Print - WinInfo Short Takes: Week of June 25

An often irreverent look at some of the week's other news, including Google's complaints, Microsoft is better at patching than Apple or Linux, Vista is unpatched longer than XP, dodging an antitrust bullet, Office 2003 bites the dust, and much, much more...

WinInfo Blog

Short Takes

- Google: Microsoft Search Changes are Not Enough

- Microsoft: We Patch More Quickly than Apple or Linux

- But... Microsoft Patched XP Faster than it Patches Vista

- Microsoft Dodges Antitrust Bullet in Iowa

- Microsoft Office 2003 Gets Rubbed Out, Sopranos-Style

- Not News: Microsoft Doesn't Change Plans for Vista Virtualization

- Zune Maintains Market Position, Closes in on 1 Million Units Sold

- EU Widens Internet Search Privacy Probe

- Dell Makes Bloatware Option

==== WinInfo Blog ====

by Paul Thurrott, thurrott@windowsitpro.com

Unexpectedly, given the constant delays and aggravations over the past few months, my son Mark will finally have surgery for a second cochlear implant on Monday morning. Any thoughts or prayers are, of course, appreciated. Mark has been pretty excited about this until, well, Wednesday, when we spent most of the day in meetings with doctors and surgeons, and I think the reality of the situation is finally setting in. He has a million questions, of course, and at one point he surprised me with a bit of maturity, albeit on the negative side: When I told him he had nothing to worry about today, as we were just meeting with people, he looked at me and said, "I know. But I have a lot to worry about on Monday." Yikes.

This situation isn't life threatening, so I don't want to make it sound more dramatic than it is. But he's my kid, and this isn't the type of thing I can get all that excited about. The first time around, it was a no-brainer: He was just a year old, had almost died from meningitis and had become deaf, and getting a cochlear implant was clearly the right thing to do. This time, well, I don't know. There's no guarantee it will even do anything, as that side of his head has been unused for several years now. Anyway, here we go. Wish us luck.

On a lighter note, I did survive last weekend's Las Vegas adventure several hundred dollars and numerous hours of sleep lighter than when I left. It was a good time, and obviously a guys' weekend away is something to be cherished on many levels. On the other hand, I spent most of this week in a near-coma, including Monday, when I slept from 8:00 A.M until 3:00 P.M. after arriving home very early in the morning after a red-eye flight. I had asked my wife to not let me sleep that long and was sort of miffed that she didn't wake me up. But it turns out she had tried repeatedly, and I was non-responsive. Needless to say, she wasn't amused. I may be paying for this one for a while.

And finally, Leo and I recorded a new episode of the Windows Weekly podcast this week, which should be up soon (http://www.twit.tv/ww ). We hit on a wide range of topics, including my iTunes on Windows Vista concerns, which I'd like to address here briefly as well. First, thanks again to everyone who wrote in about this. I received more than 200 email messages, and I'm most likely not ever going to be able to respond to all of them, unfortunately. Oddly enough, the disappearing download problem seems to have resolved itself this week. I don't know if that's due to an Apple update, sheer luck, or what, but none of the podcasts and purchased songs I've downloaded from iTunes in the past 10 days have disappeared as before, so I'm crossing my fingers. I still have no idea what the cause was.

==== Short Takes ====

An often irreverent look at some of the week's other news

by Paul Thurrott, thurrott@windowsitpro.com

Google: Microsoft Search Changes are Not Enough

Predictably, Internet search giant Google isn't appeased by the half-measures that Microsoft made in meeting its demands that it be able to replace Windows Vista's Instant Search feature with its own product. Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond said Microsoft's changes to Vista are welcome, but that "They should be improved further to give consumers greater access to alternate desktop search providers." They didn't go into more detail, so let me explain: What Google wants are two key pieces of functionality that Microsoft won't implement. First, when a third-party search engine is installed on Vista, the Instant Search feature should be completely disabled, which is not the current plan. Second, Google should get access to the search boxes that appear in each Explorer window, and not a secondary link that Microsoft is now creating. These are valid complaints, within the confines of the changes Microsoft has agreed to make. That said, Google's overall complaint is still as baseless as ever, and Microsoft should have simply told the company to take a hike. Give them and inch and they'll take a mile, as the phrase goes. Seriously, someone needs to curb Google's power now before it's too late.

