Print - WinInfo Short Takes: Week of July 11

An often irreverent look at some of the week's other news, including a fixed memory leak in XP Tablet PC, London, AMD, a new digital movie service, a Sasser conviction, Red Hat revenues, Google toolbar for Firefox, spyware vs. PC users, and so much more...

WinInfo Blog

What is it about short weeks that make them seem busier than normal weeks? Thanks to Independence Day on Monday, we compacted the rest of the work week into 4 days, or at least that's what it felt like. Combine that with lousy weather this past week--only one beach day all week--and I'm suddenly ready for summer to come back.

Next week is MacWorld Boston, and since I live near Boston, I'll probably attend most of the show. I guess I can't assume that many people who read this will be going (ahem), but if you are, drop me a note.

I have a pet peeve about Web sites and email newsletters that veer off course. For example, there's no reason for tech news sites to arbitrarily cover world events. But I would like to quickly comment on the events that happened in London this week. After the euphoria of its winning bid to host the 2012 Olympics, London was rocked by a terrorist attack yesterday morning, as I'm sure you know. My heart goes out to the city--one of the greatest in the world--but I'm also impressed by the strength and resolve of the people there. We don't always respond to things in the best way, but Londoners have a lot to be proud of this week. As an American, it's interesting to watch.

On a more technical note, why can't Digital Visual Interface (DVI)-based KVM switches typically work with resolutions above 1600 x 1200? VGA-based KVM switches degrade video quality but can work at virtually any resolution, whereas DVI switches, which don't kill the video quality, can't. I find this odd--and somewhat limiting, since my screen runs at 1920 x 1200. I'm trying to reduce the number of devices in my office, not increase it.

Thanks to everyone that wrote in with info about Quebec City and email hosting solutions. I was a little unsure about mentioning that stuff, but the responses were incredible. Thank you.

Short Takes

Microsoft Finally Fixes Tablet PC Memory Leak 
So Microsoft's Tablet PC software is great and everything, but what the heck took them so long on this one? A widely reported memory leak in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 was finally fixed this week, several months after it was discovered. All Tablet PC users should download the fix (see the URL below). But they should be outraged as well. As Microsoft writes in its description of this problem, it causes a "gradual ... degradation in system performance. When this behavior occurs, the user must restart the computer. This problem is caused by a memory leak." Boo. Hiss. 
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c4eebb54-14e3-408e-8c63-0a382e8d9239&DisplayLang=en

AMD Needs Your Help 
I love AMD. I mean, I really, really love AMD. These are the guys who took on Intel, who started the whole 64-bit x86 platform we now call x64, and who turned the microprocessor market on its head with lowball pricing and technological innovation. And yet. They continue to struggle against the leviathan that is Intel, and last week the company revealed that much of its struggle was due to Intel's illegal monopolistic behavior. So it's suing Intel. There's just one problem. Outside the tech industry, virtually no one knows a thing about AMD. So AMD has created a Web page that describes, in plain English, what the Intel suit is all about. It's a model of clarity. And if you care about this stuff at all, maybe you should read it. All companies should learn to communicate this effectively. Credit AMD with yet another innovation. 
http://www.amd.com/breakfree

Intel, Movie Studios: Legal Movie Downloads Happening with Windows Media 
This week, Intel and actor Morgan Freeman (the guy who played basically the exact same character in "Kiss the Girls," "Seven," "The Sum of All Fears," and countless other movies) teamed up to announce that they have formed a new company, ClickStar, which will digitally deliver DVD-quality movies to customers starting next year. ClickStar is a great idea: it will make Hollywood blockbusters available for purchase and rent online the day that they hit theaters, letting customers download them to their PCs and watch them on computers and TV-based set-top boxes. The movies will be protected by Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, naturally. Freeman says the new venture is needed because traditional DVD releases aren't meeting customer needs. Sounds good to me. The question, of course, is whether the movie industry can do the right thing--the music industry failed completely. My guess is that the movie industry is ready to learn from the mistakes of the past and offer customers legal digital content rather than watch that market evaporate thanks to file-sharing networks.

Sasser Writer Convicted 
The pumpkin-head who wrote the Sasser worm that devastated tens of thousands of computers last year was convicted this week in a German court. Sven Jaschan, a 19-year-old hacker, confessed to creating the worm and received a suspended sentence of 1 year and 9 months for his efforts. Additionally, he must perform 30 hours of community service at a local hospital or home for the elderly. Jaschan, you may recall, was captured after Microsoft received tips from two individuals seeking the $250,000 reward. Those people split the reward and, I'm pretty sure, were the only winners in this case.

