Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[JorgeA]

Seeing how the feds are going after these firms in secret and then taking their data ( Fourth Amendment ) and then prohibiting them from even talking about it ( First Amendment ), so the companies come out with carefully worded denials, does anyone really believe that Microsoft hasn't completely caved no matter what they say? Longhorn/Vista was completely written post-9/11, it's time to consider the likelihood that it is completely compromised.

I was always a bit skeptical of the conspiracy theory about Microsoft, but the more recent revelations certainly make one one rethink their position. I quit the treadmill with 2K, and never really cared for XP, but tolerated it. Personally, I think everything after 2K was downhill.

The revelation of Acer certainly make one think that Microsoft's days may be numbered. They may be lucky to come out of all this as the 75 pound gorilla. I wonder if enterprise customers are seriously starting to look at other platforms for their OS? Or.. are they just considering staying with the OLD Windows platform and making do?

It will be an interesting event to watch unfold. The proprietary file formats are no longer enough to keep your customers locked into your product. So... time will tell who survives and who doesn't.

bpalone

Yeah, I think that an argument could be made that Microsoft is merely (and reluctantly) complying with secret spying orders. But then we know that they're collaborating with the New York City police department to build a network of surveillance cameras. Surely nobody required them to do that, so the idea that they're victims like the rest of us goes out the window.

BTW, loved your line about MSFT becoming the "75-pound gorilla."

--JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Google donates 79 additional patents to open patent pledge ( TechSpot 2013-08-09 )

Your move Microsoft. Donate the patents for FAT, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS for the public good! Channel your inner Benjamin Franklin. I am totally serious here, I hope anybody reading this idea will make the effort to contact Microsoft and suggest they do exactly this! That would be a very impressive act of generosity indeed.

NVIDIA CEO: 'We're working really hard on' second-gen Surface RT ( NeoWin 2013-08-09 )

Well Mr. Huang, you should have an easy time since it looks like you have this market all to yourself Oh, waitaminnit, you're competing with Microsoft! ( Just wait until you hear from your shareholders ).

Microsoft: Office 365 had average of 99.965 percent uptime in last four quarters ( NeoWin 2013-08-09 )

Office 364.999 not counting leap years. What is interesting is that by no measure do any of the services have 100% uptime. Or better said, all of the Office cloud services had downtime. If you needed to authenticate during those short downtime periods you probably were not a happy camper.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Security related ...

Store a copy of your keys in the cloud with "KeyMe" ( TechSpot 2013-08-09 )

And for the next great idea in security, I give you KeyMe. No, not software keys, but real physical house door keys. You scan them into photos and store them online and then you can get physical keys made from the scans anytime you want. What could possibly go wrong here.

NSA considering automation, reducing admins by 90% ( NeoWin 2013-08-09 )

As one commenter put it, this is to reduce anymore Snowden incidents and water down all the bad publicity, nothing more.

More on that huge story from yesterday ...

E-mail provider linked to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden closes ( TechSpot 2013-08-09 )

Silent Circle Follows Lavabit, Shuts Down Secure Email Service ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-09 )

Lavabit, Silent Circle close over governmental pressures ( NeoWin 2013-08-09 )

Silent Circle was founded less than a year ago by encryption pioneer Phil Zimmermann and former Navy SEAL Mike Janke, who had approached Zimmermann about forming a company that could provide secure communications that could not be monitored by any government.

Zimmermann himself was at the center of the mid-1990s "crypto wars," when the U.S. government regarded secure encryption as a threat to national security.

For three years, Zimmermann was threatened with prosecution for making his Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption software available to customers overseas, which the U.S. Customs Service and the Department of Justice regarded as a violation of arms export controls. (Zimmermann was never charged.)

I think we can see that behind the scenes our "government" is busy protecting us by removing any semblance of privacy options available to us. It's a brave new world.

[jaclaz]

I think we can see that behind the scenes our "government" is busy protecting us by removing any semblance of privacy options available to us. It's a brave new world.

You can still become German :

http://www.telekom.com/media/company/192834

https://www.e-mail-made-in-germany.de/

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

I think we can see that behind the scenes our "government" is busy protecting us by removing any semblance of privacy options available to us. It's a brave new world.

