Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[JorgeA]

As a lefty the CTRL-TAB is difficult for me because my main hand is always on a mouse or trackball.

Ahhh, that explains why you're in your right mind!

--JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Well, Windows XP had Macrovision drivers already baked-in:

I think it was added in with a SP, probably SP2. And though I cannot prove it, it may have existed earlier as a driver file tucked away in 3rd party media players and used when that application was executed.

But yeah, this really shows that giving them an inch is a mistake. For example, by Vista/7 it had moved from a static driver file to an actively updating component because they ( Macrovision ) also branched into that Installshield program updater service. Some quick Google hits ...

Vistaheads ...

I get a DELL Vista desktop lately. The software manager pops up this morning.

I cannot find this software in Program List and thus cannot remove it.

I would like to seek your advice

1) What is this software for and why it is installed ?

2) Should I remove it ?

3) It says that there is a "Update Manager Critical Update December 2008", should I install it ?

4) Will it conflicts with Windows Automatic Update ?

Thanks

I had the same message on my DELL desktop running 64bit Vista Business. A bit of delving suggests it is linked to executable <agent.exe> found in: C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Update Service

A Google search uncovered that this is a Windows Process from Acresso (formerly Macrovision) that performs online checks in the background for updates to software from DragonNaturally Speaking, Roxio, Corel Draw, Articulate, and Acronis. Roxio have put the following warning about a critical update on their website:

000072GN : FlexNet Connect vulnerability and its effect on Roxio customers

If you prefer, the Macrovision Update Service can simply be turned off by running <msconfig.exe> and removing the tick from this entry under the 'Startup' tab.

Answers.Microsoft.com ...

My Windows 7 machine keeps freezing up, and once it unfreezes I open task manager to view processes, and a process called "Agent.exe *32 - Macrovision Software Management Agent" is running and quickly ends after the freeze. It seems to always be associated with my computer freezing.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[ long-winded Microsoft answer deleted ]

SuperUser.com ...

I'm having trouble with this "Software Updater" in a couple of windows machines, which has malware-like behaviour. I kill the process, run an "oficial" uninstaller, delete the folders and still it comes back again after reboot.

I don't know really how it got installed, I think it is part of the InstallShield stuff and installed with another software.

It is installed in "Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Macrovision" and I think it installs also on "Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Macrovision".

The processes are named "agent.exe" and "ISUSPM.exe".

Utterly ridiculous IMHO. As if Windows needs new failure vectors. As if Windows needs new avenues for malware to enter. Sure enough, the link you provided describes the inevitable: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-067 - Important. Vulnerability in Macrovision Driver Could Allow Local Elevation of Privilege (944653)

Needless to say I am no fan of this crap. I remember their first generation copy protection back in the late-1980's on VHS players ( IIRC the VHS player IC firmware decoded the analog encoding on the actual VHS videotapes ). Sometimes we would rent videos and every so often they would not play properly, I think I remember the picture alternating between dark and light or saturation. These were tapes from Blockbuster in real boxes and labeled correctly, I highly doubt that Blockbuster was bootlegging tapes. So the protection was at fault, and the legal user pays the price in lost time, even though Blockbuster would just give you another one to try. Certain VCR players were more sensitive than others or perhaps changed over time or when the heads got dirty. Regardless, Big Hollywood got their hooks right into our living rooms and with help from Macrovision screwed us over.

The fact they tried to get in bed with Microsoft is bad enough. It's like a coup really, branching out from existing on a few consumer VHS player/recorders to being completely ubiquitous - existing literally everywhere a Windows computer does, regardless of sensitivity. And we're supposed to trust them everywhere? But who are they really? Do they have security clearances and are they vetted for standing or morals or a criminal past? Jeez Louise. Microsoft should have considered the ramifications of embedding anything into Windows because they are handing them the keys to the kingdom. The worst part is that we would not even know it were it not for those people that expose these intrusions and drum up some push-back. From reading the latest on this I eventually landed at Wikipedia and found out that Macrovision moved the software garbage to another company called Acresso Software, while the rest of the company is now called Rovi Corporation. Good to know this because now I know exactly what to rip out of Windows, any occurrences of these two virus producing companies. Lord knows Microsoft isn't talking and explaining in detail who has their fingers in our computers, that was what I took away from the Gutmann episode. Were it left up to them, with no outrage or pushback they would merely give us some of that patented marketing bull: 'Windows contains 3rd party components to deliver an unparalleled enhanced multimedia experience!'. And people would buy it, the fanboys would defend it, Congress would support it, prices would still rise, piracy would continue, Hollywood would still cry poverty and we would still get screwed. It's a brave new world.