Microsoft: We Patch More Quickly than Apple or Linux

Well, duh. And anyone who disagrees with this hasn't been paying attention. Microsoft on Thursday released data showing that Windows users were at risk from security flaws for less time than users of Apple Mac OS X or Linux over the past few years because the company responds to flaws more quickly. According to the company, Windows users were at risk an average of less than 29 days last year, compared with 46 days for OS X and 74-107 days for various Linux distributions. Hey, that's great, really. But on the flip side, Windows is hacked more than all those systems combined, so it's unclear whether this data makes much difference. Let's flip it around again: In 2006, Windows also had the fewest actual security flaws, with 90 for Windows XP, compared with 129 for OS X and 232-301 for various Linux versions. In the end, security is a tough one: Although it's very easy to protect a Windows system against electronic attack, it's equally true that Windows is the target of most actual attacks, even if it has the fewest actual flaws or shortest length of time before flaws are fixed.

But... Microsoft Patched Windows XP More Quickly than it Patches Windows Vista

But wait, there's more. Although Microsoft wasn't trying to highlight this fact in its revelation about security flaws, the company's data also shows that it's patching security flaws in Vista far more slowly than it did with XP. According to Microsoft, it patched 12 of 27 security flaws in the first six months since Vista was generally released. But the company had patched 36 out of 39 known security flaws in XP in the same timeframe when that OS was released. To be fair, most of Vista's unpatched bugs are not critical security flaws, which might explain the discrepancy. And the lower number of actual flaws suggests that Vista is more secure than XP, especially given that electronic attacks are more frequent and more sophisticated now than when XP first shipped. Yeah, I'm making lemonade here, but it seems there are many ways to interpret this data.

Microsoft Dodges Antitrust Bullet in Iowa

Lost amid all the hoopla this week about Microsoft changing Vista to address Google's desktop search complaints was another bit of info that came out of Microsoft's June 2007 antitrust joint status report: The company will not face non-compliance charges in a related Iowa antitrust case. Previously, plaintiffs in Iowa had charged that Microsoft had not fulfilled a requirement of its US antitrust settlement by providing API documentation aimed at making its products more interoperable with third-party software. However, when expert witnesses in the case examined the charges, they found "no evidence that Microsoft has not fully disclosed the APIs." Thus, the charge was thrown out. Microsoft reached a preliminary settlement in its Iowa antitrust case in February, and the case will receive a final review in August.

Microsoft Office 2003 Gets Rubbed Out, Sopranos-Style

Users pining for the old menu-and-toolbar UI from Office 2003 have about a week left before Microsoft pulls the plug: At the end of June, Microsoft will stop shipping Office 2003 to customers and will provide only the newer Office 2007 instead. That said, copies of Office 2003 will remain in stock at various brick and mortar and electronic retailers for months to come, so it's not like the product will instantly disappear. Mainstream support for Office 2003 continues through January 2009, and extended support ends in January 2014. I'm sure we'll all be running the Microsoft Surface version of Office by then.

Not News: Microsoft Doesn't Changes Plans for Windows Vista Virtualization

It's unclear to me why this generated so much news this week, but here we go: Microsoft this week decided not to change its policy for licensing Vista to virtual machine users. Yep, that's right: Nothing changed. Apparently, the company briefly considered letting users install non-premium (read: lower-cost) versions of Vista in virtualized environments (like VMware and Parallels) but decided to simply continue its current policy of licensing only Vista Home Premium, Ultimate, and Enterprise for that use. Naturally, there's nothing to stop you from installing a lower-end Vista version in a virtual machine (VM), but if you do so, you won't get support from Microsoft. You know, that support no one ever uses anyway. Go forth, virtualization users, and save some money.

Zune Maintains Market Position, Closes in on 1 Million Units Sold

Microsoft informed me late Wednesday that its Zune digital media player has retained its number two position, making up 11.3 percent of the market for hard drive-based MP3 players in May. The company says that sales have been steady since the November 2006 launch of the device and that it is "on track" to sell one million Zune devices by the end of June as previously predicted. My guess is that "Zune momentum," such as it is, has been driven of late by new Zune colors: A pink Zune went on sale in May, and this month the company unleashed a red version. But put down your credit cards, folks, as believable rumors of a smaller, flash-based Zune made the rounds this week as well. Maybe we'll soon have a choice of Zunes.

