So many people today are trying to help the planet by trying to be green. energy saving is usually a good thing, as it means less heat is being produced, and less carbon is being emitted as carbon dioxide during the production of that energy. Usually I am all for this, except when it comes to amplification.

Carver amplifiers continued in the tradition of Phase Linear, as high power quality amplifiers

Quality sound needs big robust amps, not for average volume levels, but for realistic reproduction of peaks. Back in the days when Carver was a big name in audio equipment, there was a story put into one of the company’s brochures. The story, to put it simply, was a propaganda item for buying the Carver amplifiers, as they had lots of power, and basically explained how Mr. Carver was trying to reproduce the sound of a scissors cutting a piece of paper. The upshot is that it took an amplifier of a thousand watts to properly reproduce the initial sound of the paper as it was cut in two pieces.

  a great album, and a sonic spectacular as well!

Many moons ago, I used to sell fine audio equipment. One of the best records (yes, records - that piece of black vinyl used to store music before compact discs) to demonstrate why lots of power was needed was a tune from the Carlos Santana album “The Swing of Delight” called ‘Song for My Brother’. Anyone who knows this song knows it is a typical Santana guitar piece with an almost lilting melody, until it gets to the refrain, and a wicked couple of thwacks of the kick drum cause your pulse to race, and your (if you have one) poorly designed and underpowered amplifier to clip like crazy. Clipping is when an amplifier tries to reproduce higher volumes than it is able to, and runs out of power. Some do it gracefully, most do not.

Infinity Reference Standard IIa - a great speaker, but an amplifier shredder!

I was fond of demonstrating this song using a Soundcraftsmen MA-5002 amplifier and Infinity Reference Standard II speakers. Anyone who ever heard these speakers knows how great they sounded, and for a price of $1250 for the pair (1983 dollars) they were amazing in both the quality of their sound, and their ability to shut off or destroy badly designed amplifiers. When the kick drum would hit, the LED display of the 5002 would go from an average of around 3 watts, which was moderately loud, to peaking at +6db, which was approximately 1000W. The LED display was only pegged for a fraction of a second, but the point was simple - if you didn’t have an amplifier capable of high power for those short periods, you didn’t get quality sound. If I had someone that I thought might need further evidence of why power was needed, I would hook the same turntable and speakers to the best receiver we sold at the time, which was rated 120W per channel, and had about 2db of headroom. This meant it was capable of almost 200 watts for short bursts. When I would play the average levels at 3 watts, verified by another meter, and then allow the song to continue through the peaks, the receiver would shut down. No sound other than the clicking off of the amplifier protection circuitry was heard. Then after about two seconds of silence, the music would continue. Two seconds of nothing is pretty irritating, but better than gross distortion, as some amplifiers produce. Worse yet, some of these same amplifiers will continue clipping until the output transistors fry, and - when the smoke comes out of an amplifier, there is just no way to put it back in.

What does this show? First, most speakers that are of any quality are not efficient. That is to say, in 97% of the cases where someone might make a point of how efficient their speakers are, you can also bet they have poor sound quality. Second, music is dynamic, it doesn’t take the explosions of a recording of the 1812 Overture to tax an amplifier. Third, many people were not able to identify the clipping of the amplifier as such, but almost all were able to say how the amplifier that did not clip significantly was much better sounding. This had nothing to do with the shutting off of an amplifier, as we could use a different amplifier of less power, but of enough quality to not shut down, to show how much better the higher powered amplifier made the music sound.

These are not esoteric differences. These are things that anyone can hear - whether the difference is enough to persuade them to buy quality is another story, but 99 people out of 100 will hear the difference.

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Tags: quality amplification, carver, phaase linear, soundcraftsmen, threshold, mark levinson, sumo, hear the difference, clipping

When I started thinking about this, I was sure that everyone who was interested in quality reproduction (home theater) would have no need, as they would have purchased a large screen that already had an ATSC (read digital) tuner, built in. Then I started thinking about some of the televisions I have seen friends and family buy in the last few years, and realized that many did not. Some have televisions that used a modular approach, saying that when the DTV format was finalized, the tuner module for that would be available. As anyone who pays attention knows, these sort of promises usually go unfulfilled. Other televisions were sold with the ability to do a high resolution (for the time) but with an analog tuner only. Still others were those sets that were sold as computer monitors, with an NTSC (read analog) tuner included, and no provision to remove the analog tuner, and replace it with an ATSC model.

