Vista's UK pricing is to help pay EU fine

Subject: Man who helped invent brain of computer apologises profusely, Styrofoam Walls

Actually a building system of the type in question was invented by Buckminster Fuller, back in 1923, with the patent granted in 1927.

Fuller called it the Stockade System, using straw and similar waste to bind with cement, instead of plastic.

R. Buckminster Fuller and Robert Marks, _The Dymaxion World of Buckminster Fuller_, 1960, 1973, p. 72

Andrew D. Todd

Subject: RIAA

Nick,

RIAA had better be careful, else some intelligent laddie or lassie will figure out some way to throughly befuddle and embarrass the RIAA like, oh, say fix things so that Microsoft was convinced the RIAA's computers were running pirate versions of Windows and Office, or that the music actually being downloaded by students was coming up on the RIAA's records as being downloaded by the Department of Defense, or even better Congresspeople and their aides, or gosh... it boggles the mind what some of these tech-savvy young people can do. Of course, we know how tach-savvy RIAA is, so of course we know that nobody could befuddle and embarrass them, no sirree!

As always, a faithful reader,
Rich Wargo

Subject: Number Ten Petition

Rather splendidly I noticed some other petitions on the said site, ranging from "Invading France" to the ominous "sexing of a badger" - I can't recall how many people signed them, but I cant help but suspect it may have been more than the Vista one!

Anthony Thorpe

Subject: DRM confusion

"However, DRM does not only act as a policeman through technical protection measures, it also enables content companies to offer the consumer unprecedented choice in terms of how they consume content, and the corresponding price they wish to pay.

How does that work then? If you took two identical pieces of digital media, one with DRM and one without, this statement seems to imply that the one without DRM gives somehow less choice as to how it is used! There is some wriggling room for the government with the definition of the word 'unprecedented', but IMHO not enough to make such a blatantly incorrect statement. I think the word "choice" would be better replaced with the word "restriction".

It does rather sound as if the response has been written my the music industry, doesn't it? Or am I just too cynical?"

Without ever wanting to be an apologist for this useless government, I suspect that what they mean is that without DRM a lot of content will never be released digitally - and therefore you are now free to listen to music, watch DVDs, and do other cool stuff, all thanks to the magic of DRM. There is a truth of sorts lurking under there, I s'pose.

R

Subject: Vista price petition pops up on Government site

Maybe the cost difference between Vista US and Vista EU is to pay for the outrageous fine that the EU nicked Microsoft for. Microsoft's cost of doing business is definitely higher in the EU and besides it will help with the US balance of payment problem.

vfarny

Subject: Tracking your stolen computer

I liked the story about James Melin's detechtive skills.

I don't run SETI@HOME , but instead I let my PC update it's current IP with a free dynamic DNS service. That way , I not only get an easy to remember URL for my pc, but it also provides the same ability to track the PC as James Merlin used to find his wife's stolen laptop.

I also do it in a sneaky way , I hope most thieves won't notice or accidentally disable.

The service provide me with an auto-update URL I can visit whenever I wish to update my IP. I have opened this URL in a new windows toolbar , unchecked "show title" and then locked the taskbar. This way there is absolutely no evidence that the toolbar is there. It doesn't show on the taskbar , it doesn't show up in the list of processes running and it has no entry in the startup folder or the run key in the registry.

But with IE's standard settings it still updates the IP every 10 minutes like clockwork from the moment I turn on the PC to the moment I shut it off.

ceejay

Subject: Vista price petition

Signed the petition, but it's not just vista it's nearly every product that is shipped in to the UK is more expensive (take the Playstation 3 for example and using the term shipped loosely).

Tony Blair needs to go after everyone that rips of the British not just microsoft

Andrew

Subject: I always knew that a geek would make a great husband

[...]
SETI folk were reportedly overjoyed that after millions of man-hours of searching, they actually found something. µ

You guys are better than crack! Thanks once again for great reporting and even better snese of humour.

