JorgeA

xper, Thank you VERY much for improving the contrast in quoted text, it's much much easier to read quotes now. --JorgeA

But the cloud as "de-localized" backup or "redundant copy" seems to me a very good idea . (and the risks are limited) The foolishness represented is that of the cloud in this "modern" concept of having "everything" (as opposed to a copy or backup) *somewhere* in the hands of *someone* (and senselessly moving back and forth bytes at an anyway much slower than "local lan" speed). Yeah, "local first with cloud backup" is preferable to "cloud first with local backup", the latter of which is what a cloud evangelist might propose as a fallback to "all and only cloud" (in the scenario I presented). --JorgeA

Oh, man... Wonder what it will take to eradicate this Metroitis infection. --JorgeA

All good points -- the case for the cloud is even shakier than we had first imagined! As soon as I read where you wrote, "let's say that a cloud provider... has your data together with those of a parallel (say) web activity like file hosting" -- I thought of Megaupload. And sure enough, that's the example you had in mind, Yup, that's another real risk of trusting the cloud. And not merely theoretical anymore. A defender of the cloud might argue that, well, you need to back up your stuff locally, or use a backup cloud backup. But in the former case you may as well just use your own storage in the first place, and in the latter case the costs of using cloud services are doubled. Either way, the rationale for the cloud is dubious. On top of all the good arguments and scenarios that you brought up. --JorgeA

We here are not the only ones to be concerned over working in the cloud: Companies Still Fear Cloud Computing, Survey Finds Makes sense to me. If you're no longer the one to store and maintain your own data, you put yourself in the awkward situation of becoming the focus of customer complaints without being able to do much about them. Imagine that you've succumbed to fashion: your business documents are now stored in SkyDrive via your oh-so-cool Surface -- and SkyDrive goes down. Or Office 365 (364 as @Charlotte tagged it ) goes down just as you need to make last-minute fixes on a contract or a spreadsheet before forwarding. Something to consider before marching blindly onward into the cloud... --JorgeA

Thanks dencorso, I'll try that. Should I unsubscribe, then leave MSFN, go back into "Content I Follow" and re-subscribe? Or -- in case it makes a difference -- should I unsubscribe and then resubscribe without leaving MSFN? --JorgeA

I came across this page, which provides instructions and official Microsoft (Digital River) download links to the files needed to create a bootable Vista installation DVD. A couple of additions/notes to the instructions: The name of the subdirectory where you place the installation files cannot have any blank spaces in it. (For example, I had created a "Vista64 ISO files" subdirectory, and the PE CLI objected, thinking it was supposed to look for "Vista64.") Microsoft's instructions for installing the WAIK say that it's distributed as an IMG file, but it's actually an ISO. The file to click on, on the WAIK disc once it's burned, is startcd.exe. The PE CLI needs to be opened with administrator rights, otherwise when you enter the commands it will return an "access denied" error. And yes, there is no space between "-b" and "C:" right after "oscdimg", and both lines displayed are typed as one single, continuous line. When burning the ISO, you of course know not to use the native Vista DVD burner -- it doesn't do anything useful (at least for me). I used Power2Go instead.Finally, if you want to install a fresh copy of Vista you will of course need a valid license key. In my case, I downloaded the files and created the disc for myself because my PC vendor didn't supply any OS discs and I wanted something more than a "recovery" disc. Enjoy! --JorgeA EDIT: additional info

So then, those of us who are not getting e-mail notifications -- is there anything we can do? --JorgeA

Thank you. Those settings are what I meant when reporting that: But more details are in order: The setting, "Auto follow topics I reply to. Notification frequency:", is checked off, and set to "Immediate." The setting, "Notification method to use for replies to followed topics", is set to e-mail. All three settings under "Private Messages" are also checked off for e-mail notification. Finally, Followed Content does list all the topics (threads) that I have opted to subscribe to. Since elsewhere (see above) I have selected, as a global setting, immediate e-mail notification of replies in followed topics, then I suppose that nothing further needs to be done (for example, with that "change" button on the right of each followed topic). Should I also individually set each followed topic to "Notify me of updates"? That would seem to be redundant given the other settings, but you never know... In case you're wondering, my e-mail address under "My Settings" is correct. Is there anything else that needs to be done, to resume getting e-mail notifications of new posts in followed topics? Thanks! --JorgeA EDIT: additional info