Further, there are those who have a smaller set in a bedroom, with a nice audio system connected, and no problem with the idea of high quality SD (standard definition) in that room. Another group of people will be those who don’t wish to throw out a perfectly good television, for reasons of being green (I’m certainly in this group, as there are 3 televisions in this house that have really fine SD pictures).

A word now about a few things. First, there is a website established, as well as a toll-free number available, for getting the coupons to help defray the cost of the purchase. Each address is able to request 2 coupons, which are worth $40 dollars, making the purchase less a problem for the less than wealthy. Next, there are supposed to be tens of manufacturers for these digital converter boxes, yet I could find mentions of 5 manufacturers, and 9 models total, in a somewhat exhaustive search on Google. Hardly the turn out predicted by the Consumer Electronics Show, this last January. Last, it has been estimated that there might be a shortage of these boxes, mostly by the manufacturers, who are probably hoping to gain a sale of a more expensive television, if they artificially create a shortage situation. I’m fairly certain some consumer group will come up with a class action lawsuit concerning lack of a product made necessary by a government mandate.

  the RCA offering, pictured both horizontally, and vertically, with remote

the Magnavox offering

  one of the 2 choices from GE (other than the aggressively ugly looks, it should be almost identical to the RCA and Magnavox boxes, as they all are trademarks owned by Thomson Electronics)

Another thing to think about is the Consumer Reports article that compares the units available. They choose the RCA, but the reasoning is not clear why the choice is made. More telling is that many comments were made on that article, with one standing out for me. Apparently most of the units do not allow analog pass thru of signals, so using those boxes daisy-chain style (like many people used to do with VCRs) is not possible. This is possibly (well, probably) a cost consideration, but I prefer to think that it forces many to use the non-RF connections found on every box, to achieve the best picture quality, and by pass what must be an incredibly cheap RF modulator.

There are the choices currently available from Echo Star, Zenith, and a little known company called Insignia, but no pictures or fact sheets could be found on them. As Echo Star gets some of its stuff from Thomson, the EchoStar  units are probably very close, if not identical to one of the known Thomson models.

The only thing to distinguish the aggressively ugly GE model, other than aesthetics, is the fact that it purports to have Dolby Surround outputs. That would certainly mitigate the ugliness, if the output quality was good.

the government issued cards to help with converter box purchase

Unless you are wanting to get the digital content immediately, I would recommend waiting to let a few more models come to market, and perhaps a few problematic models will be removed from the market. For those wishing to buy immediately, get your card(s), and purchase on features, as there doesn’t seem to be much difference in performance - so its standard or Dolby audio that makes the difference.

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Tags: dtv transition, government mandate, converter boxes, ge, magnavox, rca, echostar

from the AMD website

Immediately available are “four new high-performance AMD Phenom X4 processors for PC users” which AMD classes as perfect for those “in search of the Ultimate Visual Experience” – although there is also a special fifth model that runs at a world’s first 65 watts.

Although AMD says there are only ‘four’ high performance Phenom X4 processors, they come in eight flavors, and a ninth if you include the 65-watter – with all naturally 64-bit capable.

There’s the 9500 and 9550 which run at 2.2GHz and 95 watts, the 9600 and 9600 ‘Black Edition’ which run at 2.3GHz and 95 watts.

Then there’s the 9750 which runs at 2.4GHz and comes in a 125 watt and 95 watt version, while the 9850 only comes in a ‘Black Edition model’ and runs the fastest at 2.5GHz and 125 watts.

AMD’s pricing page has the details, with the processors ranging in price from US $209 to US $235 in lots of 1000, as they are traditionally sold.

There’s also a fifth model called the AMD Phenom X4 9100e which runs at 65 watts – see page 3 more information.

Although the flagship of the X4 range is the new “9850 Black Edition processor”, each CPU features “true quad-core design”, with AMD saying that “when matched to AMD 790 series chipsets supports up to four award-winning ATI Radeon HD 3800 series graphics cards”.

