12.15.08
Intellectual Monopoly Prank Call
Permalink
Comments off 
Send this to a friend
Benchmark: Ballnux is Fat
Stevie and SUEsie
Phoronix tests show that SUSE is the fattest among all.
What we gathered from these tests conducted on the Intel Atom desktop was that Ubuntu 8.10 was generally the fastest distribution. OpenSuSE 11.1 RC1 on the other hand was in last place most frequently.
Why would anyone choose SLES/SLED 11 over the competition, which is likely to be lighter and more agile? █
Microsoft™ Windows™ Zombies®
Do something good for yourself: spread GNU/Linux
This month was a particularly bad one for Microsoft security, but it’s getting worse. It’s easy to see why Microsoft has become so paranoid when it comes to perceptions of Windows security (insecurity). It even twists the arms of journalists now.
There are several important reports that we have not included here yet, so here is a quick rundown.
Internet Explorer Under Fire
This is pretty serious. Here is coverage of the key point:
1. IE zero day bites broader group of users
Secunia goes on to revise what it says is the cause of the vulnerability. Contrary to earlier reports that pinned the blame on the way IE handles certain types of data that use the extensible markup language, or XML, format, the true cause is faulty data binding, meaning exploit code need not use XML.
2. Microsoft: IE5, IE6 Also Affected by Browser Vulnerability
An unpatched vulnerability found in Internet Explorer 7 also affects older versions of the browser as well as the latest beta version, Microsoft warned Thursday.
The new information widens the pool of users who could be at risk of inadvertently becoming infected with malicious software installed on their PC, as Microsoft does not yet have a patch ready.
In an advisory updated on Thursday, Microsoft confirmed that IE 5.01 with Service Pack 4, IE6 with and without Service Pack 1 and IE8 Beta 2 on all versions of the Windows operating system are potentially vulnerable.
3. All Internet Explorer Versions Have Hole?
The unpatched bug in Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) that hackers are now exploiting also exists in older versions of the browser, including the still-widely-used IE6, Microsoft Corp. said.
Friday, a Danish security researcher added that Microsoft’s original countermeasure advice was insufficient, and recommended users take one of the new steps the company spelled out.
There is an early fix for this flaw. It’s called Mozilla Firefox, but there are other fixes available.
Having Only Oneself to Blame
Would it be considered acceptable that Microsoft is patching a known security hole 7 years late?
Microsoft recently released two new patches, one of which fixes a security hole that the company has been trying to plug since 2001.
It was only days ago that Microsoft patched no less than six “critical” flaws.
Palo Alto Networks today announced that its Threat Research Team discovered one of the six critical vulnerabilities communicated in Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday security bulletin this week.
The Future
With so many holes that are most severe, no wonder virtually every Windows box is open to hijackers and almost half of them are already hijacked. The press is rightly preoccupied with stories about the global financial crisis, but one security vendor believes that cybercrime has become an even greater problem.
You might have noticed that the economy is in the tank. Something about this “credit crunch” and “recession” and whatnot. But the amount of attention governments around the world are paying to these issues is giving cybercrime a foothold, according to a new study from a — yep, you guessed it — security vendor…
As the economy declines, this is bound to get worse.
Desperate IT workers who have been laid off will go rogue in 2009, selling corporate data and using crimeware, reports have predicted.
The credit crunch will drive some IT workers to use their skills to steal credit-card data using phishing attacks, and abuse their privileged corporate computer access to sell off valuable financial and intellectual information, forensic experts have warned.
How did we get here and how will we get out of this? Download a fix now. █
Permalink
Comments off Send this to a friend
Innovative versus Functional
“I think that “innovation” is a four-letter word in the industry. It should never be used in polite company. It’s become a PR thing to sell new versions with.”
–Linus Torvald
Innovation
MICROSOFT loves the word “innovation”, which is uses extensively in order to spread the illusion that it leads in terms of technical merits. Not everyone accepts these vacuous promises.
But we don’t need an innovative Microsoft. Simple competence would be improvement enough.
Microsoft sure innovates in the legal department (another one is the marketing department). Here is a new translation of the Windows EULA as it would have applied to books.
If Microsoft’s EULA Applied To Books
[...]
1. GRANT OF LICENSE. Richard Dooling grants you the following rights provided that you comply with all terms and conditions of this EULA:
2. INSTALLATIONS AND USE. You may install, use, access, display and read ONE COPY OF THIS BOOK on a SINGLE PERSON, such as an adult, man, woman, teenager, or other human person. This book may NOT be read by more than one person.
3. MANDATORY ACTIVATION. The license rights granted under this EULA are limited to the first thirty (30) minutes after you install the book by opening it, unless you supply information required to activate your licensed copy of the book in the manner described on this page. You may also need to reactivate the book if you modify yourself or alter your personality.
