will be useful to keep in mind next time the topic of whose browser is doing better comes up. --JorgeA

Mary Jo Foley provides a (very) little bit more about that update to Windows 8.1: --JorgeA

And something else the powers-that-be might be interested in: Ford exec apologizes for saying company tracks customers with GPS Farley's statement sounds more credible than subsequent denials (included in the linked article). Remarkable candor. --JorgeA

More reasons to stay far away from Facebook and other social media: Facial recognition app matches strangers to online profiles Umm, can you imagine anybody else who might have an interest in using this sort of technology? If you're having trouble guessing, here's a hint -- Google Glass's unlikely testers: Your local cops --JorgeA

The Wall Street Journal published a piece this week suggesting that the troubles Microsoft is having recruiting a new CEO have to do with the prospect of Ballmer and Gates remaining on the Board of Directors. Here's the nub of it: --JorgeA

Well, I thought more along the "philosophical" or "historical" side of it, as in "history repeats itself": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_recurrence This document has always been for me a very interesting reading : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence jaclaz I'm with duffy98 -- that WAS very interesting about the Fugio penny. If it were reissued today, the motto would have to be modified to, MYOFB. One of my two or three favorite lines from the U.S. Declaration of Independence: --JorgeA

That's pretty funny!! --JorgeA

Thanks for the info, Andre. Neowin has one interesting bit of speculation about this: If they make it available as an ISO and people don't have to jujmp through hoops to install it without going into the Windows Store , that will represent a real customer-friendly improvement. --JorgeA P.S. Down in the comments section, good observations on the screenshots: . --JorgeA

It's good to know that at least some people aren't just rolling over and letting the badges ride roughshod over them. Too many among the public seem to have forgotten that the line, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you" is actually sarcasm. Credit government schools for the inability to figure that out. --JorgeA EDIT: typo

The reasons for puttin' your stuff online just keep getting better and better: Facebook Sued Over Alleged Scanning of Private Messages Now normally I am more concerned about government snooping than about private company snooping: a private company "threatens" to offer to sell me something I might want, whereas a government can arrest me or worse. But then company tracking data can be subpoenaed by government and then used against me, which is why I've always said that the only safe online data is that which doesn't exist (i.e., no tracking). The following piece shows me that I've been excessively incautious in my assessment, as any more not even a subpoena is necessary -- NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking [emphasis added] One small bit of relief regarding this particular practice is that it's not (yet) a tool for continuous mass surveillance: Check out the whole piece for additional angles and all the gory details. Finally, chew on this: NSA seeks to build quantum computer that could crack most types of encryption Our debt of gratitude to Edward Snowden grows on a daily basis. --JorgeA

Metro madness infects another major software vendor. +1 But I think this is going to be a requirement from Microsoft going forward, especially if Microsoft eventually requires any program be installed through the Microsoft store. Norton/Symantec has gone this way too, so maybe there is something to the idea it's Microsoft who's pushing it. Certainly customers haven't been clamoring for their interfaces to be uglified and dumbed down. An idea that is entirely too reasonable: --JorgeA