JorgeA

The folks at Windows Weekly point out that the impending XP EOS creates a new opportunity for scams (this excerpt takes off from a discussion of XP-based medical devices at 1:18:38, but you might want to start a couple of minutes earlier for context): --JorgeA

That's intriguing. I guess that the risk-reward ratio would depend on one's assessment of the chances of getting stung by unpatched vulnerabilities? Dang, I wish there were hard numbers on how many PCs are actually harmed by some of these esoteric-sounding vulns. --JorgeA

If you don't mind my asking, what FOSS OS are you using? (Which flavor?) --JorgeA THIS IS OFF TOPIC I am using (by all the young in crowds definitions) an ancient version of Ubuntu. I have everything working and tweaked to how I like it, so why do I need to update? I do however, get the message from various sites that my browser is outdated. To answer your question, Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy is my main OS with my 2K the secondary. At this time, if I were to recommend a distro for someone making the move, I think it would be Mint with a MATE desktop. Probably a little less desktop shock than Gnome 3 or Unity. As you know, if you don't like the desktop you can change to whatever you like with just few clicks and a short bit of time. But, Mint is also an easy set up, as installing some codecs, etc is a one click affair now and other distros require you to root around a bit to get things to work. Besides, I like my old hardware and Linux usually does a decent job of continuing to support it. After all, I think it was just last year that they dropped some old 386 specific code from the kernel (I might wrong, as it may of been 486). bpalone This is how I'm bringing this back on-topic, more or less: Thanks for the info. I note the age of your version of Ubuntu. People can complain about XP going EOS, but one thing that gives me pause about making the switch to Linux in the wake of the Windows 8 fiasco, is that the support cycle for Linux is even shorter (way shorter) than for almost any version of Windows. What the Linux folks call "long term" support is what, like three years? Compared to that, Microsoft does a vastly better job of continuing to support previous versions of its operating systems. Talk about the upgrade treadmill... The first direct experience I had with this was last year when one day (on Patch Tuesday, as it happened) I went to get updates for Zorin OS 5.2 and the server seemed to have been shut down. That's when I first thought, "Uh-oh, if I change over to Linux but want to receive the latest security and functionality fixes, am I really going to have to re-do my PC from scratch every couple of years?? Gimme a break!" Heck, my Vista system has been supported for five years now (ever since I bought the computer, a couple of years into Vista's life) and even after all these moons the time remaining on its support is about the same as that of a Linux "L"TS. I just did a Web search for Zorin OS and I see that they're already up to version 8. Sheesh. --JorgeA EDIT: typo

What we've seen thus far about the NSA, says Snowden, is just the tip o' the iceberg: Snowden Says 'Many Other' Spy Programs Remain Secret, For Now --JorgeA

If you don't mind my asking, what FOSS OS are you using? (Which flavor?) --JorgeA

Here's a critique of W8.1U1 by a "brighter" Brit: Windows 8.1 Update is the final nail in the coffin --JorgeA

Ars Technica's Peter "not so" Bright is still defending the Metro UI in a bizarre critique of the Windows 8.1 Update 1: Windows 8.1 Update 1: More interface concessions that still won’t make people happy So are we to conclude that Peter shuts down his PC by pressing the dumb power switch instead of letting Windows perform that orderly system shutdown? Peter doesn't seem to understand (or to want to acknowledge) that the Start Menu has a search box that even tells you that's where you can perform your search. In Windows 8/8.1, there is nothing -- no visual cue -- to suggest to the user how they can perform a search -- or even that they can do it at all! It's not "Start-and-type," Peter, it's "Start-see-box-and-then-type," which makes all the difference. A couple of UI improvements are described without comment (presumably because they actually make the product more usable ): BTW, he gets thrashed in the comments section. A few of my favorites: . . . . --JorgeA

Ahh, more and better reasons to move all functions to the Internet: Cyber Snake plagues Ukraine networks Like the homeowner who can't be bothered to conserve water in a drought 'til the tap actually runs dry, it might take an attack destroying massive amounts of data and wrecking whole economies before the love affair with the Cloud finally sours. The "Information Super-highway" leads the bad guys straight to our financial records and electric grids. --JorgeA

And here's a pair of pieces on DRM, touching on cloud computing and cybersecurity: EU could extend copyright levies to cloud services What happens with digital rights management in the real world? No doubt you'll find other highly quotable nuggets if you read this article. And not just negative arguments either, but also some constructive ideas. --JorgeA

We know most of this, but it's useful to have it all in one place: The paranoid's survival guide, part 1: How to protect your personal data --JorgeA

We may have an answer to this: So the difference applies to the OEM and prevents them from shipping a "Windows 8.1 with Bing" computer set to anything other than Bing as the search engine. The rationale seems to depend on user inertia leaving the default settings untouched: --JorgeA EDIT: for accuracy