That was the big secret? Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005, BizTalk 2006 to debut on November 7 
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005, and BizTalk 2006 would ship publicly "the week of November 7." Last month, at a reviewer's workshop for these products, we were sworn to secrecy: The products would actually ship on November 7, that exact day, we were told, but we weren't allowed to discuss that under the terms of our nondisclosure agreement (NDA). You can sort of see why that would be a huge secret. After all, you wouldn't want anyone knowing the exact date that your product will ship, even after you've publicly mentioned that exact date. Ah well. This week, Microsoft announced that Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005, and BizTalk 2006 would ship publicly on November 7. So the secret is out. Now you can feel like part of the inner circle. I know I do.

Red Hat Revenues Surge 
How do you make money selling a free product? Why, volume, of course. But that doesn't explain Linux maker Red Hat's recent financial surge. The company posted revenue growth of 45.5 percent in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter last year. That translates to revenues of $60.8 million in the quarter ending May 31, up from $41.8 million last year. Red Hat makes most of its money from software subscription sales of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, a server package that competes with Windows Server 2003 and Unix holdouts such as Sun Solaris.

Google Ships Toolbar for Firefox 
Today, Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) users have one more reason to switch to Mozilla Firefox (actually, two reasons, if you count this week's new IE security flaw): Google has released a beta version of its Google Toolbar that's designed specifically for Firefox. The Google Toolbar for Firefox looks and acts almost exactly like its IE cousin, but it's built on top of a browser that won't silently load up your PC with spyware while you're innocently navigating the Web. I consider that a good feature. To grab the new toolbar, use Firefox to navigate to the Google Toolbar Web site, and you'll get the right version automatically. 
http://toolbar.google.com

Spyware Takes its Toll 
And speaking of spyware, Internet users are finally starting to succumb to the devastating effects of this malicious new brand of malware and are altering their online habits accordingly. According to a report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 91 percent of Internet users have been affected by spyware (curious that that figure would match the Windows installed base), 80 percent have stopped opening email attachments, and 48 percent have stopped visiting unknown Web sites. OK, so maybe people are overreacting, right? Well, consider this statistic: According to the UK security firm Sophos, a typical Windows PC has a 50-50 chance of being infested with malicious software within 12 minutes of being connected to the Internet. Maybe we should have paid more attention to those Apple Switcher ads after all.

Microsoft, France Telecom Announce New Partnership 
This week, Microsoft and telecommunications giant France Telecom announced a partnership in which the two companies will develop products to deliver voice, data, and video services over phone networks. The first products are still 12 to 18 months away--think Longhorn time frames here, people--so don't get too excited yet. But the companies say they are working on one product called LivePhone, which merges a cell phone with Wi-Fi features, and another called Homezone, a Windows Powered smart phone with cellular, Wi-Fi, and VoIP features.

Text Messaging Survives London Blasts 
As London weathered the latest round of terrorist attacks, cell phone networks once again proved to be unsuitable in an emergency, as frantic callers were denied service for up to 3 hours. Interestingly, however, text messaging never went down, and many Londoners were able to send and receive messages in this format, alerting loved ones that they were OK. Some third generation (3G) phones--which add photo, video, and music services--also continued transmitting, and users were able to send photo and video images of the events to family, friends, and the media. Why did these technologies continue working? Text messages use only a part of the bandwidth that's reserved for data, so they're less affected by a large number of voice users. And 3G phones are simply used less often than more traditional phones and don't use the same network. Fewer users means less congestion. There's a message here, and if I'm not mistaken, it's related to fewer users and better security. In fact, this has been a theme for a few of these blurbs today. I need to mull this one over.

Coming next week: Three security bulletins 
And speaking of security, next Tuesday is that time of the month we all look forward to, when Microsoft releases its monthly security bulletins. Next week's shipment is a veritable bouillabaisse of three security fixes for Windows and Office, two of which will be rated critical. I can't wait to see which two they are. See you next week.

That was the big secret? Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005, BizTalk 2006 to debut on November 7 Microsoft releasing something (albeit on about their 10th try with VS2005) on the day they said they would IS pretty amazing. And besides, even though they announced it publicly, did you actually think anyone beleived them?

" love AMD. I mean, I really, really love AMD." I LOVE my kids. But loving a company is just silly, really. Paul Thurrott taught me that. But hey...it's OK to "love" a company when it's MS-related, right Paul?

LOL: "I love AMD. I mean, I really, really love AMD." -Paul Thurrott "Loving technology I get--I'm right there with you--but loving a company is messed up, sorry." -Paul Thurrott: http://www.internet-nexus.com/2005_02_13_archive.htm Paul, go hug your wife and kids, and forget about your AMD mistress. She's already spoken for.

AMD stated with remarkable clarity what most MS Zealots fail to understand: "For most competitive situations, this is just business. But from a monopolist, this is illegal. These serious allegations deserve serious attention. Earned success is one thing. Illegal maintenance of a monopoly is quite another." Amen. The rules are DIFFERENT when you're a monopoly. It's not illegal to be a monopoly, but you have to play by the rules. Microsoft doesn't. It's as simple as that. Go, AMD!

Hmm, fewer users = more security and you think this is a new concept? It's called security through obscurity and has been known as a paper tiger for as long as there's been a security industry.

