Upgrades - Hopefully Transparent

I logged in tonight and couldn't get on; the server said my CPU quota was exceeded. So I went into the hosting company site and found a bunch of my tables needed repairs. Fixed all that and then upgraded the blogging software. Hopefully, everything is working correctly. If not, leave a comment.

Microsoft Missing The Point

Microsoft has big plans to rent you a copy of Office. Personally, I think they are missing the real reason people are flocking to other, free alternatives.

With its Office franchise under attack from a host of competitors offering free software, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is hoping that a new subscription pricing model for its cornerstone desktop franchise will encourage consumers to continue upgrading to the latest editions of the product.

Microsoft said Wednesday that it will give consumers the option of buying an annual license for Office and its Windows Live OneCare security package for $69.99 per year under a program called Equipt. The license covers use of the software on up to three computers and includes access to all future product upgrades…..

….The emergence of free software could be hurting Microsoft's bottom line. The company said that sales of its Office products among consumers dropped 39% in the most recent quarter. The company blamed most of the decline on the fact that the previous year's third-quarter results were significantly boosted by revenue that had been deferred under an Office 2007 upgrade program.

Still, consumer sales of Office have shown no growth over the past three quarters, Microsoft said. The problem: Microsoft's Office revenue typically jumps when a new version is introduced, then quickly tapers off.

Just yesterday I had an experience with Office that shows why they have a problem, at least in my opinion. I tried to download a template from Office Online and was denied. Why? Because my fully legal copy of Office is the 2002 version. They refused to allow me access even though many of the templates in question are marked clearly are being for earlier versions of Office.

That's what is putting people off.

Theme Opinions

Well, I've gone mucking about with the theme here at the Crabitat again. Any feedback on usability, functionality or on the format itself would be appreciated.

Last Chance

Today is the last day Microsoft is selling its Windows XP operating system. Even though they have announced that they will provide at least limited support for XP until 2014, they are stopping the sale of new copies of XP to vendors. There will be a way for people to get XP after today, although it will surely be expensive:

Microsoft Corp. is scheduled to stop selling its Windows XP operating system to retailers and major computer makers Monday, despite protests from a slice of PC users who don't want to be forced into using XP's successor, Vista.

Once computers loaded with XP have been cleared from the inventory of PC makers such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., consumers who can't live without the old operating system on their new machine will have to buy Vista Ultimate or Vista Business and then legally "downgrade" to XP.

The new Windows operating system that will succeed Vista will be out in 2009. That will be when Microsoft ends full support for XP.

Internet Grief

Sorry about the silence, folks. I have been unable to get on the internet at home for several days. Last night I fought my way through the tech support jungle and finally got the modem working again. But it promptly began acting squirrelly again shortly thereafter when my son started playing a game, so I may be back out of touch if the modem itself is failing.

Surprise From Microsoft

I figured that with the demise of Windows XP already set for June Microsoft would not release Service Pack 3. Surprise, they did just that yesterday.

Microsoft today finally released Service Pack 3 for Windows XP users. The update should now be offered via both Windows Update or Automatic Updates. The company was expected to release it last week, but pulled the plug at the last minute due to a compatibility problem with an obscure product they offer.

Many readers have asked me whether this update is really necessary, given that there isn't a whole lot new in Service Pack 3 aside from all of the security and non-security updates Microsoft has ever released for the operating system.

The following are some of the things you should know about installing Service Pack 3 for Windows XP.

Microsoft says it is not adding any significant Windows Vista technology into XP with Service Pack 3. No surprise there, given that Microsoft has said Service Pack 3 will be XP's swan song: The company currently plans to stop issuing new licenses for the operating system this summer.

Brian Krebs at the Washington Post does not see any problems with the update so far. But it would be a good idea to follow directions (he has the link) if you do install the last service pack. I have to see about getting it on disk so I don't have to download it over and over.

Is Vista A Bust?

USA Today reports that business customers are staying away in droves from Microsoft's Vista operating system. It seems that they are perfectly happy with Windows XP and would just as soon not switch.

"I wouldn't put on Vista if it was free," says Weider, chief information officer for Ministry Health Care. "In the past, there's always been an important reason to upgrade, but XP (the previous version of Windows) is perfectly acceptable."

Even as it pursues Internet icon Yahoo to create a more potent online-advertising rival to Google, Microsoft is facing increasing pressure on its Windows cash cow. Corporate customers such as Weider are staging a rare revolt over upgrading to Vista, which launched with much fanfare in January 2007. Last week, Microsoft reported a 24% decline in Windows sales in the third quarter.

"This year is make-it-or-break-it time for Vista," says analyst Benjamin Gray of market tracker Forrester Research. "Vista is getting hammered right and left in the press, and companies are concerned. I'm getting daily client inquiries about skipping Vista altogether and waiting for the next version of Windows. Microsoft is having a tough time convincing their corporate clients that Vista isn't a risky bet."