I posted this link in the "Start Button replacements" thread, but it's relevant here too (maybe more so): Right-on-the-money comment down below: --JorgeA

Apropos of one of the topics we've been covering... A simple SSL tweak could protect you from GCHQ/NSA snooping Something to look into, but it doesn't appear to be a measure that an individual user can apply on his/her own. (I'll be happy to be corrected on that point!) --JorgeA

It sure looks like it could be Windows 8! Microsoft's strategy: "get 'em while they're young"... BTW, we've all done very well so far in keeping the discussion at the philosophical level! So please, no BHO comments pro or con. (Unless they're actually about Browser Helper Objects...) --JorgeA

Start Buttons in the news: 'Start' button devs say Windows 8.1 doesn't put them out of business A lively comments section, too... --JorgeA

I'm not receiving e-mail notifications of new posts to topics that I'm subscribed to. My settings are to automatically follow any topic that I reply to, and to get immediate notification of new posts via e-mail. But that's not happening. Same for private messages -- no e-mail notifications arriving, despite having checked all the boxes related to personal conversations. Not sure if this can be considered a "bug" exactly, but e-mail notifications are a displayed forum feature that isn't (yet) working. --JorgeA

I want to report that the weird posting issue where inserting links or formatting to a chunk of text ends up in the top line, has now disappeared with the new forum software. Works great in Win7 IE9, no problem (never was) in Vista IE8. --JorgeA

I would expect that the NSA would be interested in contents. jaclaz No doubt the NSA is interested in the contents of e-mails, but the newspaper reporting so far has indicated that, while they may or may not have access to those contents, they do have access to the kind of metadata that the MIT project analyzes. Therefore the MIT project serves as an illustration of what the NSA can do, with the proviso that the NSA does this with most or all e-mail services out there and not just Gmail, so they get a more complete picture of people's webs of relationships. And of course users send their info knowingly and voluntarily to MIT, which is more than can be said for the NSA. --JorgeA

This is some scary sh*t -- a small indication of what the NSA can learn about anybody that it chooses to set its sights on: Curious what the NSA gleans from your Gmail? Now you can see for yourself A Hypnotic Visualization of Everything Gmail Knows About You and Your Friends As pointed out previously, this represents a real threat to the democratic system. If a government can keep track of who's talking to whom and when, that information provides precious tactical intelligence to head off or counter opposition activities: talk to that congressman who's been considering voting against you. Offer casually to tell the press about his flirty e-mails with a man who is not his wife. Did you find out where your rival in the next election is meeting "privately" (hahaha! ) for potential endorsements? Send a "spontaneous" rent-a-crowd to protest whatever at the endorser's home so that he can't make the meeting. The possibilities are endless, and not just for the Stalin types in Stalin-type governments. --JorgeA

That's a very vivid picture you draw there! --JorgeA

These links, provided by jaclaz in another thread, have a bearing on our discussion here: http://www.cio.com/article/721478/2013_Prediction_BYOD_on_the_Decline_ http://www.cultofmac.com/156511/byod-failure-five-big-reasons-why-employees-dont-want-to-use-their-iphones-ipads-at-work/ If it turns out to be true that both employees and employers sour on the idea of BYOD, cooling off the fever for mobile gadgets, this could knock the props out of Microsoft's rationale for pushing not only the Surface, but also the whole Metro UI concept. Microsoft would be fighting the last war, with Desktop users as the main casualties but a new sliver of hope for resuscitation. --JorgeA

I's not necessary related to Metro... Many of the so called "modern" websites seem to use those low contrast themes. Add to that the already small fonts (12 px or even smaller) and the result is just a disaster in terms of accessibility.This website says it all: http://contrastrebellion.com That is a great website, thank you for the link!! Here's a fantastic article that's referenced on that page. --JorgeA