Yesterday was crazy, but London has finally started to calm down now. The sirens have stopped... no... there goes another one...

"fewer users = more security and you think this is a new concept" This is no concept at all and the equation is plain wrong e. g. Apache webserver has more users than any other webserver but proved to be more secure than e. g. IIS in the past. And there is no obscurity about Apache - it's open source. "It's called security through obscurity" Is it? "In cryptography and computer security, security through obscurity (sometimes security by obscurity) is a controversial principle in security engineering, which attempts to use secrecy (of design, implementation, etc.) to ensure security. A system relying on security through obscurity may have theoretical or actual security vulnerabilities, but its owners or designers believe that the flaws are not known, and that attackers are unlikely to find them." (Wikipedia) We all know how far MS got with it's security through obscurity concept..

"Maybe we should have paid more attention to those Apple Switcher ads after all" Drink that kool-aid, Paul, suck it down!

"gradual ... degradation in system performance. When this behavior occurs, the user must restart the computer. This problem is caused by a memory leak." "a typical Windows PC has a 50-50 chance of being infested with malicious software within 12 minutes of being connected to the Internet." Memory leaks, wide open vulnerabilities, over 140,000 known exploits, ad/spy-ware, virus, worms and trojans, patches to patch patches!!! Where is the outrage?! Now why would anyone waste their money to buy a windoze based computer?!!

"More computer viruses and worms mean an unprotected Windows PC (without either firewall or antivirus protection) stands a 50 per cent chance of infection by a worm after just 12 minutes online. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, conceded that Windows PCs no longer ship in this unprotected state." ... and haven't done for some time. Ho hum.

How long until this site becomes "Apple Insider"? Paul's sarcasm over every move Microsoft makes has become really telling. As a Tablet PC user, I've been waiting for the memory leak fix for a long time...what Paul didn't tell you, though I'm sure he's well aware of, is the fact that the memory leak problem generally took days to crop up. Most people, during that time, probably shut down their computer to conserve power before the leak even made a showing. I'm a HEAVY TPC user, and I for one rarely (if ever) noticed it. But just knowing it was there made me uncomfortable. I think most users didn't experience the problem and that's why it took so long for a fix -- that combined with the fact that the resolution was thornier than expected (this from a MS employee on an MS forum).

Paul, keep your Apple musing on your personal blog. This is still WinInformant, right?

you got a black light from AMD and now you're giving them "free" advertising?? Got it..

"there's no reason for tech news sites to arbitrarily cover world events" Exactly, so why the need to chime in Paul?

The Mac musings are relevant here because these Windows IT guyes are soon going to have to learn to live in a Macintosh world.

anyone who actually likes and embraces microsoft and/or windows really needs to get their head checked and start using a real computer... like a MAC!

"Paul's sarcasm over every move Microsoft makes has become really telling." Don't worry. As long as Paul makes his living from writing Microsoft-related books and websites, you're in no danger of "losing" him. He knows which side of the bread the butter's on. Besides; he only criticizes the little things. MS knows Exploder is a piece of crap and that Windoze has swiss-cheese security. It's NBD to them.

I like having casual sex with AMD. It's nothing serious; just a booty call now and then. Certainly not 'love.'

>Apache webserver Which has had it's fair share of patches. It's not known in the Linux world as 'a patch ere, a patch there' for no reason. Apache isn't perfect, no system is. Will MS fix security problems? Eventually I'm sure. Is OS X more secure? Unproven as yet. Unless you can show me massive (independant of Apple or MS etc) scale penetration test results ofcourse - outside of a lab enironment. I notice the Write a Virus for OS X was pulled after pressure. That's a shame as it would have given us something to think about and actually debate. Even big hardware vendors screwed up royally earlier this year (people like Cisco for example) with the BGP protocol exploit. I have no axe to grind. I support AS400, Mainframe, AIX, Linux and various Windows platforms. OS's and software are tools - they are there to do a job. If the one you use does it's job for you then go ahead knock yourself out. Lifes too short to worry about it. At home I use a mixture of Linux and Windows behind a hardware router and firewall for work and leisure (see www.securityfocus.com to see why software firewalls are a waste). I'm not an OS-X user so I can't comment on what you'd actually do if problem were found (my last Mac dealings were OS 7 - I was an apple certified engineer). So a hypothetical scenario: Someone releases a network aware Virus or Trojan for OS-X which leeches files under the current users context via port 80 or by hijacking your browser connection via a man in the middle protocol insertion attack (i.e your system appears ok but your documents are sent to a foreign webserver). Assume that the infection vector is a social engineering exploit. How would you disinfect the machine if you were infected, and how would you know without packet sniffers etc that you had a problem? Mac's don't have much AV/Anti Spyware software, if this situation was true what would a large installation do (1000 seats+)? Not a criticism, a genuine question as I'm interested in security.

