Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[Formfiller]

That's what I call a deja vu!

Removing loved features, taking out beloved elements and replacing them with the short lived hip stuff, p***ing off the core users.... all these stories sound always so familiar!

I don' t know what you're talking about.

But seriously -- the urge to wreck successful designs and the arrogance of ignoring what their customers are telling them -- this is like a computer virus that's infecting the minds of developers all around the world.

And all these developers behave exactly the same after their debacle: Claiming "big success" and citing meaningless numbers. The head developer of the above mentioned game put out a statement after the complete meltdown and anger of their fanbase:

"I would like to say how amazed we all are here by the huge success of the game. Number one on Steam for several days in a row at this time of year when the big hitters come out... wow, we never expected that. It's crazy to see that more than 10,000 people are playing our game at any one time on Steam (even more if you include those who are in offline mode). Madness!"

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=349496

The game forums all over the internet are even more enraged after this! ("I hope they dissapear soon enough. What a friggin disgrace! I just can't describe the dissapointment i'm feeling... After such a long time you are pushing your fanbase over the cliff to make room for some kids?")

It's almost scary how similar the developers behave who have recently f***ed their products up. I am surprised that in this ritual it's apparently mandatory to insult the customers even more after release. Microsoft and Opera followed exactly the same behavior to the letter when they destroyed their flagships.

Edited November 17, 2013 by Formfiller

[JorgeA]

Uh-oh, had we seen this confirmed before (see the boldfaced text in the first paragraph below)?

"Snowden explained this to Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong. If the target is a high-value one, FOXACID might run a rare zero-day exploit that it developed or purchased. If the target is technically sophisticated, FOXACID might decide that there's too much chance for discovery, and keeping the zero-day exploit a secret is more important. If the target is a low-value one, FOXACID might run an exploit that's less valuable. If the target is a low-value and technically sophisticated target, FOXACID might even run an already-known vulnerability. We know that the NSA receives advance warning from Microsoft of vulnerabilities that will soon be patched. There's not much of a loss if an exploit based on that vulnerability is discovered." Meaning that the window of opportunity will be pretty short. "FOXACID has tiers of exploits it can run" - tiers - "and uses a complicated trade-off system to determine which one to run against a particular target.

"This cost-benefit analysis doesn't end at successful exploitation. According to Snowden, the TAO - that's Tailored Access Operations - operators running the FOXACID system have a detailed flowchart with tons of rules about when to stop. If something doesn't work, stop. If they detect a PSP, a personal security product, stop. If anything goes weird, stop. This is how the NSA avoids detection, and also how it takes mid-level computer operators and turn them into what they call 'cyberwarriors.'"

[emphasis added]

Moving on to the second paragraph: if the burglars' strategy as outlined there is true, then it would argue for the value of running some kind of security software on your system. As the thinking goes, a lock on your door and and alarm system won't stop someone who's determined to break into your home, but it might convince him to go bother somebody else instead.

--JorgeA

Edited November 17, 2013 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=349496

The game forums all over the internet are even more enraged after this! ("I hope they dissapear soon enough. What a friggin disgrace! I just can't describe the dissapointment i'm feeling... After such a long time you are pushing your fanbase over the cliff to make room for some kids?")

It's almost scary how similar the developers behave who have recently f***ed their products up. I am surprised that in this ritual it's apparently mandatory to insult the customers even more after release. Microsoft and Opera followed exactly the same behavior to the letter when they destroyed their flagships.

Just incredible. I guess they go to the same schools.

Maybe there is some proportion of the public that somehow likes to be dissed and jerked around, and that's who they're counting on to keep them afloat.

--JorgeA

[TELVM]

David L. Jones from EEVblog (a favourite of electronics geeks) critizises the recent changes inflicted on Youtube by Google, in his healthy no-nonsense f***-the-political-correction australian style :

[JorgeA]

Big news: if this article is correct, then the root of the problem with Microsoft lies, not in Steve B. or Steve S. or Julie L.-G., but in the board of directors --

Ballmer on Ballmer: His Exit From Microsoft

Mr. Ballmer and his board have been in agreement: Microsoft, while maintaining its strong software business, must shake up its management structure and refocus on mobile devices and online services if it is to find future profit growth and reduce its dependence on the fading PC market.

