If the goal is distribution of product, then goal is achieved far better through free versions... if the goal is distribution of product for sakes of making money, well obviously downloads of paying customers. I can't speak for OP, but i'd rather have 100 people spending $1 on an app they liked rather than the glory of thousands of downloads when free. Even if it was $0.01... it's similiar to a tip, it's a sign that someone appreciated the work you did.

Reading the referencing articles and Microsoft's sites... They're not refusing to fix it. They said they're investigating and there's no plans to release an immediate fix. At best, this could summary could be stretched to "urgent 0day attack vector that Microsoft hasn't released a fix for". I wish there was a way to rate articles as flamebait. Somedays Slashdot is just like playing the "Telephone Game". sigh!

The memory requirements did NOT change. How SP3 utilizes that memory did change. XP SP3 consumes more memory due to redesign of a few services implemented. BUT... a.) It's a fraction (as in no more than 32MB from what I recall on an out of the box default install.) b.) overall system speed is better on SP3. XP/SP1/SP2/SP3 all have the same hardware requirements. You can choose to have a fraction of more memory available, or a faster system. If that extra 32MB of memory usage is killing you, I think you have larger issues. That's not enough memory to run anything useful. I'd say it's a good trade off, a bit more memory for better performance. Also, if you are that dead set about getting all your performance, you should install SP3 (for faster tweak) and then disabling a few nonessential services. Doing that, you will run roughly the same free memory as you did on SP2, with the speed benefits of SP3. Working as a system builder who did fresh installs of SP2/SP3 on machines on a daily basis (unfortuately!) I can confirm this. SP3 itself did not lower your system performance. You might want to do a fresh install of windows xp with sp3 slipstreamed. that will bypass your performance issues you feel exist.

a lot, you just need to look at the OTHER phones, not the coolest shiniest toys. But if you want a highend phone for under $200, yes you need a contract. If you want a basic phone and no contract that's doable.

100% completely wrong. Please dont spread mistruth like this on slashdot, how did you get modded up?! That disturbs me.

Not directed at you, just generally.. But who would step up and pay for the higher tiered service unless they were told/force to by their ISP? If you want to download/upload hundreds of gigs a month, sure go for it, but be prepared to pay several hundred dollars for that. Nothing is unlimited, but when it comes to the internet people think that suddenly this is the exception to the case. Unlimited for $50/month? You believed that? I got a bridge to sell you then lets talk.

But, is that a legal use for your internet connection? If convenience is more important wouldnt it make more sense to get a PVR of some sort instead of downloading files from the internet?

having worked for an ISP a few years ago, high bandwidth users do cost more than they bring in. Now, you may say that bandwidth is cheap, but the infrastructure sure isn't. Getting more bandwidth is fairly cheap. Getting core routers, deploying it to the curb via cable plants or dslam upgrades are were the majority of the cost go.

Sadly the majority of the content on P2P networks are "not legal". Why would an ISP host content that is illegal? Look at the top files on your BT site. Now, tell me which percentage of those are "legal". Bad analogy time, that's like the cops handing out guns because the lineups at the arm dealers are too long. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/12/04/1518221/Hunting-the-Mythical-Bandwidth-Hog#

Keep in mind when buying a laser printer that you need to factor in the price of Fusers & Imaging Drums. A lot of the cheap ones have limited cycles and are worth half the cost of the unit to replace. HP or Brother would be my recommendation.. BUT not their lowest end. The HP P2xx series are where you should start looking.

You can still buy Windows XP OEM from computer builders. You cannot go into a big retail box store and grab it, no. But to me, that's like saying you cannot goto your corner drugstore and grab a book that came out 2 years ago. For that, you would goto a book store. I think the same idea applies here.. XP is still available, however it may not be available at your favourite shopping location or as an option on the exact computer you want. That's life sadly. Or, like you say, you can purchase Windows Vista Ultimate/Windows Vista Business, you get free downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional.

So true... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Locked_Preinstallation The key is slipstreamed into the "recovery disk" media and locked to the BIOS inside the unit.

There is no one program that will fix/repair/prevent all anti{virus,spyware} issues. There is no silver bullet. If you get an infected computer in a repair shop: you pull the drive, put in a clean PC and run SEVERAL av programs until nothing is found. then you hope its clean.