Most of the problems that I reported yesterday are gone, thanks! However, there is still one bug, one question (possible bug?), and then I have one new suggestion for improvement. The bug: When I click to insert an emoticon, there is a little blue triangle at the right end of the blue strip below the reply box that shows some of the emoticons. When I click on the blue triangle, the emoticons disappear and a new blue triangle appears at the left end (sugggesting that it's to go back to the previous list). Clicking on that triangle doesn't do anything, though, so it serves no purpose and leads to some confusion as the user clicks on it and then tries to figure out what's (not) going on. The question: Glance over at my info in the left panel. You'll see the number of posts and the OS that I use. Between those two lines there is one that reads, "0 warning points". What is that, and since the value is zero, can we get rid of the line altogether? I haven't noticed anybody else's info panel carrying that line. The new suggestion: In the reply functions, quoted text shows up nice and crisp, but when I submit the post, the same quoted text appears in a dim gray that I find quite difficult to read -- not enough contrast with the white background. Is there a way to improve that contrast? If it's a setting that I can do at my end, let me know as that will be good enough for me. Thank you very much, and good luck with the ongoing work. --JorgeA

From the July 8 issue of The Wall Street Journal, a less-than-glowing analysis and a good backgrounder. We've said much or most of what's in here, but it's gratifying to see the major business daily saying so, and saying it to its enormous and influential readership. Here goes. Sorry, but the link and formatting options are not showing up at the time of this writing, and I don't necessarily remember what the keystrokes are. (I also had to hand-type the excerpts as the article is not available online.) I'll use standard quotation style. Internet fanatics keep your pitchforks to yourselves, as Internet forum software is Failing at this moment. (Shades of Office 364.) "MICROSOFT'S PRODUCTS NEED MORE HORSEPOWER "Microsoft keeps hitching its fortunes to lame horses. It shows how rickety parts of the software giant's business are. "Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Nokia, Yahoo and Dell all face very difficult circumstances of their own. While Microsoft's deals with most of them make sense, its relatively unpopular products and a changing competitive environment mean that they may not prove particularly fruitful. "Start with Microsoft's troubled mobile business. One big strategic challenge has been getting smartphones powered by its operating system, Windows Phone, into the market. Its first big deal to address this saw it agreeing to pay Nokia $250 million a quarter to make Windows Phone its primary smartphone platform. That isn't much money for Microsoft, and it is mostly offset by royalties Nokia pays back. "But Microsoft's traditional business model revolves around the company being paid by gadget makers for using its software, not the reverse. Microsoft needs to make concessions to help Windows Phone build momentum, sure. Yet it is hard to see payments ever flipping into Microsoft's favor in a big way. "That is because rival Google offers its dominant Android mobile operating system without charge. It can afford to do so since this promotes its cash-cow search business. Meanwhile, Microsoft's own search engine, Bing, remains oned of the company's weaker products -- underlined by Yahoo's reported desire to get out of a 10-year deal to host its search results. "With Android free, why would handset makers ever make a big commitment to Microsoft's mobile operating system? They might if customers were demanding Windows Phone handsets in huge numbers. But that is unlikely as well, given mobile-software developers are focused on bulding apps for platforms that already have significant market share -- namely Android and Apple's iPhone...." * * * Bottom line -- Microsoft is like a dog trying to become king of the river: wasn't built for it, ain't gonna happen. Shedding their fur (abandoning Desktop users) and flapping their paws like mad (with Metro) isn't going to do it, it's more likely simply to leave them both exahusted and exposed. --JorgeA EDIT: Not even an ampersand (as in the second paragraph of the article above) is working right now. And a further iteration of the mistake is added each time I edit the post.

   I can confirm that there are no formatting controls or emoticons listed anywhere, and that there is no option to go to full editor. I was going to post (unrelated) in another thread with a link to an article, but there appears to be no way to insert a link. No automated way, at least. In my case, I didn't see a Multiquote button, either. I don't know what that &nbsp business is about, either. They showed up at either end of the quote. Maybe it's all part of the ongoing changeover process and the controls will come back soon. --JorgeA

It's weird, I'm not sure what exactly is going on. The page count has gone down by 34 pages, but the post count seems to be about the same, no? We'd have to go manually through the pages to see if anything has been deleted or fused together. That would be pretty bad and annoying. --JorgeA

Sorry xper, all along I was only reporting what appeared to be bugs or glitches so that they could be attended to at some point. But thanks for asking politely , and good luck with the upgrade as it continues. BTW, the Forum is looking visually better than earlier this morning. And I do like it that you can now delete words by using CTRL-Del, it does simplify that aspect of posting. --JorgeA