How do you activate XP if Microsoft's shut?

Here is a tidbit

It's Friday evening and just installed a Windows Plus! Digital Media Edition which I purchased and intended on using right away. However, it will not work without "activation". After several failed attempts at internet activation, tried the phone activation option at 1-888-571-2048 only to receive the message that the Microsoft Product Activation Service is out for maintenance and that I should try again in 24 hours.

Guess that means that no one can plan on activating/using such Microsoft products when the activation system is down. Somewhat unreliable, not to mention inconvenient. Feel like am being held hostage by Microsoft.

Sincerely,

Jim Ard
Email address supplied

Only X86 CPUs not made by Intel are proprietary>
Newisys previews four way Opteron server

In "Newisys previews four way Opteron server" you wrote:

" Of course, X86 technology is a little proprietary too, while Intel's Itanium architecture is highly proprietary. "

This is dead wrong according to Intel, Dell, and HP. Only CPUs made by other vendors are "proprietary". All Intel CPUs are by definition "industry standard".

It's not totally b.s. with regards to Xeons and Pentium 4's because the bigger vendors are chained to Intel so tightly they rarely (or in Dell's case, never) build machines with anybody elses CPU. Applying that term to the Itanium is ridiculous at this point. Here's hoping that AMD's new chips beat Intel bloody, so that the Itanium can really become "The Industry Standard"!

Regards,
David Mathog
Email address supplied

Fish article made my day
Man catches fish with computer inside

This is one of the best stories I've ever read at the inq and really brought a huge smile to me on a grumpy day. I've been chuckling about this statement allllll day!

"The Commission managed to get 19 months of data from the implant, while the poor fish apparently has few, if any, privacy rights." Best Wishes
Tim
Email supplied

Linux exploits don't compare with Windows
Interesting facts you have listed on that article.

Unfortunately they're completely meaningless without the installed base of systems being compared too.

Don't netcraft's latest figures indicate a significantly higher number of servers running Linux/Apache than Windows/IIS..

Maybe you're just trying to make excuses for running your own site on windows :)

seriously though, the impact of windows exploits is much greater, and affects the 'net as a whole to a larger extent: see: slammer, code red, nimda for example.

linux and unix exploits whilst they happen - sometimes to fairly experienced or competant administrators - don't tend to cause nearly as much wide spread disruption and chaos.

FUD is great, but so as not to harm the innocent uneducated fools who read it and believe it, please mark it as such.

the now sadly demised segfault.org had a great term for such "news", it was entitled "fake news", stuff which has some resemblance on reality, but is spun in such a way as to portray something other than actual reality.

keep up the good work

andy
Email address supplied

CBI should speak with independent voice
CBI in pocket of Intel

[The reader said he's sent this letter to the CBI, Ed.]

I would like to voice my agreement with Mr Magee that government agencies should act as completely independent advisers and avoid endorsing particular brands. This does not just apply to technology but to any industry, however, competition in the ICT sphere is not just an economic issue but one of openess and honesty. If any particular technology vendor becomes dominant product quality suffers as does the freedom of supported media from commercial bias.

If you require a more thorough examination of these issues I recommend Tim Berners Lee's excellent biography, Weaving the World Wide Web, which explains these issues very well in the context of browser and other web technologies.

Regards

SJG
Email address supplied

Bigger, better broadband in Sweden
Hi,

Just wanted to comment on this report. My brother lives in Sweden and he has a 100Mbit connect to his flat and it is built in to the whole apartment block. He has full 100Mbit up/down access so these new 26Mbit are slow. 3 years ago they actully upgraded his service from 10Mbit and that was more than I could dream of here in the UK. I have ADSL(which really isn't broadband). When I downloaded the latest Susu ISO it took me a massive 4 hours per CD, my brother did the same from the same site in Sweden, and it took him less than 4 minutes. Need to say no more. The cost you ask, well I pay £25 a month and he pays £19 as part of his rent..

Just thought you might be interested

Regards
Jörgen
Email address supplied

The meaning of Quantum Leap
It's sometimes hard to tell irony from fact in your writings, but I thought I would bother and take the time to clarify what "quantum leap" really means as an expression.

You are right that quantum leaps are by essence very small, but the metaphor is not so much about the distance than about the type of the leap.

I will spare you the low-level physics details (admittedly because my recollection of them is very foggy) but basically, quantum leaps are increasingly bigger leaps. For example, if an electron is orbitting at the energy level 1, it can only leap to the level 2, or 4, or 8, or... You get the picture.

In short, making a quantum leap is typically used to say "a leap bigger than all the previous leaps we have made in the past".

Cédric
http://beust.com/weblog