Maybe he is just upset with the release date hijinx... Next week his mood will improve or maybe we can get WindozeInfo from his MAC Site with reverse-sarcasm...

"Where is the outrage?! Now why would anyone waste their money to buy a windoze based computer?!! " Real question is, why on earth would I waste my money buying overpriced CRAPPLE junk, with fewer features, which then explodes the moment I try to use it? Not to talk of the CRAPPLE garbage machine NOT being able to run all my essential business apps that I need for my business nor can it run my vital home apps ? Only CRAPPLE fanatics will buy CRAPPLE rubbish at inflated prices. Its no surprise most consumers have cottoned on, and voted with their wallets very solidly for Windows, and left CRAPPLE with a measly 2.3% worldwide market share (both IDC and Dataquest, the only firms whose figures count, confirm this). So long CRAPPLE suckers!!

CRAPPLE PSYCHO : ""a typical Windows PC has a 50-50 chance of being infested with malicious software within 12 minutes of being connected to the Internet." " Yeah? Read and weep! "Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has issued a new security patch to cover seven vulnerabilities in its Mac OS X operating system, including e-mail, ColorSync, and its Safari browser. Secunia Research reported the vulnerabilities, which are categorized as "highly critical." According to Apple, when Safari's "Block Pop-Up Windows" feature is not enabled, a malicious pop-up window could appear as being from a trusted site. If the "Block Pop-Up Windows" feature is enabled, then this issues does not occur. The update corrects the issue regardless of the setting. "

""gradual ... degradation in system performance. When this behavior occurs, the user must restart the computer. This problem is caused by a memory leak." " Okey dokey. Let's talk about even MORE CRAP SOFTWARE FROM CRAPPLE, shall we? : "Secunia has already issued three separate vulnerability advisories this year for Apple's OS X. Secunia reported 15 advisories related to the operating system last year. That compares to two advisories for Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 browser .." What was it you were bleeting on about Windows again, fool?

"Running off a bridge is better than running Windows!!! " Drinking poison is better than than wasting your hard earned money money on a CRAPPLE computer. At least you don't get to have electric shock after you have taken the poison. With CRAPPLE computers, you stand a good chance of getting one.

"anyone who actually likes and embraces microsoft and/or windows really needs to get their head checked and start using a real computer... like a MAC" Only girly men, sweaty palmed cowardly weasels, Al Quaeda supporters, Michael Moore supporters, wide eyed fanatics and those from the insane asylum use CRAPPLE. I am yet to meet any CRAPPLE user who is normal in the usual use of the word. You guys don't even need to get your head examined. You are beyond help, having suffered severe, irreversible psychosis.

CRAPPLE IDIOT : "The Mac musings are relevant here because these Windows IT guyes are soon going to have to learn to live in a Macintosh world" You mean like when CRAPPLE goes from 2.3% to it's rightful place of under 1% of the computer market? LMAO! Listen,CRAPPLE has already surrendered to the TEL part of WinTel. The next step? You suckers are going to be forced to surrender to the WIN part of Wintel as well. Heheheheheheheheheheh!!!!!! Its going to be sooooooooo much fun watching the CRAPPLE crazies do the same contortions they did when CRAPPLE SURRENDERED to Intel, after the CRAPPLE fanatics had SWORN right on this board and everywhere else, that it will NEVER happen. Dontcha just love it when that happens? :)

Crapple Idiot Basher: I guess I'm a Crapple Idiot. But if ignorance is bliss, I'm doing just fine. What's spy-ware anyway?

"Crapple Idiot Basher: I guess I'm a Crapple Idiot" At least you are honest..for once in your poor deluded, pathetic CRAPPLE life.

God, I love when Paul Thurrott stirs up the Windows people by telling them the truth. Freaking hilarious. Have fun next Tuesday, kids. "Maybe we should have paid more attention to those Apple Switcher ads after all." Haha.

Haha, even the MICRO$OFT users are seeing the writing on the wall. There's a reason MICRO$OFT's revenues are down, their stocks are down, and everyone hates them while Apple's sales surge. You all will be using Macs in a year and wondering why you waited so long to switch.

Crapple? Are you referring to the company that invented the personal computer? Or the company that released the first personal computer with a graphical interface? Are you referring to the OS that was used to invent the World Wide Web? Are you reffering to the company that invented handheld computing before anybody knew why? The first postscript printers? The first PC with a 32bit CPU? Computers that had network connections when you drones were using PC-ATs? Are you talking about the company that in the face of the Intel/Microsoft duopoly and almost no market share endured to still be the most innovative computer company in history no matter how badly you drones would like to see the world using one cobbled together only able to function with massive IT departments solution? What are all you Windrones going to do when Intel's best CPUs are in Macs and you are left with AMD's outdated technology. Have fun with your gaming rigs you mouth-breathing hordes. You resemble post-nuclear barbarians piecing together Taiwanese parts to get your wireless net connections to work so you can communicate with the outside world. Of course we will all look like that soon. All looking for gasoline. 95% of the population is pathetic. Windoze market share proves that.