Microsoft rebuilt Windows from scratch to create Vista, which has a dazzling interface and improved security tools. But so much computing power is required to run it that many people find their new PCs run slower than older, less powerful XP machines. To spur sales, Microsoft earlier this month said consumers will no longer be able to purchase XP as of June 30. The announcement and pending date have unleashed a firestorm of Vista angst.

Online magazine InfoWorld is waging a Save XP campaign. More than 175,000 signatures have been gathered. "Why pull the plug on XP when there's clearly a lot of people who still like it?" says Galen Gruman, InfoWorld executive editor.

Influential analyst Michael Silver at research firm Gartner calls the Vista launch a "disaster." Other critics have been no kinder. CNet called Vista one of the "biggest blunders in technology." PC magazine chronicles Vista's "11 Pillars of Failure." The Christian Science Monitor likened it to Coca-Cola's disastrous New Coke experiment in the 1980s.

Ouch. Frankly, my daughter's Vista computer is the slowest one in the house, despite a dual core processor and two gigs if RAM. My son's antique Pentium II with 96MB of Ram boots faster. I suspect Vista will be remembered as a bust in years to come, especially since an all-new version of Microsoft's operating system is due out in as little as 18 months.

Oh, and Ubuntu Linux version 8.04 is now available. If Microsoft does kill Windows XP on June 30th as they are promising, a lot of older hardware will be switched over to Linux - that will be a bad thing for Microsoft, I think.

Oldest Recording?

I'll let readers judge for themselves here. A recently-formed group claims it has found a recording of a human voice that was made before Thomas Edison invented the phonograph by some 17 years. The recording was reportedly made by a Frenchman but could not be replayed until scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory  could scan the recording and make it work.

The recording was discovered in February at the archives of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris by First Sounds, an informal association of audio historians, recording engineers, sound archivists, scientists and others who aim to make mankind's earliest sound recordings available to all people for all time.

The group was established in 2007 by David Giovannoni, who is a member of the ARSC.

"It's a very haunting song," Giovannoni said of "Au Clair de la Lune," the melody that Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville recorded on a "phonautograph," a device that engraved sound waves onto a sheet of paper blackened by the smoke of an oil lamp.

The scientific breakthrough occurred on April 9, 1860, or 17 years before Thomas Edison invented his phonograph.

It is, however, necessary to give Edison his due. At the time, the French were unable to come up with a device that would allow reproduction of his musical recording.

As many as 148 years would pass before scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory converted these scans into sound using technology developed to preserve and create access to a wide variety of early recordings on mechanical carriers, such as phonograph discs and cylinders.

For Patrick Feaster, a historian with First Sounds, that was a significant discovery for many reasons.

"We already knew that Leon Scott had invented sound recording but he just had never got to the stage of playing back his recordings," Feaster told AFP.

"But we have made a number of discoveries here. First of all we have now heard one of his recordings, something he never dreamed of happening, but it does push the history of recording sound quite a step back. Up until this point you could listen back to something as early as 1888. That was about as far as you could go.

"Secondly," the historian continued, "People tended to present Scott's phonautograph as a dry scientific instrument but Leon Scott was really hoping to record interesting stuff: he wanted to preserve great music, great speeches."

You can listen to the decoded recording over at this website. For me, this is pretty thin. If the recording is actually the oldest recording, the inventor never figured out how to actually do anything with what he captured. Even if this is an actual recording, as opposed to creative decoding (and I am not saying the people involved did anything untoward here) one has to ask, who cares? The recording had no way of being recovered until massive technology was deployed to do so. 

At most, a historical oddity.  

Tunes For Nuclear Workers

As someone who has spent a large part of his career in the nuclear energy field, I can assure you that this video is brilliant. The industry has been trying, for years now, to keep radiation dose to workers to an absolute minimum. It's known by the acronym ALARA or As Low As Reasonably Achievable. The training for this, however, has been less than scintillating. Oh, it is absolutely factual, perfectly correct and transmits all the information a worker needs - but you can't dance to it. Well now, rad workers can:

Okay, I know most people won't know what the heck they are talking about, but to an insider, it's spot on accurate. (An RWP is a Radiation Work Permit, by the way). We tend to be overly acronymic in the nuclear power field.

Feel Safe?

The folks who believe their Apple computers are much safer than computers running Microsoft operating systems might want to take note of this item. At the latest CanSecWest security conference it took someone exactly two minutes to break through Apple's much vaunted security and take control of the computer.