The board's beef was speed. The directors "didn't push Steve to step down," says Mr. Thompson, a longtime technology executive who heads the board's CEO-search committee, "but we were pushing him **** hard to go faster."

[...]

The board liked his new plan. But as Mr. Ballmer prepared to implement it, his directors on the January conference call demanded he expedite it.

Pushing hardest, say participants, were Mr. Thompson, who had held top jobs at International Business Machines Corp. and Symantec Corp., and Stephen Luczo, CEO of Seagate Technology PLC. Mr. Luczo declines to comment.

That last one strikes an odd chord. Why would a hard-drive company (Seagate) want to push a strategy that includes herding users into the cloud, thereby destroying demand for its flagship products??

Whatever the answer may be, if the article has it right then there is no hope of salvation for Microsoft. Better get used to Metro and the walled garden, or start learning Linux for that inevitable day down the road when Windows 7 becomes totally obsolete. If recent developments are any indication, as Web standards evolve then before too long you may not even be able to run your favorite (or any) browser with any degree of usefulness whatever.

--JorgeA

[TELVM]

Sized Up: Xbox One is massive compared to the PS4 ( NeoWin 2013-11-14 )

I'm not into consoles and wouldn't touch this Xbone Thing with a ten-mile pole. That said, and for the mere hardware geek interest, the PS4 might be a bit more hot-tempered.

http://www.planetextech.com/profiles/blogs/playstation-4-thermal-images

More politically incorrect critics for Google :

Edited November 18, 2013 by TELVM

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft still trying to fix SVCHOST bug in Windows XP ( NeoWin 2013-11-17 )

According to a statement from Windows Update team member Doug Neal:

The problem is caused by the Windows Update client evaluating an exceptionally long supersedence chain - something IE6 and IE7 have more than any other version of IE due to their time in market. Each 'link' in the chain doubles the CPU resources needed to evaluate it over the previous version. The chain is so long that the design stymies the WUA client.

The headline is NeoWin's incompetence because it is neither a bug in Windows XP nor a problem in its SVCHOST ( which is like saying your modem has a bug because your ISP isn't responding ).

The quote is Microsoft's incompetence struggling to admit the clusterf*ck that is WU which is joined at the hip to MSIE and unsurprisingly fails as they obsolete earlier versions of their crappy browser. Verification chain! Only a madman could have designed this mess. I could say that they should release the newer browser for all Windows versions, but I won't. I could say they should open up Windows Update for non-MSIE browsers, but I won't. Why bother. This is their planned obsolescence underway as scheduled. Ironically they are weaning 1/3 of the world off of Windows Update and this will expose more people to the fact that the real scam is in all the FUD about staying up-to-date, and the often destabilizing, buggy and even bricked BSOD experience that they open themselves up to by allowing this destabilizing and buggy service to mess around with your computer in the first place.

Foxconn intern claims PS4 was sabotaged during manufacturing ( NeoWin 2013-11-17 )

According to a snapshot of a deleted forum post, interns at a Foxconn manufacturing plant in Yantai, China have deliberately sabotaged the PS4 citing working conditions at the plant.

[...]

The intern noted that because Foxconn didnt treat them well, they didnt treat the PS4 well. Stating: The ps4 console we assemble can be turned on at best. which may explain the pulsing blue light issues that many people have experienced, mainly on Amazon shipments where about 33% of the total verified reviewers have reported the issue.

Whoa. Didn't see that one coming at all. I have to agree with some of the NeoKids that there will be consequences to this. Consequences for the employees involved, the FoxConn company, and even China as a country full of slave-labor vendors. In a part of the world where insults, saving face and blood feud is taken very seriously there is the macro issue of Chinese workers highly visibly sticking it to their historical Japanese nemesis, not to mention the twisted irony of a huge signature Japanese firm using a Chinese company in the first place. This could get interesting. Most likely FoxConn will move to massively reassure customers that things are under control or else risk an exodus of clients, which ironically might be the best thing for all parties involved ( for the slave labor obviously, and USA/Europe/Japan doing their own manufacturing again ). It doesn't take much to destroy a reputation. I'm just really surprised this hasn't occurred with something more popular like the iPhone. I guess we'll see what surprises they have yet in the pipeline.

