HD disk format wars are over

Subtitled "A clear victor emerges", this is another of Charlie Demerjian's rants. More than that, though, it really is a cogent analysis of the outcome of the format wars. I think the winner Charlie postulates will surprise you until you sit a moment and think about it, at which point you will realize he is exactly right.

Add Charlie's conclusions to what has been revealed about content protection in Vista in the previous post and it is easy to see that we, as consumers (whether of content or computing resources) have been so thoroughly shafted that we, along with our position as THE market force, may never recover.

Jack

A Damning Indictment of Vista's True Costs

Increased hardware costs, decreases of function (some under the direct control of Microsoft and/or hardware vendors) and some serious security issues are detailed here.

It's a long article. I'm sorry about that. I think this should be required reading for anyone considering buying or building a Vista machine. If even half of the "features" reported on here are true, there will be widespread discontent on a scale not yet seen. And it will all be directed, rightly, at Microsoft.

I suspect there is a possibility all this will work more or less transparently to the user. Then again, this is Microsoft; masters at imposing functional limits on us. I guess the possibility these features won't bother us is vanishingly small.

Jack

The Death of The Internet?

I received this from a friend:
Please watch this video (The Video is from YouTube)and respond in any way you can, below is a copy of my letter I will be sending to everyone I can think of.

The internet is the greatest force empowering minority, and marginal points of view to come along in centuries. In other words before the internet the great establishment ideas already had the machinery of media to communicate their positions. What has happened is the common man has gotten into the game with a technology that was never intended to fall into the hands of common people. Much like the advance of writing, for centuries it was only the elite that had access to the accumulated knowledge of mankind through the written word. Books were not intended for common people, by controlling them through the mechanism of affordability, and availability the elite consolidated their power over the common people. I think the internet is analogous to the invention of the printing press, in the dissemination of knowledge to the common man.

By increasing our learning abilities, and expressions of free speech, we are advancing our civilization much as we did during the age of enlightenment. To restrict the internet in any way is a step backwards much like the book burnings of the past, an attempt to control the progress of human thought in any direction that is not considered to be in line with the position preferred by the people with the ability to control it.

By limiting the internet we are inhibiting our ability to think freely, and stifling our creativity. To do this for the financial benefit of a few companies and their stock holders, and to the detriment of society, would be criminal. It would also create a mechanism for governmental entities to control opinions of the people by controlling the information available to them, offering methods to control elections, and governmental processes.

We cannot allow this intrusion into the evolution of the human mind and spirit. The dissemination of information through the internet should be protected by the Supreme Court, as a vehicle of free speech. The internet is in process of replacing newspapers, books, and several other media’s, to restrict it in any way would be to restrict free speech, to a degree that has not been possible since the dark ages. Please do anything, and everything in your power to resist this attempt to profit by selling out one of our most basic inalienable rights. Greg Pollak, Las Vegas, Nevada

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 12-24-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 12-24-06. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.

Gail's son's guest book

Gail's oldest son passed away last week, and the following url is for his guest book to remember all the contributions he has made.
Our sincerest prayers and condolences to Gail and her whole family.
Guest Book - Gregg T. Allinson
--MissM

Langa Letter: Year-End PC Tasks

This may be early, but then again, after the holidays, maybe you'll have more time to do the following computer "clean up." As Frank Langa says:

Chances are, your PC is different from the way it was at the start of this year. In fact, because you're the kind of PC user who reads articles like this one, I'll bet your PC is different from the way it was even a few days or weeks ago: Perhaps you added or removed some software. Maybe you installed a patch or update, or allowed one to be installed automatically. Perhaps you adjusted a system setting to make Windows look or act more the way you wanted, instead of the way Microsoft or whoever set up your PC thought it should be. Perhaps you tried out a performance tweak or other system change that you read about here or elsewhere.

even though its an article from 2004, I believe the recommendations are timeless.
Langa Letter: Year-End PC Tasks - News by InformationWeek

Looking for administrator password guidelines for DrPuter in the newsgroup, I found this site, which I found extremely comprehensive and a good collection of tips about malware, spyware, etc. from an MVP.

May you have a safe holiday season and a wonderful 2007!
--MissM

Learning Ubuntu made easy

Good documentation has helped keep the two-year-old Ubuntu project among the most popular Linux distributions. To complement the traditional venues for help, such as FAQs, HOWTOs, bulletin boards, and mailing lists, Ubuntu uses interactive forums such as Internet Relay Chat to conduct training classes for new users.
This is the site I should have posted yesterday from Gari.
AlaskaJoe

Create a Windows installation CD in 30 min (for dummies)

Create your very own personalized and unattended Windows installation CD, integrate your favorite software and make it install automatically during Windows setup. The best 200 freeware programs are available so that you can enjoy Firefox, CCleaner, Skype, WMP11, Java 6, etc. since the first boot of your operation system. Video tutorials!
Its got it all! Check it out
--MissM


read more | digg story

http://ubuntuclips.org/

Thanks to Gari (KoffeeBeanz) for this link:
This site is for everyone who is new to Ubuntu. Here you will find short video clips that highlight Ubuntu's features and demonstrate how to complete common tasks using Ubuntu.
This is a very nice web site with lots of info if your thinking of trying a Linux distro. I think Ubuntu has it right, this is the first time I had everything working on a Linux distro and didn't have to call someone for help. (like Jack or Gari or Greg)

