Mark Russinovich on the Vista Kernel

Mark Russinovich, long a recognized authority on Windows matters and a Microsoft employee for the last year or so, has written on the Vista kernel in some detail. I realize a lot of you aren't interested in this level of detail, but I am and I figured at least a few of you might be.

The link above will take you to part 1. Part 2 is here and part 3 is here.

Jack

Java Kernel plan proceeds

Well, I really missed a trick here. I completely missed that this was happening.

This is a new idea for Java, but Microsoft has moved somewhat closer to this with their .NET runtimes and there is a project to do something vaguely similar with Python, as well. It makes sense in functional terms (though that determination is at the limits of my knowledge) though there is the problem of this sort of thing extending download time on less capacious network connections.

If you have an interest in network applications or web development this is definitely one to watch. It is possible some aspects of this will appear late in next year.

Jack

Deja vu all over again: Sony uses rootkits, charges F-Secure

One would think that someone with authority in such a large corporation would have said "we can't keep doing this" out loud. I guess not.

Jack

Acer Acquiring Gateway for $710 Million

Yet another mega PC maker, the article tells about where this purchase will place Acer in the ranks of top PC makers.

Yet another eWeek article on the subject :
Acer to Buy Gateway

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 08-26-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 08-26-07. 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.

My not so weekly shared items

Well, I lied about it being weekly. oops, sorry
Here are the latest shared things from my google reader.



The neat thing is that they are always updated. So, if you're looking for my shared items, you can refind this post. I use a different login for this blog, than my reader, and google/blogspot can't handle being logged in with 2 google ID.

--MissM

Storm Worm Gathers Strength on The Internet

From August 23rd, this article discusses the latest news on the Storm Worm/Virus, and some info about those behind it.
It appears that much of the bogus e-card spam may be associated with this critter.

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/

New ransomware

Our own Koffeebeanz pointed this out and discussed it with me.

It's out and about and only a few AV applications pick it up yet. This is worth reading about, so you understand the dangers.

Jack

Is my hardware Linux-compatible? Find out here

If you're thinking of doing the Linux installation thing with Joe and the rest of us, you're probably wondering if your hardware will cooperate. In most cases it will. Compatibility issues that dogged Linux in earlier days generally have been resolved, though some few still persist.

Go ahead; satisfy your curiosity.

Jack

AMD spec promises better software parallelism

This is mainly a PR thing. However; the fact remains that all the chipmakers are working on how to really bring the benefits of multi-core and multi-processing to the user. AMD, Intel, Sun, IBM and even little VIA are after this "holy grail". The reason is simple; If they cannot bring clear performance gains to the table, sales will suffer as buyers see no real reason to upgrade.

There is a lot at stake here, obviously, and we're going to see a lot more work in this area.

Jack

Modder puts PC in art deco wood photoframe

This is a simple case mod and, frankly, one of the nicest I've seen in ages.

Jack