The memo purportedly from the Foxconn workers was supposedly translated by this commenter and he offers this possible Chinglish explanation ...

So to win a production Lu station, this is Benny f tangled soft joint units of phosphorus from the mouth against benzene intrinsic intrinsic relationship Dong step, from time to palm was 4, the Japanese put it I handed persons chu, I took him magic shirt] who handed it t find these puppets mouth crab intern, it cage, and it is this _ embarrassed chu up, I who chu Did not treat us as people follow, looking puppets loquat it when the door did not quit Hispanic Wei production 8 sprouts, besides halo should also be puppets puppets inch inch, this sac t production Lu Jian alum tank is intended lotus feet Yoke] ho chu ketone more, noisy l units, inlay DSG 9 ? 9 officially listed when l ho Jiangxi Sony loss mandarin Glaze! Shi Lei Ae win the day!! Common Reed pray it!

That was OCR'd and then software translated. For comparison, another commenter who claims fluency in Chinese offers this translation ...

Such a high-tech product represents a key effort from Sony and Microsoft to fight Apple. But, unfortunately, it is little Japan that gave the order to Foxconn, and Foxconn in turn gave it to this little group of Beixin [ed: this could mean several institutions] interns. This time they are wrong, very wrong; Foxconn doesn't even see us as people, and so we don't see it as a high-end product. We do nothing but cope [ed: with what exactly isn't stated]; our highest expectation is that this batch of devices turns on normally, haha! When the PS4 comes out on 9/9, it will be the day Sony has huge losses, and Foxconn is forced to close!! Let's all pray together!

The comment implies they sabotaged their batch of PS4s through the sarcastic remark about them turning on. But, there may be an element of nationalism here; the author makes a point of saying the product is Japanese in origin.

That China-Japan history is the very first thing that occurred to me. Coming soon, India-Pakistan battling on the shelves of your local dollar store. All the World's a Stage indeed!

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Report: Apple buys the company that helped Microsoft create Kinect ( NeoWin 2013-11-17 )

Apple reportedly buying PrimeSense, the company behind original Kinect ( TechSpot 2013-11-18 )

Apple Makes $345 Million Offer for PrimeSense, 3D Sensor Tech Firm Behind the Kinect ( Maximum PC 2013-11-18 )

Another one of thoe ironic stories that sends shivers down a fanboy's spine. They are all like 'Oh don't worry, that was Kinect 1.0, they now made their own in Kinect v2'. Noticably lacking is any insinuation that Microsoft has now 'copied' PrimeSense!

Some are speculating that this means Apple wants to play catch-up with Microsoft and thus they bought the company and will now begin their own project. That's what a Microsoft sycophant would think. But the more likely answer is that Apple has already made and is ready to release their device and has nailed down this company to cover their legal backside. This is how Apple operates and in this regard is the exact opposite of Microsoft who continually get caught flatfooted in the legal department.

And speaking of patents ...

Microsoft files patent for skin sensing bezel, Surface says hello ( NeoWin 2013-11-17 )

Microsoft files patent for automatically quieting mobile devices ( NeoWin 2013-11-18 )

How wonderful. Our awesome patent system at work, where everyone runs to lock-down and freeze out competitors from their "idea" as opposed to making an actual product work successfully and then answering to the customer marketplace. The whole patent thing is based on the false premise that without recognized protection no-one would bother to have any brilliant ideas because they would lack a guarantee of exclusivity, therefore they must be granted a full monopoly to keep their creative juices flowing. Ridiculous! The damage that lawyers have managed to do to humanity over the past couple of centuries is incalculable.

Prepare for More Asteroids to Hit Earth, Scientists Say ( Tom's Hardware 2013-11-16 )

Okay, on the surface this has nothing to do with Windows or Microsoft, except that one comment made me laugh and I'll make it apply to all we have discussed here ...

i think humanity needs a good whooping.

hehe But since asteroids are so few and far between, there's only one way to be sure ...