AMD is once again on the rise, which is good news even if you’re an Intel fan, as competition improves both contenders.

Another good thing is that these are all of the B3 stepping, so no nasty stalls or extra BIOS code is needed. The 2.5GHz ‘Black Edition’ is a good sign, and were not ten days into spring - perhaps we’ll see 3GHz parts by summer!

Tags: amd, phenom x4, true quad core, black edition, cool’n'quiet 2.0

So many bad things happen today, especially in the realm of computers and technical support. These days of problems that no one seems to care about are a problem for many.

However, it is sometimes possible to achieve a good result, and with a minimum of effort.

Three days ago, I had downloaded a few files from the Donation Coders website ( a good place to find solutions to little problems, by the way ) and immediately the resident portion of AVG 7.5 Free informed me that all the five files I had downloaded contained a trojan. Finding this hard to believe, I looked first at the online help for AVG, which was not all that helpful - there was no heading for false positives - so next a trip to the AVG website. There was only limited help there, as the procedure described, which included moving the files to the quarantine area, then uploading them to the AVG site. (The site should be updated, or perhaps, if the site refers to a possible solution for the paid version it should so state that restriction) Then I went to my friend Google, where I should have gone first it seems. A couple of hits about simply writing to virus@grisoft.com was all it took.

That was last night. Tonight, I checked the e-mail to find this response:

Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your email.
This file is clean. It was false alarm, this means that the file is
clean and virus-free, but AVG detects it as a virus. Unfortunately,
false alarms may appear from time to time in every anti-virus
software. It’s detection will be removed from our definitions in new
update of AVG viruses base, which will be released soon.
Thank you for understanding and cooperation.
         Best regards,
         Rostislav Ratkovsky
         AVG Technical Support

website: http://www.grisoft.com
mailto: technicalsupport@grisoft.com
—– Original Message —–
From: {me of course}

Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:18:57 AM GMT-07:00
Subject: G#0802560652 - false positives
>I have, this week, downloaded 5 files from the DonationCoders website, and your software, AVG Free 7.5 (fully updated) identifies every one of the files as a virus/trojan - the programs as being virus infected, but was a false positive. I have looked on your site at the forums, to see that the suggestion was to turn off heuristic action. That still doesn’t do it. Your software identifies a trojan - PSW Agent SKN .
>
>Hard to believe that you haven’t fixed this yet, but could you look at these files. Thanks. Unfortunately, I cannot include copies, as your software will not allow me to attach the files. However, since others have said that the same problem is occurring, can you check the files at DonationCoders, written by Skrommel.  (especially DimScreen.exe, RecentRun.exe, EjectCD.exe, and CloseCD.exe)

So all it took was about 20 minutes of search time, and another five to send an e-mail. to obtain a good result. I’ll be the first to admit that not all outcomes are so positive - but that is precisely why we should celebrate when good things happen and let others know about it.

In my best Stephen Colbert : No wag of the finger to AVG, but a big thumbs up!

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Tags: avg, false positives, donation coders, quick reply, customer care, thumbs up

It is now apparent that the powers that be at the large television networks have only one thing driving their choices - greed. Of course money is a motivator, we know it. No one would deny that the networks need to make money or their right to do so. What is so immensely crazy is that the decision makers somehow believe that with blatant disregard for the wishes of the viewing audience, there will be no consequences. (It is sad that when Fox was using ’slash and burn’ techniques, the other networks claimed to be holding on to the ideals of integrity, and value of the audience opinion, but time has seen all the networks move to the the Fox model of ‘audience be damned, the bottom line trumps integrity or artistic choice each and every time’.)

The latest in the long line of blows to the health of episodic network television is the fact that, for most, the return of Jericho was something that was at the beginning, a sign of what the power of the pen could do, and as of March 24 a sign that no real consideration was made - it was a simple convenience for the programming ‘droids at CBS.  That is to say that it was probably seen, when the write-in campaign showed a base of support for Jericho, the network had a way to keep a few episodes going to appease the clamoring crowd, and allow for a transition when the writer’s strike was over. It was a money move, and not motivated by anything other than nuisance control.