Those Proprietary Toys
The iPhone and Google’s Android are doing pretty well (UNIX and Linux, respectively) and the main losers are the 5 dozens of so makers of Windows Mobile-based handsets, according to this BusinessWeek article.
T-Mobile G1, a phone based on Android, an operating system backed by Google (GOOG), has met with popular demand
Even those who respect or love Microsoft are losing hope in Windows Mobile, which some say is “dying”. Tim Bray (re)discovers that some of Apple’s products are very shoddy too.
Apple Owes Me $99
[...]
…I have to run the Time Machine backups by hand and I also have to connect by wire for big ones, because the default setup leaves my BlackBook in an endless “Preparing Backup” cycle. So I went and bought another WiFi router for $99, and now at least we can both be on the Net. I’d advise caution with the Time Capsule product until Apple’s done a couple more releases of the hardware and OS X too. Pfui.
Don’t ever let Apple’s $300,000,000 marketing budget (annual!) distort reality. This is far from the first complaint about Apple products that simply don’t work. Even their own fans are complaining loudly [1-6]. █
____
[1] Fanboy reviewer has problems with MacBook Air
IF YOU ARE a Mac fanboy reviewer and you think that anything that comes from Apple must be great, what do you do when something clearly isn’t?
Paul Venezia from InfoWorld seemed to have hit this crisis of faith when he came to look at Apple’s MacBook Air.
[2] Apple’s iPhone 3G troubles spawn a lawsuit
It was only a matter of time.
With all the griping going on by a subset of iPhone 3G users, it was inevitable that someone would seek redress through the law. The first someone was Jessica Alena Smith, a Birmingham resident who filed her complaint this week in U.S. District Court in Alabama.
[3] Apple + ActiveSync is eating email on my iPhone: iCrap?
I’m a huge Apple fan. Today, however, I couldn’t be more disappointed. I keep seeing pretty, shiny things…and then finding out they’re iCrap underneath.
[4] My MacBook Air dies while Google Docs is offline
I have to reboot every 30 minutes or so to get back to a workable condition and then wait for the CPU to max out again.
[5] iTunes Store ‘Unavailable’: This iPod Touch Owner is Stuck in Update Limbo
I’m not alone. I’ve been able to find plenty of iPod Touch, first-gen iPhone, and new iPhone 3G owners just like me stuck in the same boat. For over 8 hours I’ve been unable to update my iPod Touch because the Apple iTunes Store’s servers are overwhelmed.
[6] iPhone 3G Frenzy Causes Glitch
Across the world they gathered and waited like little children hoping to see Santa at the local shopping mall, only to be disappointed and find what many had expected on opening day. It wasn’t exactly a lump of coal, but, Apple’s much coveted slick new 3G device was not only in short supply, but in many locations, there were problems with getting the phone to actually work.
Microsoft Under the Scalpel
“There is such an overvaluation of technology stocks that it is absurd. I would include our stock in that category. It is bad for the long-term worth of the economy.”
–Steve Ballmer
AN interesting new headline has entered Google News. It states: “Why Microsoft Is Headed to $4.” While it seems like an exaggeration, depending on what time range one considers, it does raise some valid points.
A while back, when Microsoft shares were trading in the mid-$20s, we used charts to predict they would eventually fall to $4 or lower. How could such a thing happen to a company with a product that dominates the software world, and with cash reserves totaling more than $20 billion? For starters, consider that Microsoft used to have twice that sum on hand but squandered a big chunk of it on investments that would make the guys at Bear Stearns look like visionaries. Also, they have not exactly enticed new customers in droves with the clunky Vista operating system. While the Redmond behemoth may have been able to ram this product down the throats of captive business and institutional customers, much as they have been doing for years with each new, gratuitously enhanced version of Windows, individual buyers have deserted the platform en masse. Just look around you the next time you’re at Starbucks: probably half of the computers one sees these days outside of the office and commercial airliners are Macs. The percentage is even higher at college libraries. These are tomorrow’s business users, and most of them wouldn’t use a PC if it were given to them free.
[...]
But the stake through Microsoft’s cold, monopolistic heart may be the new product announced last week by IBM –an office suite that runs on cheap :thin clients” connected to a backroom Linux server. IBM says customers will save $500-$800 compared to what they would spend to license Microsoft’s office suite, which includes the ever popular Excel, PowerPoint and Word. The savings would come not just from the software, but from, reduced costs for hardware, electricity and air conditioning.
Microsoft’s stock is already shaken and a formal warning from Microsoft seems likely following at least one warning from analysts. This was covered by quite a few Microsoft watchers:
Todd Bishop: More questions over Microsoft profits
Microsoft shares are currently down about 6 percent on the day, to $19.38.