CRAPPLE IDIOT : "Are you referring to the company that invented the personal computer?" CRAPPLE did NOT invent the personal computer. Wake up and stop dreaming, fool! SAME CRAPPLE IDIOT AGAIN :"Or the company that released the first personal computer with a graphical interface?" CRAPPLE went and STOLE the GUI from XEROX PARC! And CRAPPLE has been stealing left and right since then, including their latest OS which was stolen from FreeBSD.

First Personal Computer : "Edmund Berkeley first described Simon in his 1949 book, "Giant Brains, or Machines That Think" and went on to publish plans to build Simon in a series of Radio Electronics issues in 1950 and 1951. Simon touched such pioneering computer scientists as Ivan Sutherland, who went on to influence development of interactive graphical personal computers. By 1959, over 400 Simon plans were sold " CRAPPLE's first computer? Apple 1 in May 1976, a full 25 years after the Simon!! Wake up from your CRAPPLE dream, fool!

Paul, why is ok to love AMD but not Google? They're both great non-monopolistic companies that innovate and drive the industry.

" There's a reason MICRO$OFT's revenues are down, their stocks are down" Umm.. Microsoft's revenues have been UP, every single quarter since Microsoft was founded over 30 years ago, Microsoft has made profits every single quarter since it was founded, and Microsoft's stock was solidly up today. CRAPPLE on the other hand is like a yoyo. CRAPPLE's has had countless numbers of quarters of sharply DROPPING revenues and losses, and CRAPPLE WILL get back to their normal erratic, declining revenue model sooner or later again. But hey, what's new?

>Windrones going to do when Intel's best CPUs are in Macs and you are left with AMD's outdated technology.< So that's why Intel have been struggling to catch up then and got completely wrong footed by 64bit. Most analysts agree the AMD technology is superior and scales better. Not to mention that ofcourse Intel will stop supplying companies like Dell and HP with processors to exclusively supply Apple. Perfect business sense.

microsoft issued a report... yes.. from microsoft... that clearly stated.. that the safest way to run windows is on a MAC! thats pretty pathetic for all u window nazi's... go on and subscribe to norton and spend all ur time runnin ur adware and spyware programs... i got better things to do... and i could care less if apple has even .2% of the computer industry... it just goes to show how cheap and pathetic people really are... theres no doubt that Tiger is vastly superior to XP and its pretty obvious that Longdong or Longhorn, whatever its called.. wont stand a chance against OSX. how many years has it been since the original release date... months i could understand.. but years?... geez... when u pay more for something... generally its better... makes sense then that macs cost more.. cause theyre better built.. longer lasting.. superior computers... and hey,, why would i want to run windows on my mac anyway... i would never do something like that.. theres just something really wrong and immoral about it... just plain wrong.. wrong.. wrong.. wrong... (and u windows users tryin to write a response better make it snappy.. cause if u dont disconnect soon... u might get a virus! (probably already have one (like herpes))) once u go mac.. youll never go back! *******!

"once u go mac.. youll never go back! " LMAO!! Yeah? CRAPPLE USED to have 25% market share. Today CRAPPLE has a miserable 2.3% market share. ALL the 22.7% of the PC market of CRAPPLE users that don't use CRAPPLE anymore SWITCHED to Windows! They "went back" to Windows very very easily, AFTER using the horrible CRAPPLE! Meanwhile feel free to continue living in dreamland. :) In real life, Windows continues to clobber CRAPPLE with both hands tied behind their backs.

"makes sense then that macs cost more.. cause theyre better built.. longer lasting.. " And CRAPPLES explode and burn you up if you don't get outta the way quick. LMAO!! And that is after paying up to 50% more for them than Windows PC's too! Plus you can't even run your vital bussiness apps on those overpriced pink, girly man CRAPPLE toy computers either. Only a CRAPPLE fanatic and nutcase will waste money on such a garbage machine.

what are u 10 years old... make some valid points when u type.. macs can run any software pcs can... at a very reduced rate of security breaches... viruses... etc... and with the new intel based macs.. the software will run at full system speed eliminating the need for any other pcs.. why would u buy a pc when u could get a mac/pc.. then u have the option to run either or.. makes sense.. and the market share just shows how cheap and stupid people are... look at everyone who voted for bush.. im sure theyre all pc users.. need i say more!

"what are u 10 years old... make some valid points when u type.." You have the mind of 5 mentally retarded 5 year old,lunatic, and illiterate to boot. Pssst.. we start sentences with CAPITAL letters. Get it? I'd go back to school and at least learn how to read and write again before spewing out even more garbage on here and letting everyone know what an illiterate moron you really are.