What is worse, for the network, is that though it might have been possible to know that only a few episodes were made, with no plans for a second season, most people did not know that - and the obfuscation of that fact was furthered by the advertising up until March 24 that the March 25 episode would be the season finale. On March 24, a change in the ad spots on CBS indicated that the last episode would be the series finale.

Worse still, no reworking of the episodes leading to the end was done, that would have cost some money, and the audience was deemed to not be worth it. The episodes that resumed after the strike had a slower pace, with very detailed smaller plots, and no hint that the final episode  had been so designated. The episodes were very strong, and the writing made many think that the series would be back in September with more of this well told cataclysmic saga.

The final episode looked as though it had been cut and pasted from about three possible episodes, and was a disappointment on so many levels.  It was a hurried ending to a strong well-timed tale. Once again, corporate decision makers have overestimated the ability of time to make people forget, and underestimated the ill will generated by trying to fool those who ultimately supply the revenue.

Just one more reason to look elsewhere for entertainment.

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Tags: jericho, episodic television, greed, writer’s strike, disdain for the audience

When Meet The Press on NBC leads with a roundtable on the current state of the economy, and the lead story on the installment of 60 Minutes the same day is about a far off doomsday depository in far off Norway, for seeds, you know things are not great. I looked around on the tube today, and there just was not much levity, and when coloring eggs was mentioned on the local news, the announcer could not resist informing us that eggs are over two dollars a dozen these days, further confirming the state of our dollar. The only thing that might have brought the point home any better would be a toilet flushing as the announcer read the news.

The fact that after watching ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ one can easily go on the Internet and verify through several distinct sources that global warming is taking place, life for many is worse than ever, and the change that man is wreaking upon this planet is soon to be unrecoverable doesn’t drive the point home to too many people. (Perhaps those refusing to recognize the signs will be the first to go - that would at least be fair.)

So what do we do?

I recently wrote a paper for my daughter to present in class, as she couldn’t think of anything to write, and also it was to be graded on the presentation, and not content - so it wasn’t cheating, for those who care. It is designed for seventh graders, but when it comes to some of these concepts, it becomes necessary to bring it down to the level of those who refuse to listen, think, and comply.

Being Green without Being Silly

With all the ways to be environmentally friendly in our homes, it seems strange that some people are so upset by suggestions of changes in living patterns that will make a difference in the lives of all the people on the planet.

Though many ways to become green in our lives are most costly, there are also many ways to be energy efficient or conserve energy that allow those doing them to save money. Saving empty soda cans and bottles, and recycling them on the way to the grocery store allows a savings of money when using these items and allows the manufacturers to use less of the costly petroleum products in any further manufacture.

Another way to conserve is to use the local approach to what we eat. Although it is nice to be able to eat fruits and vegetables out of season, for hundreds of years people did without fresh fruits and vegetables in winter, as they would can or freeze extra produce during the summer, to be able to have food that was another color than brown during the late fall and winter months. By doing this again, it means that stores will not go to such efforts to import foods from the southern hemisphere in the northern winter. No matter how energy efficient the transport, if that food is not transported, still more fuel will be saved.

In our houses, we all want to be comfortable in both winter and summer. By making sure that windows and doors are properly fit, and that gasket material is used, heat will not move in the unwanted direction as easily. This will save on gas or electricity, and means less cost for the homeowner.

There are so many ways to save. All through the day a person can save and conserve at the same time. When getting up in the morning, instead of running water while brushing teeth in the sink, a person can brush their teeth without the water running or can brush teeth while in the shower. By hanging up a used towel after each use, it can be allowed to dry and be used again. After all, if all that is being dried is water on a clean body, it should make little difference to hang up and reuse three times. That is less water, detergent, and electricity or gas used for the washing of the towels.

Many people think that because we are able to do something means that we should do it. That just is not true all the time. Many of the habits that we have today would be strange to someone living 50 years ago. Convenience is very nice, but becomes better when tied together with responsible actions. That will allow all of us to live better, cheaper, and longer.

 

How many are unwilling to do these few things? If you are not willing to help out just a little, should you be the recipient of any help when the crunches come? When gas is scarce? When food is exorbitant?

A small amount of thought, and action, now, could save much suffering for many (including you) later.