Word is that Russian hackers (or maybe some KGB descendant) were at it again in that leaked cellphone conversation. I'm not holding my breath waiting for these same gentlemen to publish phone chats by Vlad, the Impaler of Ukraine. That said, if the technology that made it possible to intercept that conversation were to become widely available and easy to use on our rulers... "Turnabout is fair play." --JorgeA

Aha!! The radar did get set off! --JorgeA

At the risk of alerting @jaclaz's radar , here's an observation about ending Windows Updates for XP by security guru Steve Gibson: [emphasis added] --JorgeA

jaclaz --JorgeA

Wow, THAT is what the updates does?? It would be (mildly) interesting to find out how the updates behaves if you check that box for "Don't show this message again." Like that "update" for the Bing Bar that I keep hiding and then keeps magically coming back... Anyway, just want to let you know that I'm totally with @monroe on this -- your advice is sage, and certainly listened to here! --JorgeA EDIT: typo!

One of my XP systems received a Windows Update "intended to notify customers of the Windows XP End of Support date, April 8,. 2014." The information page for this Update says, among other things, that Here's a possibly silly question: Microsoft is notifying XP users about a Windows Update regarding the end of support on April 8 that tells people that there is a Windows Update to notify them of the end of support on April 8. I don't understand the point of making a (504KB ) Windows Update for this, as the purpose has already been served by the one-sentence notification about the update. The only scenario where I see this having any use is for people who have set automatic updates and never check to see what they are, just allowing Microsoft to install whatever it wants on their PCs. And who in addition have somehow managed to get this far without learning of the impending EOS for XP. Is that what this update is for? I almost felt like it was malware of some sort. --JorgeA

taken from the ADK of the Update. Thanks, Andre. The ADK's description leads me to a question: "regular" Win8/8.1 already comes with Bing as the default search engine (doesn't it?), and the user can change that. And of course Win8 pushes OneDrive. So, how is "Windows 8.1 with Bing" different from regular Windows 8.1? Maybe I'm missing some detail. --JorgeA

And back on the cyberprivacy front -- Yahoo webcam images from millions of users intercepted by GCHQ And doubly interesting to us here is this tidbit: [emphasis added] --JorgeA

Free Windows? MaybeWindows 8.1 with Bing could be the way of the future None of the guesses sounds too promising, I'm afraid: Well, all right, I suppose I could live with the last one and then ignore RT... --JorgeA

That's pretty funny. --JorgeA

Yet another unwelcome trend, courtesy of Windows 8: Windows 8.1 + Microsoft AccountRedmond has an offer that will be increasingly difficult to refuse Those who know how the Win8 installation process goes are aware of these difficulties. In Paul Thurrott's judgment, it's only going to get worse: As the guy down in the comments said: I suspect that he meant to say "ensuring" rather than "verifying" the privacy of his PC and data, but the point stands. --JorgeA

They did. Here you can see "Evildictaitor" (my most persistent sparring partner) shilling (literally, he is a MS employee) for Vista Dreamscene, Silverlight and WPF back in the days: http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/255491-Whats-going-on-at-Microsoft/4983627f4ddb4639bd409dec0086e556 http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/255491-Whats-going-on-at-Microsoft/edf470e8541b4d75992c9dec0086e4ed http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/255491-Whats-going-on-at-Microsoft/f611651d614a439f80489dec0086e985 Thanks for the links! The third one was especially apropos. He wrote back then that -- Does this line of argument sound familiar? That's the first line that Win8 apologists adopted when people started objecting to that OS in 2012. I wonder if this guy sees the irony. There's also this howler on DRM: I wonder if he has since learned how to spell "plagiarism." But more importantly, I'd like to see serious studies that demonstrate that the music and software industry ever lost "hundreds of billions of dollars a year" to piracy. IIRC, this is the case only if we assume that everybody who pirates copyrighted works would have paid to purchase it if there were no way to get it for free. The studies I've seen suggest that the vast majority of people who don't pay for the copyrighted works they use, would not have bought it anyway. Meanwhile, the Hollywood mafia are shooting themselves in the foot by seeking to squeeze every possible penny out of every conceivable source. As a result, for example, talk-show podcasts who were asked to pay royalties on the show bumper music that plays when the show gets broadcast over the air have opted instead to produce musicless podcasts -- and the music companies lose that opportunity to expose listeners to those songs that they might have found enjoyable and then bought. --JorgeA

We have heard over and over again that power users are the main objectors to the Modern UI. Here's a column suggesting why non-expert users might actually have even bigger problems with Windows 8: The disconnect with Windows 8.1: Hiding the utility So the "clean" Windows 8 experience provides the inexpert user, once he's dived into the "immersive" experience, no evident way to swim back out of the depths. Turns out that there IS a purpose to the "clutter" of visible controls. And here's an interesting point about UX psychology: My personal favorite: --JorgeA

ZDNet's James Kendrick destroys a proposal to make Apple's iOS more like Windows 8 (!!): Not even Steve Jobs could sell live tiles on iOS 8 --JorgeA