"macs can run any software pcs can" CRAPPLE can't run EVERY software PC's can' even using the best emulation software you can get. Plus CRAPPLE can't run PC software in exactly the same way. There are plenty of little gotchas and glitches with every emulation software in the market today. Why would any normal human being spend 50% more money , to buy a pink ,girly man CRAPPLE machine which won't run the vital business software he needs to run his business? Only a CRAPPLE fanatic and idiot like you would do that. that is why CRAPPLE has just 2.3% of the market today. You see, consumers are not as stupid as you are, fool!!

I love it when PC users get to the point of emulating Mac users just to make us look bad. There's no way that the top post on this page came from a Mac user. Honest to God, we may be naive and somewhat arrogant...but we're not THAT stupid.

"Paul, why is ok to love AMD but not Google? They're both great non-monopolistic companies that innovate and drive the industry." You're right. Paul wrote: "I hate Google. Granted, I know more about Google than most of the people that seem to love the company for some reason ...Yeah, we get it, you're different. But you're also ridiculous. You can be different and excellent, like Apple. Google is no Apple." (http://www.internet-nexus.com/2005_02_06_archive.htm) The real reason Paul hates Google is because they're an excellent competitor to Microsoft, out-innovating them at every turn, and they're making money while doing it. When your livelihood depends on a successful Microsoft, you have to "hate" anyone that seriously threatens that dominance. But even beyond that, Microsoft just isn't "cool". Paul and Microsoft are like the bullies on the playground that desperately want to be one of the "cool" kids, but never will, no matter how hard they try. So they have to beat up and demonize the enemy. It's sad, really, but interesting to watch.

"The real reason Paul hates Google is because they're an excellent competitor to Microsoft, out-innovating them at every turn, and they're making money while doing it. When your livelihood depends on a successful Microsoft, you have to "hate" anyone that seriously threatens that dominance. " I can't pretend to know what goes on in Paul Thurrot's mind, nor do I care either way what his political/social beliefs are. But when you come up with garbage like this one "When your livelihood depends on a successful Microsoft, you have to "hate" anyone that seriously threatens that dominance." then I gotta take strong exception to it. Google doesn't even BEGIN to compete with over 99% of Microsoft's business. Google is close to irrelevant to Microsoft's revnues and profits. But Microsoft IS very relevant to Google. Microsoft make most of their money from Windows Desktop, Microsoft Office, Windows Server, SQL Server , Exchange Server, Commerce server, BizTalk Server, Microsoft Business Solutions (ERM, Supply Chain Management, Retail Management etc ), XBOX etc etc. Google does not even BEGIN to compete in ANY of these areas where nearly 100% of Microsoft's sales and profits come from. Where is Google's game console? Has Google even written ONE single commercial game for a console in their entire lives, let alone sold 7 million units like Microsoft's Halo 2? Where is Google's CRM or Retail Management Software? The ONLY place Microsoft and Google compete is in search, and that is Google's turf, nit Microsoft's turf. How on earth you can glibly conclude that Google "seriously threatens" is simply beyond belief. The trouble with you Microsoft haters is, you keep living in dreamland, completely driven by hate, instead of facing reality. Wake up will you? This is the real world. Microsoft dominates. Period!

"gradual ... degradation in system performance. When this behavior occurs, the user must restart the computer. This problem is caused by a memory leak. a typical Windows PC has a 50-50 chance of being infested with malicious software within 12 minutes of being connected to the Internet. Memory leaks, wide open vulnerabilities, over 140,000 known exploits, ad/spy-ware, virus, worms and trojans, patches to patch patches!!!" Memory leaks are not only existant in Windows. It's quite a common bug, and it's platform independent. One of it's many causes is "1337" coders refusing to use classes in their code because their too "slow" (some BS excuse because they don't know how to use classes because they're a moron) and then end up forgetting to free crap they allocated. 140,000 known exploits? How many of these known exploits were patched? That number is bogus (like most of the "statistics" that come out of your mouth). Even if you thrown in NT4 (I bet you are, just like you're throwing in the abomination that is 9x, and MS-DOS, so you can have an inflated number). 9x, NT4 are dying. MS-DOS is dead (I know it's still used by some people, shut up :P. is it growing though? is it increasing it's user base?). And the 50-50 chance thing, is assuming that people don't have firewalls. Yet today, most users do. Hey, I know! I'll use facts that are out-dated/biased too! Did you know the smallest particle is an atom? The worlds flat too, and base on your skull shape, you can determine if you're a criminal...

Oh, and if FreeDOS is increasing it's userbase at all, that still doesn't make MS-DOS undead. FreeDOS != MS-DOS. Clones != Original Copy. The biggest problem with windows right now is MSIE. To some of the windows zealots on this site, welcome to reality. Your browser sucks and is behind firefox. Thanks MS for not supporting CSS properly. Probably the same idiots who don't see why RSS is useful. Going to bookmarks toolbar, and being able to click a bookmark and have a menu show up with news headlines is useful.

"look at everyone who voted for bush.. im sure theyre all pc users" I happen to KNOW a Mac OS X user who voted for Bush. They're also a registered sex offender. Hah :P.