You can still become German :

http://www.telekom.com/media/company/192834

https://www.e-mail-made-in-germany.de/

jaclaz

Or at least Dutch:

Ixquick is based in the Netherlands. It'll be interesting to see what the U.S. snoops do if and when the Ixquick folks get this service going.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

And while we're on Internet privacy + surveillance issues -- can anybody comment on the following:

_NSAKEY was a variable name discovered in Windows NT 4 Service Pack 5 (which had been released unstripped of its symbolic debugging data) in August 1999 by Andrew D. Fernandes of Cryptonym Corporation. That variable contained a 1024-bit public key.

[...]

It was already known that Microsoft used two keys, a primary and a spare, either of which can create valid signatures. Microsoft had failed to remove the debugging symbols in ADVAPI.DLL, a security and encryption driver, when it released Service Pack 5 for Windows NT 4.0 and Andrew Fernandes, chief scientist with Cryptonym found the primary key stored in the variable _KEY and the second key was labeled _NSAKEY.[1] Fernandes published his discovery, touching off a flurry of speculation and conspiracy theories; such as the second key, owned by the United States National Security Agency (the NSA), could allow the intelligence agency to subvert any Windows user's security.

Note that this goes well before Vista or XP, and if true, would cover versions of Windows all the way back to 98FE. (I read somewhere, but now can't find it, that this key was introduced in 95 OSR2.) We'd have to start using Windows 3.x... or Linux.

Comments? Insights?

--JorgeA

[jaclaz]

Two steps "solution" :

1. Go here: http://web.archive.org/web/20001109203800/http://www.cryptonym.com/hottopics/msft-nsa/faq.html
2. READ

Among the various linked resources, this one:

http://web.archive.org/web/20000914071812/http://www.cryptonym.com/hottopics/msft-nsa/msnsa-law.html

is IMHO particularly interesting....

and from it to this:

http://web.archive.org/web/20000815210029/http://www.iptvreports.mcmail.com/ic2kreport.htm

is only a small leap....

jaclaz

Edited August 12, 2013 by jaclaz

[JorgeA]

Microsoft: Office 365 had average of 99.965 percent uptime in last four quarters ( NeoWin 2013-08-09 )

Office 364.999 not counting leap years. What is interesting is that by no measure do any of the services have 100% uptime. Or better said, all of the Office cloud services had downtime. If you needed to authenticate during those short downtime periods you probably were not a happy camper.

Yeah, defenders of this notion will say that, "Well, your PC could crash at any time, so how's that any better than working in the cloud?"

The answer, of course, is that working on your PC requires only one system (your PC) to be up and running at a given moment, whereas working in the cloud requires your PC and the cloud server to be both functional at the same time. Oh, and your Internet service -- so, make that three machines that all need to be operational at the same time in order to work in the cloud.

--JorgeA

[bpalone]

And while we're on Internet privacy + surveillance issues -- can anybody comment on the following:

_NSAKEY was a variable name discovered in Windows NT 4 Service Pack 5 (which had been released unstripped of its symbolic debugging data) in August 1999 by Andrew D. Fernandes of Cryptonym Corporation. That variable contained a 1024-bit public key.

[...]

It was already known that Microsoft used two keys, a primary and a spare, either of which can create valid signatures. Microsoft had failed to remove the debugging symbols in ADVAPI.DLL, a security and encryption driver, when it released Service Pack 5 for Windows NT 4.0 and Andrew Fernandes, chief scientist with Cryptonym found the primary key stored in the variable _KEY and the second key was labeled _NSAKEY.[1] Fernandes published his discovery, touching off a flurry of speculation and conspiracy theories; such as the second key, owned by the United States National Security Agency (the NSA), could allow the intelligence agency to subvert any Windows user's security.

Note that this goes well before Vista or XP, and if true, would cover versions of Windows all the way back to 98FE. (I read somewhere, but now can't find it, that this key was introduced in 95 OSR2.) We'd have to start using Windows 3.x... or Linux.

Comments? Insights?

--JorgeA

The Penguin is really not all that bad. It has become my primary OS for the last several years. All any of them are, is nothing more than an operating system. I've always said, that if it does what you want and you like it, then by all means use it.