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Tags: green, recycle, energy conservation, global warming, doomsday

Several people are pontificating about the operating system that will be forever known as Windows 7.  Better that than the follow up to Vista. The idea that Windows 7 will be modular is almost accepted fact by now, but the thoughts on method of delivery are not as clear.

For business, that is, big business, a subscription format will be only a little different than the situation now. Most CFOs will simply accept the change as another cost of doing business.

What is less certain is how the people who buy computers and operating systems for home use will feel. The home user may simply look at the purchase of the operating system as a necessary evil, like auto insurance. The difference is, people are used to the idea of never ending auto insurance premiums,for it has always been, whereas operating systems have always been purchase and forget about it for 3 to 5 years - this includes those who are early adopters and rabid fanatics.

Purchasing a subscription from Microsoft requires a commitment - from both parties. Microsoft is wanting to see that river of gravy train running with no change in the flow. Consumers, putting out consistently for the operating system, are going to expect consistent change and upgrades, with no stop in the flow of problem-solving code. Improved driver support, and all other of the niggling problems that simply get dismissed as ‘too little to worry about until the next service pack or major change’ will no longer be able to be dismissed, as, since constant money is flowing, the user base has every right to expect repairs to become a flow as well. Things put off for over 6 months, such as the major flaw in Windows Home Server, that Microsoft doesn’t want to talk about, will no longer be tolerated.

Is Microsoft up to the task of delivering working, non-buggy code on a consistent basis? That is the question we, and Microsoft itself, should ask.

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Tags: windows 7, windows vista, modularity, microsoft, subscription, higher requirements

Today, I ran into a clearly explained set of reasons why I don’t, and probably never will, use Vista as my operating system. For the same reasons that people can still use Windows 98SE, Windows XP will be available for usage by many for a very long time.

Anyway, in words better chosen than I could do (because I usually get too enraged when I try) here are those reasons from another - I quote rather than use a link because many would not take the time to follow the link, and because I can zero in on what is most important.

So…

The software available from JSWare is generally supported on all versions of Windows, from Windows 95 to Windows XP. With Windows Vista things are changing.

 

Vista access restriction problems:

   To use Windows Vista you need to be aware of the extreme access restrictions. By default on Vista, you are assumed to be a corporate employee who has no right to access the files on your PC outside of the “Documents” folder. If you try to access files, Vista will block you. If you try to access the Windows Registry Vista will block you. Worse, Vista will not inform you that your access is blocked. It will pretend that it is not blocking you. In effect, Vista restricts you to a sort of child’s playpen and only lets you play with copies of the files that you want to access. That situation can result in a great deal of confusion and will result in problems with software. For example, some WEB-ED Editor settings changes may not take. You may be unable to find saved files. You may be able to open a file but be unable to save changes to that file. Etc. In order to use JSWare software without problems you will need to “give yourself permission” to fully access your PC, by disabling “User Account Control” (UAC - the “playpen”), running as “Administrator” (without restricted permission), and giving yourself full access to the program folder, as well as any other folders that you may want to open files from or save them to.

   In the case of JSWare free software and components, no Vista support is offered and no Vista support is planned. In fact, much of the JSWare freeware has been specifically designed not to run on Windows Vista at all, in order to avoid unnecessary confusion for people using Windows Vista, and also to avoid unnecessary support queries at JSWare.

   Read on if you would like a more thorough explanation of JSWare support for Windows Vista and why it is changing.

The Windows Operating System - Platform vs Service
The role of an operating system:

   The basic function of an operating system - such as Windows, Linux, or MacOS - is to provide an interface between a computer and its software. The computer provides raw computational functionality. The operating system interfaces between that functionality and the software, allowing useful software to make the computer itself useful. In programming terms, Windows has traditionally been referred to as a platform because of its role as a hardware interface. Windows is the platform that supports software.

Changes in the marketplace:

   Over the past decade, most of the software commonly used on PCs has matured, as have operating systems. Products like Windows, office suites, browsers, email, graphic studios, etc. have not changed radically since the mid-90s. At one time software companies made large profits by periodically releasing new versions of their software with new functions. But for several years now, most people have not needed much in the way of new functions.