I have to quote again what Jorge said above, because he nicely encapsulated the inversion of personal computer ownership. He was talking about the McAfee article but it clearly applies to everything ...

But more seriously -- wonderful, here's a security suite feature that protects, not the user from outside parties, but outside parties from the user.

And given the blocking aspect, it's not hard to imagine how repressive states like China or Iran could put this technology to use on their subject peoples.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

As a lefty the CTRL-TAB is difficult for me because my main hand is always on a mouse or trackball.

Ahhh, that explains why you're in your right mind! --JorgeA

The funny thing is that I never buy lefty devices or remap R/L mouse buttons or anything like that because nearly everything I come across is set for righties and I don't want to alter someone's computer just to make me happy. So I guess it is right-brain activity with a twist of flipping that over to quasi-right handedness, right-click is right mouse button for me and everyone else.

When I was a kid they actually encouraged us to switch over and some did. Don't get me wrong though, it was okay not to switch and there were lefty scissors and things ( they had the little rubber covering which lent itself to being called handicap scissors ) but I chose to be different and use right-handed "normal" scissors with my left hand and also with my right, and that simply carried forward through the computer era. But it actually can be a benefit because computer games ( before controllers ) using mouse + keyboard I think lends itself better for lefties because the nicely isolated arrow keys with the right-hand are better than any four tightly packed letter keys. But since I also forced myself to throw and eat and write with either hand long before computers and mice came along that really isn't much of a stretch really.

Funny, unrelated article up at NeoWin ...

Microsoft pokes fun of the fanboys in new Windows Phone advert ( NeoWin 2013-04-29 )

HeHe, it's not what you think. It is about a Microsoft commercial for WP8, Nokia users of course, who are portayed as the normal folks while the rabid wedding-goers are Android and Apple fanatics. Pretty good commercial for once, well funny, I mean it is a million times better than that stupid Surface table dancing disaster. I think the funniest part is reading the comments at NeoWin mostly by actual rabid MicroZealots and MetroTards who cannot grasp the current fanboy reality. The worst of all are clearly the mSheep. I don't know any Android "fans", they all got them because it was a better deal or they wanted a card slot for photos and things. The iPhone users do not match up to the traditional Apple stereotype portrayed by the media, and certainly they don't hold a candle to the current bumper crop of crazed MetroTards. So the commercial is funny but clearly inaccurate. Any thread over at NeoWin or The Verge makes that clear as can be.

Dvorak has a comment about it ...

Microsoft Ad Sends the Wrong Message, Again! ( PC Magazine 2013-04-29 )

EDIT: added article

Edited April 30, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[JorgeA]

As a lefty the CTRL-TAB is difficult for me because my main hand is always on a mouse or trackball.

Ahhh, that explains why you're in your right mind! --JorgeA

The funny thing is that I never buy lefty devices or remap R/L mouse buttons or anything like that because nearly everything I come across is set for righties and I don't want to alter someone's computer just to make me happy. So I guess it is right-brain activity with a twist of flipping that over to quasi-right handedness, right-click is right mouse button for me and everyone else.

When I was a kid they actually encouraged us to switch over and some did. Don't get me wrong though, it was okay not to switch and there were lefty scissors and things ( they had the little rubber covering which lent itself to being called handicap scissors ) but I chose to be different and use right-handed "normal" scissors with my left hand and also with my right, and that simply carried forward through the computer era. But it actually can be a benefit because computer games ( before controllers ) using mouse + keyboard I think lends itself better for lefties because the nicely isolated arrow keys with the right-hand are better than any four tightly packed letter keys. But since I also forced myself to throw and eat and write with either hand long before computers and mice came along that really isn't much of a stretch really.