"what are u 10 years old... make some valid points when u type.." Try using "you", and an ellipsis is 3 periods, not two. Sentences begin with capital letters too. You can generally tell someone's age by the way they type. The annoying dumbasses who flood the already cesspool-ish AIM chats. You don't see too many idiots on IRC like yourself, as IRC is "too hard" for your kind because you're a group of dumbasses who get angry for people who "point and click" when it's what you actually do :P. You come across as a 14-year-old, therefore your opinion is irrelevant and no one cares, because children are stupid. "macs can run any software pcs can" False.

And no, I wasn't trying to be a grammartarian. It's just stupid to use "u" when you could use "you". My grammar is not perfect, obviously. What's next from you? "well dats just ur opinion lol ur stupid. i can run any windoze software on my mac with virtual emulazor ware. ur a windoze fangirlz lol."? "macs can run any software pcs can... at a very reduced rate of security breaches... viruses... etc..." Well, if you're doing it through a virtual PC, that's false. Your virtual enviroment can still get owned by the viruses :P. Especially since you're a mac user and are therefore clueless how to secure even the most basic of Windows installations.

"look at everyone who voted for bush.. im sure theyre all pc users.. need i say more! " Like I always keep saying, you only fool the people some of the time, you can't fool them all the time. CRAPPLE machines can't fool consumers to buy them, and neither could Hanoi John Kerry with his lies, treason and stupidity, fool American voters to vote for him. Turns out Bush had better grades than Hanoi John in every stage of their education in college. No surprise Hanoi John wouldn't release his results to the public till AFTER the elections, and only recently! LMAO! Voters in America were smart enough NOT to vote for a guy (Hanoi John Kerry) who spent his entire life trashing and betraying his comrades in Vietnam, comparing his comrades in Vietnam to Genghis Khan, then turning round and running his entire campaign on him being a "war hero" from the very same Vietnam War. American voters also were too smart to vote for a Hanoi John Kerry, who attended a meeting in Kansas city, to plot the ASSASSINATION of all US Senators that did not agree with the insane views of Hanoi John Kerry and his treacherous pals. American voters also refused to vote for a Hanoi john Kerry who was absent from duty or voting in the US Senate more than any senator in American history! How can a guy be made chief executive of a company when he has refused to show up for work most of the time of his employment? Yet another indication, in any were needed , that PC users are much smarter than the incredibly STUPID CRAPPLE users!!

"Stupid Crapple." You don't sound like a very mature person who deserves any respect for your opinion regardless if it's for or against windows. If you people have meaningful things to say with valid points then say them. All you other little children, I think it's past your bedtime. Get some sleep and get a life!

How people type and the grammar they use doesn't say anything about them. Some of the smartest people I know can't type for the life of them or spell for that matter. I thought this was a Windows IT site!

"How people type and the grammar they use doesn't say anything about them. Some of the smartest people I know can't type for the life of them or spell for that matter. I thought this was a Windows IT site!" Yes it does. You see, people who have problems typing generally aren't computer literate, and therefore their opinions don't matter much. Nice try.

I definitely feel dumber for having read all these responces. I'm a Windows desktop user (with a 64-bit AMD) and a Mac notebook user. I can see the benifit of both sides. I can only hope for more competition, because Intel monopolising over AMD and Microsoft monopolising over Apple can only lead to less choice and freedom for consumers. Competition in every market leads to innovation.

Oh dear, everyone seems to have lost their sense of humour, not to mention perspective. For what it's worth, I do remember the reactions of Mac posters to Paul's story last month about Apple switching to Intel. Some humility might be in order here!

"Stupid Crapple You don't sound like a very mature person " I'll bet on mt maturity,, decorum, common sense, and sense of perspective against any of the CRAPPLE losers and fanatics who come here to spew out anti-Microsoft hate and garbage on a regular basis any day. It's common knowledge that CRAPPLE fanatics ARE stupid. That is not saying anything new.

ILLITERATE CRAPPLE MORON : ""How people type and the grammar they use doesn't say anything about them. Some of the smartest people I know can't type for the life of them or spell for that matter. I thought this was a Windows IT site!" " Bingo! Got it in one, fool! This IS a Windows IT site..so WTF are you, a CRAPPLE fanatic, doing here spewing out anti-Microsoft garbage and displaying your illiteracy and crass stupidity to boot? Umm about your whine that "How people type and the grammar they use doesn't say anything about them"..that is nonsense. How people type and their grammar says PLENTY about them. It tells you for starters that they are illiterate, poorly educated, probably brain dead, sloppy, badly organized, lazy and probably dropped out of high school to go smoke crack on a regular basis and play with CRAPPLE machines. Which about sums up you all the garbage you have posted here so far. Word of advise? Go back to school and learn, then you can even attempt to debate any issues with your Windows superiors here. As for your crack about "Some of the smartest people I know can't type for the life of them or spell " Simple answer to that one: Most of the dumbest people can't type or spell for the life of them, and don't do grammar either. And you, happen to be one of them, fool!