Cheers from the bottom of the world,
Mauricio
Chile

Subject: ubuntu experiences

Andrew Thomas hit the nail on the head with his ubuntu experience. Its not the fact that ubuntu is not a good OS, its the very steep learning curve required to get it up and running in something that would be considered a reasonably normal environment of a few networked computers (and who hasn't got two computers at home sharing an internet connection nowadays?). People don't have time to google or get on forums to find out how to get things to work (let alone understand the arcane language or use a command line) - thats what modern society is like now, if it doesn't work straight out of the box its tossed in the corner.

My experience with running a small business network is probably like most advanced hobbyists - I can get a server with Windows 2003 Small Business Server up and running with a network of Windows XP and Windows 2000 computers (and even the odd Windows 98 computer), but if anything is different I don't want to know - I don't have the time!!

On a standalone box - Ubuntu is fine, as is Mandrake, but if it doesn't network seamlessly or is as easy to set up a network as is Windows, then forget it.

While the Linux zealots might deride anybody who can't see the advantages (in their view) of using Linux, the truth is that until Linux is as easy to install (ubuntu appears to be most of the way there) and easy to get working in many different environments (no where near as good as Windows) or to maintain (I tried updating a video driver in Linux once - no where near as easy as Windows) then it will not be adopted by the vast majority of users.

There'll probably be a lot of flames for me now, but this another issue with Linux support - the attitude of the supporters. Instead of jumping down the throats of the people who have a negative Linux experience and deriding their computational ability, get the 'famed' open source groups out to make it easier for the Andrew Thomas's (and I include myself in this) of the world to have a positive experience. I would like to have a genuine choice of operating systems, applications etc, but without the heartache of support forums, google etc.

While Microsoft do a lot of things wrong, Windows XP does a number of things right and the work Microsoft have done to make it compatible with millions of different pieces of hardware, ease of setup and installation etc is commendable.

On a side note, the MAC zealots shouldn't snigger either - try getting MAC OS X working on a Windows network as well (even using DAVE and other software) is just as frustrating as Andrew Thomas's experience with SAMBA. At least with the MAC you can see things on the network and exchange some files, but forget about network printing.

I'll be sticking with Windows XP SP2 for a number of years now - no VISTA until the DRM goes: the customer has spoken (and is always right).

HAGAR

Subject: HP and Itanium: check the history

Do your homework.

Of course HP supports Itanium; the Itanium architecture is based on (and licensed from) Hewlett-Packard's own entry in the old RISC sweepstakes, PA-RISC (Precision Architecture).

whl

Subject: Man who helped invent brain of computer apologises profusely

It seems Mazor's is more apologetic on behalf of the Windows operating system than computers themselves (at least from what I gathered from the article). I'm going to assume he knows the difference as he did co-found the processor, but he shouldn't have to apologize for something like that. It does make you think, though, that what Microsoft is doing is tarnishing the original intentions of the creators of the CPU, not unlike what the current US Congress is doing to the intentions of the US forefathers (but I digress).

bubb

Subject: Vista price petition pops up on Government site

Perhaps they could dress up as penguins and toss copies of Vista in the nearest harbor?

A reader from Boston, MA, USA

Subject: Aussies to ban incandescent light bulbs

Mike, er Ed,

Australia is planning to ban inefficient (filament) light bulbs.

Do you think that the Aussie regulators will have remembered that ovens and refrigerators require special 'appliance' light bulbs and that technology hasn't yet invented a compact flourescent bulb that could reliably operate in either environment? I'll betcha a dollar that they've gone and forgotten about these special cases. As a public service, you might want to print this letter just to remind them. If they've already made allowances in the draft regulations for appliance bulbs, then give someone a raise for having a brain and finding the On switch.

Regards,
Jeffy

Subject: Quacks get excited about gizmo called C5

Very interesting and all that, but... err... what.. ummm.. is it ? Any clues ? Remotely ??

Yours in ill-concealed anticipation
tim

Subject: You have hit the nail on its head!

I couldn't agree with you more. I tried installing ubuntu(kde) on my desktop....sheeesh!

Things that did not work:

wireless card (ndis this)
video card
video player(vlc)

last but not least, my headphones jacks would not work. The sound worked fine but when i put in my headphones, the output was still through the speakers. After that i just gave up.

Now i have a better understanding on why a pos os like Windows is so popular.

Windows a security nightmare but by god i can at least watch Top Gear and listen to it al full volume through my headphones.

H Haq