[JorgeA]

More politically incorrect critics for Google :

Her sentiments are right on the money, but her vocabulary (as illustrated by the song lyrics) appears to be somewhat limited.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

The memo purportedly from the Foxconn workers was supposedly translated by this commenter and he offers this possible Chinglish explanation ...

So to win a production Lu station, this is Benny f tangled soft joint units of phosphorus from the mouth against benzene intrinsic intrinsic relationship Dong step, from time to palm was 4, the Japanese put it I handed persons chu, I took him magic shirt] who handed it t find these puppets mouth crab intern, it cage, and it is this _ embarrassed chu up, I who chu Did not treat us as people follow, looking puppets loquat it when the door did not quit Hispanic Wei production 8 sprouts, besides halo should also be puppets puppets inch inch, this sac t production Lu Jian alum tank is intended lotus feet Yoke] ho chu ketone more, noisy l units, inlay DSG 9 ? 9 officially listed when l ho Jiangxi Sony loss mandarin Glaze! Shi Lei Ae win the day!! Common Reed pray it!

That was OCR'd and then software translated. For comparison, another commenter who claims fluency in Chinese offers this translation ...

Hmm... those "Hispanic Wei production 8 sprouts" caught my eye (no Nobel prizes for guessing why!), but trying to draw up a mental picture of them kind of left me scratching my head. Anyway, it was a relief to learn that the door did not quit them.

Good to know that the professional translation industry still has nothing to fear from machine translation...

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

More positive fallout from the NSA snooping scandal:

Yahoo vows to encrypt all its users' personal data

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo is expanding its efforts to protect its users' online activities from prying eyes by encrypting all the communications and other information flowing into the Internet company's data centers around the world.

So long as the data arrives at Yahoo's servers already encrypted, that would be a good thing. Otherwise it'll simply be read in the clear by the NSA as it flows in.

--JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Good to know that the professional translation industry still has nothing to fear from machine translation...

Not a worry in the world!

[JorgeA]

Uh-oh, the sh*t's about to hit the fan:

Private firms selling mass surveillance systems around world, documents show

Private firms are selling spying tools and mass surveillance technologies to developing countries with promises that "off the shelf" equipment will allow them to snoop on millions of emails, text messages and phone calls, according to a cache of documents published on Monday.

The papers show how firms, including dozens from Britain, tout the capabilities at private trade fairs aimed at offering nations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East the kind of powerful capabilities that are usually associated with government agencies such as GCHQ and its US counterpart, the National Security Agency.

Brings to mind Lenin's prediction that capitalists would sell him the rope that they'd be hanged with. Mor*ns -- like they won't be affected by all this stuff going on.

The documents are included in an online database compiled by the research watchdog Privacy International, which has spent four years gathering 1,203 brochures and sales pitches used at conventions in Dubai, Prague, Brasilia, Washington, Kuala Lumpur, Paris and London. Analysts posed as potential buyers to gain access to the private fairs.

The database, called the Surveillance Industry Index, shows how firms from the UK, Israel, Germany, France and the US offer governments a range of systems that allow them to secretly hack into internet cables carrying email and phone traffic.

The folks at Yahoo (see upthread) had better hurry up.

AMES describes Cerebro as a "core technology designed to monitor and analyse in real time communications … including SMS (texting), GSM (mobile calls), billing data, emails, conversations, webmail, chat sessions and social networks."

The company brochure makes clear this is done by attaching probes to internet cables. "No co-operation with the providers is required," it adds.

[emphasis added]

It is now possible, from a single laptop computer, to locate where a mobile phone is calling from anywhere in the world, with an accuracy of between 200 metres and a mile. This is not done by attaching probes, and it is not limited to the area where the laptop is working from. The "cross border" system means it is now theoretically possible to locate a mobile phone call from a town abroad from a laptop in London.

--JorgeA

[TELVM]

Her sentiments are right on the money, but her vocabulary (as illustrated by the song lyrics) appears to be somewhat limited.

This other lady expresses it even better with a yet more limited vocabulary :

[ricktendo]

LG Smart TVs logging USB filenames and viewing info to LG servers