Nobody was able to hack into the systems on the first day of the contest when contestants were only allowed to attack the computers over the network, but on Thursday the rules were relaxed so that attackers could direct contest organizers using the computers to do things like visit Web sites or open e-mail messages.

(Charlie) Miller, best known as one of the researchers who first hacked Apple's iPhone last year, didn't take much time. Within 2 minutes, he directed the contest's organizers to visit a Web site that contained his exploit code, which then allowed him to seize control of the computer, as about 20 onlookers cheered him on.

He was the first contestant to attempt an attack on any of the systems.

Miller was quickly given a nondisclosure agreement to sign and he's not allowed to discuss particulars of his bug until the contest's sponsor, TippingPoint, can notify the vendor.

Interesting that they did not try to offer to give prizes for hacking a Linux system. I'd be interested if they did. But this does show that there is a real crisis coming in computing whether people realize it or not. It is coming very quickly, too.

A New Motto For Microsoft Vista!

Courtesy of an unidentified commenter on a survey done over at PC World comes a catchy new slogan for the newest Microsoft operating system. Vista: It runs like a dead hamster!

When I posted a little survey concerning the news that Microsoft plans to discontinue most sales of Windows XP on June 30th, I expected lots of people to take it, and for the sentiment to be overwhelmingly pro-XP. They did, and it was. (More than 3500 people completed the survey, and 83 percent of them are unhappy with Microsoft's move.)

I was startled by how many people took the time to not only participate in the survey but share their thoughts at length–and by how diverse their opinions were. Some folks were raving fans of XP; others just grudgingly tolerated it. Some reported nightmares with Windows Vista; others said they were happy Vista campers. More than a few said that the prospect of an XP-less world was prompting them to consider dumping Microsoft operating systems altogether in favor of Linux or Mac OS X.

Over the next few pages, you'll find a sampling of the 1000+ comments the survey prompted. If they inspire you to share your own thoughts, we're still listening–just leave a comment on this article.
XP Plaudits

"Windows XP has mature to where is the best OS in the market. It's better then Leopard or Tiger from Apple. It's more convinient than Linux and it has gone to a point that I feel it is very secure. Of course nothing is 100% secure, but Windows XP comes very close. The performance is much better than Vista and right now there are more compartible programs to XP than Vista. What would had me jump into Vista, a new file system and a faster seach engine, it's not being deliver. So why switch? Vista is a XP with a fancy look, nothing more. XP has become as secure as Vista, without the slowdown."

There are many, many more opinions over there. A lot of people are going to be very angry come June. I suppose this means that there will never be a service pack 3 for XP, either. Too bad. For all my unhappiness with the XP system, it actually is fairly stable now after all the many patches. And I am used to it and can get around in it pretty well. So, I'll reinstall all my XP systems before the end of June and update them just before they pull the plug. That should get them a few more years of service. When the computers eventually die or become so hopelessly outdated as to be unusable, I'll change to something else.

So far, Ubuntu Linux has been working very well for me for office-type applications. I think Microsoft should be worried. Vista is not doing well for them and they are going to lose business over it.

Congratulations Vista Users!

You've all been enlisted as unpaid Microsoft beta testers! Vista service pack one has been released - and has promptly caused serious problems for many Vista users.

A day after it was released for public download, Windows Vista SP1 is drawing barbs from some computer users who say the software wrecked their systems.

"I downloaded it via Windows Update, and got a bluescreen on the third part of the update," wrote "Iggy33" in a comment posted Wednesday on Microsoft's Vista team blog.

Iggy33 was just one of dozens of posters complaining about Vista Service Pack 1's effect on their PCs. "What a disaster," wrote "SeppDietrich" of the update. "It exiled all my Nvidia drivers to the Bermuda Triangle."

"Bikkja" said that "after installing SP1 things seem to go really slow, even though my computer shouldn't have any problems."

Other troubles reported by Vista SP1 users ranged from a simple inability to download the software from Microsoft's Windows Update site to sudden spikes in memory usage. "Went from using 650 MB RAM idle to 1 Gig… I'll be switching back," said "Kurrier."

It's not uncommon for major software patches to cause problems when first released. Windows XP Service Pack 1 inflicted numerous glitches on host computers when it shipped in 2002. Microsoft fixed many of the problems with subsequent patches.

Microsoft on Tuesday made Vista SP1 widely available for the first time. The company has admitted it's still not perfect.

The service pack will not install on computers that use peripheral device drivers that Microsoft has deemed incompatible. The list includes a small set of audio and display drivers made by Realtek and Intel, as well as drivers from several other manufacturers.

Microsoft said it's working to resolve the compatibility issues. 

Meanwhile, my Linux laptop just chugs along taking care of all my Crabitat needs. But now I have to dread updating my daughter's laptop. Oh goody.  