Remember Ubuntu has a live CD (The OS plays from a bootable CD) You can try it before you click on the icon to start the installation, that is on the desktop. I have noticed for the latest version you need at least 256MB of memory.
Enjoy a new experience try Ubuntu!
AlaskaJoe

Sony settles rootkit suit: $1.5M to states, users file for refunds

I know a lot of listeners, hosts and bloggers live in California and Texas. So I thought this settlement info might interest those people.

Sony settles rootkit suit: $1.5M to states, users file for refunds
Sony BMG this week settled a lawsuit brought by California and Texas over the infamous XCP "anti-piracy" spyware trojan. The media giant got off with a slap on the wrist for the long-running rootkit debacle, which affected nearly 5 million CDs -- Sony will pay a total of $1.5 million to the states, and a smaller sum in customer refunds.
[snip]
Link to AP story. Link to previous BoingBoing coverage.

Boing Boing: Sony settles rootkit suit: $1.5M to states, users file for refunds

--MissM

Skype worm spotted

I figured you ought to know about this. Not that I think you are so silly as to click on unsolicited files, but you have friends, family and associates who probably need to be reminded of this.

Details are still sparse, but the message with the executable attached is apparently disguised as a security upgrade and looks official enough to fool at least a few folks. I imagine it's enough to know that Skype can be an attack vector and that one needs to look out for it.

Jack

Peter Coffee's 25 Killer Apps of All Time

Whether or not you agree with him (and I don't) this is a very interesting list. It's also interesting to see how few of these applications are still in widespread usage. Things do change over time, evolving, at least.

Enjoy,

Jack

Gifts for an Eight-Bit Holiday

Many of us remember those old machines. They were primitive and limited, but they opened our eyes to previously unthinkable horizons.

MIT's Technology Review has a partial list of reproductions and emulations of those old machines, along with some modern-day ones meant to teach younger people about computing. Some are kits, some are complete machines. At the very least, reading this 2 page article will whet your appetite for the reproduction machines. It did mine.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 12-17-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 12-17-06. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.

Kernel Developers: GPL-Only Modules in 2008

As you will read when you click on the link above, there are a lot of Linux kernel developers who want to do away with proprietary "binary only" modules being introduced into the kernel. This is in the interest of free software purity. To be free software, the source code must be available to the user and there are currently a LOT of drivers and other modules for which source code is not available.

Linus Torvalds opposes this, but will not stand in the way if that is what the developers want to do. Linus' position is that doing this is just another restriction on users, which has a lot to do with their reasons for developing Linux - to avoid restrictions on what they can use their computers for.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I side with Linus on this, but could live with it either way.

Jack

Alan F. Shugart, 76, a Developer of Disk Drive Industry, Dies

Thanks goes to patterson for this article. Since this is a NY Times article you either need a free registration or butmenot to read it. Sorry about that. It is worth the effort.

I've owned both Conners and Seagates, by the way :-).

Skype's free call plan to charge annual fee | CNET News.com

Well, I guess its official. Skypeout will no longer be free after 12/31.

Skype 3.0 for Windows

Official release. Version: 3.0.0.190. Release date: December 13, 2006
File name: SkypeSetup.exe File size: 19 MB
Skype A full year of unlimited calls to any phone in the US and Canada for $14.95
Make phone calls right from your computer.
PC to PC will always be free, We don't know what will happen to the free PC to phone calls we get now after the first of the year.
AlaskaJoe

Boing Boing: Milblog project gives hundreds of laptops to wounded US soldiers

I thought this was a geeky way to honor U.S. Soldiers, and that it would interest all (3 of us? ;)) who read the blog :)
--MissM

Ad-hoc charity group Valour-IT ("Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops") has donated more than 700 laptops loaded with voice-recognition software to US soldiers who've lost the ability to type due to lost limbs or severe hand/arm injuries. They expect to have delivered 850 or more by Christmas. A number of blogs authored by active duty military and vets worked together to raise awareness on the project. Mark Glaser at PBS Mediashift blog says,

It started last year when Army Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss injured both his hands and wanted to get back to blogging. His blog readers pitched in for Dragon Naturally Speaking software, and he and another blogger, FbL, put together Valour-IT and have raised more than $330,000 with two online Veteran's Day fundraisers fueled by milbloggers.

Boing Boing: Milblog project gives hundreds of laptops to wounded US soldiers

IT Confidential: Microsoft Is Mired In Vista, Report Says

I really don't know if this story is based in fact or not. If it is, Microsoft itself considers Vista as a problem without equal and one requiring "outside the box" solutions. Some of those given in the article are said tongue in cheek, but others are apparently reasonable reactions to an extreme problem.

Veeeeery interesting.

Jack