Microsoft has constantly ruined my typing flow by inventing keyboards that stop Carpal Tunnel, or whatever that is. So Now they have their new Wireless Laser Desktop 4000 and it combines has both lasers and Vista buttons.
Other neat features are the Windows Live Call button, Windows Gadget button, and a tilt wheel for scrolling. Plus the price is only $79, which means you can get two for the same price as the WED’s.
Those are the words of Brian Livingstone, a renowned expert on the inner working of Microsoft Windows: in a post on WindowsSecrets.com, he exposes a backdoor route around activation which effectively destroys activation as an antipiracy measure. That, in and of itself, isn’t a particularly surprising development (we’ve already seen two exploits that skip or bypass activation); no, the real story is the fact that the exploit was created by Microsoft itself. The “SkipRearm” process involves some simple editing of Registry files that can “extend the activation deadline of Vista indefinitely.” This backdoor was created to help corporations keep machines working whilst they work under the heavy burden of prepping systems for Vista activation. If they can’t do it within Vista’s 30 day grace period, they can postpone activation by 30 days up to three times using the “sysprep /generalize” command: SkipRearm can be executed indefinitely. Specifically, Microsoft documentation says “Microsoft recommends that you use the SkipRearm setting if you plan on running Sysprep multiple times on a computer.” Now that Windows Activation could potentially help pirates as well as annoy legitimate Windows owners, it’s hard to see how Microsoft will be able to continue to justify using this ineffective, draconian system.
Strike three for Vista’s product activation system: the latest Vista activation workaround is called “Timerstop t2a” which works by automatically renewing the 30 day grace period before the user has to “activate” their presumably legit copy of Windows. Besides the obviously malicious undertone to these kind of utilities, we’re certain that there are a whole lot of legitimate Vista owners out there that would prefer to go through this admittedly complex process rather than attempt the normal activation procedure. Just like with DRM, anti-piracy PSAs before movies, and heck, even excessive surveillance, innocent people tend not to like it when they’re treated as suspects. The lesson for Microsoft is that when people want to pirate software, they will: even in the face of increasingly complex activation systems. A pity then that Redmond’s fired up photocopiers technically can’t copy a function that — purposely — doesn’t exist in Mac OS X.
Windows Vista may yet prove to be an unstoppable juggernaut, but statistics released today by a market research firm show that the new operating system hasn’t even licked its nine-year old ancestor.
Vista was being used on less than 1% of PCs tracked in February by Aliso Viejo-based Net Applications Inc., making it the sixth most-popular operating system. That puts it behind Windows 98, which is still used on 1.5% of computers.
Vista’s exact share was 0.93%. Windows XP continued to lead, with 84.3%, followed by Windows 2000, with 4.8%. Mac OS X on PowerPC machines had 4.3%, while newer Intel-based PCs running OS X had 2.1%. Net Applications collects its data from the browsers of visitors to its network of more than 40,000 Web sites.
The shiny, new Windows Vista beckons, and an upgrade is mighty tempting. But before you take the plunge, be aware that you may end up forking out a lot more money than just the cost of an operating system upgrade. If you’re upgrading to Windows Vista, the first cash outlay you likely face is buying more RAM for your PC and 1GB of RAM for as low as a little over $100, while 2GB will run you $180 and up. Vista is graphics-hungry. If you want to run its Aero environment, you’ll need a good graphics card with support for DirectX 9 graphics with a WDDM driver, a minimum of 128MB of graphics memory, and what’s called Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel. You can get a graphics card that meets these specs for as low as about $60. If you want better performance, of course, you can pay more, in the $100 to $150 range. Vista installs only via DVD and these you can get a reasonable one for as low as about $30 to $40. You should have a hard drive with at least a 40GB capacity hard drive with 15GB of free disk space and can get more for $70 or $80 with a 250GB capacity. Hidden costs can finally total up steep being the bottom line!
Many of us have a reason to give thanks to Bill Gates, whether it be for the PowerPoint presentation that got us our last promotion, the Word spell checker that helped us avoid an embarrassing double entendre in our thesis paper, or the ol’ Xbox 360 that has drained our productivity, consumed all of our free time, and driven our sweethearts into the arms of other men. But Romanian president Traian Basescu has a bigger reason than most to owe the Microsoft founder a debt of gratitude: he claims that rampant software piracy in the Eastern European nation was the single biggest factor in developing a healthy IT industry. Yes, believe it or not, a head-of-state actually stood up in public — at a press conference to celebrate the launch of a Microsoft global technical center — and told Gates face-to-face how illegal copies of Windows “helped the young generation discover computers…set off the development of the IT industry…[and] helped Romanians improve their creative capacity…” Indeed, nearly 70% of all software used in Romania today is pirated, according to some experts (pirates even peddle their wares to legitimate businesses, reportedly), despite the anti-piracy legislation passed some ten years ago. Amusingly, Basescu justified his countrymen’s ridiculous levels of IP theft by claiming that “it was an investment in Romania’s friendship with Microsoft and Bill Gates.” Being the experienced political that he is, Gates chose to keep his mouth shut instead of using the president’s provocative comments to launch into an anti-piracy tirade — though we’re sure that the world’s richest man had to practically bite off his own tongue to do so. Still, after the press shindig — while the two men were in private enjoying some traditional placenta pie plăcintă — Gates reportedly dropped the Mr. Niceguy facade, stared Basescu coldly in the eyes, and uttered a single word: “Viodentia?”
Finally the Vista is out and the launch by Bill Gates touting it as the next best thing was done while the Microsoft Office 2007 seemed to have got the backseat in the fanfare!
Microsoft’s Bill Gates ushered his company’s new Vista OS and Office 2007 software suite into Europe, near the end of a round-the-world event that brings the software to 70 countries in 19 languages.
Gates was keen to present Vista as a milestone for the company, but also a cornerstone OS for manipulating video and photos, conducting e-commerce transactions, and using Voice over IP functions.