What would a Microsoft earnings warning look like? For a clue, you have to go all the way back to December 2000, in the middle of the dot-com bust, which appears to be last time the company issued such a warning. It came out around the middle of the month, on Dec. 14, so if the past practice is any indication, any new warning could be a few days away.
Mary Jo Foley: Microsoft walks the downturn-messaging tightrope
Is Microsoft poised to join other tech vendors in announcing dismal second quarter earnings or is the company going to yet again manage to meet or beat its traditionally conservative guidance (this time against seemingly impossible odds)?
Joe Wilcox: What Happens if Microsoft Warns?
Microsoft issued a dire profit warning at the start of the last recession, in December 2000. Will the 2008 recession lead to another warning?
Eric Savitz: Microsoft: Waiting For The Warning
Morgan Stanley’s Adam Holt this morning notes that the company has not negatively pre-announced earnings since December 2000. But given that business conditions have deteriorated since the company last provided guidance in October, he thinks the company could come up short of its targets for the quarter, whether or not they give the Street advance warning.
In addition to this, IDG has an article about something it calls “Microsoft’s identity crisis,” which is characterised by odd steps they have recently been taking.
The Softwear t-shirts seem like another directionless Microsoft move, much like the short-lived Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld ad campaign, which by the way, was voted the No. 1 bad commercial while Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads were voted the No. 1 good commercial in Anderson Analytics’ 2008 survey of 1,000 college students.
Microsoft layoffs have already begun [1, 2, 3, 4] and the following erroneous report [via Google News] says “EXCLUSIVE: Microsoft To Lay Off 1,500 In California; 200 In L.A.” It’s not true, not just yet anyway. But what if Microsoft issues a warning? █
12.14.08
Microsoft Sued Again for XBox 360 Failures, Slammed for Deception and FUD
“There are people who don’t like capitalism, and people who don’t like PCs. But there’s no-one who likes the PC who doesn’t like Microsoft.”
–Bill Gates
ANOTHER WEEK, another Microsoft lawsuit.
Microsoft could find themselves in some hot water if a Madison County, Illinois resident has his way. Jason Johnson is suing Microsoft for what he claims is defective hardware in relation to his Xbox 360. Johnson claims that his console has ruined his favorite games and made them ‘unplayable’ due to optical disc scratching. He claims that his copies of Rock Band, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Rock Band 2 all began displaying the “Disc Read Error” after extensive use.
This begs the question:
Having your games destroyed by your console certainly isn’t fun, but is it worth $50,000?
There is more information about it here and this is not the first time that such a thing is happening [2]. The allegation is based on fact [1] and there’s much more to the problems [3-6], as we showed a few months ago.
Amid tough times and billions in aggregated losses, Microsoft chooses not to mention its main competitor, which is putting it to shame.
In fact, Nintendo’s red-hot Wii system outsold the Xbox by almost 3-to-1 in November.
Some wondered why Microsoft left out a comparison to the Nintendo Wii and had doubts about Microsoft’s thoughts that the Wii isn’t really a competitor for the Xbox 360.
Selective statistics. Classic!
Microsoft does what it does best by throwing some FUD at its easier-to-compete-with and easy-to-ridicule rival. It’s doing it again. Sony has already responded to Microsoft’s latest FUD.
Sony Shoots Back at Microsoft on Home
[...]
Now this may not come as too much of a surprise but Sony doesn’t entirely agree with this proposition, in fact it believes that Home is so advanced that, “PlayStation Home just couldn’t be done on any other game platform”. This, at least it according to Director of PlayStation Home, Jack Buser.
Microsoft unethically crashed launch parties of the Sony PlayStation 3 (among others) and it publicly mocked Nintendo’s Wii [7, labeling (libeling) it “a kids toy.” If the best revenge is being successful, then Nintendo got its revenge for these distasteful tactics from Microsoft. █
____
[1] Microsoft admits scratch problem with Xbox 360
There hasn’t been much discussion on the fact that the problem exists by consumers, but untill now Microsoft has always somewhat denied the problem and never proposed a solution.
The Dutch television show Kassa, which deals with customer complaints, has been nagging Microsoft about this problem for several weeks, they did tests with Xbox360 setups and filmed (and proofed) that the Xbox360 is indeed responsible for scratching game discs, when not moved, placed on a stable table and under the best possible conditions.
[...]
The television show also reported that while this issue is now an issue in the Netherlands (it is also widely covered in regular news), it could become a global problem for Microsoft in the future. Therefore I would recommend anyone who is facing the same problem to contact their local Microsoft office and point them to this article.