I use scissors and play Ping Pong right-handed. That's about it. At a restaurant, I'll even move my glass to the left side of the plate. Never have gotten around to reworking the mouse for left-handed use, though, so I guess we can add that to the right-hand column (so to speak).

Funny, unrelated article up at NeoWin ...

Microsoft pokes fun of the fanboys in new Windows Phone advert ( NeoWin 2013-04-29 )

HeHe, it's not what you think. It is about a Microsoft commercial for WP8, Nokia users of course, who are portayed as the normal folks while the rabid wedding-goers are Android and Apple fanatics. Pretty good commercial for once, well funny, I mean it is a million times better than that stupid Surface table dancing disaster. I think the funniest part is reading the comments at NeoWin mostly by actual rabid MicroZealots and MetroTards who cannot grasp the current fanboy reality. The worst of all are clearly the mSheep. I don't know any Android "fans", they all got them because it was a better deal or they wanted a card slot for photos and things. The iPhone users do not match up to the traditional Apple stereotype portrayed by the media, and certainly they don't hold a candle to the current bumper crop of crazed MetroTards. So the commercial is funny but clearly inaccurate. Any thread over at NeoWin or The Verge makes that clear as can be.

Dvorak has a comment about it ...

Microsoft Ad Sends the Wrong Message, Again! ( PC Magazine 2013-04-29 )

That was interesting. The ad is funny, with the idea that people would start a fight over the kind of phone they use -- but I never did catch the distinction between the Android people and the Apple people, or even that there were two camps at all. I don't think that I would have ever realized that, had I not read your paragraph above. Without that "partisan" angle, the scene comes off as every man for himself in a free-for-all. My take is that there's a big element of "inside baseball" going on in the ad that a lot of viewers will miss, and the conversation by the two caterers at the end will leave these people thinking, "huh??"

Dvorak's analysis was good, but he misses the mark somewhat in the following statement:

The subconscious is a powerful thing. I suspect that Microsoft is subconsciously revealing what it knows to be true. These commercials are actually the company's attempt to reveal to itself its own problems.

The thing is, these commercials are in all likelihood created and produced by outside ad agencies, not internally by a Microsoft department. So the ads don't reveal Microsoft's inner thoughts to itself; rather, they show how Microsoft is perceived by people outside the company (i.e., almost everybody else). Not that they're eager to take the hint, one way or another...

--JorgeA

P.S. Best of the Dvorak commenters:

Dvorak has been criticizing Microsoft since the 1990's because there has been plenty to criticize. And neither Dvorak nor I are Apple fanboys. It is just that Microsoft, arguably the world's most successful software company, has had such an advantage that, if managed properly, it could be a truly great company. Instead, it keeps squandering its enormous lead on poor and senseless redesigns of its products and chasing market segments that it should have left alone. Microsoft only has two things that work: (1) a desktop/laptop operating system, and (2) an Office suite; and it keeps changing those in ways that alienate its existing customers rather than inspiring and attracting new ones.

Edited April 30, 2013 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Fascinating, often caustic analysis as to why the Desktop will not be eliminated:

Windows Blue & Desktop death nonsense explained

Lots of good insights in there. One example:

In fact, the best analogy I have for this whole bullsh*t is: car vs. moped. Mopeds are smaller, cheaper, more portable, and whatnot. That's your automotive smartphone. Cars are bigger, heavier, more powerful. That's your desktop. If we were to listen to morons wearing suits and ties and having trouble operating their Excel files, then EVERYONE should use ONLY mopeds for everything. The thing is, for some situations, mopeds are superior to cars, no argument there. But when you need to lug and work hard, you will want a car. Or comfort. Or something else entirely. Take this, and project to any which facet of the desktop death story crap. Price, life cycle, convenience, etc. Winning.

The author, however, may be underestimating the capacity of MSFT decision-makers to cut themselves off from reality.

--JorgeA

[ciHnoN]

http://www.itworld.com/mobile-wireless/354457/windows-8-developers-wonder-wheres-ad-revenue

http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/04/30/1940226/windows-store-in-app-ad-revenue-plummets

Microsoft has long supported its developer community, but even there it can stumble on occasion. Developers of ad-supported apps for Windows 8 have been left high and dry for the month of April with no in-app advertising.

