XP and Vista account for over 34 per cent of all the world's problems

Subject: Niger, please.

These Nigerian children are growing into healthy Internet users. Looking at graphics images is part of the evolutionary process all Internet users must undergo.

Axion

Subject: Microsoft starts to tout next version of OS

Okay nobody hold their breath and turn blue over the wait for this one :-)

Of course since Micro$oft is going to loose $1.9 billion to $6 billion over their "Xbox" fiasco. Pity my poor daughter having nearly 20 programmers twiddling graphical bits for this one :-(

And since "Vista" is being called "ME II" and Micro$oft's _lead_ _time_ is only three years to build the _BUZZ_. Time to feed the Scribblers and stock bookers tales of _advanced_ techy blah. blah, blah ... Which will _NOT_ ship because Micro$oft has never shipped what they advance promised.

Nothing new here, SOS aka same ole stuff or bovine excrement, so move along, no stopping to look at the upcoming train werecks ...

John O

Subject: Problems

Google search for Vista Problem = 120,000,000 hits

Google search for XP Problem = 112,000,000 hits

Reasonably interesting, served my purpose of demonstrating to a friend that getting Vista was a bad idea.

More interestingly, Google search for "problem" = 679,000,000 hits - by my maths that means that problems with XP and Vista account for over 34% of all the world's problems...

Robbie

P.S. Applying any more than a cursory glance to the above reasoning, or applying quotes to any of the above search terms will render the above conclusion highly suspect - at best - and as such any attempt at further thought is highly discouraged.

Subject: You guys are too hard on Vista

I'm not here to write a passionate defense of Vista, or anything Microsoft related for that matter. That said, I think you guys are being too hard on Vista. Not that I would expect you to softball any microsoft product; gruding acceptance is the most i would expect of the Inq for Vole matters. Seriously, XP is not that great. It's ugly, and its functionality is quickly becoming horribly outdated. OS X has perhaps spoiled me into thinking i should expect an OS with lovely things like USB2 support and recognizing hard drives over 120 ish gb. Seriously, these things are beyond basic now, and Im tired of riffling through updates just to get a decent wireless interface. XP was certainly the first MS OS that was adequate, but that was 5 years ago. And you don't need magnificent hardware to run Vista either. I have a half gig of ram and Aero runs just fine. My processor and hard drive will easily be run of the mill in a years time. All of my drivers work fine, although for a 5 year project we have every right to expect better compatibility.

I know some of you are secretly linux lovers, so i'll put it in these terms: Ubuntu, coded by various nerdy cabals, was looking much more sleek and stylish than an OS coded purely for the mass rabble to enjoy. Let go of XP guys, it's time.

Alex

Subject: On Apple iTunes, AppleTV and a rental option

Hello Mike,

I hope you are fresh from the pub on this one as I have a thought that would go over better if the reader were slightly inebriated:

Recently the FCC ruled, similar to the AT&T ruling from the 60s, that cable companies cannot mandate that only their cable boxes can be used on their networks (and charge rental fees). All cable companies must give out CableCards that will allow any equipped device to be used on cable networks (except Verizon FiOS).

Now if Apple were to take the Apple TV and throw in a digital tuner package (P-in-P and the whole works), a cable card slot (basically a pc-card slot), a DOCCIS cable modem (already found in Motorola boxes), a display (the one used in the iPhone maybe?) and the appropriate connections coupled with their FrontRow interface for OS Xe, the AirPort 802.11N circuitry and its Gigabit Ethernet already in use - they would have the ultimate digital home unit/HTPC. The new AppleTV "deluxe" would be a little larger, probably the size of a large hard cover book.

Another thing that led me to this idea, was Apples new animation module for OS X that Jobs previewed at the Developer's Convention in June. It showed about 25-36 windows of animation that were tiled across the screen, each on showing a different moving picture in each window. Think the ultimate on screen TV guide- each window with an image of the shows that are on at the moment. This could also be done in the new cover view mode that they introduced in the last version of iTunes.

The display screen could display the channel info plus the network bug,   the P-in-P information or info on DVR functions that are going on at the moment.

This is where a rental model for iTunes comes in: With the cable modem in the AppleTV, they could become the ultimate on-demand movie company, bypassing the cable companies PPV offerings. These movies could be watchable on any computer with iTunes, and for an additional small fee the watcher could purchase the movie. This goes way beyond anything the cable companies are doing in the US, and given the problems MS is having with getting Vista working with similar equipment (there was an article on either Tom's or Anand's site about the travails of setting up Comcast on a first gen cable-card compatible Vista HTPC), Apple may be able to overtake MS very easily in this market.