"hahah you dubmbass PC users will get it EVENTUALLY" There's no DUMB *** like a CRAPPLE DUMB *** and fanatic. You losers will never learn. You CRAPPLE clowns live in CRAPPLE dreamland. In real life, you losers have been banished to a measly 2.3% market share. 'nuff said.

Crapple - Yawn! Microsoft - Yawn! Longhorn - wake me when it arrives so I many yawn!

CRAPPLE IDIOT :"Crapple - Yawn! Microsoft - Yawn! " Are you sure you are not suffering from Trypanosomiasis? You need help. Serious. Poor guy.

The biggest weakness, around 40-50% of all insecurities in a given system is the user, statistically. We can mitigate the other risks, but the user factor is the worst problem.

Grow up guys and stop insulting each other. Before IT became more used than Software engineering, one would read intelligent articles( one still reads something intelligent on IEEE websites). Engineers are among the most intelligent professionals, therefore Iam being forced to conclude that most visitors to this site are simply computer users , who one would describe as Tom and Jerry mediocres; who come here to let loose their frustration from their daily boring jobs. For those who adore their silly macs (don't quote me wrong all computers are silly)need not waste space here; they should simply stay away. One uses a computer to run an application be it a business or game application one doesn't run the OS. Simple question: On which OS does NASA, European Space agency develop their space vehicles? It is the application not the OS kids!! Do you think IBM's mainframe are secure?

"Wake up will you? This is the real world. Microsoft dominates. Period!" And that's the problem. Whenever someone--like Google--identifies a market niche that Microsoft never thought of, GatesCo swoops in like a hawk and tries to pull their prey away from them. They usually succeed--not because their product is better per se, but because of predatory practices and the ability to leverage their monopoly. Google develops an amazing search engine, MS tries to copy it with MSN search. Google develops desktop search, and there's MS trying to copy it. There's nothing wrong with competition. Good competition is healthy and necessary. The problem with Microsoft is that they refuse to give ANYONE an inch in any market niche. Period. And they'll go to any length to squash even the minutest competition--using any means (legal or not) necessary. Then, when they dominate, they sit on their large arse and don't innovate. Like I said, competition is good. In some very rare cases, a competitor will step up to the plate and force Microsoft to put down the remote and get off the couch. Witness Internet Explorer--one of the rare cases where they actually have some competition (in the form of Firefox), and suddenly they're scrambling to update their lame browser. Unfortunately, most companies don't bother to even TRY to go up against the Redmond juggernaut. Yeah, Microsoft dominates. That's the problem, boys and girls.

LOGIC PRO AUDIO 7 on MAC Nuff said..... thats my opinion, i bought a mac for this very reason and it brilliant. The ultimate music production core suite.

OK, for everyone who thinks that Microsoft is going anywhere soon, please look at the following article: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB112058273885477468,00.html?mod=todays_free_feature For those that have trouble reading, it says that Microsoft is actually planning to EXPAND their space, and ADD up to 12,000 NEW employees to the space. The first of which buildings will be open in 2007. So, tell me how Microsoft is going down the toilet, and losing market share, and all of the other insanities that I hear?

Hey, Windows kidz, here's a simple test: Take two Macs. Get a standard network cable. Not a crossover cable, just your regular network cable. Plug one end into one Mac, and the other end into the other Mac. They network. No switch, no router, no crossover cable. Try it with a PC. It will not work. Apple is the only company that designs this very common-sense ability into their computers. That's because Apple actually designs sane computers while you guys stick with crappy, antiquated, ancient designs that never progress. A year from now, you'll all be using Macs and dual-booting OS X and Windows.

ONe reason I don't like windows: the other day I had to scan something. I could go to kinkos.. but wait.. my roommate has that scanner he never uses. er.. but he has XP. oh well, i can just download the driver from the company website.. (acer)... 2 hours later i find that the acer scanner division was bought out by.. BENQ? and they will give me the driver.. okay.. got the driver.. install it.. er.. it should work.. no.. install the software off the cd , then put in the new driver to work w xp .. er.. no go.. ****.. yes, kinkos was open and they were very friendly.. too bad that scanner is totally worthless now..and apparently in perfect condition.. to all those ppl out there who thought MS actually wrote drivers to make its open architecture work like a mac, you're crazy.. MS does nothing.. XP comes with SOME drivers, but generally speaking you get hte drivers from the 3rd party periph. maker.. if it doesn't work.. you're screwed.

"thats my opinion, i bought a mac for this very reason and it brilliant. The ultimate music production core suite." But Windows ships with Solitaire! Lots more people play solitaire than create music. See what you're up against?

Id just like to say that AMD deserve a break and that intel should look down from their pedestal once in a while and pay atention to what customers really want.