EU Widens Internet Search Privacy Probe

Apparently taking a rare break from Microsoft bashing, antitrust regulators in the European Union (EU) this week turned their attention toward Internet search privacy problems. Previously, the EU had been examining Google, which is probably at the root of more privacy abuses than anyone this side of China, but the EU has now expanded the investigation to include other search provides like Microsoft and Yahoo!. Google had previously tried to calm EU regulators by promising to cut the amount of time it retains personal information tied to search data from 24 months to 18 months, but that apparently didn't do the trick. (And is it just me, or is that half measure even weaker than Microsoft's agreement to make changes to Vista in response to Google complaints?) I'm guessing it was Google that pointed out to the EU that it wasn't the only company saving personal data related to Internet searches. It's just the way companies do things.

Dell Makes Bloatware Option

And finally, let's leave for the weekend with a bit of good news: Dell this week began offering its consumer PC customers the option of bogging down their new machines with bloatware--that mindless collection of unnecessary software junk that comes with most new PCs--or simply opting out. Now that's a differentiator that really matters: People say that PCs are a commodity business, but Dell's decision will go a long way toward making Dell's PCs all the more desirable. That said, Dell is still installing some bloatware on PCs: It will install Adobe Reader, Google Toolbar, and a trial version of the antivirus software of your choice even if you do opt-out of the other junk. Hey, that's what the Add/Remove Programs applet was designed for, right? Go forth and uninstall, PC buyers. (But be sure to download a free antivirus application like the excellent AVG Free Edition, which you can find here: http://free.grisoft.com .)

I know, I know...I am the first to bring up Apple today, so chill out lotsa.... I have to wonder...How is Google handling Spotlight vs. Google Desktop search? Are they also pursuing Apple? Has Apple already offered to allow Google to replace Spotlight? --tayme

I agree that Google should have made its complaint known long ago. However, fully opening up the instant search GUI components seems like good idea. If Google were to provide some extra and innovative technology, I would consider using it. If they issued some me-too junkware, I'd ignore it. But overall, I think most of us feel that choice is good. I'm not sure if I can criticize either Microsoft (half-steps) or Google (belly-aching) for the current state of affairs.

That's a very interesting point tayme. We certainly know the answer too. Dell has made some very positive improvements as of late. When I ordered my Vista desktop, I couldn't believe how fast it was shipped. I also had the option even months ago to not install any third party software. Of course, there always is some. I don't necessarily feel that Adobe Reader is bloatware (although the reader itself is bloated, but I digress), and neither is it a bad idea to include a free trial of security software. The Google Toolbar is totally bloat/crapware on a Vista installation, though. Comparatively, I've been waiting for nearly a month for Lenovo to build a laptop, and I dislike waiting for one hour plus on the phone. As a side note, Lenovo operates out of Canada, so I'm not sure if that makes any difference (wink, wink). And so much for Google doing no evil. Why force their crap toolbar down our throats? (And yes, I know the reason). The complaint is totally ludicrous.

a couple years ago, when Dell was shipping XP CD's with every machine, the crapware and subsequently outdated drivers were all bundled on what was called the "Dell Resource CD". the XP install CD was a clean Windows installation CD and nothing more. for many Dell models, the XP installation disc wasn't even branded with Dell's OEM logo or support information. now you have to pay extra for media, and i believe it's all recovery media and not standard installation media, but i could be wrong about that. the should just go back to the way they used to do it - if someone doesn't like the crappware, let them use their included generic installation disc to wipe out their system and do a clean install. "System Builders" (local computer shops) differ from "Direct OEM's" (major manufacturers/namebrands that buy directly from Microsoft and not through the distribution channel) in that they aren't allowed to create custom installation media - they can customize the preinstall, and optionally create a recovery partition, but they MUST ALWAYS include the OEM hologram-labelled generic installation disc, so it's a good reason to buy local. Microsoft used to have a good deal on for US customers too - buy local and you get something like $200 worth of free stuff, which included a wireless router and a bunch of other goodies. i don't remember the website, but it was a good deal. it might not be offered anymore though. if someone remembers the link, please post it. XP

Ditto on how fast Dell shipped my Vista desktop. I also had one tech issue which was resolved in record time. The service was very good. Dell is still #1 in my book. Don't believe everything you read in the mainstream media...as usual.

....looks like the deal is still offered and it's pretty good too: www.localpcbuilder.com XP

"Lenovo operates out of Canada" really?!? when did the US give up North Carolina to us? geez i should get out more.... XP

I work for a reseller and our Partner Choice reps with Lenovo work out of Toronto, Ontario.

