http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/microsoft/ en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:32:49 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418499/posts ALTHOUGH MICROSOFT AND YAHOO have not actually tied the knot yet, they appear to be unanimous about the need to protect Indians from the perils of pornography. Yahoo has announced that it is blocking sex searches for all those on the Indian subcontinent. Its decision came after a similar statement from Microsoft's Bling, er, Bing last week. Part of their motivation might be a law currently being looked at by the Indian government to make porn illegal. However so far no one has actually told Yahoo or Microsoft to pull the plug on Indians searching for sex content online. In... The Inquirer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418499/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:32:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417413/posts One of the unusual aspects of open source is the fact that the software development philosophy spills over into the way that the project is run. This means that how and why things are done, and by whom, is plain for all to see. Contrast that with Microsoft's approach, which mimics the black box of its software: mostly, all we ever get to view are the results, and rarely the cogs and gears behind those results. Sometimes, though, some apparently obscure document grants us a rare insight into what is happening deep in the bowels of the Microsoft machine. Here's... Computerworld http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417413/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:11:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2415577/posts From the Chinese pirate masters of the non-sea-faring variety comes ... Ylmf OS! Not happy with pirating Windows XP itself, these creative Chinese have gone one step further and hacked Ubuntu to look exactly like Windows XP. Why have they moved to Ubuntu? Because their previous release -- a pirate version of Windows XP itself -- is being cracked down on by Microsoft. If you clicked the link above, you'll notice that the entire site is in Chinese with no sign of any button that'll magically turn it into English, but if you navigate to the download page, there does... Downloadsquad http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2415577/posts#comment Sun, 27 Dec 2009 02:50:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414553/posts Linux Vendors Need To Get Off the Stick to Compete with Windows http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414553/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:38:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414351/posts WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Microsoft lost its appeal Tuesday against a lower court ruling that it had infringed the patent of small Canadian software company i4i, proving that the fight is not always to the strong. A three-judge federal appellate panel ordered the software giant to stop sales of its popular Word word processing program in its current form on Jan. 11 and to pay i4i $290 million. "In this case, a small company was practicing its patent, only to suffer a loss of market share, brand recognition, and customer goodwill as the result of the defendant's infringing acts,"... UPI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414351/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:17:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414069/posts Microsoft Word is now scheduled to be prohibited from sale beginning January 11, 2010. That's less than three weeks away. The good news: Microsoft has promised a fix, one which will be rolled out before the deadline arrives. If you don't understand, you might have simply missed this story, or dismissed it as something that Microsoft would ultimately use its considerable clout to have pushed under a legal rug. But it's no joke. In August of this year, a court sided with a small Canadian company called i4i that holds a 1998 patent on the way the XML language is... Yahoo! Tech http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414069/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:45:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413185/posts Microsoft must remove custom-XML editing from Word or face a permanent injunction barring the company from selling recent versions of the software, a federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a $290m patent infringement judgment against Microsoft, won by Toronto-based software company i4i in Texas. It alleges Microsoft's software infringed on its patents that cover extensible markup language technology. Microsoft has been given until January 11 to remove the custom XML functionality — five months from the original August 2009 ruling, according to Bloomberg. The injunction bars Microsoft from selling the 2003... The Register http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413185/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:19:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413066/posts WASHINGTON – The White House has tapped a corporate cyber security expert and former Bush administration official to lead the effort to shore up the country's computer networks and better coordinate with companies that operate 80 percent of those critical systems. Howard A. Schmidt, a former eBay and Microsoft executive, will become the government's cyber security coordinator, weathering a rocky selection process that dragged on for months, as others turned the job down. In a letter posted on the White House web site Tuesday, John Brennan, assistant to President Barack Obama for homeland security and counterterrorism, said Schmidt will have... Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413066/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:04:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410695/posts With all of the back and forth regarding Microsoft and their software and business practices, I thought I might try to inject some information that sheds a different take on them. By the end of 2010, Windows 7 related employment will account for more than 7 million jobs- or 19% of all IT employment- in the global IT industry and at user organizations. This is 1.2 million in hardware companies, nearly 280,000 in software companies, 1.5 million services and channel firms, and 4.2 million in IT using organizations For every dollar of Microsoft revenue from launch in October 2009... Microsft , Into Windows and IDC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410695/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:33:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2403904/posts Just in from our computer tech. Last night/early this morning. MS forced an update patch on all Windows users. We know it affected all running XP. It may have hit Vista and 7 as well. Many users had a forced Windows reboot/restart this morning. Seems the patch is causing havoc in email systems nationwide. Our computer guy normally gets 8-20 trouble calls a day. So far today, it's more than 250. His affiliates across the country report the same. Our internet access is fine (as others seems to be to) but emails are very slow (3 to 5 minutes from... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2403904/posts#comment Wed, 9 Dec 2009 19:07:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2401523/posts Apple has the opportunity to do in mobile what Microsoft did on the desktop: Own the standard platform upon which every popular application is based.  The irony of this cannot be lost on Microsoft, which has flubbed its own opportunity to do the same. Google's Android could mount a strong charge here because it's hardware agnostic (the same way Microsoft Windows is, ironically).  But otherwise it's Apple's game to lose. Keep reading at the NYT > The Business Insider http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2401523/posts#comment Sun, 6 Dec 2009 16:05:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2401403/posts If you were hoping to upgrade all the computers in your house to Windows 7 as a present to your loved ones, and let’s be honest an upgrade from Vista really will show you care, you’re going to have to pay extra. In a move that makes about as much sense for pleasing your customers as handing out coal filled stockings, Microsoft has discontinued the 3 license Windows 7 Family Pack. WindowsITPro reports that stock of the discounted Windows 7 upgrade is already drying up at online retailers like Newegg; and though you can get it in some local stores,... Notebooks.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2401403/posts#comment Sun, 6 Dec 2009 08:38:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400691/posts YAHOO! and Microsoft have finalised the details of their planned internet search and advertising partnership. The companies hope to implement the deal next year with the approval of anti-trust regulators. "Yahoo! and Microsoft welcome the broad support the deal has received from key players in the advertising industry and remain hopeful that the closing of the transaction can occur in early 2010," the companies said in a joint statement. "Microsoft and Yahoo! believe that this deal will create a sustainable and more compelling alternative in search that can provide consumers, advertisers and publishers real choice, better value and more innovation."... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400691/posts#comment Sat, 5 Dec 2009 02:11:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2399029/posts While rumors of a possible Verizon-compatible iPhone in 2010 persist, one analyst has predicted that Apple will instead bring the iPhone to another GSM-based carrier in the U.S.: T-Mobile. In a note to investors released this week, Doug Reid of Thomas Weisel Partners said his firm believes that T-Mobile, and not Verizon, will be the beneficiary when Apple's exclusive agreement with AT&T expires next year... AT&T's exclusive contract with Apple for the iPhone is due to expire in 2010... While the iPhone in its current iteration is compatible with T-Mobile's network, it is not capable of connecting to its high-speed... AppleInsider http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2399029/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 04:09:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2399391/posts The U.K. security company that started a firestorm after claiming recent Windows security updates caused a widespread "black screen" lock-out of users' PCs has retracted its claims and publicly apologized to Microsoft. "It is clear that our original blog post has been taken out of context and may have caused an inconvenience for Microsoft," Mel Morris, the chief executive of U.K. security firm Prevx, said in an entry on the company's blog Wednesday. "This was never our intention and we have already apologized to Microsoft." Computerworld http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2399391/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 16:14:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2397975/posts Tuesday, December 01, 2009 12:19 PM by MSRCTEAM Reports of Issues with November Security Updates We’ve received questions about public reports that customers might be experiencing system issues with the November Security Updates (which some are referring to “Black Screen” issues). We’ve investigated these reports and found that our November Security Updates are not making changes to the system that these reports say are responsible for these issues. While these reports weren’t brought to us directly, from our research into them, it appears they’re saying that our security updates are making permission changes in the registry to the value for... blogs.technet.