The only problem I see is Apple's famous pricing scheme of "expensive," "damned expensive" and "omg, you've got to be kidding."

Am I totally out of my gourd here? I am on cold meds right now, so I might be slightly inebriated myself.

Jeremy Brown

Subject: Greening of AMD

Great.  AMD should invent a processor controlled Street Light that will intelligently come on when someone needs to see, and cut the world's electricity usage about 8%.  That would be green enough.

Robertb

Subject: Seagate is NOT Seagate

Seagate is Maxtor.  Maxtor and all their poor warranty, crappy drives, massive drive failures and all are now running Seagate.

Also remember that the company of Seagate violates users privacy by examining the contents of the contents on the drives that you send them for RMA.  This means that they look at the contents, be they pictures, letters, music, videos, etc.  How about all your financial data?  You prepared to have that exposed to those Seagate employees?  Or your identity?

We know they are violating our privacy because the CEO of Seagate made some snide remarks about making these large hard drives which are being used to store large amounts of pirated content.  They have no need to be examining the contents of a drive for any reason.  Can you imagine that racy picture of your wife or girl friend making it into the hands of some Seagate employees because the CEO seems to be set on looking at what's on the drives that come in?

At no time can you predict with current technologies how long a drive will run in your system before failure.  So the only answer is not to use your computer's hard drive except for the OS and applications because you know these companies are going to violate your privacy.

What's worse?  A company run by itself that doesn't violate your privacy or a company that is run by one of the worst manufacturers in the world that does violate your privacy?

Too bad that we may not have a choice much longer if drive companies begin to merge.

Now we have that company deciding to give up on a huge massive market of machines that still support and rely on IDE.

JD Blaich

Subject: Wiki

Anyone else find it hilarious that the Wiki community doesn't cite a single source?

"The rest of the world is wrong, but we are right!

..with absolutely no proof but our word!" AL Iquidparadigm

Subject: Tiger

Hello,

Working in a mac dealer, i can say that people are waiting for new stuff. The ipod is old and iphone is US only. When i get questions, people ask when the new OS comes out and they generally say that they will wait until then.

Putting the iphone before a new OS, it just stinks, but that might be why I only work at a dealer ;-)

Keep up the good work

Sven

Subject: Article withdrawn about Government? *

What Happened to the article titled "US government snoops used Vista to spy on me"??

Are you being Censored?

Have the Snoops got to you?

M

Subject: Vista

After I'd set up a few Vista machines, the superintendant of a school system asked me to assist them in adding some to their domain and adding a few accessories.

The drivers didn't support Vista in most cases, and I sat there for the majority of two hours waiting on the Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz with 2GB of RAM.

I am starting to change my opinion of Vista. Had it been XP, it would have barely been worth a trip. With Vista, I billed 3 hours trying to get it working while waiting on a machine that is twice as fast as mine that took 3 times as long to do simple tasks. Microsoft is looking out for technicians. We will bill twice as many hours doing simple tasks because Vista is incompatible and slow as hell

Long live Microsoft!!

Glen Waldrop

Subject: Bend it, shake it any way you want it

Hey Mike,

The line is "Bend me, SHAPE me," not Bend me, shake me

P Valiunas

Subject: Acer bashes Vista

I don't get it...what is he talking about? Microsoft said that the people who installed Vista liked it. So what happened with Acer? why are they spreading lies?

And Dell, HP, the world + dog...didn't they upgrade??

I think I know what it is...they did not try Vista Ultimate. Because that would just be the ultimate nail in the coffin.

Vista, may it rest in peace.

W00tseaker

Subject: Universal Teenage Fascination

Anthropologists tell us that in those cultures where teenagers have little or no interest in sex, typically, the adults have little or no interest in teaching them about sex, with the invariable effect that the culture disappears.

Gene

Subject: Erm, whats all this then?

Here's the text in case the link goes down. "US government snoops used Vista to spy on me

Poster posts

By INQUIRER newsdesk: Monday 23 July 2007, 13:35 Article withdrawn."

I'll get me tin foil hat.

JimP

* Note The story was downed as we decided it needed a bit more looking at before the tin foil hats came out. µ