   In the face of reduced software sales, a popular idea now current among software companies is “software as a service”, also known as “SaaS”. The strategy behind SaaS is to sell software usage rather than software programs. In other words, “service” software is rented, leased, or charged for on a per-use basis, so that software companies do not have to depend on future sales of new product. (Note that SaaS is not an idea for improving software. It is an idea for improving profits.)

   Imagine if the auto makers, faced with plummeting sales, decided to stop selling cars and open taxi businesses. And imagine further that one auto maker, with over 90% of the market - and monopoly control - decided to also stop the sale of replacement parts so that their customers would be virtually forced to switch over to the new taxi service. Obviously that would not be a good scenario for most car owners. But that is essentially what Microsoft is doing with their “software as a service” strategy. And Windows Vista is a big step in that direction - a step away from the the idea of Windows as a platform.
   Actually, Microsoft is now talking about “software and service”. In other words, they hope to charge you for Windows and charge you for using software on Windows.

   For a thought-provoking description of just how much Microsoft has already changed the definition of their software, see John Dvorak’s story about the day that Microsoft’s Vista spyware system malfunctioned, causing thousands of computers to be disabled while their owners were accused of software theft.

 

A warning about Windows Vista:
   If you do not own a full version CD for an earlier version of Windows then you may be forced to either use Vista or leave Windows behind altogether the next time that you buy a PC. At JSWare we consider Windows Vista to be bloated, overpriced, restrictive, DRM-infested spyware. We do not recommend using Windows Vista. We do not consider it a worthy product. And we do not intend to support Windows Vista per se, or to write software for it.

Bloated and overpriced: If you look at the newspaper flyers for national, US electronics stores, you’ll see that the base price for a cheap PC has gone from a bit over $300 to somewhere in the range of $600-$700. It will cost you about an extra $300 to buy the hardware necessary to support Vista’s frivolous, and entirely superfluous, 3-D techno-kitsch.

Restrictions and spyware: To get a sense of just how much Windows is changing, and how little of that change is likely to be of benefit to Microsoft’s customers, you might find it interesting to read the Windows Vista license (EULA).

   Among the ominous details you will find in the Vista license are the following:

• Even a full version CD of Vista is licensed only for use on one PC. If you need to upgrade hardware, or want to install on a different PC instead, you will have to get permission by applying for a new Product Activation. (sections 1b, 2a) Even that option is restricted in some upgrade scenarios. (section 15b)

• According to Microsoft, it is “illegal” for two people to use a PC running Vista at the same time! (section 2b)

• Windows Vista will periodically contact Microsoft and send information about your Windows installation. You have no choice in this matter. If, during one of these clandestine communications, there is any problem confirming that your copy of Windows is not stolen, your PC will be crippled to the point of being virtually unusable until such time as you prove to Microsoft that you paid for their software.(section 5a-c) (See link above to the John Dvorak article.)

• Under default settings, Windows may remove installed software at Microsoft’s discretion, without asking you. (section 6)

• Under default settings, Windows Update will make changes to the operating system, without asking you. (section 7a)

• Windows Media Player, a spyware product, cannot be removed from Windows Vista under normal conditions. In addition to DRM functions, WMP will also make contact with Microsoft for the purposes of finding commercial music sellers for you to buy from, and to download and install newer versions of itself. You have no choice in this matter if you use WMP. (section 7a)

• “You may not work around any technical limitations in the software”. (section 8) In other words, Windows is now a service and you may only use it as Microsoft wants you to use it.

   Note that under US copyright law you have a right to use purchased material as you see fit and you have a right to make copies for your own use. If you buy a book or a music CD, for example, you can legally do anything with those except distribute copies to other people. It is perfectly legal to use your old Windows operating system on your new PC, and to copy it to your notebook PC, under fair-use laws. But Microsoft has made that virtually impossible through their Product Activation scheme. And now they claim that you do not even have a right to use the product as you see fit.

   In addition to the unusual rules set forth in the Vista license, Vista also institutes extensive security changes that may interfere with software running properly and will likely result in a constant barrage of frivolous security warnings.