[2] Gears of War disc errors – why the hell is no one covering this?
So, we’re all just ‘unlucky’ Mark? Thanks for that. I’m happy for you and your console, but what about us? Where are we supposed to turn to for help and support? Microsoft wasn’t very helpful (ref #102-379-2964) any of the times I’ve called them (I think it’s up to three now for the same issue – perhaps I’ll call again today and check on an update).
All I know is that if I see that dreaded error message again on my new 360 I am going to go absolutely ballistic!!!
[3] Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against MS For Bricked 360s
According to Gamespot, the suit seeks a minimum of $10 million in damages, depending on how MS decides to defend itself.
[4] Numerous Reports, November 30 Xbox 360 Update Is Bricking Consoles
Some consoles are being bricked by Thursday’s dashboard update. Issues range from freezing, red ring of death and VGA adapterm alfunction. Microsoft isn’t acknowledging the issue and billing $140 for repairs.
[5] Update brick your 360? Speak up
Since yesterday’s update, there are numerous reports about 360s being bricked. Some people suspect that this is being done by Microsoft intentionally to stop modders and hackers. Xbox Scene thinks it has more to do with certain combinations of hardware and firmware.
I was fine yesterday gaming with the VGA cable but after getting the autoupdate today, I get a black screen. Does Microsoft test these things? My connection to the TV didn’t change yet its screwed. Thanks for nothing Microsoft.
[7] Microsoft Taking Wii Lightly in Europe?
“…People will make a clear decision as to whether they want that sort of product — a kids toy — or they want high-definition gaming and entertainment and all that it brings.” [--Microsoft]
No Hope for Microsoft’s On-line Ambitions
“Every time you use Google, you’re using a machine running the Linux kernel.”
MICROSOFT has manufactured a fair deal of ‘studies’ recently [1, 2], mostly in order to deceive the public when it comes to its progress on the Web (compared to rivals). The truth about the fact is that, despite billions of dollars in investment, i.e. losses, Microsoft carries on losing market share.
Microsoft is now running a new PR scam. Actually, it’s more of a sophisticated smear campaign. Microsoft is trying to portray Google as a privacy violator/invader (yes, again) and it’s lying in the process.
Search Anonymization: More Hot Air from Microsoft
[...]
As it stands today, Microsoft keeps sensitive search data for 18 months, twice as long as Google currently does (although Google’s new 9-month rule is also a bit slippery in terms of the actual anonymity it provides). Why didn’t Microsoft just agree to meet Google at 9 months, or even to meet Yahoo’s 13-month limit, and then have everyone work together to get to the European’s stated goal of 6 months? Because it can’t. It’s still a distant third in the search engine wars, even in Europe, and it can’t afford to concede anything that may further erode its position.
This is not the first time that Microsoft shows its outrageously hypocritical attitude when it comes to privacy. It does not always get caught though. The article above was a single minor exception among a sea of articles that scold Google by quoting Microsoft, whose history shows low value of integrity and honesty. The company’s track record when it comes to privacy is abysmal.
Microsoft has many reasons to fear Google. Just days ago it was reported that Redfin had dumped Microsoft for Google in at least one area.
Online real estate site Redfin, once a high-profile showcase for Microsoft’s Virtual Earth technology, said this morning that it’s switching exclusively to Google Maps in an effort to improve map-rendering speed on its site.
In reality, Google’s value is not so shy of Microsoft’s. It’s almost two thirds of it now, but both companies are forced to cut down on planned expansions.
With the economy in the shape it’s in, even Microsoft and Google are thinking twice before dropping $100 million on a new datacenter. But the two tech giants are easing off the funding pedal for different reasons.
Remember those search briberies [1, 2]? It’s still a total disaster.
Live Cashback Users Feel Cheated By Microsoft
[...]
This has completely outraged hundreds of those who tried using the program and were unsuccessful due to the outage. There are about 90 comments on Microsoft post, calling Microsoft everything from being a fraudster to a crock, to liars.
One of Microsoft’s loyal fans, who casually writes at IDG, actually believes that Microsoft’s latest appointment of an online chief (the predecessors just keep quitting) is yet another mistake and a case of “heading the wrong way.” He concludes with:
It may be that overseeing Office’s online expansion isn’t one of Lu’s responsibilities, and that he’s been told to focus on search. If that’s the case, though, it means that Microsoft’s online strategy is divided among several different people, which doesn’t bode well, either.
Does anyone believe that Ballmer’s dream of crushing Google will ever come to fruition? █
“Forty percent of servers run Windows, 60 percent run Linux…”
–Steve Ballmer (September 2008)
Free software owns the datacentre
Permalink
Comments off Send this to a friend
« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »
Content is available under CC-BY-SA