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2397975/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 23:03:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2397755/posts Microsoft has confirmed that it is investigating a problem described as the "black screen of death", which affects its latest operating system. The error means that users of Windows 7 see a totally black screen after logging on to the system. The firm said it was looking into reports that suggest its latest security update, issued on 10 November, was the cause the problem. Reports suggest the flaw also affects Vista, XP and other systems. Software firm Prevx, which has issued a fix for the problem, says "millions" of people may be affected. "Users have resorted to reloading Windows as... BBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2397755/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 18:31:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395720/posts Windows 7 sales are up and Microsoft is please with the success of its Windows 7 upgrade. While Apple seems to be content with “going negative” when it comes to commercials touting its computing products, Microsoft has taken a different route with Windows 7. Apple has focused more on bashing Windows 7 (and the faults of its predecessors) rather than focus on the main strengths of the OS X platform. Microsoft, on the other hand, has created positive ads which tout the new features in Windows 7. It appears that Microsoft’s positive route — along with relatively positive reviews —... DailyTech http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395720/posts#comment Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:09:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2394888/posts Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 Service Pack 2 (KB973688)Size: 5.4 MB Install this update to prevent applications from sending too many HTTP requests while a well-known Document Type Definition (DTD) is included. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer. Once you have installed this item, it cannot be removed. Self http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2394888/posts#comment Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:58:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2394475/posts Windows 7 passes Mac OS X in market share race Weekend numbers for new OS bigger than for all versions of Mac OS X, says Net Applications Windows 7 passed the 5% market share milestone last weekend, which put it, if only temporarily, above the total market share of all versions of Apple's Mac OS X, a Web measurement firm said today.Last Saturday and Sunday, Windows 7 powered an estimated 5% and 5.14% of all computers that were online those days, according to Internet metrics vendor Net Applications. The two-day average of 5.07% was higher than the 5% of the... ComputerWorld http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2394475/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:32:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2393391/posts My thanks to @girlygeekdom on Twitter for highlighting what must be the most surreal Internet marketing plan ever - British girl band the Sugababes are being used to promote Windows 7. There is a website called 'sugababeslovewindows7' to announce it. I'm as flummoxed as anyone by this. Let's take to one side the fact that I'm a 44 year old man and not at all in the Sugababes' market - what exactly is this trying to say about the brand? That it's easy to use? OK, check - but surely it's no longer acceptable to dismiss young females as incapable... DaniWeb http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2393391/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:18:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2391752/posts Critics have accused President Obama of kowtowing to Chinese leaders, by failing to meet dissidents, toning down his criticisms and delaying a meeting with the Dalai Lama. On balance, I think that criticism is premature: Confrontation doesn’t help with China and can hurt, and so engagement becomes a fine line to navigate. The Obama visit wasn’t a ringing success, but neither was it a craven embarrassment. For the latest craven kowtowing, we can look somewhere else: Microsoft and its new search engine, Bing. Western corporations have often behaved embarrassingly in China, sacrificing any principles to ingratiate themselves with the Communist... NYT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2391752/posts#comment Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:35:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2388462/posts Why is it that whenever Microsoft tries to have a little "fun" it comes across as creepy or overly controlled? This time it's Microsoft's Mission Viejo Store employees engaged in a fit of awkward boogie that some would call the Electric Slide. Oh boy, corporate fun... it's a bit like corporate rock only less natural. Now go ahead and view the entire 4 minutes and 44 seconds of the video after the break, we double-dog dare you. Engadget http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2388462/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:03:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2386377/posts Beware of banned Xbox 360s loosed in ballooning numbers on auction sites and distribution lists featuring online classified ads. In the wake of Microsoft's ban of "a small percentage" or "around 600,000" or "up to one million players" (depending who you read), the Xbox-excommunicated are apparently leaping overboard to offer their 'modified' Xbox 360 systems rife with dozens of games, extra controllers, special revs of custom firmware, all for anywhere from a buck to the price of a new system on up to boutique (perhaps joke) pricing of over a thousand dollars. Last Wednesday, November 4, Microsoft's Larry 'Major Nelson'... PC World http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2386377/posts#comment Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:30:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2385855/posts Microsoft Patents Sudo?!! - Updated 2Xs Wednesday, November 11 2009 @ 10:36 AM EST Lordy, lordy, lordy. They have no shame. It appears that Microsoft has just patented sudo, a personalized version of it. Here it is, patent number7617530. Thanks, USPTO, for giving Microsoft, which is already a monopoly, a monopoly on something that's been in use since 1980 and wasn't invented by Microsoft. Here's Wikipedia's description of sudo, which you can meaningfully compare to Microsoft's description of its "invention". This is why what the US Supreme Court does about software patents means so much. Hopefully they will address... GrokLaw http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2385855/posts#comment Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:37:37 GMT