"One of the hooks Microsoft has used to get developers to build apps for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 has been pubCenter, an ad network that's easy to add to apps and provides revenue back to publishers. But many developers found that on April 1 that revenue abruptly dropped by an order of magnitude, with most potential ad impressions going unsold; one developer reported only 160,000 ads served to 60 million requests, a fill rate of less than 0.3%. Since many of the ads before April 1 had been for Bing, this may be a sign that Microsoft is no longer willing to subsidize its developers — and that advertisers aren't that interested in buying ads in Windows 8 apps."

[JorgeA]

Thanks a bunch for these links! A couple of telling excerpts:

From the first article, a complaint from a Win8 developer:

"This is pathetic. I've been defending windows 8 since the day it came out. I would think that microsoft would want to build up the ecosystem by at least PAYING their developers. It looks like I may have backed the wrong horse," wrote user "javalsu."

Having a hard time working up sympathy for that fellow. Your troubles are the least that you deserve for promoting the abomination that's Windows 8...

The article continues:

It only adds to the problems that the Windows Store has had since launch. Microsoft executives promised 100,000 apps within the first 90 days, an ambitious promise that didn't come close to being met. More than 120 days later, the Store has 65,000 apps, according to MetroStore Scanner.

Both the Windows and Windows Phone stores also fail to fence off foreign apps, so U.S. customers see all kinds of foreign language apps that they can't even read. Then again, if they segmented the app segments by languages, some of the categories would have next to nothing in them.

Now for a possibly apt rendering of Windows 8 and its Metro app developer community:

(source: http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/storymaker-titanic-sinking-news-1204130-515x388.jpg

--JorgeA

Edited May 1, 2013 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

We've talked a little bit about browsers here lately (IE, FF, Opera). Does anybody have an insight into the following, from @ciHnoN's second link two posts upthread?

Mozilla in their 'wisdom' decided to disable the ESC key that a lot of people used to stop animated gifs running https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=614304/ [mozilla.org]. It also stopped the page loading - dead in its tracks - which I personally loved. However some Mozilla devs didn't like it (as scripts etc may not be loaded properly). So they've now taken control away from the annoyed user who is going to cop entire page loads of crap.

Does that really mean what I think it says -- that in Firefox you can't use the Escape key any more to stop one of those interminable web page loads??

--JorgeA

[Joseph_sw]

We've talked a little bit about browsers here lately (IE, FF, Opera). Does anybody have an insight into the following, from @ciHnoN's second link two posts upthread?

Mozilla in their 'wisdom' decided to disable the ESC key that a lot of people used to stop animated gifs running https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=614304/ [mozilla.org]. It also stopped the page loading - dead in its tracks - which I personally loved. However some Mozilla devs didn't like it (as scripts etc may not be loaded properly). So they've now taken control away from the annoyed user who is going to cop entire page loads of crap.

Does that really mean what I think it says -- that in Firefox you can't use the Escape key any more to stop one of those interminable web page loads??

--JorgeA

I already suspecting something like this would happen, when i notice most recent browsers UI began omitting the "Stop" button.

"You can press the 'Esc' key dude" that what they told me before, when i ask why they removing the stop button back then.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Does that really mean what I think it says -- that in Firefox you can't use the Escape key any more to stop one of those interminable web page loads??

Gotta admit that I never knew that "ESC" worked like that, in Firefox, or in Opera

I just looked at some pages in Firefox v11 and it definitely does stop page loading dead in its tracks. Removing that feature is asking for trouble from die-hards. Sounds exactly like something Microsoft would do, and the fanboys would cheer them on

Anyway, it's nice to see that Opera does also ( tested 11.64 ). Up until now I always just used the red "STOP" button which takes the place of the "RELOAD" button while a page is loading ...

( Top shows a page that is still loading, the bottom shows it complete ) I'm still not sure what that other "STOP" button is for though.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

'Jurassic Park' Proves That The PC Won't Die ( ZDNet 2013-04-30 )

Summary: In an "adapt or perish" world, the ever-evolving PC will still be the right tool for the right job, even if it lives alongside numerous other species of computing devices.