"I work for a reseller and our Partner Choice reps with Lenovo work out of Toronto, Ontario." they're working out of a call centre though. the main company HQ operates out of Raleigh. XP

Never mind where the company headquarters are. I've been dealing with very bad customer service at Lenovo Canada, and a read in common forums shows that I'm not alone. I did put an all forgiving wink at the end, so it was clearly meant as a joke. And where is lotsa? Maybe he got the week wrong, and thought the iPhone launch was today. I know bonch must be working extra overtime at Starbucks saving his pennies. I also can recommend AVG Free Edition. The interface is not that great, but it consumes very little resources, and doesn't bother you every minute.

Google is seriously do its best to destroy its goody two shoes image. Its only a matter of time before a leak or two happens from top level defections and the worm will turn for them. And to why no action on Spotlight on the Mac....silence says everything. Macs are irrelevant profit wise...so why bother. Plus Eric Schmidt might have a problem with it having obviously a conflict of interest. Zune will suck along with the iPod, until they open up their video codec support like the Creative or Archos. My Creative ZVM does 10x more that both and costs less.

"I also can recommend AVG Free Edition" i can't. i've seen too many of those common trojans from P2P file-sharing programs just infect a computer out of the blue and sit dormant on the hard drive on systems with AVG. more often than not, you need to run a full system scan to detect them. so it begs the question: if the antivirus app was actually doing it's job, how did the virus get written to the hard drive in the first place? real-time protection is supposed to prevent that. in retrospect, the same has happened on systems with Norton Antivirus, which i why i don't recommend either. for free antivirus i recommend Avast over AVG, but then you do get what you pay for. antivirus and antispyware apps are no solution to user stupidity either. P2P file-sharing programs are used 95% of the time to share illegal goods because a website can easily be shut down. illegality spawns immorality on the internet too - that's why most P2P programs and pirate software sites (most using Bittorrent links) are just loaded with JS exploits and bungware. XP

I recommend Avast anti-virus over AVG. They both have free versions but Avast has several very large feather's in its cap. First, it auto-updates whenever necessary. AVG Free is a manual process, which isn't good for anything zero-day. Second, Avast has free support for x64 Windows. Last I checked AVG did 32 bit only. Finally, Avast has a bunch of different plug-in scanning modules. For instance it comes with a free Outlook/Exchange plugin (great for my home SBS network), in addition to POP, special plugins that monitors P2P, HTTP, etc. Sorry for the seeming spam but I stumbled on this app when I switched to Vista 64 and I'm amazed it isn't better known. As for Google, what exactly are they thinking??? Their market strategy is to force themselves into whatever they can in the attempt to derive a fraction of a cent profit from everything. They are almost as bad as credit card processing networks (and whine just as much about protecting their "market"). Seriously though, why would anyone want a Google search over the built-in Windows one (or even OSX or any other built-in OS tool)? Search is search. I don't see how they could improve on the concept of finding files. Their argument is for consumer "choice", but please... Give me a break, they are just trying to find another vector to insert ads. Google doesn't do anything for free. That's also the same reason why Dell is refusing to unbundle their bleeming toolbar. Dell derives a *lot* of revenue from searches using that pre-bundled utility. And speaking of bundles... Paul mentioned "try add/remove..." Well, the major AV vendor's make such garbage products that even the uninstall utility sometimes doesn't work. The bevy of official "uninstall utilities" located in the AV vendors' support sections is a testament to this problem.

"As for Google, what exactly are they thinking??? Their market strategy is to force themselves into whatever they can in the attempt to derive a fraction of a cent profit from everything. They are almost as bad as credit card processing networks (and whine just as much about protecting their "market")." They're probably going to continue as long as they have public/media support. As of now, it looks like Google can get away with anything. They can go burn down Microsoft buildings and NY Times will still write an article about how Google is rooting out evil from the world.

"They can go burn down Microsoft buildings and NY Times will still write an article about how Google is rooting out evil from the world." ....and Pogue would be the author. XP

"Google doesn't do anything for free." A fact for which their shareholders are undoubtedly very grateful. "They can go burn down Microsoft buildings and NY Times will still write an article about how Google is rooting out evil from the world." Well, it'd be a start! ;-) <-----the all-forgiving wink of forgiveness, clearly indicating that this is mean to be a joke.

Tayme: Google can replace Spotlight over my dead body. I don't want ANY of their software on my Mac. And neither should you.