Here’s A Cheerful Thought

Computer security experts are saying that on a typical day some 40% of the computers connected to the internet are part of a botnet. The zombies are out in force, people.

Largely unnoticed by the public, botnets have come to inundate the Internet. On a typical day, 40% of the 800 million computers connected to the Internet are bots engaged in distributing e-mail spam, stealing sensitive data typed at banking and shopping websites, bombarding websites as part of extortionist denial-of-service attacks, and spreading fresh infections, says Rick Wesson, CEO of Support Intelligence, a San Francisco-based company that tracks and sells threat data.

"It's like a disease you can't even feel," Wesson says. "The mechanisms we use to protect our networks simply are not working."

The botnet problem shows no sign of easing. Security firm Damballa pinpointed 7.3 million unique instances of bots carrying out nefarious activities on an average day in January - an astronomical leap from a daily average of 333,000 in August 2006. That included botnet-delivered spam, which accounted for 91% of all e-mails in early March, up from 64% last June, says e-mail management firm Cloudmark.

The upshot of this deluge is profound, if not immediately obvious, says Adam O'Donnell, Cloudmark's director of emerging technology. Telecoms and Internet service providers must absorb the cost of carrying botnet traffic; they can be expected to pass that expense onto companies and consumers, he says. Meanwhile, tens of millions of botted computer users are experiencing degraded performance with no clue why.

If you are running a Microsoft OS and do not have up-to-date antivirus software and a solid firewall, you are part - or soon will be - of the problem. If your computer suddenly is running a lot slower than it used to, there is a substantial chance that you have a problem. If you are running Windows XP or Vista you can use the Windows Live OneCare free safety scanner to check for problems (you must use Internet Explorer for this). Trend Micro Housecall is also very powerful and is also free. 

If you are not running antivirus, you really need to get off the internet. Seriously.  

The Hottest Gadget, The Newest Virus

Something new to keep gadget freaks awake at night: plug that new toy into your computer and you may be infecting your computer with a virus.

 Recent cases reviewed by The Associated Press include some of the most widely used tech devices: Apple iPods, digital picture frames sold by Target and Best Buy stores, and TomTom navigation gear.

In most cases, Chinese factories — where many companies have turned to keep prices low — are the source.

So far, the virus problem appears to come from lax quality control, perhaps a careless worker plugging an infected music player into a factory computer used for testing, rather than organized sabotage by hackers or the Chinese factories.

It's the digital equivalent of the recent series of tainted products traced to China, including toxic toothpaste, poisonous pet food and toy trains coated in lead paint.

But sloppiness is the simplest explanation, not the only one.

If a virus is introduced at an earlier stage of production, by a corrupt employee or a hacker when software is uploaded to the gadget, then the problems could be far more serious and widespread.

The solution, at least for now, is to have an antivirus program that is completely up to date. Before you plug in the new toy, of course. Particularly dangerous is the possibility of infecting your system with a virus that steals passwords.

Sleep tight, gadget lovers. 

Bad System, Bad Decisions

The New York Times has an article written by Randall Stross looking at the latest class-action lawsuit filed against Microsoft. Stross looks at the internal memos written by Microsoft executives and analyzes what has gone wrong with Vista. Put simply, people are not buying Vista in droves - and Microsoft did this to themselves.

Then there’s Mike, who buys a laptop that has a reassuring “Windows Vista Capable” logo affixed. He thinks that he will be able to run Vista in all of its glory, as well as favorite Microsoft programs like Movie Maker. His report: “I personally got burned.” His new laptop — logo or no logo — lacks the necessary graphics chip and can run neither his favorite video-editing software nor anything but a hobbled version of Vista. “I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine,” he says.

It turns out that Mike is clearly not a naïf. He’s Mike Nash, a Microsoft vice president who oversees Windows product management. And Jon, who is dismayed to learn that the drivers he needs don’t exist? That’s Jon A. Shirley, a Microsoft board member and former president and chief operating officer. And Steven, who reports that missing drivers are anything but exceptional, is in a good position to know: he’s Steven Sinofsky, the company’s senior vice president responsible for Windows.

Their remarks come from a stream of internal communications at Microsoft in February 2007, after Vista had been released as a supposedly finished product and customers were paying full retail price. Between the nonexistent drivers and PCs mislabeled as being ready for Vista when they really were not, Vista instantly acquired a reputation at birth: Does Not Play Well With Others.

My daughter needed a new laptop and it came preloaded with Vista. It is a super-whamadyne dual core machine with only(!) a gigabyte of RAM - and it "runs" at a crawl. Literally slower than an old P-III laptop with a half gig of memory that I have. Her machine is fully capable of running Vista - and it is still slow as all heck. Despite cutting the price of Vista, Microsoft is not likely to see this operating system become a huge success.