Comment Re:A better PC health idea (Score 1) 413
Hmm. Maybe you're right. I looked around for some numbers, and it looks like it took Microsoft nearly three years to take 20% with Vista. Win7 is currently at 19% after only one year.
Comment Re:A better PC health idea (Score 3, Insightful) 413
They've seen the horrible uptake numbers from Vista continue with Windows 7.
Step 1. Convince everyone to get behind the idea of black-holing insecure or infected machines.
Step 2. End support for all versions of Windows other than the current.
Step 3. Wait for a new remote vulnerability in older versions.
Step 4. Refuse to patch the issue.
Step 5. Profit as everyone either has to buy a new PC or a newer operating system to access the internet.
Just think about it. Something like two thirds of machines running a Microsoft operating system are still running the end-of-life Windows XP.
Comment Virus Creation Laboratory? (Score 1) 366
A friend of mine who taught at a community college actually did this back in the mid 90s. He took a copy of Nowhere Man's Virus Creation Lab and tossed together a couple annoying but non-destructive viruses and infected a few stand alone machines for the students to play with.
You can probably still find VCL out there, or a more modern DIY virus kit. Though with the new ones, I'm not sure I would trust they don't have any hidden functionality.
Comment Antique! (Score 1) 417
Why not just get him an antique? Kiddo can't hose the OS install on a Apple II or a Commodore 64, and they're pretty indestructible.
At $20-40 on eBay, they're cheap too.
Submission + - Blizzard Claims Ownership of All Starcraft II Maps 5
ccherlin writes: The EULA of Starcraft II contains an extremely disturbing clause:
3. Map Editor. The Game includes a program that allows you to create custom levels, maps, scenarios
or other materials for use in connection with the Game (the “Map Editor”). The following terms are specific to the Map Editor:
a. Map Content. You understand that the content required to create or modify STARCRAFT® II
Modified Maps (as defined below) is included in the STARCRAFT® II game client, and that all
such content is owned by Blizzard and governed by this Agreement. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND
AGREE THAT ALL MAPS, LEVELS AND OTHER CONTENT CREATED OR MODIFIED USING THE MAP
EDITOR (COLLECTIVELY, “MODIFIED MAPS”) ARE AND SHALL REMAIN THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OF BLIZZARD. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, YOU HERE BY ASSIGN TO
BLIZZARD ALL OF YOUR RIGHTS, TITLE AND INTEREST IN AND TO ALL MODIFIED MAPS, AND
AGREE THAT YOU WILL EXECUTE FUTURE ASSIGNMENTS PROMPTLY UPON RECEIVING SUCH
A REQUEST FROM BLIZZARD.
Prior Blizzard games like Warcraft III had EULA provisions that prohibited selling maps created with their editor, but the copyright remained with the map maker. Now? Anyone who creates a new, popular mod like DotA with the Starcraft II editor will have no rights to their own creation.
3. Map Editor. The Game includes a program that allows you to create custom levels, maps, scenarios
or other materials for use in connection with the Game (the “Map Editor”). The following terms are specific to the Map Editor:
a. Map Content. You understand that the content required to create or modify STARCRAFT® II
Modified Maps (as defined below) is included in the STARCRAFT® II game client, and that all
such content is owned by Blizzard and governed by this Agreement. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND
AGREE THAT ALL MAPS, LEVELS AND OTHER CONTENT CREATED OR MODIFIED USING THE MAP
EDITOR (COLLECTIVELY, “MODIFIED MAPS”) ARE AND SHALL REMAIN THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OF BLIZZARD. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, YOU HERE BY ASSIGN TO
BLIZZARD ALL OF YOUR RIGHTS, TITLE AND INTEREST IN AND TO ALL MODIFIED MAPS, AND
AGREE THAT YOU WILL EXECUTE FUTURE ASSIGNMENTS PROMPTLY UPON RECEIVING SUCH
A REQUEST FROM BLIZZARD.
Prior Blizzard games like Warcraft III had EULA provisions that prohibited selling maps created with their editor, but the copyright remained with the map maker. Now? Anyone who creates a new, popular mod like DotA with the Starcraft II editor will have no rights to their own creation.
Submission + - Today is System Administrator Appreciation Day (sysadminday.com)
ArbiterOne writes: The 11th Annual System Administrator Appreciation Day is today. Celebrated worldwide on the last Friday of July, this holiday honors those who fight in the digital trenches to keep the 'Net alive.
OpenDNS offers a way to remind your boss about the holiday, while another blogger shares war stories. The startup Ksplice created an homage to these heroes... in the style of Choose Your Own Adventure.
How are you celebrating Sysadmin Day?
OpenDNS offers a way to remind your boss about the holiday, while another blogger shares war stories. The startup Ksplice created an homage to these heroes... in the style of Choose Your Own Adventure.
How are you celebrating Sysadmin Day?