"A fact for which their shareholders are undoubtedly very grateful." Which is perfectly fine. At this rate I'm wondering when MS will get sued because users can't use a simple GUI to select alternate disk-formatting code, third party file system drivers, or even choose a third-party GUI for the GUI in which you can select alternate components... I blame the DOJ for this mess since they forced MS to discard the licensing provision that made Redmond the final arbiter of what could be installed on a new Windows PC. Bloatware had no basis to exist prior to this occurrence. Now we’ve got security vendors with their names on sporting venues and spyware is pre-installed on new PCs for everyone’s convenience! Google should release their own Linux-based OS, bundle WINE, and compete like everyone else. They’re worth a hundred-sixty-five billion. It’s not like they are lacking the resources.

Bdkjones But, if Google thinks that MS should change Vista to allow it, shouldn't they also be targeting OS X? My point is that they are only targeting MS because that is the "in" thing to do. To the media, Google and Apple are the knights on white horses and MS is the ugly and evil dragon that must be slain at any cost. --tayme

Okay Wintards, Goggle is evil. Do you feel better now? Face it. What Google presented is what is defined by the US goverment as middleware and was clearly against the settlement Microsoft made with the US Goverment. Isn't that correct Weathron? Yes, the rules of the game have been changed. Special laws have been made just for Microsoft. It only proves the point that Microsoft should have been broken up into three. You all run around and shouting out "RDF" when its Apple. Google is now the villian since it is a child of the settlement and puts pressure on Microsoft to improve. Microsoft is no longer the bully of the play ground and it will be spanked when it trys to act out. As you all know Microsoft as a whole has retarded CS and maybe during your life this wiil not be a factor. But ask yourself what we have given up and why?. Its all about the war that never was. Thanks Paul you are Don King in this game, pawned and owned.. We all will pray for the best for your child (even thought were dicks to each other). I am very sure the outcome of this will be awesome and your fears and questions will be set aside. I know that you have wrestled with this for along time and we all assure you and your wife are doing the right thing no matter the results. - J Vista (sp1)

Yawn!, calling people names doesn't change facts. I'm sorry, but your arguments don't make any sense to me. What does RDF even have to do with Google? Tayme raised a valid point and it has nothing to do with RDF or even with Microsoft having a "retarted CS" (whatever that means).

In any case, Google is trying to be both the bully and the kid that complains about being bullied. So far, it's been successful. Don't know how long it can keep this up.

It's pretty easy to see why Google isn't targeting Apple's spotlight desktop search, it's because the two companies are working together. Apple has made use of Google services on the iPhone, Apple TV and Safari, Eric Schmidt has stated publicly that the two companies are working together on other projects, Schmidt also has a position on Apples board of directors, so why would Google be after apples spotlight? Apple has the advantage of working with google, as each play in different areas, and there is very little cross over, if any, even if you take Apples .Mac into account. Microsoft on the other hand is in competition with Google, maps and search spring straight to mind, and this not the first time Microsoft has been pressured into changing by Google. Microsoft has painted its self into a corner, where it has to play by a set of rules that Apple and other do not, Google is taking advantage of this fact the same way the AV companies did to force Microsoft to bent to their wills. Shutting out competition is how Microsoft got into this position in the fist place, you can cry foul as much as you want, but its Microsoft's own doing that it now has to play by a set of rules that allow Google and others to take advantage of it.

"Google is trying to be both the bully and the kid that complains about being bullied. So far, it's been successful. Don't know how long it can keep this up." Quite a while, if history is any indication. It's been successful for Microsoft for over a decade now.

"It's been successful for Microsoft for over a decade now." Not really. Google has achieved what Microsoft never could. Microsoft never had public opinion on their side. Google, as I mentioned earlier, can get away with anything. Even you compare Microsoft to China, when it's Google that behaves like the big brother from 1984.

Shark, You are right about the name calling thing. My bad, sorry to all. Anyhow you state: >Microsoft never had public opinion on their side. I am not sure this is true or not. But you must admit it has a presidents administration that has held back the DOJ. >Google, as I mentioned earlier, can get away with anything. What has Google gotten away with? >Even you compare Microsoft to China, when it's Google that behaves like the big brother from 1984. Not sure where your trying to go with this. I think you are referring to the saved search info and maybe Google's latest purchase of doubleclick for 3.1b. What makes this any different then Microsofts saving seach info or their purchase of aQuantive for 6 b? Sounds like sourgrapes b/c Google was able to make a better offer for doubleclick and pulled it away from Microsoft. What I find interesting is how the Microsoft supporters are trying to paint Google as Evil. This came about when Google started to release free web apps. The first reaction was "it will never work, you need to be online to use them, no one will ever use them." Its been about 6 months now and things are changing - the mobile platform looks likes it about to take off and little apps like "Rails" and "Gears" seem to have struck a nerve with the Microsoft supporters. Why is this? Is it because you don't feel Microsoft is ready for what is being billed as web 2.0 or is there some underlying fear that Microsoft is not as important to the industry as it use to be (i.e just another IBM)? Vista (sp1)

