Microsoft couldn't secure a barn door

"the ability to use a PC will be impaired" Err.. where is the novelty in that..?! :)

matthias

Subject: AMD gets thorough pasting posting

Ed S is and has always been a maroon. AMD won't catch up with Intel's performance until they do some redesign of their core just as Intel did. A simple conversion to 65nm isn't going to do the trick. To put things in perspective AMD held the performance crown from the time they introduced the Thunderbird series of processors up until Intel just recently introduced the Core 2 Duo. Now it's Intel's turn for a while. The good thing for all of us who buy their processors is that the competition produces better processors and lower prices.

Rants such as Ed's don't do any of us any good.

Lobo Gris

Subject: Reduced Vista Functionality

So - just how can you tell if any Microsoft product has reduced functionality. As we all know, Microsoft never has software with bugs - what others call bugs are just more "features".

vidstar

Subject: mcafee windows woes article

I found it quite amusing, really perked me up thanks a bunch!

Jeff

Subject: Ageia, ATI, Nvidia gear up for a dust up

If I was Ageia I would have been kissing Microsoft's ass (Possible partership)long ago knowing full well that DX 10 and Vista was on the horizon. Enough said what you need to do if you are a start up company in such a competive market.

Have a great day,

Glenn

Subject: i love thecharger!

i see in thePS3 pics there are xbox 360 battery chargers, woops!

JSA

Subject: super cool article about vista symantec

very unorthodox and yet very good.

thanks for a interesting and entertaining lecture. Marius

Subject: I will agree, but there is a caveat

I agree with just about everything you state in your article, but your whole article is based on the assumption that "... Vista is any good at securing your PC from attacks ...".

Given Microsoft's track record on security, I wouldn't bet a dime on Vista being secure after the first quarter has passed from the date of its release - black hats do need a bit of analysis time to get up to speed.

Vista is supposed to be new code. Given how long XP has been selling and it still isn't secure, I don't see how Vista will be any better, and it will take years of works for MS coders to root out the issues and fix them - they're supposed to be working on an entirely different code base.

Which, I think, makes room for lots of patches and emergency hotfixes. Windows Update is not going out of commission, no sireee. The lines are going to glow with heat from all the downloads.

So, I forecast that McAffee & Co will make waves about how MS is shutting them out, but will then make hay with all the oopsies and nonos that MS perpetually "integrates" into its defective products.

Business as usual, then. Move along folks.

Pascal.

Subject: A reply to Doug Mohney's CompUSA story

Hello, I read your article about attempting to purchase a floor model, or "N" status as they are referred to in our company, Compaq desktop. I felt like I had to respond because frankly you got a few things wrong, but I am very impressed with some of the things you noticed as well.

First of all, let me just set the record straight on one thing. CompUSA sales people are NOT on commission and havent been for over two years now. When we were on commission, the commission was determined by several different things over the course of the program. One was totaly dollar sales, one was IPT (ItemsPerTicket), and I'm almost positive we never had one specifically for TAP (service plans). These days, every CompUSA retail employee with the exception of Management and Business Sales staff are hourly wage slaves.

I will not lie and say that we do not have any incentive for selling extended service plans; we do. What we get for pitching and hopefully attaching a service plan to a sale is anywhere from $2-$10 in a spiff, and more importantly, a 'get out of jaily free' pass so-to-speak from our managers, allowing us to bypass a lecture on why we suck. Believe me, the spiff means very little to us, and honestly the majority of us wouldn't put ourselves through the trouble of pitching it and debating with you (the customer) over it if we didn't believe it was a good thing to offer.

That most of our sales people (and especially our management), don't consider are the varying circumstances regarding a computer purchase. For the casual family computer user who wants a machine to last for several years and needs their kids to do their homework on it, a service plan is a great buy. However, for many people like you, or myself, who are using these machines or file servers, server servers, or just junk boxes, a uses of a service plan are fairly insignificant, and frankly irrelevant.

From what I gather, you were simply a victim of a new, or possibly just bad, sales person who couldn't read his customer, let alone the little folded up TAP card in his pocket (very observant of you btw).

On a last note or two, I'd just like to say that I agree with you on the store layout changes and I too think they are nothing more than confusing, time consuming, wastes of payroll to implement. We should stick to a formula that works, atleast for awhile, so the same customers don't have to keep coming up to me every month asking "where are the mice and keyboards?".

And of course, just to clarify something about that Compaq you were interested in, all "N" status products like that have ATLEAST 10% extra play, but with the right sales person to assist in bargaining, usually more. And a price match of $50 on a "N" status Compaq desktop would definately have been in the manager's interest.

Thanks for your article, I hope you'll add some of my points to it.

Alex

Subject: Not really a flame...

This isn't really a flame, as much as a different opinion. Whether the kernel has been "cracked" or not, it doesn't really seem like a good idea to hand out code to companies, especially if they're cheesed about the same ol' monopoly bullshit. It's like inviting people into your house, and expecting nobody to spread the word about what's inside.

These days, you're not going to please everyone. (Well, I guess you never have been.) Everyone complains about the security of the OS and how it needs to be stronger. But, even indcluding stronger features that everyone ASKS for, you're upsetting other companies. I'm sure if their software were the one included in the OS, they wouldn't be a bit concerned.

The people, on the other hand, love buying software from 300 different companies. They love the idea of going to the store and buying software that turns out to be complete garbage. Granted, almost everything can be bought online and tried before purchase, which is even more of a reason to drop the subject. Maybe it would be better for MS to give a free trial with the start of the system, and allow people to buy it after a certain amount of time if they feel like it. But, I'm sure that won't suffice.

In the PC world, it's kill or be killed. Even if including software takes you closer to the edge of certain laws, you've got to take whatever chance you can to stay alive. I know it's tough to support a strategy like that, but it's hard to open a site and see so much bashing of a company that's doing everything possible to give the end-user what it wants.

Instead, we'll end up having to buy more expensive software and yearly "update" licenses from companies like symantec and mcaffee, that add more and more processes to slow down your PC.

These tools would be doing the same thing if they were actually in the position. They wouldn't even be around if it wasn't for the OS they're trying to go against anyway.

Nonetheless... this isn't a flame toward you, as much as it is getting some old thoughts off my chest.

Thanks for listening. ;)

mataroo

Subject: Vista reduced functionality

Will be interesting to see what they do. Maybe attach the non genuine message to the mouse pointer would be an easy effective and annoying deterrent.

Best regards

Peter Lewis.

Subject: Vista just another violation of anti-trust law

NO computer security firms are not feeling insecure because of Vista. In fact Vista will be a huge financial opportunity for security firms as MICROSUCKS couldn't secure a barn door let alone a POS operating system. That is precisely why McAfee, Symantec and others want proper, legal access to Vista. they will reap billions in profits from that POS!

What security companies are outraged over - as they should be - is that once again MICROSUCKS has violated anti-trust Law by not allowing outside competing security applications to properly interact with the POS code that is known as Vista.

As you will see the EU and other governmental bodies will rule MICROSUCKS is continuing to violate anti-trust laws and should therefore not even be allowed to sell Vista until they comply with law and previous court rulings on these matters.

Randy

Subject: Vista shuts down with invalid license

However, Linux will continue to work, regardless of whether you enter a license code or not.

Which is why I have elected to forgo the pain of "upgrading" to Vista, and use that energy to install Ubuntu Linux on my home desktop machine. If you're not a "gamer", this is a perfectly reasonable course of action.

Oh...and as a bonus, I can turn off the "start-up" sound, or install my own personal tune. Try *that* with Vista!

ka1axy