   It is due mainly to the quasi-legal restrictions and the spyware functionality that we recommend against using Windows Vista. It is due mainly to the new compatibility problems that most JSWare software is not supported on Windows Vista. The compatibility issues in Windows Vista involve both hardware and software problems. But the biggest problem is restriction of user rights. The average person using Vista under default settings will be disallowed from accessing most of the files on their computer! It is difficult for most software to run properly under those conditions.

   In fact, even if you turn off all user restrictions on Windows Vista, you will still be blocked from the system folder. In other words, with Windows Vista you are not allowed to alter any files that are part of the actual operating system. On the face of it that may seem reasonable to many people. After all, most people do not want to rebuild their computer operating system. But this restriction means that you bought a product and are blocked from using that product as you see fit. While you may not want to alter or replace operating system files, you might want to install software that does so. Or you might want your tech. support person to be able to do so. With Windows Vista you are blocked. You have no more control over the actual operating system than you do over your cable TV box.

   It’s an ironic situation, in a way: For years, conspiracy theorists have speculated over whether Microsoft might have installed a secret “back door” into Windows. Were they spying on customers? Were they giving access to governments? Now Microsoft has installed an enormous locked front door, and you don’t get a key. Not only can Microsoft access your computer remotely. They can control and access parts of your system that you can’t. Yet few people are complaining.

 

Windows XP and Vista: A Product That Lies by Design
   As is outlined in the sections above, Microsoft is gradually trying to switch from selling software to selling services. Unfortunately, Microsoft is also trying to force their software customers to become their service customers. This started with Windows XP: The Windows XP system is designed to lie to you in order to control your actions. Even if you run Window XP “as administrator”, with full rights, Windows will still hide Registry keys; it will still pretend to let you delete files even though you will be blocked from doing so; it will go through the motions of removing force-installed software like Windows Media Player, but the software is not actually removed.

   In Windows Vista the situation gets worse. You will be blocked from accessing most of your own computer by default and Vista will pummel you with nag messages if you attempt to “give yourself permission” to control your own PC. In many cases downloading files or running software may simply not work: No explanation… no options… no messages… nothing.

   These security measures are not really aimed at protecting you from bad software or online attacks. If that were the case, Windows XP and Vista would naturally provide clear explanations and clear option settings, so that you could use security options as desired. But in most cases, Windows XP and Vista do not even tell you that you are being restricted. And in many cases where settings can be adjusted, those settings are “secret” - unpublished and only known to a few.

   The changes in XP and Vista are actually aimed at protecting your PC from you, rather than vice versa. Microsoft is attempting to gradually herd their customers toward acceptance of a services device, through restrictions and endless nag messages. The idea is that eventually you will use Windows mainly for things that pay Microsoft: Movie and music rentals, software rentals, etc.

   If you think the explanations here are far-fetched, or that they consitute “Microsoft bashing”, you might consider reading some of the articles linked below. Also, consider the fact that Microsoft announced, in May, 2007, the purchase of AQuantive for $6 billion. AQuantive is an online advertising company. It includes “AvenueA”, an ad-hosting operation similar to Doubleclick. So the world’s biggest software company, the company that provides over 90 percent of PC operating systems worldwide, is moving into the advertising business. Oddly, the mass media reporters and columnists generally do not seem to find that fact alarming. Then again, the mass media receives a great deal of advertising money from Microsoft. At the very least there is a notable conflict of interest here, in that Microsoft, the company with monopoly control over the computing medium itself, is now moving to control, and profit from, the content of that medium.

 

JSWare support for Windows Vista

   In brief, our view is that Windows Vista is an unsuitable and unusable product for its purpose. Rather than wasting everyone’s time with support requests that can’t be helped, we decided that it makes more sense to simply block Vista support altogether. With most of the free JSWare programs and components, if you try to use them on Vista you will see a message saying that Windows Vista is not supported and the software will then either stop responding or will close itself.

A bit long, perhaps, but said clearly and without the anger I would tend to inject.

What do you think of the author’s line of reasoning?