As for security, if the government really wants to know what you are doing, they can get the information. Either directly or via some obscure method of keyboard logging, either from within your own hardware, listening device or by measuring the EMF fields around your set up. Now, are there methods of logging the wonderful touch interface? Probably, and is probably more accurate and easier to implement.

If one is that concerned about being spied upon, then they probably shouldn't be using a computer, typewriter or paper for such incriminating material. Of course, most peoples memory isn't good enough for that.

Being in the U.S., at this point, I put absolutely nothing past my government these days. I trust them just about as far as I can throw a loaded box car.

bpalone

[JorgeA]

Interesting discussion regarding the effect of NSA spying on the growth of U.S.-based cloud services. Thr following exchange between host Robert Ballecer, S.J., and guest Oliver Rist of InfoWorld begins at 47:29:

RB: Trust is a really ephemeral thing, once it's lost it's really really difficult to re-establish -- sometimes it's impossible. Do you think it will change how we use web services, cloud services, if now we're wondering whether or not that service is turning our data directly over to the government?

OR: Yeah, I'm expecting to see a big dip in corporate cloud use -- I mean, Office 365, even cloud services, let alone cloud computing -- I expect a lot of conservative businesses to just say, "Hey, I'm gonna back behind my firewall, I'm gonna hire more security guys, I'm gonna beef up my firewall systems and I'm gonna keep my data private as much as I can." Out in the cloud, ever since cloud started there have been worries about security in the cloud. Now with this out there, yeah at least in the short term I'm expecting to see at least a short-term dip in enterprise cloud computing initiatives.

So, ironically, government spying might just help to save personal computing, in the sense that it could slow down the rush to the cloud -- and therefore to tablets and other mobile devices, thereby undermining both the rationale for Microsoft's Windows 8 push and the viability of the "software as a service," perpetual-rent feudal model.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

The latest figures seem to suggest a spike in sales following the recent price reduction, but generally speaking...

Surface sales are pathetic

It feels like repeatedly kicking someone when they’re down, but there’s really no other way to describe Windows tablet sales -- both RT and Windows 8 Pro -- other than pathetic and embarrassing for Microsoft. Which is a shame. Surface is a great tablet, Windows 8 on Surface is a good operating system, but people just aren’t buying the device in any great numbers. Well, pre-fire sale at least.

According to a new report from IDC, just 200,000 Windows RT tablets shipped in Q2 2013 (even the ailing BlackBerry PlayBook managed 100,000), and there’s no good news for other Windows tablets either as IDC reports just 1.8 million devices shipped with that OS onboard. Apple, by comparison, shipped 14.6 million iPads in the same quarter.

--JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

And while we're on Internet privacy + surveillance issues -- can anybody comment on the following:

_NSAKEY was a variable name discovered in Windows NT 4 Service Pack 5 (which had been released unstripped of its symbolic debugging data) in August 1999 by Andrew D. Fernandes of Cryptonym Corporation. That variable contained a 1024-bit public key.

[...]

It was already known that Microsoft used two keys, a primary and a spare, either of which can create valid signatures. Microsoft had failed to remove the debugging symbols in ADVAPI.DLL, a security and encryption driver, when it released Service Pack 5 for Windows NT 4.0 and Andrew Fernandes, chief scientist with Cryptonym found the primary key stored in the variable _KEY and the second key was labeled _NSAKEY.[1] Fernandes published his discovery, touching off a flurry of speculation and conspiracy theories; such as the second key, owned by the United States National Security Agency (the NSA), could allow the intelligence agency to subvert any Windows user's security.

Note that this goes well before Vista or XP, and if true, would cover versions of Windows all the way back to 98FE. (I read somewhere, but now can't find it, that this key was introduced in 95 OSR2.) We'd have to start using Windows 3.x... or Linux.

Comments? Insights?

