Windows Genuine Advantage suffers worldwide outage, problems galore

It's a glitch. Don't let the conspiracy theorists turn your head on this one. (They've been out in droves over it.) Just avoid using Windows or Microsoft update or activating a new copy until they get it fixed. Won't be long. I'll guarantee that, even though I have no inside information on when.

Jack

Requiem for a legal disaster: a retrospective analysis of SCO v. Novell

For anyone who hasn't kept up, here is the best recap of the SCO versus Novell litigation I've seen to date. Ryan Paul at Ars Technica has done a masterful job of distilling it all to where it makes sense without diversion into all the "b.s." SCO put the court and observers through. It's only a few pages long and an easy read.

Jack

Does Skype's Windows update story fly?

Stranger things have happened. That's for sure. But I'm not all that far toward buying Skype's "explanation", either. (Not that it matters to them what I think, in any event.)

Since this article went up, Skype has clarified their position that it was only the reboots that caused the problem and not the Microsoft updates at all. While I'm sure MS appreciates the pass of responsibility claims, the whole thing still reeks of implausibility. This article goes into that quite well and there is no need for me to repeat it here.

My personal suspicion(s) center on what seems a quick and easy explanations for the failure of a complex and ever-changing system.

Jack

P.S; I am NOT upset with Skype at all for the failure. Stuff happens. It just seems they could be a bit more forthcoming for their users' sake.

J.

RIAA Lawsuit Decision Matrix

This is the funniest blog post I've seen in quite some time.

Enough said.

Jack

There is a Vista Upgrade Decision flowchart too.

The DigiBarn Computer Museum

Via several of my podcasts, I'd heard of the DigiBarn Computer Museum, but I was motivated to post this when Tom Merritt @ CNET did a video tour. I noticed some items that I still have! The grandaddy of the ipod reminded me of a truly luggable "portable computer" (it weighed 45 pounds, and the end would sit on the floor, and the keyboard flipped, with a tiny 5" screen maybe, and $300 floppies!) that I had to haul around for PLC programming. No wonder I was so motivated to get us on laptops. lol

Enjoy the trip down memory lane.
--MissM

The DigiBarn Computer Museum

The Red Shift Theory

This is a long and involved article about how one bigwig at Sun Microsystems sees the future of computing in business. I found it fascinating because, a; I could not figure out if it made sense or not, b; it's radical and c; I couldn't figure out what the guy has been smoking.

Anyway; it diverted me from real work for a while and I thought about it a lot after I finished it, so it must have some merit, right? Right?

Jack

AT&T kills GPS in Blackberry

This is just flat nuts. And even though they seem to have forced this down RIM's throat, what are they going to tell all those diasppointed users?

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 08-19-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 08-19-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

The Gregg Zone!

1) First up for the week, an educational site I found while doing some looking around to satisfy some curiosity about using solar shields to help our global warming problem. This is a teachers aide site, aimed at teachers of all sorts, need to register but it is free. Informative and easy to use, contains lots of video, you know I like that, I just found the site a few minuets ago so I’m still looking into it, but they have some aides to help you keep your research organized. http://www.teachersdomain.org

2) This site is one I like to check in on regularly to see what is new in science news. For me it is kind of like a newspaper, I use it so much I have been thinking it must be old hat to everyone, but just in case you have not run across it, and you like science, check it out it’s very informative. Check out the story “Spooks In Space” think you were having trouble wrapping your mind around the new physics this concept is sure to set you back a few paces. The site constantly gives me something to start googling around the net trying to find more information. http://www.newscientist.com/

3) Looking for some up to the minuet information on Hurricane Dean, I did a google search, looked at several sites, most did mot impress me much until I found this one. I thought this was the best of the lot, so if you want the latest reports on what is going on, with a current storm, you might want to check out this site. http://www.thestormtrack.com/

4) Listening to c2c while I am writing my blog tonight, they are talking about the world economy, and the housing bubble. I went to the guest site very good, somewhat scary, but not surprising. Worth informing yourself about what is going on with world finance, although I think quantum physics might be easier to understand. Terms like “pump and dump” (Enron may have been one), “tapeworm economy” trillions of missing dollars, I have trouble thinking about millions, and billions. Anyway check it out, learn to defend yourself, you might be glad you did. http://www.solari.com/