Article by J.P. Gownder for Forrester Research. Unfortunately the headline and summary is a bit misleading, it is not a strike against the "PC is Dead" mantra. He seems to imply that the survival of this PC Dinosaur will take a different form, like the alleged Dinosaur to Bird transition, with the PC replaced by whatever form factors survive this Darwinism ...

In an "adapt or perish" world, when people ask “what happened to the PC?” the answer might well be “it evolved into that 7-inch Windows RT tablet in your backpack, and into that 27-inch Windows furniture PC in your office” in addition to “survival of the fittest left Apple’s iPad the apex predator” and “Android devices led to habitat loss for the PC.” An ever-evolving PC will still be the right tool for the right job, even if it lives alongside numerous other species of computing devices. Anticipate both form factor failure and form factor diversity side-by-side over the next few years.

In reality he says nothing here at all. Which is pretty much the stock and trade of analysts these days. Say as little as possible in as many words as possible. We don't need these people to tell us what we already know anyway. The fact of the matter is that there simply are many folks that got PC's because that was the only way to accomplish whatever digital task they had in mind. If there had been smaller form factors all along they would never have used a full PC at home. Game consoles peeled off a lot of people also. Simply put, there are many people who never needed a full PC, it's no mystery. The fact that the smaller form factors are attractive to them is not news, it's only natural. The human failing is when these analysts see an opening to write something they incorrectly believe they understand - and that is that "Oh look, the PC is dead!". What fools. The arrival of Datsun and Toyota did not and could not kill off larger cars and trucks. They were bought by people who never should have had anything bigger all along ( yeah, and some that simply follow trends of course ). The only way the PC will die is if it is killed off, it will not die from lack of interest. That's the real danger of the overpaid underachievers, these so-called analysts. God forbid if people ever listen to them and take them seriously. Because Technological Darwinism would be short-circuited and they would be writing self-fulfilling prophecies.

Well at least the article gives me a perfect opportunity to use this graphic I made a while ago ...

[ciHnoN]

Now for a possibly apt rendering of Windows 8 and its Metro app developer community:

(source: http://static.ddmcdn...130-515x388.jpg

--JorgeA

No only Microsoft is not getting new "apps" for Windows 8 from me and ALL OTHER DEVELOPERS I KNOW... they also LOST many developers so developers are jumping ships from their ecosystem as a whole. The hell with them, let them eat cake!

[Tripredacus]

If you remember that Technet thread with the guy complaining about having to manage hundreds of Live accounts for his employees.... We already have seen that some Enterprise level requirements weren't taken into consideration when designing parts of Windows 8. So how do you think this person will fare?

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w8itproinstall/thread/2197719f-073d-48bc-965a-f569fa54d4ef

Is such a task even possible?

[Formfiller]

Microsoft pokes fun of the fanboys in new Windows Phone advert ( NeoWin 2013-04-29 )

HeHe, it's not what you think. It is about a Microsoft commercial for WP8, Nokia users of course, who are portayed as the normal folks while the rabid wedding-goers are Android and Apple fanatics.

But what does the ad say actually? It seems the only reason the "normal folks" aren't fighting is because they are in the minority. There's no hint that they wouldn't fight if their numbers increased. Although one of the Lumia people says that there would be no fight if the others knew about Lumia, but why exactly? - "my Nokia has pureview! *punch*". There would be no fight if ALL people would only use Lumias in this scenario. Bit farfetched, huh? And what's the significance that the Nokia users are probably the poorest people there?

The only actual message I can extract from it is that Lumia users are the minority, and they are poor.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Formfiller

[Tripredacus]

Xbox 360′s Software Sales Figures in Japan Shockingly Low

The Xbox 360′s successor may well be just around the corner, but Microsoft has a serious problem on its hands in Japan. According to sales figures published by Japan’s Dengeki Online, even last week’s top-selling Xbox 360 game, Gears of War: Judgement, only managed to sell a paltry 347 copies in total. In a country where sales for Nintendo’s handheld 3DS reached almost 60,000 units in the exact same period, it’s clear that Microsoft’s console is struggling to keep its head above water.