Well that's the first I heard of that I think. Those last few rollups for NT were in 1999 which definitely precedes the Whistler XP tree in 2000. Though some are saying that preceding Whistler was Neptune and that it was a direct predecessor. If that is true, than sometime around 1999-2000 a big change was seen with Neptune-Whistler, quite similar to the Longhorn-Vista change, which is quite suspicious to me now. Ordinarily I would just say that it was the bureaucrats changing direction again perhaps realizing that WinME was dead and making the big 9x-NT switchover. But since the spying leaks and the absolute proof that Microsoft is in bed with the spooks, well, it does seem to question the purity of XP and 2000. Will have to start to study these things a little closer now.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Security and related ...

Lavabit's Ladar Levison: 'If You Knew What I Know About Email, You Might Not Use It' ( Forbes 2013-08-09 )

Lavabit email service abruptly shut down citing government interference ( UK Guardian 2013-08-09 )

Lavabit founder: 'If you knew what I know about email, you might not use it' ( NeoWin 2013-08-10 )

Lavabit founder comments on closure of encrypted email service ( TechSpot 2013-08-12 )

More on the latest big story. In fact this is probably the most important thing to be exposed since the original spy leak. You need to read between the lines in these articles especially the quotes from these guys who cannot speak freely. What it all means is that the worst case scenario, the so-called "tinfoil conspiracy theories" that are always labeled as such to tamp down worries and criticism, have all been exceeded. The governments are in fact all in collusion, they are all unrestrained, and have no upper bound to avoid. They have penetrated every square inch of the technological space and consider it theirs for the taking and no-one shall get in their way. The sheeple better wake up before it is too late.

Mega to fill secure email gap left by Lavabit ( ZDNet 2013-08-11 )

Mega's Kim Dotcom accelerates efforts to build secure e-mail service ( TechSpot 2013-08-12 )

I said it before, this is gonna be the next growth industry. The ZDNet article goes into some detail about just how tough secure email and messaging really is to implement. Let's all hope for lots of new research here.

Pirate Bay Celebrates 10th Anniversary With The Pirate Browser ( Maximum PC 2013-08-11 )

The Pirate Bay releases 'PirateBrowser' to circumvent censorship ( TechSpot 2013-08-12 )

The Pirate Bay launches PirateBrowser', designed to avoid online censorship ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 )

It used to be pretty easy to figure out who wore the white hats and who wore the black hats. Anyone else seeing the difficulty now?

Stores Tracking Shoppers Using Phone Wi-Fi Signals ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-12 )

UK Firm Tracking Users' Cell Phone Choices via Trashcans ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-12 )

London Calls for Smartbins to Stop Collecting Data ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-13 )

Nothing to see here, move along! Sniffing smartphones, kinda like Google sniffing access points. As one commenter pointed out, governments hate competition which is the only explanation for the hypocrisy of getting worked up over Google and others doing what they are already engaged in. It's a brave new world.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

IDC says sales of touchscreen laptops were overestimated ( TechSpot 2013-08-12 )

IDC: Sales of touchscreen laptops to be lower than expected in 2013 ( NeoWin 2013-08-12 )

Microsoft May Have Overestimated Demand for Touchscreen Laptops ( Maximum PC 2013-08-13 )

According to Computerworld, IDC originally estimated that between 17% and 18% of all notebooks released this year would feature touch interfaces. Furthermore, Acer president Jim Wong also made an optimistic forecast in May, stating that up to 35% of his companys notebooks would sport touchscreens before 2013 came to a close.

But these predictions have failed to come true, as buyers are steering clear of the higher prices associated with touch-enabled laptops. To put things into perspective, the average touchscreen notebook retails between $700 and $800, while its classical counterparts can frequently sell for half this cost.

[...]

Based upon the criticisms discussed above, Bob ODonnell, an analyst with IDC, admits that the firms original forecast now appears to be quite an overestimate. That now looks to be too high, to be honest, added ODonnell, who reevaluated the figure to be between 10% and 15% of all laptop sales.

Well done analysts. Well we can't just blame them since they are working from a statistical disadvantage. Just imagine if Microsoft would release the truthful numbers for Surface and Windows 8. Then you might be able to get a really accurate analysis.

Windows 8.1 9471 includes detailed tutorials and other enhancements ( NeoWin 2013-08-12 )

Ah, one year on and the Redmond bureaucrats have decided to include help and tutorials in Microsoft Tiles.