YAWN! is like a lingering pungent flatus that you can't get rid of on this site. Complete uber crApple tool that is fighting the good(lost)war for the irrelevance that is crApple.

I refuse to use Google desktop search since it was first released. It bogs down performance and in my mind is spyware. I always disable sending statistics for Google Earth because I don't want them having my information. While I can't do anything about the search logs, why isn't Paul dedicating technology articles about the iPhone/AT&T and the carriers willingness to support NSA's wiretapping program? That alone is enough reason for me to never buy an iPhone.

NotAWindowsUser hit the nail on the head, Tayme: Google isn't going after OS X because Apple and Google are best friends. And the reality is that Microsoft could easily have been in Apple's position. 4 years ago they could have gone to Google and said, "Hey, let's work together." Instead, they decided that they had to beat Google. Apple took the opposite tack and that's paying off now.

Yawn, you need to climb back under that rock that you came out from under...soon!!! I understand why Paul thinks you are an A$$HOLE!!! --tayme

i would bet that the best thing to happen to Apple (absolutely NOT from a customer standpoint mind you) would be for Google to buy it out. that would be the rebirth, and the eventual death, of Apple. XP

"WaeBonch", we all know you have the best interests of Apple (and, of course, the wider tech industry) at heart.

@Tayme, >>I understand why Paul thinks you are an A$$HOLE!!! I am not sure what Paul thinks of me. But he is more then welcome to express it to me himself. He has my email address, he dropped a nice quick reply to me yesterday. >>Yawn, you need to climb back under that rock that you came out from under...soon!!! Or else? I don't take threats kindly. Vista (sp1)

"Yawn... I understand why Paul thinks you are an A$$HOLE!!! When did Paul say that, "tayme"? I must have missed that post. Way to make your point, though. The use of three exclamation points is quite impressive.

@lotsa - yawn pretty much said it when she showed back up...and I am just stooping to her level of conversation so that maybe she can understand. Oh, and are you back on your grammar kick? Got the [SIC] hammer all tuned up, do you? --tayme

@yawn - "I don't take threats kindly." And, exactly where did I threaten you? Are you another one of those marketing tools that like to lurk here, or what? --tayme

"Are you another one of those marketing tools that like to lurk here, or what?" ya! go home Gruber!!! XP

Weathron, >"Are you another one of those marketing tools that like to lurk here, or what?" You already know its the "or what" answer. >ya! go home Gruber!!! Okay, Dvorak. @Tayme Its over. Just a suggestion, don't stoop to my level, be a man and offer a hand up. Said a another way " your better than that". I let Shark be the judge of this comment. Vista (sp1) I doubt Gr

"don't stoop to my level - be a man" the fool speaks.... figures - righteous and yet self-deprecating in one statement. "yonn!" XP

Nice Weatheron, Thats why your so loved and respect on these boards. Its no wonder why you build hardware. Since we are on the subjest, GFY! Thats why Shark was asked to judge. Be assured there is no love loss between me and Shark. Vista (sp1)

"Thats why your so loved and respect on these boards." ditto, i'm sure. "Its no wonder why you build hardware." which requires at least some level of intelligence, rather than being just a "user" like you (sic!). ....and you must be taking phoenics lessons from your bf, losta. your command of the english language is all-telling. "Be assured there is no love loss between me and Shark." make no mistake, there's no love lost between you and anyone else here - you have to have something first in order to lose it. XP

Short Takes always reduces to shameless rambling, so here iPwned. http://www.theinquirer.net/images/articles/glastox1.jpg

here will, here's another one: http://www.ifilm.com/video/2869092 (eep!) and on a lighter note, am i the only person to think that that wasn't actually Paris in those videos showing her being released? she looked a little too chunky to be believable (not to mention that one of the photographers, in one of the release vids yelled "it doesn't even look like her") and i wouldn't be surprised if it was actually Nicky with a bleach-job, or another stand-in altogether.... XP