Tags: jssoft, microsoft vista, reasoned doubt, support

Some may remember that I reported upcoming upgrades for owners of DirecTiVos in the late months of last year, that were to have taken place by now. I was merely reporting what had been presented to the public, not knowing it was all to change. Some would say we were lied to, and I would agree. It appears that for all the benefits of DirecTV, the purveyors are still bowing to pressure from the media content makers (or are they - could this simply be a money grab by DirecTV, and a very convenient shift of blame? It will be interesting to see if the same thing happens to those who have DVR units connected to Dish Network.)

 poor remote, poor feature list, lackluster performance - the advantage that DirecTV had with the DVR service is eroding from great to merely good

This time around it has been announced that owners of the markedly inferior DirectDVR units will no longer, after April 15, be able to store downloaded pay-per-view items. After a period of 24 hours, the content will simply be wasted space on the hard drive. This is sad, for no matter who is doing it, it shows that the whole point of Digital Rights Management is simply greed. It is not enough for a person to pay for programming, knowing that on the DirectDVR it is locked down tight so that there is no way it can be easily removed from the original drive it was recorded on - now the purchase is only good for 24 hours. If something happens that causes the family to not be able to view the purchased content within that time, too bad. Greed, nothing else.

 these units are not as  glamorous as the DirectDVRs, and the peanut remote is ugly, but functionality is orders of magnitude better

It is already bad enough that DirecTV customers must endure the spectacular failure that is the successor to the DirecTiVo, and those of us who have both are reminded daily of the bad programming of the newer units, as well as the total lack of ergonomic considerations.

further reading an be done here 

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Tags: directv, directivo, directdvr, content providers, greed, dish network, drm

Several days ago, it was reported that Microsoft purchased another company that concerns itself mainly with the detection and elimination of rootkits. Rootkits, for those not aware, are nasty little programs that winnow their way into your system ( running a Microsoft OS) and establish virus like activity, all the while being undetectable by normal methods.

The first time most of us became aware of rootkits was when Sony BMG started putting one on some of its copy-protected compact discs. The idea was to prevent successful copying of the discs, but the side problem was that the rootkit was taking up processor time. The guys from SysInternals, now a part of Microsoft, were the ones to track the problem down. Once identified, the rootkit was able to be removed by the SysInternals guys, and a very large backlash, including a class-action lawsuit was started against Sony.

The new purchase, of Komoku, is another case where something must be getting found by an outside company, where Microsoft cannot seem to get a handle on its own operating systems. Or, possibly, the company has discovered another rootkit method that Microsoft wishes to keep secret, and quash most public knowledge thereof.

In any case, an operating system that was not designed to hide things from the user would be far more useful to most, and would not have netted so much ill will toward Microsoft.

from Betanews -

Microsoft announced today that it acquired startup Komoku, a company specializing in rootkit detection and protection solutions. The deal marks Microsoft’s second purchase related to fighting rootkits.

Komoku is headed by sixteen-year information security veteran Dr. William Arbaugh, and former Silicon Graphics Inc. and Atheros Communications engineer Jeffrey Chung.

The Maryland-based group was founded in 2004 and has worked extensively with U.S. government agencies including the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.

The company offers both hardware and software-based solutions geared toward larger-scale enterprise deployments. Komoku’s CoPilot PCI card monitors the host’s memory and file system, and its Gamma software solution finds operating system anomalies attributable to rootkit infection.

In 2005, Microsoft warned of the impending threat of rootkits, which at the time were largely undetectable by consumer antivirus applications. Rootkits, by design, are intended to establish a command position at root, or administrative, level.

The risks posed by rootkits was thrust into the public spotlight in 2005 when Sony BMG was found to be using rootkit cloaking technology to hide digital rights management software on customers’ computers. Outrage over the incident led to a class action lawsuit, and a public apology from Sony BMG executives.

In late 2006, Microsoft acquired the company behind Rootkit Revealer and hired its creator Mark Russinovich, who first uncovered the rootkit used by Sony BMG.

Although it may seem strange for Microsoft to be acquiring a second rootkit-related firm, the company intends to integrate Komoku’s technologies into its Forefront enterprise security line and Windows Live OneCare consumer security and support solution. The financial details of the transaction were not made public, but Microsoft will acquire Komoku’s development team as well as its intellectual property.

No one has ever accused Microsoft of bad purchase decisions!

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[tags] Komoku, Microsoft, rootkit, SysInternals, buying your way to quality

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