Linux Products

Windows Upgrade retail products

Windows Full retail products

If you own a netbook with XP installed, it’s time to install Linux.
Take that Netbook XP users!

“Microsoft late last week said it won’t patch Windows XP for a pair of bugs it quashed Sept. 8 in Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.”

“We’re talking about code that is 12 to 15 years old in its origin, so backporting that level of code is essentially not feasible,” said security program manager Adrian Stone during Microsoft’s monthly post-patch Webcast, referring to Windows 2000 and XP.”

“The bugs in question are in Windows’ implementation of TCP/IP, the Web’s default suite of connection protocols. All three of the vulnerabilities highlighted in the MS09-048 update were patched in Vista and Server 2008. Only two of the trio affect Windows Server 2000 and Windows XP, Microsoft said in the accompanying advisory, which was refreshed on Thursday.”

“A judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word, one of its premier products, in its current form due to patent infringement.Judge Leonard Davis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction that “prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files XML files containing custom XML,” according to a statement released by attorneys for the plantiff, i4i.”

via Judge orders Microsoft to stop selling Word | Microsoft – CNET News.

Vision of the Future Link

Here’s an article I found entitled:

"Why I hate Microsoft"

It pretty well states why the author hates Microsoft and you should too.

Major       Minor
Version     Version     RTM     Name
1           .01                 Windows 1.01

2           .03                 Windows 2.03
            .1                  Windows 2.1
            .11                 Windows 2.11

3           .0                  Windows 3.0
            .1                  Windows 3.1
            .1          528     Windows NT 3.1
            .11                 Windows for Workgroups
            .5          807     Windows NT 3.5
            .51         1057    Windows NT 3.51

4           .0          950     Windows 95
            .0                  Windows 95 OSR2
            .0          1381    Windows NT 4.0
            .10         1998    Windows 98
            .10         2222    Windows 98 SE
            .90         3000    Win ME

5           .0          2195    Windows 2000
            .1          2600    Windows XP
            .2          3790    Win Server 2003

6           .0          6000    Windows Vista
            .0          6001    Win Server 2008
            .1          6001    Windows Vista SP1
            .1          6002    Windows Vista SP2
            .1          7000    Windows 7 Beta

7           .0                  Windows Azure (Cloud OS)

So what does this all mean?  Windows 7 Beta is not the next version of Windows OS, it is merely a new "Build" of Windows Vista.  The Next Big Thing in Windows is still unknown, unless you consider Windows Azure (the cloud computing OS).

Bump Top

I like the direction this is going, but maybe a a more realistic looking space is needed. Like an entire room complete with file cabinets (storage), a desk area where the effects shown in this video can happen, a TV where videos are displayed, a Stereo Rack where audio/music is played, etc.  I know, it sounds like I’m advocating Microsoft Bob, but Bob lacked the gee-whiz effects shown here.  Maybe something more like in the Matrix movie where racks of guns zoom into place.  An active area with focus!

Explaining the “New” TCP Resource Exhaustion Denial of Service (DoS) Attack

 “The best advice I have right now is don’t allow anonymous connections. Make whitelist so only certain IP addresses can come in,” Lee said, acknowledging the impracticality of that for a Web server or mail server or virtually any other TCP-enabled device. “There’s no real workaround right now.”

Reference:

http://insecure.org/stf/tcp-dos-attack-explained.html

Cloud computing is a trap

<snip>

The concept of using web-based programs like Google’s Gmail is "worse than stupidity", according to a leading advocate of free software.

Cloud computing – where IT power is delivered over the internet as you need it, rather than drawn from a desktop computer – has gained currency in recent years. Large internet and technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Amazon are pushing forward their plans to deliver information and software over the net.

But Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the computer operating system GNU, said that cloud computing was simply a trap aimed at forcing more people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that would cost them more and more over time.

"It’s stupidity. It’s worse than stupidity: it’s a marketing hype campaign," he told The Guardian.

</snip>

My Response:

All I can say to that is this:

1) The amount of human intelligence required to have everyone host their own personal server and to maintain it securely just isn’t there.  My gosh, they can barely run their own pc’s!.

2) There will have to be those who maintain centralized systems for the benefit of the general public.  And why can’t these companies use GPL’d software, respond to the needs of their users, and pay for the services provided with advertising?  Yeah, I’d prefer to skip the advertising, but without it, its got to be a "pay for" service.  One good advantage to having "pay for" services would be to cut down on frivolous apps and un-necessary internet congestion.

3) If we all expect to be able to have access to varied content, we are going to need "a cloud", maybe just not "the cloud" proprietary companies wish us to use.  A good example might be Youtube where thousands of people create content on their own machines and rely on a central "cloud" to host it.

Oops, I think I just made Stallman’s point for him.  YouTube is orders of magnitude worse than Gmail.

 Reference:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.computing.richard.stallman

Dell Inspiron 530N
Ubuntu 8.04 with DVD Playback
Unit Price –> $1,238.00 <–
 

Dell Inspiron 530
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
Unit Price –> $1,459.00 <–

The Details

 Reference:
http://webpages.charter.net/leutzdave/Misc/Comparison-shopping-2008-09-30.html