Net Users In Belarus May Soon Have To Register 89
Cwix writes "A new law proposed in Belarus would require all net users and online publications to register with the state: 'Belarus' authoritarian leader is promising to toughen regulation of the Internet and its users in an apparent effort to exert control over the last fully free medium in the former Soviet state. He told journalists that a new Internet bill, proposed Tuesday, would require the registration and identification of all online publications and of each Web user, including visitors to Internet cafes. Web service providers would have to report this information to police, courts, and special services.'"
Comment I have an identical one. (Score 1) 533
Well, it *was* identical spec when new. The case has been missing since the late '90's, the 8088 is now a NEC V20, the clock speed is now ~17MHz, and the parallel port has a resistor based DAC free-soldered onto it, but it still runs. I use a single density 3 1/2 floppy to boot FreeDOS and then run a terminal emulator, though it has also run Minix, Xenix and Linux over the years.
If you have trouble getting FreeDOS to run, I still have the original EPSON DOS disk images somewhere.
Custom Firmware For the PSP-3000 Released 97
Busshy writes "Today, owners of PSP-3000 consoles, and those on PSP-2000s with boards that were previously incompatible, have now joined all those who have been enjoying PSP homebrew for years with the release of a new custom firmware that brings emulation and much more to those systems. You will need the recent Chickhen homebrew enabler installed for it to work."
Comment Re:People often ignore depreciation (Score 1) 1137
Do what I do. Drive something nice and old. The cost to run is higher, but depreciation is zero.
Here's an example. 1980's Porsche 928, with a little shopping you can get one for under $8000 with 20K on the odometer. I can drive it 50K miles over the next five years and still sell it for $8000, with the only likely mechanical costs being brakes and tires.
Comment Sorry, public transportation.. (Score 2, Interesting) 1137
Now here's the problem in the calculation. Car round trip in heavy traffic is about an hour, and depending on the day the bus can take anywhere from 2:30 to 3:15 to cover the same 40 miles.
That's 390-585 hours per year to save $320.
Until the prevailing wage falls to 50 cents an hour, no thanks.
Ran the calculation for my wife as well. If she were able to take a bus instead of driving, she'd waste only 195 hours per year, but public transportation would save her -$18.
Windows 95 Almost Autodetected Floppy Disks 334
bonch writes "Windows 95 almost shipped with a technique for detecting whether a floppy disk was inserted without spinning up the drive. Microsoft's floppy driver developer discovered a sequence of commands that detected a disk without spinup — unfortunately, unspecified behavior in the floppy hardware specification meant that half the drives worked one way and half the other, each giving opposite results for the detection routine. Microsoft considered a dialog prompting the user to insert a disk to 'train' the routine, but the idea was scrapped."
Investigative Journalism Being Reborn Through the Web? 265
Combating the stigma that investigative journalism is dead or dying, the Huffington Post has just launched a new venture to bankroll a group of investigative journalists to take a look into stories about the nation's economy. "The popular Web site is collaborating with The Atlantic Philanthropies and other donors to launch the Huffington Post Investigative Fund with an initial budget of $1.75 million. That should be enough for 10 staff journalists who will primarily coordinate stories with freelancers, said Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post. Work that the journalists produce will be available for any publication or Web site to use at the same time it is posted on The Huffington Post, she said. The Huffington Post Web site is a collection of opinionated blog entries and breaking news. It has seven staff reporters. Huffington said she and the donors were concerned that layoffs at newspapers were hurting investigative journalism at a time the nation's institutions need to be watched closely. She hopes to draw from the ranks of laid-off journalists for the venture."
Submission + - The Dutch Kill Analog TV Nationwide
Willem de Koning writes: Becoming the first country in the world to do so, the Netherlands has completely ended transmission of analog television signals today.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/world /4393351.html
So what about cars/portable TV's? I'm guessing a market will emerge for developing portable "set top boxes / convertors"?
The Wii Hits the UK 116
Gamespot is reporting on the Wii's launch in Britain. As with the U.S. launch, things seem to have gone quite smoothly. Celebrities and very long lines of gamers marked the occasion, with one store giving out pizza, merchandise, and champaign to their customers. From the article: "At Nintendo's official event in HMV on Oxford Street, celebrities Ian Wright, Nell McAndrew, Pat Cash, and Ricky Hatton turned up to play Wii Sports. Cash and McAndrew played Wii Tennis, with Cash winning two games to zero. Wright and Hatton sparred at Wii Boxing, with the ex-footballer winning the virtual game against the boxer. Heba Elgamal, who had been camping outside the store in an alley for two days, was first in line for a console at the HMV store, and it was presented to him by Ian Wright. Elgamal bought The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess with his purchase, and Wright asked him if Zelda was a fighting game--which didn't go down well with the crowd. " Errr ... who is Ian Wright? And how has he never heard of Zelda?