There is of course the natural digression in the comments ...

Many fought back against the Start Button and Menu by saying there were no benefits to it, and it only confused people. There was quite a newsgroup discussion about it back in the day. I remember quite fondly how much my Dad swore against buying a new computer with 95 on it, until he agree that me and my brother needed our own.

Liar. There were discussions alright, mostly about what took them so long to release a 32-bit non-crashing mulitasking OS in the first place. Other discussions about PnP. This "big lie" is all about his mental rationalizations in order to deal with the worldwide outcry against the Playskool toy he so loves. He rationalizes that there must be some magic reason since he himself cannot possibly be wrong. That reason? Everyone else is afraid of change of course. But his lies are transparent because in other comments he talks of graduating college within the last couple of years making him about 22 years old now so he was around 4 years old when these alleged Windows 95 controversies occurred. This 'Tard never even saw USENET and is a classic generation Xbox baby. The sad thing about that generation is that their parents were so spoiling and irresponsible that they never taught them to tell the truth and never punished them for lies.

Xbox again in the news ...

Microsoft: Xbox One can still work without Kinect sensor connected ( NeoWin 2013-08-12 )

Xbox One will work without Kinect, gamepad to support PCs in 2014 ( TechSpot 2013-08-13 )

Microsoft Confirms Xbox One Will Function Without Kinect ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-13 )

Poll: How long before Microsoft releases a non-Kinect version of Xbox One? ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 )

Official rumors say you can simply disconnect the Kinect and proceed normally. Maybe. But at least it's clear that Microsoft has been really busy altering the Xbone thanks to that unexpected pressure from competition from Playstation. Visit the NeoWin comment threads to witness the ongoing meltdown and anger that this competition has wrought.

Microsoft confirms no voice-chat between Xbox One and 360 ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 )

Some huge technological problem that even Microsoft cannot overcome? Heck no. The old system was Messenger based and the new one instead uses their patented spook agency approved Skype. But don't worry, text messaging is still functional!

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Windows ReTard Edition ...

Class action lawsuit filed against Microsoft over Surface RT sales ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 )

Microsoft Hit with Class Action Suit for Allegedly Hiding Poor Surface RT Sales From Investors ( Maximum PC 2013-08-14 )

Investors Suing Microsoft Over Misleading Surface RT Info ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-14 )

... the lawsuit names CEO Steve Ballmer as a defendant along with former CFO Peter Klein; Corporate Vice President Frank Brod; and Tami Reller, who served as the head of business and marketing for the Windows division until the company's recent restructuring, when she was then named as head of all marketing.

The lawsuit claims that Microsoft failed to state how bad sales of the Surface RT have been and that the company's inventory of the tablet "experienced a material decline in value during the quarter ended March 31, 2013." The lawsuit also alleges that Microsoft's financial statements for that same quarter were "materially false and misleading" and violated both general accounting practices along with Microsoft's own "policy of accounting for inventories." The law firm is seeking an unspecified amount of damages from Microsoft.

You can just imagine how this one is going over at NeoWin!


Boom or Bust: A closer look at the state of Windows RT ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 )

Philosophical glimpse into the NeoTard minds. You will need to pry RT from Dot MetroTard's cold dead fingers.


Office 364 ...

Microsoft signs up New York state's 120,000 government workers for Office 365 ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 )

Oh yeah, that was a tough sell. Signing up our corrupt NY State government who are always willing to flush our tax dollars right down the nearest toilet.


The Competition ...

ZTE to start selling ZTE Open Firefox OS smartphones in the US and UK Friday ( NeoWin 2013-08-12 )

ZTE's press release states that the price of the ZTE Open in the US will be $79.99, with the UK's price set at £59.99. Both the UK and US versions will be sold with an orange color and will be unlocked so they can be used on a variety of wireless carriers with no contracts. The Friday, August 16th launch date is a rather large change on the Firefox OS road map compared to what Mozilla announced earlier this year, when it said that US residents would have to wait until 2014 to get their first Firefox OS smartphone.

Unlocked for $79. Non-Android, Non-iOS, Non-Windows. Let's hope this starts a trend.

EDIT: added articles

Edited August 16, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot